oneredpanther
17th Jul 02, 9:05 PM
Planetary Creation Photoshop Tutorial
Introduction
Every couple of months in the gallery, someone will post an image of a planet or space scene rendered in photoshop. Invariably, other gallery-goers will see this and post their own takes on the image.
This fledgling tradition rears it's head with amazing regularity, and a recent post in the gallery along these lines means that Planetary Creation season is open for business...
This tutorial is geared towards the more intermediate photoshop user, and is designed to give one an idea of how to create a semi-realistic planet in Adobe Photoshop 5.5 or above.
To effectively follow this tutorial you should be comfortable with the use of Layer Masks, Blend Modes and the various Distortion tools. Nothing too taxing, I promise!
For this guide, I will reassemble my image "Genesis 4" in 13 illustrated stages. The layered PSD file of the completed image is available for you to download and examine here. (www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/planet.psd)
Step 1 - The Background
First, we're going to set the stage for our planetary backdrop. This includes populating the space with a starfield and preparing the area for the star that lights our scene.
Create a new file, with dimensions to suite your tastes. I used 700x500px at a screen resolution of 72ppi.
Filling the background with black, create a white cross on a new layer. where you wish the centre of the star to appear. It's important to do this, as the white cross forms the reference point for the lighting of the entire image.
Using the colour picker, choose a dark blue colour (I used #201B50) as the foreground and black and the background. Perform a Radial Fill from the centre of the white cross to create the empty space.... remensicent of the first level of Homeworld? Shortly... :)
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/1.jpg
Step 2 - The Starfield
Now we will populate the empty space with distant stars. Creating a realistic starfield is not achieved through means immediately obvious to newer photoshoppers, but dead simple once the secret is dispensed!
Create a new layer above the background and fill it black. Add Noise to the layer. 50 is a good value, make sure you choose "Monochromatic" and "Guassian" in the Noise dialog box before confirming the action.
Now the Trikkee Ninja part.
Press CTRL-M or choose "Image -> Adjust -> Curves" to open the Curves palette. Grab the bottom-left node of the graph and drag it along the bottom of the graph to the right. You'll notice that the starfield thins out as you progress towards the right. Between 1/4 and 1/2 of the way across is a good place to settle before clicking OK.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/curves.gif
Finally, make sure that the Layer Blend Mode is set to "Screen". This removes the black and leaves you with a hopefully pretty funky looking starfield on your backgrond image.
-> Optional Bit For The Picky Astronomers
If you're particular about details, then you'll know that the starfield drops out around the halo of the sun due to the comparative exposure levels of the sun vs. background stars.
Reset the colour picker to black/white. (press D) Apply a Layer Mask to the starfield layer and draw a Radial Blur on the mask away from the centre of the white cross, stopping roughly 300pixels from the centre.
You should now be missing progressively more feint stars towards the centre of the sun.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/2.jpg
Step 3 - Building Up The Sun and Lens Flare
On a new layer, add a white circle above the centre of the cross. 50px diameter is a good bet. This is the sun... unsurprisingly. Make it invisible for now, and we'll keep using the cross for accurate reference 'till the end.
When you look at the sun, it hurts your eyes. When cameras look at the sun, they hurt too. Not being able to scream, they channel their pain into lens flares instead. The more pain, the bigger the flare.
You'll realise that for any serious work, the stock Photoshop lens flare filter is utterly useless looking, and has no character at all. This is why we'll be creating our own custom flare from scratch. Better yet, they never exactly come out the same on two occasions, so yours will all look different. This is a Good Thing (TM).
Using the circle-select tool, make an oval selection roughly 80% the size of the image and perform the same Radial Blur you did on the "halo exposure dropout" layer mask in the previous step, only reversing the black and white ends.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/3.jpg
Set the Blend Mode for this layer to "Color Dodge", opacity ~80%. You'll see how the brightness and contrast of the region surrounding the sun sharpy increases towards the sun's surface now. We'll name this layer "Solar Haze" for future reference.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/5.jpg
Create a new layer above. CTRL-Click the "Solar Haze" layer to make the haze a selection. On the new layer you just created, fill the oval selection with light purple. #9999FF is a good choice. Apply a nice fat Guassian Blur to the layer and reduce the Opacity to about 60%.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/6.jpg
Now set this layer's blend mode to "Color Dodge" too, and you'll see we're starting to make some progress in the coolness stakes...
