quasi_stomach

I was trying to copy the bubble in the Vista screensaver, and this is how it turned out. Maybe I could do my own tut...heh, heh, heh. I made it pure black on purpose, since this allowed me to color it in the screensaver I was writing, but even the black one looks nice on a bright-colored background.

Thanks, Picc84! Also, sometimes when I add a picture, like in turtle picture #2 I duplicate the layer, gaussian blur the lower layer, anywhere up to about 20, anything higher gives diminishing returns. I then change the opacity of the original layer until I get a "blurriness" i like. Then I merge the layers and sometimes mess with the colors to up the blue...but sometimes I don't.

I like to draw a gradient between medium and very dark blues from a top corner(light) to the opposite bottom corner (dark). This will be the "base layer." Then on a new layer I add very light (I use white) lines radiating from the light corner toward the dividing line in the gradient. I then blur the lines with a gaussian blur (between 10 and 30ish), then an unfocus blur (I use between 30 and 50). Next I add a new layer and create some clouds with a very high scale and low roughness and Difference blending (like the fire tutorial). I set the layer to overlay blending and sometimes reapply the cloud effect if I want a little more of a satiny finish. I then merge the cloud layer and gradient layer. I add one more layer with clouds again, same settings, but usually I don't run the effect more than once. I set the blending to overlay as well. This layer is to allow different effect when adding fish, rocks, coral, etc. I will change the base layer blending to something like additive or overlay, and place underwater object either between the cloud layer and base layer, or under both layers. I get some interesting effects. I can't figure out how to add a picture...can anyone help me?