[sigtau]

It's like you normal mapped it, but you didn't.   

[watsisname]

Looks nice, but I think the effect is too extreme near the terminator.  It feels as if the terrain suddenly gets profoundly rugged there.

[Aardwolf]

Well yeah, I need to implement some sort of self-shadowing. Even though some of the normal vectors in that area are indeed pointed much closer to the sun than the surrounding region, a lot of that should be in the shade of mountains further toward the light side from there.

Another stealth update:



Edit (again):

[TopAce]

The upper one is better, I think. I'd make the atmosphere a little bit thicker, but otherwise it's pretty.

[Retsof]

That is shaping up to be an awesome program.  Will it handle specular differences to make water/ice more shiny?  And will it have cloud maps?  Oooh! or planet rings!  I am making you more work huh? Anyway, I eagerly await the progress of this.

[Aardwolf]

Further progress on the PlanetMaker program (aside from particularly good renders) will be posted in this thread.

[Snail]

minibump Those look kewl Aardwolf

[TopAce]

Bump.

[Rodo]

 

Maybe a little more atmosphere glow could work, but that's just personal preference.

[Mobius]

Since when you create background bitmaps? They look amazing!

[ShadowGorrath]

First one would make a great Vasuda Prime, IMO.

[Mobius]

I wholeheartedly agree, it fits very well.

[Aardwolf]

There's some funky green dots in the first one, and some funky purple things on the second. Both are around the terminator. Oh, and the edges of the planets looks kinda funky, too.

[The E]

Also, I find your lack of surface detail disturbing.

[Rodo]

Those were made with Gimp or Photoshop AFAIK, if that's the case then those planets are detailed as they can get.

You could add some surface detail using real textures, overlaying layers and stuff.. it might get a better surface effect, but IMO the first one has a very decent looking surface, not so sure about the second, but the first one looks quite good.

[TopAce]

There's some funky green dots in the first one, and some funky purple things on the second...

They weren't there in the in-game versions. Must be because of the DDS->PNG conversion.

[watsisname]

Probably not necessary then if they are just from PNG conversion, but I don't think it'd be difficult to fix those manually.  Even if you just use the clone tool with a small brush.  The 'funky edges' Aard mentioned might be from misaligned layers but I wouldn't know for sure -- just a guess.

In regard to the planets as a whole, they look rather good.  I think the terrain, coloration, and level of detail is a bit better on the first one, and I like the lighting angle on the second.  Would look neat with a sun positioned just above it.

[Retsof]

More of a possible technique for future planet makers, but I have found a good way to make your base terrain.  Make four layers of solid noise, and set all of them to difference mode. (this can be shortened in GIMP with difference clouds, eliminating the need for layers).  it will look like this:

It may not look like much, but look what happens when I bumpmap it to a plain white layer:

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Yeah, that's looking good. And if you play with curves a bit on that noise layer, you can turn it into a mask that makes it look as if there's water in the lower valleys. It's how I did this, a long time ago.

[Aardwolf]

Yeah, that's looking good. And if you play with curves a bit on that noise layer, you can turn it into a mask that makes it look as if there's water in the lower valleys. It's how I did this, a long time ago.

I bet if you redid that now it could look a lot better.