Animated Floating Ball/Orbit
1. First, create a new layer. Then make a black circle around
50x50 pixels. Any smaller and the detailing will be harder, and any
larger it'll be harder to make it look detailed with all that space.
2. Make the circle a different color, such as a
light blue as shown below. Then, create another circle, but this
time, choose white as the color and make the size 2x2 pixels smaller
than the previous circle, so that you can see the other circle under
it. Move it over the bottom circle, but make sure the edges aren't
touching each other at the top. You want to leave a small space to
create that shine effect.
3. Take the eraser tool, set the size so it's
slightly larger than the circles (in this case, maybe around 55x55
pixels) and the setting to really soft, then go over the top circle
a bit until it looks like the below. Now, it's starting to look like
an orb.
4. Duplicate the top circle, flip it vertically, and
move it down to the bottom of the orb. Make it touch the edge this
time. Also, be sure to tone the transparency of the circle to around
30% or 40% so it's not too strong.
5. Now, you have your orb complete. The next two
steps are completely optional, but if you want to have the floating
effect, continue on. Make a new layer, and create a black oval
similar to the one below. This will be the orb's shadow. Use a blur
filter to soften the oval a bit for a "shadow" effect.
6. Move the shadow behind all the other layers, and
place it under the orb as shown below. This will give the effect of
it floating. Animation is again, completely optional, so if you want
to go that extra step, create 4 frames. In frame 1, have the orb
stay where it is. In frame 2, make the orb move upwards 1 pixel, and
again in frame 3. In frame 4, make it go down 1 pixel. When you play
it, it should look like the animation shown below. If it moves too
fast, lower the frame rate to about 35 milliseconds per frame. Don't
like the outcome? Mess with the amount of frames and frame rate
until you get something you like.
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