I created this tutorial after doing the Antique Stove that Joyful Creations put out. After I sent it to a couple of groups that I am with the fire animated I had several people ask me how to do the animation so I thought I would do a tutorial on it. This tutorial will work for anything that has fire that you would like animated, such as a candle.

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7 and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP at a 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 any promises *S*

You will need:

JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE

Joyful Creations Antique Stove Tutorial ~~ You can get it HERE

Step 1:
When you complete Linda's tutorial make sure that you keep the layers UNmerged. We will be adding a couple of extra layers for the fire and then we will start the animation. Also, make sure that you still have Linda's fire image still minimized in PSP. This is what your layer palette should be similar to.

HiLite the fire layer and duplicate and this is what your palette should look like now. I won't show an image the next time we duplicate I'm sure you get the picture *S*

Step 2:
I reduced the AntiqueStove_fire image to 75% and sharpened. I then copied the fire and went back to my stove image. I also renamed by Copy of fire layer to Fire2. Make sure you are on the Fire 2 and press Ctrl+E to paste into selection. I also hid the narrow glass door layer so I could see where to place the flame a little easier. I brought the fire up just a bit from where the original flame was. Do this one more time and bring it up just a little more from where your first paste was. Mine looked like this.

Step 3:
Make sure that your copy of fire layer is hilighted and duplicate that layer. Do the same copy and paste routine but this time I pasted the flame 3 times. Once a little above the other flames, once in the middle of all flames, and once just a little below the other flames.

Step 4:
Make three copies of your image by pressing Ctrl+D. The reason I make three copies is because I like to save my originals in PSP format with all layers in tact just in case I want to go in and change anything at a later date. **grins**

Step 5:
Go to your first image and hide layers Fire 2 and copy of Fire2. Activate your top layer and go to layers-->merge-->merge visible. Save as a PSP extension. I named mine Image 1. This is what your layer palette should look like now.

Step 6:
Go to your second image and hide layers fire and copy of Fire2. Activiate your top layer and go to layers-->merge-->merge visible. Save as PSP extension. I named mine Image 2.

Step 7:
Go to your third image and hide layers fire and copy of Fire 2. Activate your top layer and go to layers-->merge-->merge visible. Save as PSP extension. I named mine Image 3.

Step8:
Now that we have everything merged and saved it is time to bring it into the Animation Shop. I have screenshots of what you should do below.

Where the arrow is pointed is where you start the animation Wizard.
This is the first screen you will see. Check the same size as the first image frame and press next.
Check Trasparent and then Next.
Check with Upper left corner of the frame and With the canvas color and go to next.
I set my time at 20, obviously you can set it whatever you want depending on how fast or how slow you want the animation to go. The lower the number the faster the animation.

After you click next you will add your animations. You can add them one at a time if you would like starting with Image 1, then add image again and enter Image 2 etc., but here is a quick and easy way to get them all at the same time. Click on add image and find the file where you saved your 4 image frames in. Hold down the control key on your keyboard and select image4, image3, image2, and image1 (if you select them in reverse, they will show up in the correct order in your animation window). Click on "Open" and the images will be showing in the frame box in the correct order as shown in the above illustration. Click Next.

Now click finish and it will bring up your images in animation. To see what your image will look like click on the filmstrip as shown in the illustration below.

Oops I know what you're thinking!! You're thinking "gee, my filmstrip pictures are a LOT bigger than this!" What you now need to do is resize the animation size because if we don't we are going to be way to big for displaying on your website or in any of your groups that you may belong to. *S* Go to Animation-->resize--> and make it 50% and have everything at the bottom checked.

To see what your animation looks like check on the filmstrip in the upper right hand corner and your animation will play for you. If you like what you see then go to file->save as and give your animation a file name. It will automatically save as a gif. Do not change the file extension as we can only animate a gif file.

Here's how mine turned out

I also did a wall sconce with a candle and animated that:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did making it *S*. If you have any comments or questions please do not hesitate to E-Mail me.

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If you would like to use this tutorial for group settings, please contact me. Just click on the above mail slot *S*

 

Tutorial written and created by Patti Wavinak for Moon's Designs. These Tutorials are copyrighted by law. You may LINK to them only. You may not remove any of the graphics, zip files or html within these pages to reproduce these Tutorials, without the expressed permission of Moon's Designs. These pages may not be removed from this website and sent via e-mail, nor saved, stored or archived in files in YahooGroups or other mailing list sites, nor may they be translated and placed on another site.
Creations made from these tutorials are your creations.

Moon's Designs holds the copyright to all selections, original tubes and original images that I have created and provided for use within my tutorials. Page backgrounds and images are created exclusively for this website and may not be downloaded or used without written permission.
If you would like to use any of my tutorials for group lessons please contact me.

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