This is Marty from Blue lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create the look of an exploding planet from scratch.
I provided for you a Photoshop document that contains two textures.
One is an image of cracks and the other is an image of stone.
Its link is in this video's description or my project files.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue L ightning TV, click that small "Subscribe"
button at the lower, right to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials.
The first step is to create a background of stars that we'll use to place our exploding planet onto.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + N or go to File and New.
Make the Width: 2500 pixels, the Height: 1500 pixels and the Resolution: 150 pixels per inch.
The Color Mode is RGB and 8 bits per Channel.
If the box isn't black, click it to open the Color Picker and pick black.
We'll convert this background into a Smart Object, so we can re-adjust the amount of
stars we add to it, as well as their brightness.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right and click, "Convert to Smart Object".
Go to Filter, Noise and "Add Noise".
The Amount is 100%, Gaussian and Monochromatic.
Go back to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it: point 5 pixels.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Levels".
Make the Input Highlights: 214 and the Input Shadows: 200.
We'll convert it into another Smart Object.
It'll allow us to see it the way it'll look in our final image.
Shift-click the layer under Levels to make it active, as well, and convert them into
one Smart Object.
Notice, we can now see more of the star field including the ones that are dimmer.
Open the "Exploding planet textures" PSD file I provided.
We'll spherize both textures.
With the "Cracks" layer active, Shift-click the "Stone" texture to make it active, as well.
We'll make a copy of both, so we always have each in its original form.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + J. Click the top cracks layer to make it the only active layer and
go to Filter, Distort and "Spherize".
The amount is 100%.
We'll repeat the filter by pressing Alt + Ctrl + F on Windows or Cmd + Ctrl + F on a Mac.
Hide the top layer and make the "Stone copy" layer active.
Repeat the last filter twice by pressing the shortcut keys twice.
Open the "Elliptical Marquee Tool" and place your cursor just inside one of the corners.
Press and hold the Shift key as you drag a circle to just inside the opposite corner.
Holding Shift kept your selection a perfect circle.
We'll cut and copy the spherized stone inside the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the sphere to make a selection of its shape.
Make the Cracks copy visible and active and cut and copy the spherical cracks texture
onto its own layer.
Go to the stone sphere and drag it just below the top layer.
Shift-click the top layer to make it active, as well, and press "v" to open your Move Tool.
Drag the spheres on the tab of the star field background you created earlier and without
releasing your mouse or pen, press and hold the Shift key as you drag them down and release.
Holding Shift kept them centered over the background.
Click the sphere of cracks to make it the only layer active and make a copy of it.
Hide the copy and make the original active.
Change its Blend Mode to Linear Burn . Merge these two layers by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + E.
Hide the stars background and make the top layer visible.
Open your Channels panel.
If you don t see it, go to Window and Channels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the RGB thumbnail to make a selection of it.
Invert the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + I.
Open back the Layers panel and make the top layer active.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
In this layer, we ll fill the selection with white, but before we do, check your foreground
and background colors.
If they aren t black and white respectively, press D on your keyboard.
Since white is our background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete to fill the selection with white.
Then, deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. Now that we have the white cracks as
the top layer, we can delete the middle layer since we don t need it anymore.
Either drag it to the trashcan or on later versions, just press the Delete key.
Let s name the middle layer, Planet and the top layer, Cracks . Make the background visible
and hide the planet.
Double-click the cracks layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click Outer Glow and the color box.
In the hexadecimal field, type in: FF3600.
The Blend Mode is Screen and the opacity is 100%.
The Spread is 0% and the size is 30 pixels.
The Contour is Linear and the Range is 50%.
Click Inner Glow and the color box.
Type inFFBB04.
The Blend Mode is Normal and the opacity is 75%.
The Choke is 0 and the size is 1 pixel.
Click Inner Shadow and the color box.
The color is FF6000.
The Blend Mode is Multiply and the opacity is 75%.
