Animated Plasma Light

Create a folder named light animation where you want to save your work. Open a new image 300 x 300 with a transparent background. Activate your Preset Shapes tool and choose a cylinder with the retain style and create as vector options of enabled.

Place your cylinder near the bottom. I have mine placed at 93,216 to 199,267. These numbers can be found at the lower left of your PSP screen. If you find trying to adjust to all of those number too tedious just place it near the bottom centered as shown below. Just don't move it once after you've completed the next step.

Go to you Layer Palette Panel and duplicate your first layer by right clicking your mouse and choosing duplicate layer. Go to Image and flip your duplicated layer. Merge your visible layers. This will change that layer from vector to raster.

Create a new raster layer. With your selection tool make a rectangle selection to fill in between the two cylinders.Make sure that your rectangle goes into the cylinders instead of just to the edge of the top and bottom as shown.

Flood fill this layer with black.Leave the area selected and create a new raster layer.

Apply KPT Shape Shifter to this layer using a clear preset. If you don't have one you may use the preset used for this tutorial which can be downloaded above. To import the preset just unzip it into a file of your choice then activate the presets interface of Shape Shifter by clicking the button as show below and import the preset. To make your own clear preset adjust the opacity way down and use a light gray or white native environment. Then adjust your sliders to obtain a bevel that looks like what you would like. On the texture are apply none.

Leave the area selected after applying shape shifter. In fact leave it selected until much later. Turn off your shape shifter layer by clicking on the glasses in your layer selections. A red x will appear and you will see the black layer again.

Activate the black layer that you just made then create another raster layer. Apply lightening. Use the Crackling over a surface preset.

In the Preview area you can move the bolt where the heavy portion is not as visable just by grabbing it with your mouse and moving it.

Turn off the layer you just made and make another layer. Repeat the application of Lightening on a new layer 4 more times moving the bolt to a differnent area with each application. You should now have a cylinder layer, a black layer, 5 lightening layers and a shape shifter layer.

Activate your layer that has the cylinders. That should be your first layer. Duplicate this layer and bring this layer to the top. Deselect your selected rectangle. Apply a new selection with the elipse option of the selection tool. Place your elipse on the inner part of the top of the cylinder as shown.

Hit delete and delete the selected area. Repeat this on the bottom portion of your top cylinder. Do not do this to the bottom layer of cylinders. Deselect all.