We shall now insert the snow, and make the three frames for the image.

First, we must recover the selection of the globe area. In the Easy Palette click on the second button from the left (star above a folder) and check Image Library. If the Mask tab is not already selected click on it, and scroll down to the bottom where you will find the snowglobe mask we created earlier. (You will not have the other masks you see in this picture - they are some I have made while working with other images).

Make sure your snowglobe is the current image, double click on the snowglobe mask and the globe area will be selected.

We need to be sure that not even one pixel of snow strays outside the globe so use Edit/Selection/Expand&Shrink/ and set it to shrink by one pixel, select circular and click OK

Now click on Effect/Creative/Particle, and select the fourth button along, the snow. Set the variables as shown in the picture below.

You will have to type in the density figure. The slider moves it by hundreds at a time and the small arrows make only tiny negligible changes.

The Particle Parameters together control the 'look' of the flakes, and especially the density of their colour. We cannot have them too stark a white, because although they are in reality superimposed on top of the glass of the globe, they have to look as though they are behind it.

Click OK at this box to return to the snowglobe with the flakes in place. Use Edit/Selection/Merge All.

Now use Web/Smart Saver and set the image type to GIF. Click the Mask Options tab and use the settings shown below. It is important for Adjacent Colour Only to be checked, because there is a lot of white in the image which we do not want transparent. Scroll the left image across to the right so that you can see the background area, as in this picture - the right picture will follow. Hold down the CTRL key, and the hand moving tool will change to an eyedropper. Place it in the background area of the left image and click. That will make the whole background transparent in the web browser.

Click Save As and save the picture as frame1.gif.

Return to your snowglobe image and click the Undo button twice, which will remove the snow but leave the globe selected. Use Effect/Creative/Particle and return to the snow particle filter. Don't change any of the settings, but just click the Random button once. The flakes will change position in your globe. Click OK, and then use Edit/Selection/Merge All and the Web Smart Saver again exactly as before except that you save this frame as frame2.gif. Don't forget that you must set the background colour transparent in every frame.

Repeat this last step once more to save frame3.gif. We now have all that is needed to make the animation.