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This lesson demonstrates how to make an animated snow globe and requires the Free Adrenaline Snowflakes Filter, which can be found Here. Once downloaded, install it into Photoshop’s Plugin Filters file - my Installing Plugins lesson is Here.
Undo and Navigation Steps
Two ways of undoing steps are from the top menu, Edit then Step Backwards. Alternatively, click a previous snapshot in the History Palette.
Navigate (zoom in and pan) your image using the Navigator Palette,
or the Zoom Tool. 
Activate The Hand Tool by tapping the Spacebar, keeping the Spacebar pressed, pan your image in the usual way. 
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Download the snow globe assets Here. Unzip the file and open all assets onto Photoshop’s workspace.
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Now, open a New (Transparent) document, and set the following attributes. This is to accommodate the snow globe, and will be cropped later.
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Then from the toolbar, activate the Elliptical Marquee Tool, and (Shift) drag a circular marquee over the snow scene image.
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Activate The Move Tool  , and literally drag the circular marquee onto the transparent image.
 
You can safely discard the large snow scene.
Important
The size of your circular snow scene (above), represents the final size of the glass globe. Therefore, now is the time to reduce its size - if you wish. To reduce its size, from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Free Transform. Remember to Sharpen your image after resizing.
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Now, activate the glass globe image, and drag it onto the circular image.
You can safely discard the original globe.
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Activate the glass globe layer. 
Then from the top menu, choose Edit then choose Free Transform. Now, resize the glass globe so it precisely covers the snow scene circle.
Tip
You will find it easier if you activate the snow layer, then apply the transformation box to it. Adjusting the globe, and the image - one at a time - will provide a better fit.
When you have arranged the glass over the globe to fit precisely, click the Commit transform tick to effect the change.
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Drag and reposition the silver snow base - resizing it to fit the globe, using the Free Transform tool.
 
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Then drag the base’s layer to the bottom of the layer stack.
 
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From the toolbar, activate the Crop Tool and crop away the transparent space around your globe.
 
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From the Layers palette, click to remove the eye icons from both the glass globe and silver base layers - this temporarily hides the layer’s visibility. You should just have the circular snow image visible on your canvas.
 
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From the top menu, choose Image then choose Duplicate, reply OK to the Duplicate Layer dialogue. Repeat the Image then Duplicate steps, (once) and you will have three identical images open on Photoshop’s workspace.
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Now, activate the Magic Wand Tool and surround each circular image with a marquee. Then from the top menu choose Select then choose Inverse. Now just the images are surrounded by a marquee. You now have three identical images, each with selection marquees surrounding the snow scenes.
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Ensure the circular image is active in the Layers palette. Layers Tutorial.
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It is time to apply the snow, therefore, activate the first image - it should still be surrounded by a marquee. Then from the top menu choose VDL Adrenaline, then choose Snowflakes.
For a successful animation, you must apply uniquely positioned snowflakes, inside each globe.
Therefore, activate image 1 and apply my snowflake settings above, or your own
choice. Then activate images 2 and 3 (consecutively), and apply slightly increased Random Seed settings to them. Remember to activate the circular image in each layer before applying the snowflakes.
Note
For personal snow effects - for example, to create larger flakes, with different intensities and colours, play with all settings.
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When you are satisfied with your snow effect, remove the marquee from each globe. Then click to return the eye icons to the silver base and glass globe layers - this must be carried out to all three images. Then Merge Visible the layers of all three globes. Your Layers palette and three images, will then resemble the following.
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Activate the Move Tool, and press the Shift arrow key of the keyboard, and keep it pressed. Now, drag the second globe onto the first, Then drag the third globe onto the first. Your first globe should now have three layers, and each globe will have uniquely positioned snow. You can discard snow globes two and three, if you wish.
Note
Keeping the Shift key pressed ensures each globe is layered over one another, exactly.
17/ Photoshop CS and CS2 only
Now, click the Open in Image Ready icon. 
Your three-layered image will open in Image Ready.
General optimising/saving animations lesson - CS, CS2, CS3 & Extended - here
Experiment with different snow scenes (and snow) to personalise your globe.
Wendi E M Scarth. Top of Page - Home.
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