Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how to create this cloud-covered,
planet illuminated at its horizon from a bright star in deep space.
Create a new document by going to File and New.
Make the Width: 1550 pixels, the Height: 870 pixels
and the Resolution: 150 pixels per inch.
The color mode is RGB and 8 bits per channel.
We'll fill it with black.
First, make sure your foreground and background colors are black
and white respectively. If they aren't, press "D" on your keyboard. Since black is the foreground
color, press Alt or Option + Delete. This will be the document that we'll use to complete
our deep space scene. We'll make another document to create the texture for our planet. This
time, press Ctrl or Cmd + N.
Make the Width and the Height: 5000 pixels each.
Go to Filter, Render and Clouds.
Go back to Filter, Render and "Difference Clouds".
To create a more complex texture,
repeat the this filter by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + F five or six times.
Go to Filter, Distort and Spherize.
Make the Amount: 100% and click OK.
Repeat the filter one more time to spherize it more.
To cut the sphere out from its background,
open your Elliptical Marquee Tool
and place your cursor on the upper, left corner. Press and hold
Shift as you drag a circular selection to the lower, right corner. We're going to make
the selection a little smaller to ensure it's not including any of the background. To do
this, go to Select and Transform Selection.
Click the chain-link to lock the Width and the Height together.
Whatever we type into either one will be repeated in the other.
Go to the Width or the Height and type in 98%. Notice, now, they're both 98%.
To accept it, press Enter or Return or click the checkmark.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + J to cut and copy it to its own layer.
To get your planet into the other document, press "v" to open your Move
Tool and drag it onto the tab of the other document. Without releasing your mouse or pen,
drag it down on the black background and release. Drag it to a position, so you
see the top and side of the planet.
Let's brighten it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + L to invoke "Auto Tone".
Press Ctrl or Cmd on the thumbnail of your planet to make a
selection of its shape. We'll contract and feather the selection by going to Select,
Modify and Contract. Contract it 3 pixels and click OK. Go back to Select, Modify and Feather.
Feather it 3 pixels.
Click the Layer mask icon to make a a layer mask of the selection next to the planet.
Now, our planet has a slightly soft edge that will blend well into
the light from the star that we'll be adding later.
Click the planet to make it active and change its Blend Mode to "Screen".
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Make the middle layer active. Change its blend mode to “Normal”.
Click the foreground color to open the Color Picker.
In its hexadecimal field, type in: 004EFF. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Now, our foreground color is the color we just typed in.
We're going to fill the middle layer with the foreground color.
To do this, press Alt or Option + Delete.
The reason we an see the texture of the planet is because we changed the planet's blend mode
to "Screen". Next, we'll add a blue aura around the edge of our planet.
Click on the chain-link between the blue color and its layer mask to unlock it.
Doing this allow us to move or resize the layer or the layer mask independently of each other.
Click the layer mask to make it active.
Zoom out of your document by pressing Ctrl or Cmd and the "minus" key on your keyboard.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Go to the top, left corner and
when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Shift as you drag out the Transform
approximately this much. We want to bring in the corners closer to the planet. To do
this, click the Warp icon. This allows us to warp the Transform by dragging individual
points and lines. Go to the top, right corner and drag it to the edge of the planet. Do
the same to the lower, left corner. Then, click the checkmark or press Enter or Return.
Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur. Blur it 20 pixels and click OK or press Enter or Return.
To fit it back onto your canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0. Next, we'll add a subtle
glow at the edge. Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer. Change the blend mode
to "Overlay". Invert the foreground and background colors by clicking this icon.
Open your Brush Tool and open your Brush Picker.
Make the Size: 800 pixels, the Hardness: 0% and the
Opacity & Flow: 100%. Hover your cursor directly over the edge and left-click once.
Make the blue layer active and make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Make the lower, blue layer active and we'll fill it with white, which is the foreground color.
Press Alt or Option + Delete.
Make the layer mask next to it active and open your Transform Tool.
To see the Transform's entire bounding box, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0.
Go to the top, left corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Shift
as you drag it in approximately this much.
Drag it to a position, so you see a bright glow at the widest part.
Warp the Transform and, as before, drag the corners to the edge of the planet.
Press Enter or Return and fit it back onto your canvas. Next, we'll shroud
our planet in shadow with just a section of the horizon illuminated.
Make the planet active and make a copy of the layer.
Change its blend mode to Normal.
Click this icon to revert the foreground and background colors to black and white, respectively.
Fill the top layer with black
and make the layer mask next to it, active.
Make your brush larger by pressing the right bracket key on your keyboard.
Press it three times.
Hover your cursor over the edge and left-click once.
Next, we'll add stars behind the planet.
Scroll to the bottom of the Layers panel and make the background active.
Go to Filter, Noise and Add Noise.
Make the Amount: 30%, Gaussian and Monochromatic. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Go back to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it point 5 pixels and click OK or press Enter or Return.
Open Levels by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + L.
In the Input black field, I'll type in: 70 and in the Input white field, I'll type in: 160.
Feel free to experiment with these amounts
to get just the right combination of brightness and quantity. Next, we'll add
a bright star at the planet's horizon.
Scroll to the top of your Layers panel and make the top layer active.
Make a composite snapshot of your image
by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E on Windows
or Cmd + Shift + Option + E on a Mac.
Go to Filter, Render and Lens Flare.
Make the Brightness: 100% and the Lens Type: 35mm Prime. Drag the lens flare to a position
right on the edge of the planet, centered over the brightest part of the glow. If it's
not positioned exactly where you want it, undo the last step by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Z
and reposition it until it's correct.
Let's mask out this large, circular lens flare
and replace it with a prism emanating from the star. To mask out this part of the lens
flare, click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to the composite snapshot.
Make your brush smaller by pressing the left bracket key a few times. Brush over the area
to mask it out and be careful not to brush over the main part of the lens flare.
Lastly, we'll add the prism effect.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Open your Gradient Tool and open your Gradient Picker.
Click the gear icon to open your list of gradient presets.
Click "Special Effects". When you see this window, click OK to replace the current
gradients with the gradients form Special Effects.
Click this gradient, which is called "Russell's Rainbow".
Click the "Angle" gradient.
Place your cursor at the upper, left of the red ring of the lens flare
and press and hold Shift
as you drag a vertical line to the bottom of your document.
Change the blend mode to "Screen"
and reduce its opacity to 30%.
Next, we'll mask out the part of the prism that extends above the white star,
as well as, make the bottom of the prism a bit more transparent.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to the prism.
Press "B" to open your Brush Tool and make its opacity 100%.
Brush over the prism above the white star to mask it out.
Before we brush over the prism on the bottom, zoom out of your document.
Reduce your brush's opacity to 50%
and make your brush bigger.
Brush once across the bottom of your prism
and fit your document back on your canvas.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!