How to Make a Jiggle GIF with a Soft Motion Mask
By WobbleMint ·
A convincing jiggle starts with deciding what should stay still. A soft cheek can move while the eyes stay anchored; a plush toy can flex while the background remains quiet. The painted mask controls that separation.
Choose one flexible area first
Pick a clear still image and identify one part that could plausibly bend: a cheek, ear, piece of fabric, or soft toy. Start with one region so you can see which changes improve the result. You can add up to four regions later.
In the editor, choose Paint regions. The image pauses at its resting position while you paint, and the caption is temporarily hidden. This lets you place the mask against the original photo instead of chasing a moving shape.
Build a soft transition
Brush size is relative to the source image, so a mask remains attached when you change zoom or output shape. Clear mask removes the current region’s paint and can be undone. Deleting a region removes its history.
- Choose a brush large enough to cover the middle of your selected part without tracing every pixel.
- Leave Softness high for the first pass. Paint the moving area, then check where its boundary meets a stationary detail.
- Switch to Eraser for the eyes, a label, or an attachment point that should stay still. Undo and Redo let you compare mask changes.
- Press Play to see the deformation. Return to Paint mask when you need to refine the selection.
Tune the movement before adding more regions
Start with Jelly and a moderate Amount. Reduce it if the moving area looks detached or a straight edge turns into a smear. Sway gives a side-to-side bend; Pulse expands and contracts around the region for a breathing effect.
For a second part, choose Add region and give it a useful name such as “ear” or “cheek.” Each region has its own motion and amount. Overlapping masks blend their motion, which means two opposing movements can partially cancel. Separate the masks if you want a clearer result.
The global Intensity control scales the regions together. Speed changes the shared loop duration. Set either a region’s Amount or the global Intensity to zero when you want to compare against a stationary image.
Add the caption and export
Finish painting and place the caption above or below the moving area. Review the entire loop with the text visible: a good mask is less useful if a caption hides it.
Choose Looping GIF and export. Masks and captions are included in the generated frames, and the GIF is capped at 480 pixels wide. Keep the editing tab open while you work; there is no saved cloud project. Downloading saves the finished animation, not an editable mask project.
This effect reuses the pixels in the original photo. It cannot reconstruct a hidden background, and a very strong bend can stretch nearby details. A softer transition and a smaller amount usually make the movement easier to read.