Animated Lava Lamp
by kim@pixelbit.com

This tutorial is copyrighted.
Feel free to visit as often as you like, but don't steal my work.

Open an new transparent image 400 X 400.

Use your selection tool, shape set to triangle.
Make a triangle on your image the size that you would like the glass part of your lave lamp.
Fill your selection with a green/blue gradient.

While still selected, apply Eye candy 4000 / twist, using the low twist preset.

While still selected, CTRL + F to float. Apply cutout with the settings shown below.

Deselect.
In your layer palette, lower to opacity to 50%.
Merge Flatten.

Promote your image back to a layer. Use your magic wand tool. click on the white areas and delete.

Select all, float. Apply the same cutout but reduce the opacity to 45%.

Defloat. Copy and paste as a new image. This will get rid of any unneeded transparency.
Press CTRL + L 8 times to create 8 more identical layers, for a total of 9.
In your layer palette, turn OFF all layers except the bottom one. Make the bottom layer active.

Open a new image, same size.
Use your preset shape tool.
Select preset shapes in the preset shape menu and select ellipse.
The reason for this is if you use the ellipse in the preset shape menu, you will be unable to reshape it.
If you choose preset shapes from the menu and select ellipse, you will be fine.
In your color palette, set your foreground color to null, set your background to a light color. Create as vector checked.
Draw an ellipse.

Make your pen tool active. Grab the 4 nodes around the ellipse and stretch them out to reshape them.

In your layer palette, convert your vector layer to raster.
Apply eye candy 4000 > Glass using the Indigo preset.

Change the color to one slightly darker then the color that you started with.

Make your selection tool active. Copy.
Make your lamp image active and paste as a new layer.
If your bubble is too big, resize, make sure that resize all layers is unchecked.
Place your bubble at the very bottom of your lamp. It's ok if it is only partially on the image (as shown below). Merge down.

Make your bubble image active again. Undo twice till you are back to a vector layer.
Distort the bubble some more.
Convert to raster.
Apply the same glass effect.
Make selection tool active.
copy.

In your layer palette, paste as a new layer. Use your mover tool to place it just above the previous bubble.
Turn layer 8 on. Slide layer 10 (the new bubble) above layer 8. Merge down.

ok lets go through one more layer, then all of the layers except layer 9 will be done the same way.
make your bubble image active.
Undo 2 times to get back to a vector layer.
Distort your bubble some more.
Convert to raster.
Apply Glass effect.
Make selection active, copy.
Make your lamp image active.
Paste as a new layer.
Your new bubble layer will always be layer 10.
Use your mover tool to place your new bubble slightly higher then the previous bubble.
In your layer palette, turn on the next layer.
Move layer 10 above the layer that you just turned on.
Merge down.

When you get to layer 7 and 8, you may need to use the deformation tool to keep the bubble contained within the glass.

Remember. layer 9 does NOT get a bubble.

Change your canvas size to 400 X 600, the up position arrow checked.

You may see a part of a bubble here and there sticking out.
Make layer 9 active, select all, float, defloat.
Selections > invert.
Go through all of the other layers and press delete.

Deselect.
Make layer 9 active. Make a new layer named "casing"
Use your selection tool set to rectangle.
Make a rectangle, as shown below, the same width as the triangle bottom.
Fill with a metal gradient. Deselect.

Use your deformation tool. Press and hold your CTRL key.
Grab one of the bottom corner nodes and push inward slightly.

In your layer palette, duplicate your casing layer. CTRL + I to flip.
Use your mover tool to place it directly under the previous casing layer.
Merge down.

Make a new layer. Use your selection tool, still set to rectangle.
Make a rectangle that is the same width as the very top of the lamp, as shown below.

Fill with your metal gradient.
deselect.
Use the same deformation technique to make the top narrower.

Apply the deformation, merge down. Now all 3 casing pieces are on the same layer.
Apply the inner bevel settings shown below.

In your layer palette, make the casing layer active, copy and paste as a new image, delete the casing layer.
What we have done is separate your image into 2. One image contains the metal casing, the other image contains the lamp.

Save the lamp image in psp format.
Make the casing image active, copy.

Open Animation shop.
Press CTRL + V to paste your casing as a new image.
File > Preferences > general Program Preferences > Layered Files.
Make sure that "Keep layers as separate frames" is checked. Click ok.
Open your lamp image.
Move the scroll bar all the way to the right and verify that you have 9 frames.
(If you don't, you left some of the layers off in psp and
you have to go back and turn them on again, resave and open again in animation shop.)
Make your casing image active. Duplicate your frames until you have 9.

Select all (CTRL + A) and copy
make the lamp image active. Select all. Paste into selected (CTRL + E)
place the casing onto the lamp in exactly the right place. If you get it wrong, undo and try again.

Double click on the crop tool. In the crop properties, click ok surround opaque, click ok.
In the toolbar, click crop.

Almost done.
Select all. Press ALT + ENTER.
Change the speed to 40.

The only thing left to do is resize to your liking and you're done.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial. If you have any comments, email me at:

kim@pixelbit.com