WebDevTutorial: Photoshop Tutorials / Effects / Create a Shiny Disco Globe

Learn this simple little effect to create disco globes!

Written By Ed
8/27/2006

Product:
Create a Shiny Disco Globe Product

Downloads:
Product Source File

Tutorial:
Create a New Transparent Document. Size of the canvas is optional, but for my example, I used a 500 x 500 Pixel Canvas.

Fill ( Fill Tool

) the canvas with white. Then at the top menu, choose Filter > Render > Clouds. A dark cloudy background should appear on your canvas now. Next in the top menu, Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint. A window should appear, choose the options as below and click Ok.

Mezzotint Options

After that, once again in the top menu choose Filter > Blur > Radical Blur. Another menu should popup, this time set Amount to 50, Blur Method to Zoom and Quality to Good.

Radical Options

Now, your image should be somewhat in zoom blur, but you would like it to be a bit more smooth. Therefore now you can either click Cntrl+F or go to the top menu and choose Filter > Blur > Radical Blur and use the same settings as before.

The next step is to use the Polar Coordinates filter in the Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates. Have it set to Rectangular to Polar in the radio button setting as viewed below.

Now, you should have a wierd upside down heart shaped image in black and white. Duplicate that layer by right clicking on the layer and choosing duplicate layer. Press Ok when the duplicate window pops up. The next step involves flipping the image vertically. With the duplicated layer selected, go to the top menu Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.

After that, you should now duplicate the layer again and rotate it 90 degrees by going to the top menu Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CW. With the original layer once again, rotate it 90 degrees counter clock wise so go to the top menu Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 CCW.

With all this done, now we merge all of the layers except the background layer and duplicate the layer. With the duplicated layer, go to Filters > Pixelate > Mosaic. The cell square should be 8. With the same layer selected, go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen. Press Cntrl + F to use the sharpen filter again.

You should now have a crystal looking ball on your canvas and you may choose to add some more effects to it. Try out new things or alter different values of this tutorial to get some new products!

Good luck Everyone!