Google+ Auto-Awesome Goes Manual Mode For DIY Gif-Makers

If there was ever a key reason to want to use the Google-standard Android app "Photos" from Google+, today the group has given it. Here we're seeing Google+ Photos bring on a set of abilities only otherwise given to the Auto-Awesome phantoms that run Google+. It's almost as if Google initiated this program backward, letting everything be awesome automatically first, then giving the tools for manual workload second.

With Motions you'll be able to create a gif. This means – in this case – that you're selecting a number of photos from your Google+ library, the system then putting them together in a GIF file with ease. This GIF file is an image that moves, if you did not know, and one that can be shared by and hosted by Google+ at the same time.

You can see one of these fabulous GIF images shared by +Chris Burns (yours truly) right this minute. This image is a series of photos of the front end of Jabba's Sail Barge, a LEGO set we're currently reviewing – release set for May 25th!

Mixes are photo collages. This tool allows you to select a number of images from your Google+ library of photos and combine them into one single image. This single image can have several different kinds of collage arrangements, all arranged by you manually.

On Android you'll need to find your "Photos" app – that's your Google+ Photos app, the one that comes standard with your Android 4.4 KitKat and above device. Once inside, you'll have only to tap the "+" button in the upper right-hand corner of your display.

From there it's all rather simple! Have at it!