Animated Gif's

Animated gif's aren't that hard to do - and animated globes are a few simple steps further than plain decorative globes.

**beckons** ...follow me....

Open up your finished globe - always save a copy of the globe in psp format in case you want to play with it later *G* - now add three new layers beneath the glass layer. Title these layers 'ani 1', 'ani 2', and 'ani 3'. This is purely so you can keep track of where you are. [If you are placing your globe on a stand - always make sure you have the stand in place before you start making the globe animated - otherwise you end up with the stand jumping around ;o) ]

Choose the graphic you want to make float - in this example I used a small piece of the main graphic.

Once you have neatened up the small 'floater' ie: removing all trace of background - or as much as you can - tube the graphic.

Make sure its a single layer
Go to: 'File | Export | Picture Tube'
Enter the name you want to call the graphic in the name box
Click OK

Now - click on your tube tool, and go to the tool options palette and find the tube if its a large graphic resize it and test on the image - you can keep doing this until you have it at the right size - **winks** those 'undo' tabs are the greatest!

Activate your 'ani 1' layer, and start dropping the tubed graphic where you would like it to be.

Note: If you are using a sparkle graphic always use you magic wand to select the outside of the 'glass' and then 'Invert Selection' so that none of the sparkles will go outside the glass - or it'll look messy when its finally animated.

Activate your 'ani 2' layer and repeat placing the graphic at different points - then do the same on 'ani 3'. (This last shot is taken once all three layers have been tubed on.)

Your main image will look a little crowded right now - but it'll look better in a minute **smiles** promise!!!.

Once you have all the little 'floaters' where you want them, hold down you 'Ctrl' button on you key pad and press 'D' twice. Voila! You have three images exactly the same now.

Line them up and click on the little arrow key on your layer palette to hold it open. Now go to the first image and delete layers 'ani 2' and 'ani 3'. Go to the second image and delete 'ani 1' and 'ani 3'. Third image delete 'ani 1' and ani 2'.

( yes this can be a little confuddling - but its' worth it **nod nod**)

Almost there!

Go to 'Layers | Merge | Merge Visible' on all three images. Then save in a single folder in your My Docs - mine was titled 'mice' - save the images as '1' '2' and '3' - all as .psp images.

Back to Globes | Animating your Globe