Lunar Eclipse Animation, Beginner-Intermediate Options

[.:Mike:.]

Lunar Eclipse Animation


Step 1 - The Moon

we are going to create the moon.

open up a new document any size you want. Fill the background with black.


first select your "Elliptical Marquee Tool" and draw a circle, Hold SHIFT down to make a perfect circle. Fill this circle with White.
Caution: DONT MAKE THE CIRCLE TOO BIG!
now you can make the circle any color you want. I suggest white because thats the color of the moon.
now go into blending options to do so right click moon layer>blending options.
now click on "outer glow" and use the following settings:

Structure
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Noise: 0%
Color: White (#FFFFFF) or any color you want

Elements
Techniquer: Softer
Spread: 7
Size: 27



Step 2 - The eclipse

Making the black eclipse.

This part of the tutorial is the easyest.

First duplicate the moon layer you just made. Now go into the blending options and turn of "outer glow"
MAKE SURE THERES NO CHECK BESIDE WHERE IT SAYS OUTER GLOW.

now click on color overlay and make it black.
right click on the eclipse layer and click "raster layer"

now your done this step

You should have something like this:



Step 3 - The Eclipse Animation

start up image ready.

now click on the black circle layer. The drag it down and to the left of the moon so you cant see it anymore.
Hint: Try to remember where you put the circle

click on the little arrow (>) and click on "New Frame"

now you click on the frame you just made and drag the black circle into the middle of the moon.

now click on the first frame and hit the tween button (the one next to the fast forward arrow)

and make the tween 100 like i did which is the slowest it can go. If you want the eclipse to go faster
the make the number smaller.

now go to the last frame and click on it. now click on the little arrow (>) and click on "New Frame"
and in the new frame drag the black circle in the same diaginal as you were the first time. and if you did like i said before u should drag the black circle up and to the left diagonaly until you cant see it anymore.

now click on the last frame and hit the tween button and make it the same number as before.


Extra Step - Pausing the Middle (optional)

ok i didnt do this but it is just an extra step you might want to do. find the frame that has the black cicle right in the middle of the moon then go and click on the little arrow (>) and click on "New Frame" a bunch of time and it will copy that frame. if you do this when you play the animation it will pause a little when the eclipse goes in the middle.

When your happy with your creation go to file>save optimized as

NOW YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR ECLIPSE! HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

heres my result: