Spinning Hex Globe

I wanted to quickly answer a question by one of our readers from yesterday.  Shinobicow wanted to know whether it was possible to make the Hex Globe map depicted on the right into a spinning globe. 

The short answer is yes, it most certainly can be done.  How to do it would require a much longer answer and I am generally terrible at tutorials.   It involves converting your hex map into a smart object and using the animation menu which can be found under the windows menu. 

 

I had to make a few small modifications to the above map to demonstrate, but here is an example of a spinning globe map made in photoshop.  

I don't make too many animated maps, but if you have taken time to map our an entire world in painstaking detail then why not create a cool spinning globe with it? 

As I said I'm not very good with tutorials, but here is a rundown of the steps you need to take

• Have your basic map set.
• Create a new document.
• In the new document add a new layer and make it a smart object.
• Double click on the smart object icon in layers pane to begin workin in the object.
• Drag your original map into the smart object layer.
• Use the animation menu to move the picture from left to right (or right to left if you prefer)
• Save the smart object.
• Turn your map into a globe using the spherize filter (Filter>Distort>Spherize).
• Use the eliptical marquee tool to select only the globe.
• Add a layer mask to cover up the non-globe parts
• Save the project as a Gif using the "Save for Web & Devices Option"
• Select Forever looping.
• Save and enjoy.