Teardrop Animated Snow Globe

Created December 6, 2001 © Copyright Moon's Designs
Property of Moon's Designs
This is my creation, any similarity to other tutorials on the Internet is unintentional.
Please do not copy or place this tutorial or any graphics to any other place without written permission directly from me. Thank you

 

I had made this snowglobe for a friend of mine and she naturally wanted to know if there was a tutorial for it. While there are a lot of snowglobe tutorials on the Internet, but I have never seen one using the teardrop preset shape, so I decided to write one. This tutorial uses PSP tools and Super Blade Pro if you so desire. The tutorial is written using a tube of YOUR choice and I will also show you how to use a graphic for your globe instead of a tube. The choice is totally yours.

If you enjoy making globes as much as I do, you may want to create a separate folder just for your globes. Save your image as teardrop_template.psp in your globe folder. By doing this, you won't have to recreate this tutorial every time you want to make a teardrop snowglobe, all of your layers will be intact.

Remember, my tutorials are only guidelines to help you accomplish a certain creation. Please feel free to be inventive and take whatever liberties you would like. I encourage each of you to do your "own thing" and make your creation yours!

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7.04 and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP at an intermediate - advanced level. I am sure this can easily be done in Version 6 with a few adjustments in paths but I have only used Version 7 so I can't make promises *S*

JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE
Dizzinz Dividers Dingbat ~~ You can get it HERE
**You can either unzip these into your Fonts Folder or you can do what I do and create a new folder called Fonts in My Documents and unzip them there. You can then open the font/dingbat that you want to use and minimize it on your computer ~~ when you need it in PSP it will be there and you won't have your regular fonts clogging up your PSP.
Super Blade Pro (optional) (Trial Demo) ~~ You can get it HERE

Step 1:
Open a new image 250 x 250, 16 million colors, transparent background. Set your foreground color to Null and your background color to white.

Step 2:
Open your preset shapes and scroll down and find your teardrop. In mine it is about 1/2 down the list. Antialias checked, Create as vector unchecked.

Draw out your teardrop, leaving enough room to add a base to your globe. Using your mover tool, move your teardrop to the center of your screen and towards the top.

Step 3:
With your magic wand click on the transparent background. Go to Selections-->Invert and you will have your marching ants around your teardrop. Hit your delete key to remove the white. You are going to be keeping those ants marching for the majority of this tutorial. DO NOT DESELECT until I tell you to. Make sure you save often. If you think you will be making more snowglobes you will want to save this as a selection. With the marching ants around your tear drop go to Selections-->Save To Disk and name it. I named mine md-teardrop_globe.sel.

Step 4:
Add a new layer and name it cutout1. Go to Effects-->3D-->Cutout and apply the following settings:

Step 5:
Add a new layer and name it cutout2. Reapply the cutout settings, but this time change the vertical and horizontal offsets to Minus 10.

Step 6:
Keeping your marching ants selected, go to Layers-->Merge Visible. Name your merged layer globe.

Step 7:
Add a new layer and name it highlights Change your foreground color to white and your background color to Null.
Using your draw tool use freehand, width 12.

Draw 3 lines on your globe for highlights, similar to what I have below.

Step 8:
Go to Effects-->Blur-->Gaussian Blur and set it at about 6.50.

Step 9:
We are now going to add the snow. Make sure you keep your marching ants selected. Add a new layer and name is snow1. Pick up your airbrush tool and use the following settings.

Press on top of your globe once to apply your snow. With the marching ants moving you don't have to worry about splattering snow on the outside of your globe *smiles*.

Step 10:
Add a new layer and name it snow2. Do the same thing that you did in the previous step and apply the airbrush snow. Add a new layer and name it snow3. Again apply the airbrush snow.

Step 11:
Go to your layer palette and change the blend modes, on your 3 snow layers, to dissolve. Lower the opacity of those layers to 35. Your layer palette should look like this.

Step 12:
Have you been saving? Are your marching ants still marching? Add a new layer and name it contents. Go to Layers-->Arrange-->Send to Bottom. Add a tube of your choice. If you prefer to use a graphic see the instructions in blue below the screenshot. I used my Smores Snow People that I made using this tutorial from Joyful Creations Designs. Depending on the tube you are using, you may have to change the scale. Here's what mine looks like so far.

If you prefer to use a graphic, activate your graphic and go to Edit-->Copy. Go back to your snowglobe image and go to Edit-->Paste-->Into Selection. You can now deselect and go to Step 14.

Step 13:
Add a new layer and name it globe background. Make sure your marching ants are still marching. Go to Layers-->Arrange-->Send to Bottom. Choose a color that you would like for your globe, and set your foreground with that color. I prefer a soft, pastel color myself. I used #FAC0C0. Floodfill your globe background layer. If you are using a graphic, you may want to include this layer in your template so you will have it when using a tube for future snowglobes that you might make.

You may now deselect. Don't forget to save.

Step 14:
While on the globe background layer, add a new layer and name it base. Set your foreground and background color to white. Pick up your text tool and make your base. I used Dizzinz Dividers Dingbat, size 36 and typed in the letter b.

Step 15:
I added the Super Blade Pro gold-glitter preset, by going to Effects-->Plugins-->FlamingPear-->Super Blade Pro. Naturally, you may add anything you like. Keep selected. Go to Effects-->3D-->Inner Bevel and apply the following settings:

This is how your layer palette should now be laid out.

If you wish to add a watermark to your Snowglobe, now is the time to do it. Make sure you put your watermark on a separate layer at the very top of your layers. Save your template. Make 3 copies of your template using Shift+D. We will now go to the next page to do the animation.