In today's article, I will show you how to create a simple fading gif image with GIMP. I will use the image below as the sample.


First, open the image on GIMP then make the layer transparent. Just go to Layer > Transparency > Color to Alpha then hit OK:


Next, you need to create several copies of this layer. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer or just simply hit Shift + Ctrl + D. In this example, I created 6 copies of the layer as you can see in the layer box:


Next, set different opacity for the layer copies, you can increase or decrease the opacity gradually.  With my 6 copies, I set the opacity as 0%, 20%, 40% , 60%, 80%, 100% here:


Next, create a blank layer for each copy above. For 6 copies, you will need 6 blank layers. Just hit Shift + Ctrl + N to create a new layer:


Arrange each blank layer below each copy of the initial image like this:


Then right click on each copy then select "Merge down":


After that, you will have six layers with different opacities:


Now you can check how the gif image will look like by clicking on Filters > Animation > Playback. A play window will open for you to test the gif. When everything is ok, just save the project as gif, select the proper delay between frames and you will have a fading gif.

Here is the fading gif I just created with the sample image above, the delay between frames is 250 mili-seconds here: