Exploding Puzzle Globe Part II

Tutorial: The Exploding Puzzle Globe Part II

Welcome to the great Exploding Puzzle Globe 3 part tutorial series. This is where we’ll take an ordinary planet, apply a jigsaw, add an energy explosion and get a cool effect:

This is the second part. Which follows the first part but comes before the third part. In fact it sits right between those two. It is in fact the very second part. Clear? I hope so. Let's get moving, we've got  puzzle globes to explode!

 

 

 

Part II: Shaking Things up!

Welcome back! Thanks for calling. If you followed Part I: Carving a Planet you should have something that resembles the picture here.

So now we have a puzzle globe that’s fully assembled, but as impressive as that is, it would look even more dynamic with some pieces taken away to really sell the illusion. It’s here’s where all that hard work with those silly paths will start to really pay off

Step One:

Duplicate the PuzzleFront layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer…) and call it “MissingPieces” this is the layer where we will collect the pieces removed from the puzzle globe so we can use them later. On the MissingPieces layer, delete the vector mask (Layer>Vector Mask>Delete) and turn off the layer’s visibility.

 

Step Two:
Select the PuzzleFront layer’s vector mask and using the Path Selection Tool hold down the Shift key and select several puzzle pieces (about a dozen or so) to remove, but DO NOT PRESS DELETE! We don’t want to throw those pieces away, we want to save them for later. so press Ctrl/Cmd+X to Cut them, not Delete. You just pressed Delete didn't you? Sigh. Then undo that (Ctrl/Cmd+Z) and try again.

Select the still invisible MissingPieces layer, hit Ctrl/Cmd+V to Paste the cut pieces onto the layer.

Make those paths the vector mask for that layer by pressing Layer>Vector Mask>Current Path

So now we have a puzzle globe with missing pieces. You can turn the visibility on and off for each of the layers to see that the missing pieces are really there, just separated onto a different layer. Go ahead and try it, I’ll wait…

Pretty neat huh? But removing those pieces means we now have to make a back side of the globe that will probably have missing pieces too. But don’t worry; it’s a background element, so we’ll do this one the easy way.

 

Step Three:

Turn off the visibility for all the current layers

Create a new layer (Layer>New) just above the background layer and name it BackPieces.

Ctrl/Cmd+Click the PuzzleFront layer icon to create a circle selection again and fill it with the same PuzzleColorTile (Edit>Fill…) Press Ctrl/Cmd+D to Deselect.

 

Step Four:

Run the Spherize filter (Filter>Distort>Spherize) but make the amount -100 to give the impression of the reverse side of the sphere.

Step Five:

Scale (Edit>Transform>Scale) the layer back up to match the size of the other layers. (You will probably need to toggle the visibility of the PuzzleFront layer to get the size right)

OK, now since this is a background element, we don’t need to worry about making it a sharp and clear as the foreground elements. In fact we actually want the background to be slightly out-of-focus to help the foreground stand out.

 

Step Six:

Use the Magic Wand Tool (make sure Contiguous is checked) and hold down Shift to select several pieces to be removed from the BackPieces layer. Now we turn that selection into a Layer Mask to hide those pieces. (Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection)

Soften the mask edge by clicking the layer mask thumbnail and adding a Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur…) of about 3 pixels.

Step Seven:

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style. Use a depth slightly lower than you used for the front pieces. This gives the impression of depth so the pieces don’t appear paper thin.

 

Step Eight:

Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style. Choose the Black to White Gradient, select Radial as the type and 150% as the Scale. This gives the back pieces a grey color as to appear like the back side of a puzzle.

You should now have a BackPieces layer that looks something like the image here. Notice how the Gradient Overlay Layer Style gives an added sense of depth without destroying the layer. If we wanted to select more pieces to remove, we can turn off the gradient and still use the magic wand tool on the multi-colored puzzle pieces

Step Nine:

Now turn on the visibility to the PuzzleFront layer to see how the globe is shaping up. Create a new layer (Layer>New) above the Background layer, name it “black” and fill it with black.

 

Now we have a Globe puzzle, front and back, with pieces missing. Slap it on a t-shirt, add an eco-themed slogan, whatever you want.

Or come back next time for Part III: “Form of Light! Shape of Kablooey!” where we’ll add some effects to polish this thing off.