Downloaded from www.biorust.com on Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:57:16


	Planetary Masses (Page 4) Tutorial Author - Greg Martin (http://artofgregmartin.com/)

Disclaimer: Please note that this is a variation of an original tutorial by Greg Martin, and brought to you with the author's permission.

Lets face it - anyone can create a sphere with a cheesy gradient and call it a planet. Very few designers, however, can go one step further and give it appropriate texturing, lighting effects, and a 3D feel that will convince most people that it came directly out of a dedicated 3D modelling suite. The aim of this tutorial is to describe one advanced method for creating these 3D-effect planets with the minimum amount of time and effort, and using nothing but the default filters included with photoshop.

	Step 1: Create a blank 800px by 600px document and fill the background with a solid black colour. Create a new transparent layer on top and, using the elliptical marquee tool, draw a circle around 2/3 the size of the layer whilst holding down the shift key (this will give you a classic circle with equal proportions). Now make sure you have the top layer active and choose Edit > Fill from the menu. Fill the circle with black. Do NOT lose your selection until after step 5.
	Step 2: Grab the airbrush-activated brush tool and set the size to around 300px, with an opacity of 30%, & mode set to 'linear dodge'. Change the foreground colour swatch to #3D6629 (a light green), and airbrush inside the circle until your image resembles the one on the left. This makes it look like the light source is coming from the upper left.
	Step 3: Load up this texture and define it as a pattern by selecting Edit > Define pattern from the main menu. Name it whatever you want. When this is done, go back to your planet document, select the Brush tool, and set the exact same settings we used for the airbrush in step 2. Click on the 'brushes' tab within Photoshop and duplicate the same settings as those on the left. The texture you select should be the one you've just added to the program. Now, repeat the brush motions that we used to define our basic sphere, only this time we're adding texture to the planet. NB. Please note that the 'brushes' tab may be in different places depending on your version of Photoshop and OS. If in doubt, consult your manual.
	Step 4: Now we're going to make our planet round with Photoshop's spherize filter. Go to Filter > Distort > Spherize, set it to 100%, and click OK. Just for good measure, repeat this action for an additional 50%, it should look like the image opposite. Resembles a planet much better now, doesn't it?

	Step 5: Once that's done, Edit > Cut your planet from the layer it is on. Paste it into a new transparent layer and delete the old layer. This gets rid of some annoying pixel artefacts around the rim of the planet, leaving you with a nice, smooth edge to work with. This is now our "Planet" layer (you can now delete the previous layer you just cut away from). Layer > Duplicate your planet layer, and then go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options. Enter the settings as they are on the left, but do not leave the dialog by pressing OK yet.
	Step 6: Navigate over to the Outer Glow section of the layer effects dialog and duplicate the settings on the left. The glow colour you need has a hexadecimal value of #6283A7.
	Step 7: Add an inner glow as shown... again, we'll use hexadecimal colour value of #6283A7 for the glow. This is because the two glows need to match, or they'll look really silly where they meet at the planet outline.
Progress Report: Your planet should look something like this now. Not too shabby, but we've got FAR too much atmosphere on our planet.

	Step 8: Create a new layer on top of your second planet layer. Link this layer to the top planet layer (the one with all the effects). Your layer palette should look the image opposite.
	Step 9: Then merge 'Planet copy' onto the Effects layer. This will make your effects just a layer instead of actual effects... so you'll now have a layer with just your blue ring of atmosphere in it. You'll need to set the layer mode of the atmosphere layer to Linear Dodge again to make it match the image once more. This is now our "Effects" layer. Again, it is a good idea to rename it so that you don't lose track of your progress.
Step 10: Next we'll grab the eraser tool... Same brush size as the one we used to set our original sphere in step 2. Gently erase around the dark area on your planet (on your Effects layer). You should get a result like this...
	Step 11: Let's add a tiny bit of embossing to the planet to really make it pop. Right now you should still have three layers total... Effects layer on top of planet on top of a black background. Duplicate the planet layer and name it Shadows. Go to Filter > Stylize > Emboss and run the filter with the angle set to -33°, height at 1px, and amount at 500%. This done, Image > Adjustments > Desaturate the embossed layer, duplicate it, and name it "Highlights". Your layer palette should now resemble the one on the left.

	Step 12a: To make all the things stand out, add an 'Unsharp Mask' (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask) and use the follow settings on all three planet layers (Planet, Shadows and Highlights): Amount - 500% Radius - 0.5px Threshold - 0 levels Use Image > Adjustments > Levels on the topmost (Highlights) layer to isolate the lights by increasing the darkness until the main part of the layer is black with just a few white squiggles. The planet should now look like the one opposite.
	Step 12b: Repeat the above step with the lower embossed layer (Shadows), only this time pull the lightness up so you've got all white with black squiggles. Again, you should end up with an image like the one on the left.
	Step 13a: Change the Highlights embossed layer mode to Linear Dodge and change its opacity to 50%. Step 13b: Change the Shadows embossed layer mode to Multiply and change its opacity to 70%.
	Step 14: You'll notice a strong white outline in the shadow of our planet. To clean this up, use your big fuzzy eraser brush to erase the extra atmosphere. You did exactly the same thing in step 10, remember?
Finished: And there we have it - A green rocky planet suspended in the vastness of space. Of course, it looks a bit lonely by itself, so why not add a few rings, a starscape background, or even a couple of moons? The sky is, as they say, is no longer your limit.