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/7.jpg
Step 4 - Making Things Sexxo
Use the polygonal selection tool to mark out some triangular sticks coming from the cross centre. Fill them white, add a little guassian blur and set the Blend Mode to COlor Dodge. Drop the Opacity to taste, and we have what looks like a classic children's storybook star.
By judiciously stacking layers containing rings and "tentacles" - all white, blurred, Color Dodge and opacity-dropped, you can completely customise your lens flare. Keeping things relatively simple would probably be best.
Make the sun visible and add a nice big white oval blob over it, about twice the size of the sun itself. Perform the Guassian Blue and Color Dodge business to this layer, and drop the opacity a little to about 80-90%.
With enough playing, you should have something loosely resembling the image below. If it's looking bad at this stage, either scrap everything above the "Solar Haze" layer and start again, or shrug, grab coffee and carry on regardless... :D
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/8.jpg
Step 5 - Adding The Planet and Textures
With your mouse pointer probably getting sick of the Color Dodge and Blur buttons by now, it's time to add the planet itself. Home to millions of little green men, nekkid lapdancing Natalie Portmans, or just arctic tundra.
Rendering the second option of the above is outside the scope of this tutorial, but I'll indulge for a fee. :D
Zoom out to 25% and, using the Circle-Select tool, create a cicular selection (natch) starting outside the canvas. Using a highlight and lowlight colour of your choosing, perform a Radial Fill on the selection. The Fill should start at the edge of the circle closest to the sun.
Name this layer "Planet Base" for reference.
Positioning the planet considerably off-canvas lends a nice sense of scale to the image when things are done.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/8_5.jpg
With the planet still selected, make a new layer and start daubing rough outlines of clouds or terrain onto the surface with the Airbrush tool. Be as accurate or vague as you desire. Ice and water planets are easiest to make, and this is what i've chosen to create for this tutorial.
Be aware that your airbrushing should roughly follow the spherical dimensions of the planet. Use either the Smudge tool, or small bursts of the Radial Blur tool to drag the clouds out over the surface, as shown in the image at the end of this section.
Once again, set the Blend Mode of the cloud layer to COlor Dodge and drop the opacity to around 60-70%. The application of Color Dodge here ensures we have good contrast on the clouds after the shadow is cast on the darkside.
To roughen the surface up a little, consider adding, then blurring some Guassian monochromatic noise on the layer containing your clouds, as shown below.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/9.jpg
Step 6 - Applying Atmosphere
Atmosphere's important. Not least during candle-lit dinners at small Italian restaurants. On a planetary scale though, the little green men of our ice world would probably be glad of something to breathe.
CTRL-CLick the "Planet Base" layer to select it. Go to Select -> Modify -> Expand and choose between 1 and 4 pixles. Hit OK. Create a new layer above the clouds and fill it with the atmospheric colour of your choice. A good bet is to pick the half-saturated version of your planet's highlight colour.
Open the colour-picker and choose the planet highlight shade. Now move the selector halfway between it's current location and the left-hand side. Now you've got the same shade, but half as saturated with colour.
Alternatively, you can dispense with my nicely thought-out advice and just make it all up as you go along. Millenniea of flatulance probably irrevocably tainted the atmosphere anyway... :err:
Before we finish the atmosphere, we'll set the Blend Mode to "screen", drop the opacity to 60% and blur the layer a little. How much you blur the atmospheric boundery will lend some idea of the size of your planet. A harsh boundery will indicate a very large world, a smooth gradient indicates smaller moon.
Hmmmm. Choices.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/10.jpg
Step 7 - Revenge Of The Shadows. Or Something.
It's a known fact that Little Green Men are afraid of the dark.
Give the little whining bastards something to be scared of by casting a huge shadow over your hand-crafted world.
They'll thank you later. Perhaps.
