Make It Shimmer

Lesson Index for those who are just joining in

Things you will need.

Dots and Sparkles

Note - I got the dots & sparkles from this page & there are a lot more pretty sparkles here - but the page loads real slooooooooow! And you need to source for the links.

Valetntine Dings from MsM

I was playing aound trying to find a way to use these dots, and came upon a cool thing for the sparkle instead. It creates a shimmer effect, hence the name of the tute. Didn't want to leave the poor little dots out in the cold, so they are in here, too. They actually make an interesting effect, but not as cool as the sparkle.

Choose your dots or sparkle & CCP the url into your find box.

Choose your ding & CCP the url.

At Image Magic, make a 300 x 300 xc. Type none in the meta box for a transparent background.

Go to annotate. Choose a letter that will give you a heart with an outline instead of a solid center. See example at top of the page. If you want to be able to put your name in the center, make the point size large - 150-200.

Go to EFFECTS. Choose spread. If using a darker color insert make your spread 10x10. If using a lighter color make it 15x15.

If desired, go to annotate and write your name in font of your choice.

Go to composite and comp the dot or sparkle using ATOP. Check the "tile across & ... box".

Output as a gif, mult-ifile and take it to Gifworks.

For some reason, most probably because of the spread, there are a few tiny little dots at the top of the image. So, smart cropping doesn't work. You'll need to CROP it the regular way.

Sparkle Example Dot Example

But, wait! We're not done. LQQKY--> Puffy Heart

Make a transparent xc. Annotate the heart. Spread at 10x10. Output as gif and CCP the temporary url.

Scroll up and click VIEW. Go to the paint function and use reset, color=black. Comp the heart over.

Go to effects and choose blur at 10x10.

Comp the sparkle using multiply.

Output as a gif, multi-file. Take to Gifworks and smart crop, then optimize.

Voila! A puffy heart