Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create a galaxy in deep space from scratch.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV,
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Create a new document by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + N or by going to File and New.
Make its width: 1920 pixels, its Height: 1080 pixels and its resolution: 150 pixels per inch.
The color mode is RGB and 8 bits per channel.
The background is black.
We'll convert the black background into a Smart Object, so we can modify the filters
that we'll be adding to it at any time.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object".
Go to Filter, Noise and "Add Noise".
Make the amount: 100%, Gaussian and Monochromatic.
Go back to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 0.3 pixels.
Open "Levels" by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + L. In the Input Shadows field, type in 200
and in the Input Highlights field, type in 242.
Next, we'll add bright, glowing stars.
First, make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Double-click Gaussian Blur.
If you see this message, just click OK.
For its Radius, type in 1 pixel.
Double-click "Levels" to open it and change the Input Shadows to 172 and the Input Highlights to 183.
To save space in the Layers panel, let's collapse the filters.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Open the Channels panel.
If you don't see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the RGB channel to make a selection of the brighter, glowing stars.
Open back your Layers panel.
We'll fill the stars with white, but first, check your foreground and background colors.
If they're not black and white respectfully, press "D" on your keyboard.
Since white is your background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete to fill the selection with white.
Deselect the stars by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
Since we have the brighter, glowing stars on an empty background, we can hide the layer below it.
Double-click the layer open its Layer Style window.
Click, "Outer Glow".
The Blend Mode is Normal, the Opacity is 100%, the Noise is 0 and the color is white.
The Technique is Softer, the Spread is 10% and the Size is 10 pixels.
The Contour is Linear and the Range is 50%.
Shift-click the bottom layer to make all the layers active and convert them into one Smart Object.
Name it, "Stars".
Create a new document and this time, make the Width and the Height 2000 pixels each.
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J and convert the copy into a Smart Object.
Go to Filter, Render and Clouds.
Go back to Filter, Distort and Twirl.
Drag the Angle slider all the way to the right.
Go to back to Filter one more time, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 20 pixels.
Let's collapse the filters to save space.
Open your Elliptical Marquee Tool and go to a corner.
Press and hold the Shift key as you drag the selection to the opposite corner.
Holding Shift ensured that the selection is a perfect circle.
Go to Select and "Transform Selection".
At the top, make sure the chain-link icon is active.
This links the Width and the Height of the Transform, so whatever we type one will be
repeated in the other.
In either field, type in 80%.
Then, press Enter or Return twice.
Go to Select, Modify and Feather.
Feather it 80 pixels.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the active layer.
Open the stars document.
Press "v" to open your Move Tool and drag it onto the tab of your twirled document.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, press and hold Shift as you drag it down.
Then release your mouse or pen.
Holding Shift kept the stars centered over the document.
To resize it, open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
In either the width or the height, type in 185%.
Then, press Enter or Return twice.
We'll copy the layer mask by going to the layer mask and press and holding Alt or Option
as you drag it up to the stars layer.
Change its Blend Mode to "Linear Dodge".
Make a new layer and go to Filter, Render and Clouds.
Change its Blend Mode to Multiply and reduce its Opacity to 60%.
Next, we'll add color to it.
Make a new layer and open your Gradient Tool.
Make sure the Radial gradient icon is active.
Click the gradient bar to open the gradient editor.
Click the black, white thumbnail and click the lower, left Stop.
Click the color box and pick a bright, rich color.
Click the lower right Stop, the color box and pick a darker, rich color.
For its Location, type in 50%, which moves that color halfway across.
Go to the middle and press and hold Shift as you drag across the gradient line to the
right side of the document.
Then, release your cursor.
Drag a copy of the Layer Mask next to the colors and change its Blend Mode to "Color".
Scroll to the bottom of the Layers panel and Shift-click the bottom layer to make all the layers active.
Convert them into one Smart Object.
Open your Move Tool and drag the image onto the tab of our stars document.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, press and hold Shift as you drag it down and release.
Change its Blend Mode to “Linear Dodge”.
Open your Transform Tool and click off the chain-link to un-link the width and the height.
For the height, type in 20%.
Go to a corner and when you see a curved, double-arrow, drag it up and to the left to
rotate your galaxy to an angle you like.
Go to Edit, Transform and Perspective.
We're going to need more room on our canvas, we'll zoom out by pressing Ctrl or Cmd and
the "minus" key on your keyboard three times.
Go to a bottom corner and drag it out.
Go to a top corner and drag it in.
Feel free to adjust its perspective to your liking.
Go back to Edit, Transform and Distort.
Go to the bottom, middle anchor point and drag it down to increase the depth that's
nearest to us in perspective.
Go back to Edit again, Transform and Scale.
Go to a corner.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2019, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift
as you drag it out or in.
If you're using CC 2019 or later, just press Alt or Option as you drag it.
To reposition it, go inside the bounding box and drag it.
To fit our document back onto our canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0 or Ctrl or Cmd and the "plus" key.
Next, we'll add an enormous, luminous core.
Make a new layer and open your Brush Tool.
If you're foreground and background colors aren't white and black, press "x" to invert them.
Open your Brush picker and pick a soft, round brush.
Make its size 600 pixels, its Hardness 0% and its opacity and flow both 100%.
Place your cursor in the middle and click once.
Click the Layer mask icon to make a layer mask next to the layer.
Decrease the size of your brush by making sure the CapsLock key is off
and pressing the left bracket key on your keyboard.
The size of my brush is now 70 pixels.
Brush over the bottom of the white glow to hide those areas.
If you want to reposition the soft glow or the layer mask, click off the chain-link between them.
Now, you can reposition and resize both of them independently of the other.
I'll make the soft glow active and press "v" to open my Move Tool.
I'll reposition the glow.
Notice the layer mask remains in position.
If I make the layer mask active and move it, the soft glow remains in position.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!