CTRL-Click the "Planet Base" layer to select it. Expand the selection by 10 pixles and fill the selection with black. Move the selection away from the planet's surface so that only a small crescent is still visible. Once you're happy with the effect, add some Guassian blur to the layer to create a smooth transition. The same rule applys to the blur of the shadow as it did to the atmosphere. More blur for smaller planets, less blur for bigger ones.
Finally, drop the Opacity of the shadow layer to around 80%. With the background being fairly bright, you're going to want some ambient light on the darkside of the planet. Aside from looking more interesting, being able to see some detail in the gloom balances out the picture somewhat.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/11.jpg
Step 8 - Dropping Litter Into Orbit
By now you should have a nice looking planet. No guarantees or anything, though.
You could stop here, but a ring system would set things off nicely.
Using the Circular-Select tool, mark out an oval as if drawing a ring roughly around the planet. Use Edit -> Stroke to shade the ring a grey-brown colour. CTRL-Click the ring layer and add some Monochromatic Guassian Noise.
Next, use the Radial Blur tool set to "zoom" and a value of around 20 to create a more nebulous appearance to the matter.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/12_5.jpg
Use the Edit -> Transform -> Distort/Skew commands to flatten the rings to your desired orientation about the planet. Rotate the layer to the angle you wish, and remove the rearward part of the ring with the Eraser to show where it disappears behind the planet.
Using the Airbrush set to "Darken" mode will allow you to darken the portion of the ring infront of the planet which would be in shadow from the surface. Use a very low Airbrush Pressure and work slowly so as to retain some of the ambient lighting.
Finally, with a 3-pixel Eraser set to an Opacity of around 30%, remove portions of the rings in a direction away from the centre of the planet. This suggests the dust clouds which circulate around planetary ring systems in respect to the body's magnetic field variations.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/12.jpg
Click For Final Image (http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/gen5.jpg)
This completes my brief-ish tutorial on basic planetary creation in Photoshop.
I hope some of you find it helpful, and perhaps inspires some similar work to be posted on the gallery in the near future!
Had a nice time working through this tutorial this evening, so until next time...
OneRedPanther
edit - perhaps someone might be kind enough to dock this thread for a while... thx
Introduction
Every couple of months in the gallery, someone will post an image of a planet or space scene rendered in photoshop. Invariably, other gallery-goers will see this and post their own takes on the image.
This fledgling tradition rears it's head with amazing regularity, and a recent post in the gallery along these lines means that Planetary Creation season is open for business...
This tutorial is geared towards the more intermediate photoshop user, and is designed to give one an idea of how to create a semi-realistic planet in Adobe Photoshop 5.5 or above.
To effectively follow this tutorial you should be comfortable with the use of Layer Masks, Blend Modes and the various Distortion tools. Nothing too taxing, I promise!
For this guide, I will reassemble my image "Genesis 4" in 13 illustrated stages. The layered PSD file of the completed image is available for you to download and examine here. (www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/planet.psd)
Step 1 - The Background
First, we're going to set the stage for our planetary backdrop. This includes populating the space with a starfield and preparing the area for the star that lights our scene.
Create a new file, with dimensions to suite your tastes. I used 700x500px at a screen resolution of 72ppi.
Filling the background with black, create a white cross on a new layer. where you wish the centre of the star to appear. It's important to do this, as the white cross forms the reference point for the lighting of the entire image.
Using the colour picker, choose a dark blue colour (I used #201B50) as the foreground and black and the background. Perform a Radial Fill from the centre of the white cross to create the empty space.... remensicent of the first level of Homeworld? Shortly... :)
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/1.jpg
Step 2 - The Starfield
Now we will populate the empty space with distant stars. Creating a realistic starfield is not achieved through means immediately obvious to newer photoshoppers, but dead simple once the secret is dispensed!
Create a new layer above the background and fill it black. Add Noise to the layer. 50 is a good value, make sure you choose "Monochromatic" and "Guassian" in the Noise dialog box before confirming the action.
Now the Trikkee Ninja part.
