I was playing around with a Richard Rosenman filter (3d Sphere Generator v1.5) one day, and got an idea.

I made a 3d globe with Ulead GIF-X 2 plug-in, and did a lot of playing with the magic wand, selecting and making transparent, and applying the 3d sphere filter. I had to do it again with a reverse map to do the back side of the globe, which is a separate object. That's why I could sandwich the helmet in there.

Lots of work, but a cool result!