You'll need to start by finding a good photo of something you'd like to use, preferably a landscape (can be a cityscape or a seascape) to give it a Globe or Earth appearance. One thing to keep in mind is the presence of FOREGROUND, MIDDLEGROUND, and BACKGROUND: it will help boost your scene and make it more interesting when it's wrapped in a globe.

See the "GOOD" and "BAD" examples below--- if you have both sides being similar, it makes it easier to line up the image when you turn it into the round globe/planet at the end

***REMEMBER TO LOOK AT RESOLUTION!! If it's a low resolution, the image will be fuzzy and pixelated if you try to zoom in.

1. Open your image in GIMP. Duplicate your background layer and hide it (Uncheck the Eye Icon)

2. Crop your image so you have an even balance of sky and land (if necessary)

Seamless Joint:

​3. With your Rectangle Selection tool. Select a rectangle from top to bottom on one side of your image. go to Select-->Float.

Create a New Layer and Duplicate it

(See these steps 1st-5th)

4. Move the Floated Layer Copy over to the other side of your image.

Add Layer Mask to the Floated Layer Copy (right or control click on the layer and select "add layer mask")

5. Double check that your layer window looks like this

6. Using the BLEND Tool (Tools-->Paint Tools-->Blend Tool) click and drag in short spurts from left to right across the seam between your original image and your floated layer. Be sure to check your tool settings (Gradient should be FG-->Transparent or black to transparent, and the shape should be linear.)

7. Be sure to adjust your opacity so that the layer looks blended with your image

8. The right side of your picture should now resemble the left side.

9. Apply Layer Mask (right/control click-->apply layer mask)

Merge down your layers until you are back to two layers....your original image (hidden) and your edited version

10. Resizing to a square image: We will need a square image so go to IMAGE-->SCALE IMAGE

Uncheck the proportions lock.

Change your longest dimension to match your shortest (i.e. 1064 X 700 Pixels-->700 X 700 Pixels)

11. To make the "Planet" go to FILTERS-->DISTORTS-->POLAR COORDINATES...settings are at 100 and 180 (See image below)

• make sure the box that says "TO POLAR" is the only box selected

​12. Notice that there is a seam...the picture does not perfectly flow in a circle. We will now Retouch this area so the image is "seamless".

First --Rename your circular layer GLOBE and (right click) duplicate it.

13. ​Rotate the top "Globe Layer" 90 Degrees

​Layer-->Transform-->Rotate 90 Degrees Clockwise

14. Add a Layer Mask and make it White

15. Use the Blend/Gradient Tool.

Check your TOOL OPTIONS!!! Make sure that it is set at FG-->Transparent and a radial shape

16. With short strokes, blend the line/seam. You may have to undo a lot of these small moves if the look off.

Command+Z for Macs and CTRL+Z for Windows/Chromebook will be your friend FOR UNDO!

17. Apply the Layer Mask and merge the two Layers together

18. Your final image should be seamless!

Wait... there's more!!

19. Now you can add a set of hands or a hand holding your "planet".

Three options:

• Look up a hands image (similar to these ones, where the hand looks like it's holding a sphere) on any Free Stock Photos website, save it as a .JPG

• Find your own set of hands to use by taking your own photo

• Save one of these images as a .JPG and use it in your photo

20. Create a new Layer, label it HANDS and insert the image in to the layer.

click and drag your hand layer onto your stereographic image. make sure the hand layer is on top

21. Using your lasso tool, select only the hands in the image.

Go to Edit-->Copy and Edit-->Paste to create a new layer.

Next, Right/Control Click on your Floating Selection and click "To New Layer".

22. Using your Scale Tool (scale) adjust the size of both your planet and your hands so that they fit together

23. Now you can play around with some background images!

When you are finished, make sure you EXPORT it and save it as:

"DA-Your Name-Gimp Globe" and make sure it is saved as a .JPG or a .PNG file

Submit it to Google Classroom when you are completed!!!