how to create a christmas tree with blinking lights · web viewcreate another new layer called...

PHOTOSHOP – CHRISTMAS TREE

How to Create a Christmas Tree with blinking lights using Photoshop.

Begin by creating a new document 360X 600 pixels.

Create a new blank layer and call it Tree and make it active..

Select the Custom Shape Tool. Then choose the triangle shape from the Custom Shape Picker. If you don't see a triangle, use the drop down menu and select “shapes” or "All".

Make sure that your paths button is selected.


Now drag your mouse until you get a triangle with a Christmas tree looking shape to it. Remember that if you press the space bar when dragging, you will be able to move the triangle without stopping. Make sure to leave a little room on the bottom for the trunk.

On the layers window, click on the paths tab, then right click on the work path and choose Make Selection. Set the Feather radius 0 pixels. Your triangle should now be a selection and have the marching ants around the border.


Click on the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button. You now should have a pink background indicating that you are in this mode.

Go to the Filter menu>Filter Gallery>Brush Strokes>Sprayed Strokes and make the following settings.

Click on the Edit in Standard Mode button and click on the Layers tab to go back to normal view.


Select a green for your foreground color which will be used for the tree (you can try color 009933 if you can’t find a good one). Fill your tree with the green and deselect.

Create another new layer called Trunk.

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and drag the mouse to create the trunk. Choose a brown for your trunk and fill it. You can try color 663300 if you can’t find one you like.

Deselect everything and then move your Trunk layer below the tree layer.


Now create a new layer called Blue Lights. This should be your first layer and it is active..

Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and use the following settings:

Make a small circle towards the top of the tree. Remember to hold the shift key down while dragging to a perfect circle.

Select a shade of blue for the foreground color and fill the circle.

Deselect everything. Remember you are make lights, so keep that in mind when you are making this ball as this will be the size of all the rest.

Create a Layer Style and select Blending Options. Use the following settings and click OK


Duplicate the Blue Lights layer and name it Yellow Lights. Open Layers Styles and use the following settings:

Duplicate the Yellow Lights layer and name it Red Lights. Open the Layers Styles and use the following settings:


With the Red Lights layer active, move the ball somewhere else on the tree. Make the Yellow Layer active and move the Yellow ball some place else

Duplicate the Blue Lights layer four to eight times depending on the size of your light.. Move the copies of the blue lights to new places on the tree. Now, going back to the Red Lights layer and duplicate the Red lights layer the same as the Blue Lights and move them to new locations. Repeat this process for the Yellow Lights layer. You may want to lock your tree layer while dragging the lights around.

Once you have the lights where you want them, you need to merge all these layers into one to keep things as simple as possible.

Select all of your Blue Light Layers and merge them into one layer. Rename the merge layer Blue Lights

Repeat this process for the Yellow lights, and again for the Red lights. Rename each layer back to their original names, Yellow Lights and Red Lights. You may want to create all of your light layers first so you have control over the placement of the lights. Once you merge a layer, all the lights on that layer will move together. With any luck at all you will have something like this.


Now we have to make the glowing frames of each color before we can create the blinking animation. Duplicate the blue lights layer, and name it Blue Bright. Making sure you have Blue Bright layer active, click on the Layer Styles button and select Outer Glow section this time. On the color tile, select a lighter shade of blue, and use the settings shown below.

Repeat this process for the Yellow Bright


Select the Red Bright and repeat the same process.

Now that you have all of our frames that you will need for the animation, you to go to Windows>Workspace>Motion

Now go to the layers palette, and turn off the layer Blue Bright, and Yellow Bright layers. Leave all other layers on for now. You should see your first frame, and it should have the red lights looking bright.


Click the drop down arrow and select Create Frame Animation

From the flyout menu in the animation window select New Frame.

Turn off the Red Bright layer, and turn on the Yellow Bright Layer. Now you should have a second frame showing the yellow lights looking bright.

Add a new frame, turn off the Yellow Bright Layer, and turn on the Blue Bright layer. You should have 3 frames now, one with the red lights bright, one with the yellow lights bright, and one with the blue lights bright.

At this point you can hit the play button to view your animation. It will probably be a very quick crazy blinking action, which maybe you like.


You can add a new frame if you which where all the lights are turned out (turn off all the bright layers)

If you wish to slow it down, increase the time each frame stays on. At the bottom of each frame it shows a time. Currently they say 0 sec as you can see in the picture above. Use the drop down menu and change the time. If you control click each frame, it will select all of them, and when you change the time on one, it will change the time for every frame. You should try some of the different times.

Under the frames make sure to select forever so the lights will be in an infinite loop.

Now you will need to save your animation. It will need to be saved as a GIF file.

how to create a christmas tree with blinking lights · web viewcreate another new layer called...

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