Press CTRL-M or choose "Image -> Adjust -> Curves" to open the Curves palette. Grab the bottom-left node of the graph and drag it along the bottom of the graph to the right. You'll notice that the starfield thins out as you progress towards the right. Between 1/4 and 1/2 of the way across is a good place to settle before clicking OK.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/curves.gif
Finally, make sure that the Layer Blend Mode is set to "Screen". This removes the black and leaves you with a hopefully pretty funky looking starfield on your backgrond image.
-> Optional Bit For The Picky Astronomers
If you're particular about details, then you'll know that the starfield drops out around the halo of the sun due to the comparative exposure levels of the sun vs. background stars.
Reset the colour picker to black/white. (press D) Apply a Layer Mask to the starfield layer and draw a Radial Blur on the mask away from the centre of the white cross, stopping roughly 300pixels from the centre.
You should now be missing progressively more feint stars towards the centre of the sun.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/2.jpg
Step 3 - Building Up The Sun and Lens Flare
On a new layer, add a white circle above the centre of the cross. 50px diameter is a good bet. This is the sun... unsurprisingly. Make it invisible for now, and we'll keep using the cross for accurate reference 'till the end.
When you look at the sun, it hurts your eyes. When cameras look at the sun, they hurt too. Not being able to scream, they channel their pain into lens flares instead. The more pain, the bigger the flare.
You'll realise that for any serious work, the stock Photoshop lens flare filter is utterly useless looking, and has no character at all. This is why we'll be creating our own custom flare from scratch. Better yet, they never exactly come out the same on two occasions, so yours will all look different. This is a Good Thing (TM).
Using the circle-select tool, make an oval selection roughly 80% the size of the image and perform the same Radial Blur you did on the "halo exposure dropout" layer mask in the previous step, only reversing the black and white ends.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/3.jpg
Set the Blend Mode for this layer to "Color Dodge", opacity ~80%. You'll see how the brightness and contrast of the region surrounding the sun sharpy increases towards the sun's surface now. We'll name this layer "Solar Haze" for future reference.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/5.jpg
Create a new layer above. CTRL-Click the "Solar Haze" layer to make the haze a selection. On the new layer you just created, fill the oval selection with light purple. #9999FF is a good choice. Apply a nice fat Guassian Blur to the layer and reduce the Opacity to about 60%.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/6.jpg
Now set this layer's blend mode to "Color Dodge" too, and you'll see we're starting to make some progress in the coolness stakes...
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/7.jpg
Step 4 - Making Things Sexxo
Use the polygonal selection tool to mark out some triangular sticks coming from the cross centre. Fill them white, add a little guassian blur and set the Blend Mode to COlor Dodge. Drop the Opacity to taste, and we have what looks like a classic children's storybook star.
By judiciously stacking layers containing rings and "tentacles" - all white, blurred, Color Dodge and opacity-dropped, you can completely customise your lens flare. Keeping things relatively simple would probably be best.
Make the sun visible and add a nice big white oval blob over it, about twice the size of the sun itself. Perform the Guassian Blue and Color Dodge business to this layer, and drop the opacity a little to about 80-90%.
With enough playing, you should have something loosely resembling the image below. If it's looking bad at this stage, either scrap everything above the "Solar Haze" layer and start again, or shrug, grab coffee and carry on regardless... :D
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/8.jpg
Step 5 - Adding The Planet and Textures
With your mouse pointer probably getting sick of the Color Dodge and Blur buttons by now, it's time to add the planet itself. Home to millions of little green men, nekkid lapdancing Natalie Portmans, or just arctic tundra.
Rendering the second option of the above is outside the scope of this tutorial, but I'll indulge for a fee. :D
Zoom out to 25% and, using the Circle-Select tool, create a cicular selection (natch) starting outside the canvas. Using a highlight and lowlight colour of your choosing, perform a Radial Fill on the selection. The Fill should start at the edge of the circle closest to the sun.
Name this layer "Planet Base" for reference.
Positioning the planet considerably off-canvas lends a nice sense of scale to the image when things are done.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/8_5.jpg
With the planet still selected, make a new layer and start daubing rough outlines of clouds or terrain onto the surface with the Airbrush tool. Be as accurate or vague as you desire. Ice and water planets are easiest to make, and this is what i've chosen to create for this tutorial.
