North Pole Sign Page 2

8. Right click on the ball dark layer and choose "duplicate". Image--->Mirror. Apply the EC 4000 Glass using the MSR_ballglass preset to each of the ball layers.

Now, turn off all layers except the two ball layers and merge these two, renaming the merged layer to "balls dark".

9. If you are going to animate your ball, duplicate the ball dark layer and rename the duplicate layer to "balls light". If you are not going to animate, then skip this step and disregard anything else to do with the light ball layers.

10. On the ball light layer, Colours--->Adjust--->Brightness/Contrast and enter 40 for Brightness, 0 for Contrast.

Note for EC users: the reason we are applying the EC to each of the two right layers separately (instead of duplicating and mirroring the left layers) is to keep the highlight in the left corner - when you mirror it, the highlight would be in the right corner which is not realistic.

11. Turn off all but the two ball layers and merge visible those, renaming the merged layer to "balls dark". Do the same for the balls light layers - turn all other layers off and merge them renaming the merged layer "balls light". Turn all layers back on.

Here is how my layers look now:

12. Add a new layer and name it "outer sign". With the selection tool, same settings, draw a rectangle from 119, 245 to 480, 444 and flood fill with the red you used for the stripes.

13. Selections--->Modify--->Contract by 10. Selections--->Save to alpha channel. Edit--->Clear or hit your "Delete" key. Deselect.

14. Apply the same inner bevel. I wanted my red to be closer to the red in the post stripes so I adjusted the Brightness by -8. If necessary, adjust the position of the outer sign with the mover tool - I had to move it to the right just a tiny bit.

15. Add a new layer and name it "inner sign". Drag this layer to below the outer sign layer. Selections--->Load from alpha channel and load the selection you saved in step #12. Selections--->Modify--->Expand by 1 and flood fill with white. Deselect.

16. Add a new layer and name it "text1". With your text tool, in the font and size of your choice, add the wording you want, using as many layers as you need and using the colour of your choice - I stuck with the red and used the "Loki-Cola" font. Apply the inner bevel to your text and if you wish, darken it with the Brightness/Contrast.

If you are not going to animate yours, you can delete the bottom layer, merge the rest and you have your North Pole Sign! If you are going to animate, continue to the next page.

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