New PanosFX Snow Globe Action - Free

[Lin Evans]

Panos of PanosFX has created a beautiful new snowglobe action for a Christmas present to his registered forum viewers. It's a free action and creates a very sophisticated globe which can be changed by the user to include a variety of different colors and so on.

See and download it here - register on the Panos FX site before downloading:

http://www.panosfx.com/

I've been working with Panos and have created a snow (and fire) animation for this new globe which was just released today. I have also created a brief tutorial in PC and Mac formats as well as demo's in both formats. Links are below as well as some basic instructions:

Download three of the following five files from the links provided. If you have a PC, you will want the PC demo and PC tutorial files plus the "snowglobefxprojectfiles.zip. If you have an Intel based MacIntosh and you are running Windows via Bootcamp or other dual OS enabling utility, then you will want to download the Mac native exe zipped tutorial, the Mac native exe zipped demo and the same snowglobefxprojectfiles.zip file as the Windows folks use.

Here are the links:

http://www.learntoma...1/sgdemomac.zip (MacIntosh demo file)

http://www.learntoma...tutorialmac.zip (MacIntosh tutorial file)

http://www.learntoma...rojectfiles.zip (Project files for either Mac or PC)

http://www.learntoma...11/sgdemopc.zip (PC demo file)

http://www.learntoma...gtutorialpc.zip (PC tutorial file)

http://www.learntoma...fxsg2011/sg.htm (800x600 video demo)

The above files are zipped. The Project Files will need to be extracted for the MacIntosh, but the demo and tutorial zips will play without extracting them on the MacIntosh

The PC versions will need to be extracted then play the exe files inside for the demo and tutorial.

Create a folder and extract the content of the Project files inside.

Watch the executable tutorial for an overview then:

Step 1. Create the Snow Globe

Next create your Photoshop PNG file using the new PanosFX SnowGlobe Action. If you plan to use the animated snow feature, then I suggest turning off "Reflection 2" via the Layers in Photoshop. The rather heavy reflection coupled with the snow overwhelms your picture inside the globe. Once you have your snowglobe, copy the file to the folder with your extracted project files for convenience.

Next open PTE, click on File, Open and navigate to the folder where you extracted the files and open the .pte file found there. You will find two identical slides set up for a two minute animated display. The snow animation runs properly in one minute intervals. You can copy and paste your slide as many times as necessary but it's best to not change one minute per slide intervals or the velocity of the falling snow will be affected.

Replace the image file as instructed in the tutorial with your own snowglobe creation. Delete the Mask Container containing the fire video if your image has no fireplace or other use for the fire animation. Either delete the PNG "frame" (which will undoubtedly not exactly fit your image unless adjusted as per the tutorial) or replace it with your own if you choose to in the same way you replaced the original snowglobe with your own.

Decide if you want the sound and music or not and handle as per the tutorial. Get your own slide one working properly, then delete the demo slide 2 and copy and paste your own slide one in its place if you want more than a one minute animation.

Step 2. Manipulate the Fire Animation if it's being used.

The way a mask and the video work together is like this. The mask "container" allows the entire assembly to be moved around in different locations. All three components (mask container, mask and video) may be moved and sized individually, but care must be taken that the "mask" be positioned around the boundaries of the video as seen by the green bounding rectangle. When the mask boundaries are "larger" than the video boundaries, the entire video area will be seen. When the mask is "squeezed" into the boundaries of the video, the mask will constrain what is visible. So if you adjust both you can position the fire animation anywhere on your image and use the mask to determine how wide and "tall" the flames will be. By adjusting both you have great flexibility in positioning and sizing your flames.

A little experimentation will quickly let you learn how to manipulate these two items for best effect. The video can also be changed in opacity so the fire could be extinguished or started at any time via keyframes. It's beyond the scope of this brief tutorial to explain keyframing, but if you need help, just post a message on the forum and I'll try to explain how to do more sophisticated things with your animation.

Finally: Once you have your animation working as you like (use the preview feature in PTE) then simply click on "Publish" at the top of your screen on the left - then choose the appropriate venue. You can create a Windows executable file, a native MacIntosh file (suggest using the create in zip option), an HD Video or several other options for iPad, iPhone, etc.

Merry Christmas from Lin and the folks at PicturesToExe. We hope you enjoy your animated globe and we wish to thank Panos for his amazing actions which make this all possible!

Lin Evans

December 2011