Be aware that your airbrushing should roughly follow the spherical dimensions of the planet. Use either the Smudge tool, or small bursts of the Radial Blur tool to drag the clouds out over the surface, as shown in the image at the end of this section.
Once again, set the Blend Mode of the cloud layer to COlor Dodge and drop the opacity to around 60-70%. The application of Color Dodge here ensures we have good contrast on the clouds after the shadow is cast on the darkside.
To roughen the surface up a little, consider adding, then blurring some Guassian monochromatic noise on the layer containing your clouds, as shown below.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/9.jpg
Step 6 - Applying Atmosphere
Atmosphere's important. Not least during candle-lit dinners at small Italian restaurants. On a planetary scale though, the little green men of our ice world would probably be glad of something to breathe.
CTRL-CLick the "Planet Base" layer to select it. Go to Select -> Modify -> Expand and choose between 1 and 4 pixles. Hit OK. Create a new layer above the clouds and fill it with the atmospheric colour of your choice. A good bet is to pick the half-saturated version of your planet's highlight colour.
Open the colour-picker and choose the planet highlight shade. Now move the selector halfway between it's current location and the left-hand side. Now you've got the same shade, but half as saturated with colour.
Alternatively, you can dispense with my nicely thought-out advice and just make it all up as you go along. Millenniea of flatulance probably irrevocably tainted the atmosphere anyway... :err:
Before we finish the atmosphere, we'll set the Blend Mode to "screen", drop the opacity to 60% and blur the layer a little. How much you blur the atmospheric boundery will lend some idea of the size of your planet. A harsh boundery will indicate a very large world, a smooth gradient indicates smaller moon.
Hmmmm. Choices.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/10.jpg
Step 7 - Revenge Of The Shadows. Or Something.
It's a known fact that Little Green Men are afraid of the dark.
Give the little whining bastards something to be scared of by casting a huge shadow over your hand-crafted world.
They'll thank you later. Perhaps.
CTRL-Click the "Planet Base" layer to select it. Expand the selection by 10 pixles and fill the selection with black. Move the selection away from the planet's surface so that only a small crescent is still visible. Once you're happy with the effect, add some Guassian blur to the layer to create a smooth transition. The same rule applys to the blur of the shadow as it did to the atmosphere. More blur for smaller planets, less blur for bigger ones.
Finally, drop the Opacity of the shadow layer to around 80%. With the background being fairly bright, you're going to want some ambient light on the darkside of the planet. Aside from looking more interesting, being able to see some detail in the gloom balances out the picture somewhat.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/11.jpg
Step 8 - Dropping Litter Into Orbit
By now you should have a nice looking planet. No guarantees or anything, though.
You could stop here, but a ring system would set things off nicely.
Using the Circular-Select tool, mark out an oval as if drawing a ring roughly around the planet. Use Edit -> Stroke to shade the ring a grey-brown colour. CTRL-Click the ring layer and add some Monochromatic Guassian Noise.
Next, use the Radial Blur tool set to "zoom" and a value of around 20 to create a more nebulous appearance to the matter.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/12_5.jpg
Use the Edit -> Transform -> Distort/Skew commands to flatten the rings to your desired orientation about the planet. Rotate the layer to the angle you wish, and remove the rearward part of the ring with the Eraser to show where it disappears behind the planet.
Using the Airbrush set to "Darken" mode will allow you to darken the portion of the ring infront of the planet which would be in shadow from the surface. Use a very low Airbrush Pressure and work slowly so as to retain some of the ambient lighting.
Finally, with a 3-pixel Eraser set to an Opacity of around 30%, remove portions of the rings in a direction away from the centre of the planet. This suggests the dust clouds which circulate around planetary ring systems in respect to the body's magnetic field variations.
http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/planet/12.jpg
Click For Final Image (http://www.battlenet.co.uk/projectred/gen5.jpg)
This completes my brief-ish tutorial on basic planetary creation in Photoshop.
I hope some of you find it helpful, and perhaps inspires some similar work to be posted on the gallery in the near future!
Had a nice time working through this tutorial this evening, so until next time...
OneRedPanther
edit - perhaps someone might be kind enough to dock this thread for a while... thx