The Angle is 90 degrees, the Distance is 1 pixel, the Choke is 0 and the Size is 5 pixels.
Collapse the effects to save space in the Layers panel.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click Brightness/Contrast . Make the Brightness:
33 and the Contrast: 64.
Make the planet visible and double-click it to open its Layer Style window.
Click Outer Glow and the color box.
The color is FF6000.
The Blend Mode is Linear Dodge , the opacity is 50% and the Size is 250 pixels.
Click Inner Glow and the color box.
The color is FFBB04.
The Blend Mode is Screen , the opacity is 75% and the Size is 150 pixels.
Click Inner Shadow and the color box.
The color is FF6000.
The Blend Mode is Lighten , the opacity is 100% and the Angle is 120 degrees.
The Distance is 200 pixels, the Choke is 5% and the Size is 250 pixels.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the planet to make a selection of it.
Go to Select, Modify and Contract.
Feather it 2 pixels and click OK or press Enter or Return.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to the planet.
Make a copy of it and double-click "Outer Glow" of the copy.
Reduce its opacity to 20% and make the Spread: 30%.
Open the Contour list, click the gear icon and click the Small or Large list.
Click "Gaussian".
The Range is 100%.
Make a copy of this layer and hide "Inner Shadow" and "Inner Glow".
Double-click "Outer Glow" to open it in Layers Styles.
Make the opacity 15% and the Spread is 40%.
Make the Contour: "Gaussian - Inverse".
Next, we'll give the perimeter a yellow inner glow and add a soft, wide outer ring.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. At the top is the Transform's
Width and Height.
Make sure the chain-link icon is active.
This will keep the Width and Height linked.
In either field, type in 150%.
Then, press Enter or Return or click the check-mark at the top.
Reduce the "Fill" to 0%.
This makes the planet invisible, but retains the visibility of its Layer Style effects.
Next, we'll make it look as if ready to explode from its core.
First, we'll place all of the planet layers into a folder.
To do this, scroll to the bottom planet layer and Shift-click it to make all of the planet
layers active.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + G. Let's name it, "Glows".
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Open the folder and scroll to the middle layer mask.
Ctrl or Cmd-click it to make a selection of its circular shape.
Then, close the folder.
We'll place this empty layer into a folder by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G.
We know the layer is inside the folder because it's indented under the folder.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the circular selection that you made
a minute ago, next to the folder.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the layer mask to make a selection of it.
Click the empty layer to make it active.
We'll fill the circular selection with black and since black is our foreground color, press
Alt or Option + Delete.
Then, deselect it.
Drag it over approximately this much.
Go to Filter, Blur and "Gaussian Blur".
Blur it 100 pixels.
Reduce its opacity to 35% and make a copy of it.
Increase the copy's opacity to 100% and change its Blend Mode to "Overlay".
We can close the folder now.
Make the ""Cracks" layer active and make a copy of it.
Convert this layer into a Smart Object, since we're going to use it for our radial glows
emanating from the planet.
Go to Filter, Blur and "Radial Blur".
Make the Amount: 100, the Blur method: "Zoom" and the Quality: Best.
Make a copy of the radial blur layer and open your Transform Tool.
When you see this message, it's just letting us know that the radial blur will be temporarily
turned off while we use the Transform Tool.
Just click OK.
At the top, in either the Width or the Height, type in 157%.
Then, press Enter or Return twice to accept it.
Change its Blend Mode to Linear Dodge.
Lastly, we'll mask out the radial blurs from the center to reveal back the dark, burnt
surface of our exploding planet.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make layer mask next to the active layer.
Open your Brush Tool and Brush picker.
Pick a soft, round brush and make its size 1000 pixels, the Hardness 0% and the Opacity
and Flow, both 100%.
Place your cursor in the center and click twice.
We'll copy the layer mask and place the copy next to the cracks layer below it.
To do this, go to the Layer Mask and press and hold Alt or Option as you drag its copy down.
We'll decrease the opacity of the active layer mask.
Make its Density 50%.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!