Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Ace on August 21, 2003, 08:07:45 pm
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After seeing Thunder's render with a custom planet in the background I decided to take a shot at painting a planet using PSP.
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet3_bg.jpg)
I'm overall pretty happy with how it came out. The next test will be doing up clouds and an atmosphere.
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Does it have seas?
I was about to ask about atmosphere and cloud-deck, but you already mentioned those.
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I'm not quite far enough with my cloud and sea experiments to show anything.
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet4_bg.jpg)
Here's a test of using the drop shadow effect for a lunarcell like atmosphere glow. This is just a simple one-color one, not using any gradiants for dust in the atmosphere.
I used tree bark textures to get a Europa like look.
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how would you make a planet by drawing it in PSP?
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(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet3.jpg)
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet4.jpg)
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet5.jpg)
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet6.jpg)
How were these made? First I create an image with two layers. On the second layer I create a black sphere. I use the wand tool to make a mask around it, then invert the mask so the sphere is selected. (the way airbrush works in PSP I need to have a black sphere selected, just a blank mask won't work well)
I then pick a color and use the airbrush, it's set on the lighten blend mode. I then use the brush to make the overall day/night outline of the planet.
To add a texture to the planet, I use the brush with a texture setting and a different RGB color. (I use the HSL settings to tweak the color, generally increments of 10, 20 or 30 when a drastic color or lighting difference is wanted) Sometimes I set the brush to darken if an area is too bright and I need some contrast.
The trick is using good textures, colors that look good together, and just some imagination. I try to have dark and light areas and use organic textures such as tree bark. (It might be hard to believe that all of these were made form tree textures, but it's true, I need to experiment with leaves now too though...)
To add some depth, I then emboss the image and then play with the contrast and using highlight/midtone/shadow I lower the midtone to almost nothing. The embossed image is on a layer, and I tweak the transparency until it has a good bump map type look.
I merge the layers and use h/m/s to lower the shadow so that the night side is black, and I either paint more with the brush and emboss again or if it looks good I then move to "post production."
For post production I use the spherize (set as a sphere or ellipse, whatever distorts less) command to make the planet look round, and then sharpen the inner section of the planet, but not the edges.
Then I tweak the contrast and color settings until it looks good. The last step I take is then shrinking the image 50 percent. (I start with a 1024x1024 image so I can have a 512x512 or 256x256 final planet)
Something I did for image six as an experiment was another "bump map layer" where I split the image up, and reassembled it like a jigsaw puzzle and then embossed it. The end result created some nice canyons but I then made the layer very subtle as it didn't quite work with that planet. It's a good effect for planets that need Valles Marenies(sp?) type canyons or to have a look similar to Uranus' moon Titania.
My experiments with cloud layers and water haven't gone well yet, but I'm still playing with it. I think for the moment though I'm going to try to master making non-terrestrial planets ;)
So far, I really haven't had a lot of control over how the planets come out. They sort of evolve on their own. The only two that came out as I intended were the Europa/ice and the last Venusian/volcanic type. The third image (going from top to bottom) was at first going to be a lush Earth like one, but it wound up being quite the opposite :p
As I messaged Sandwich, when I've done a few more planets I'll convert them to .pcx and submit them to HLP as a planet pack. I thought about BWO use, but they don't match the art style of Dark's planets.
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Still an amazingly high quality, :yes:
Which gives me an idea... lol
Do you think it'd be possible to make this in PSP using the same techniques?
(http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/us/images/mods/snipes/miner02vtile03a.jpg)
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hmm, that doesn't look pixelated at all...
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Nope, I did a good job making it high res. I love the anuket. :D
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Originally posted by Raa Tor'h
Still an amazingly high quality, :yes:
Which gives me an idea... lol
Do you think it'd be possible to make this in PSP using the same techniques?
Hrmm... I can do Vasudan ship textures using a tile effect (to get the 3d "scales) and then an airbrush over it to get the textures ontop of the base look.
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*can't wait to see what this yields...*
We need more real vasudan textures... :nod:
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can you do that grey plateing texture on the Diemos, or the brown texture from the Hecate, or the varius textures from the orion and arcadia, or fighters, or, or, all of them, do all of them
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Originally posted by Raa Tor'h
Still an amazingly high quality, :yes:
Which gives me an idea... lol
Do you think it'd be possible to make this in PSP using the same techniques?
(http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/us/images/mods/snipes/miner02vtile03a.jpg)
:D :D
(http://www.brainzipper.com/images/textures/vctile1a.jpg)
(http://www.brainzipper.com/images/textures/vctile2a.jpg)
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Um... not what I meant...
Or maybe it is *having been ICQ'ed*
Ok... well, I like the more detailed anuket like ones
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Originally posted by Raa Tor'h
Nope, I did a good job making it high res. I love the anuket. :D
Just go ahead and make some 1024*1024 pixel textures for everything.:D We can make them smaller with Irfanview.:D
j/k
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I use them for renders, so that everything looks better...
Certainly not in game...
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certanly yes in game!!
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Originally posted by Raa Tor'h
I use them for renders, so that everything looks better...
Certainly not in game...
In game they would look awesome.:D
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I use them in game, but it makes missions take real long to load...
It's not really practical for in game, since noone stares at the anuket like I do...
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Would it be possible for you to release what you have, so we can see for ourselves?:D
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maybe someday. can't today... not enough time...
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(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet8.jpg)
(http://www.savant-online.net/graphics/planet10.jpg)
One more rocky planet plus a gas giant. The .jpeg compression doesn't do the gas giant planet justice.
The gas giant is done a lot like the rocky planets, but I remembered some old advice from Dark on planets and the use of motion blur. Using that I did a lower cloud layer and the upper layer is an overlay with a brush like the planet texture ones and distortion effects are used to get the swirling gas look.
The gas giant is a bit more... impressionistic then my solid planets.
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Got that right on the 'impressionist' flavour of that gas giant. If you've got the webspace, go for PNG... I'd be interested to see what it's meant to look like. :nod:
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Originally posted by Raa Tor'h
I use them in game, but it makes missions take real long to load...
It's not really practical for in game, since noone stares at the anuket like I do...
:nervous:
:lol:
Lovely work on those planets! I've been working my way through the Stars tutorial, I'm trying to get some Actions made for download for those with Photoshop, to try and make some of the more basic work easier :)
Flipside :)
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I was waiting for someone to comment on my love affair with the anuket... There was a time when i put one in every render I made... ;) It looks really sweet quad divided and bump mapped. :D