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Making a galaxy


Celestrial

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This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it

 

Moderators Note: Images in this tutorial have kindly been supplied by Lynxster4

 

So i am a long time lurker on here, this is my first tutorial on these forums (be easy if i make a mistake please)

Today we will be making something like this :

 

Step 0_Make a Galaxy_Final Result.jpg

 

Plugins needed :

 

Shape3D

 

So, first step, make a new canvas of any size you like ( i think a big one will be good depending on what size you want your galaxy).

For this tutorial's purpose, we will be using 800x600

 

Step 1 : Stars

Fill your canvas with black, then make some stars using noise set to low coverage( depending how many stars you'd like in the back ground), zero color saturation, and high intensity.

 

Step 1_Add Noise.jpg

 

Step 2 : The galaxy

Add new layer, then render a Julia Fractal (Effects>Render>Julia Fractal) on the new layer. Name the layer galaxy.

 

Step 2_Julia Fractal.jpg

 

You can change colors of the fractal by using color balance or hue/saturation.

 

Step 3_Hue-Sat.jpg

 

Add some nice glow to it (Optional, makes it look better)

 

Step 4_Glow.jpg

 

Use twist on it, you can change how your galaxy will look with this option.

 

Step 5_Twist.jpg

 

Put nice glow on it again ( This will be the light every galaxy emits)

 

Step 6_Glow.jpg

 

Now this step is tedious, but it makes your galaxy look real (enough that is)

Make a new layer, and use a size 2 brush color white to dimple on your galaxy "arms" ( the "bright stars" of the galaxy)

 

Step 7_Stars.jpg

 

After that, put glow on those "stars" with these settings:

 

Step 8_Stars-Glow.jpg

 

Put a Gaussian blur on those with a radius of 1, then merge layer down

 

Step 9_Gaus Blur.jpg

 

Now glow again on the new combined layer with maximum radius, - 100 brightness, and low contrast like this:

 

Step 10_Glow on merged layer.jpg

 

Step 3 : The core

Like with all galaxies, we need a core, so make a new layer, and set the color of your galaxy as secondary and a lighter version as primary:

Then render clouds with these settings:

 

Step 11-12_Clouds.jpg

 

Then run Shape3D on that, scale it down to the size you want of the core, then turn the x axis on lighting to max like so,

 

Step 13_Shape 3D.jpg

 

Then run Gaussian blur on it with a radius of 15-30

 

Step 13a_Gaus Blur.jpg

 

Glow it like this then merge layer down :

 

Step 14_Glow on center.jpg

 

Now select the layer galaxy and use Rotate/Zoom (Layers -> Rotate/Zoom) and rotate it to how you want it:

 

Step 15_Rotate-Zoom.jpg

 

And you're done! You can customize it more by adding more stars or more glow to it, change it's color too! You can also add a low zoom blur to it ( This results in that green galaxy above , forgot to take a picture of this step, but i recommend it, just make sure you have a duplicate layer to keep the details)

Here is my result:

 

Step 0_Make a Galaxy_Final Result.jpg

 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial (my first) :)

I will answer all questions on this tutorials too if you have trouble

Step 16_Add Bulge-Use Eraser Tool.jpg

  • Upvote 3

8el4.png


Don't go gentle in to that good night, rage on against the dying light.


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Really cool tutorial!! I've made galaxies before, but not like this!!! I'll have to try this out!

Thanks, if you have questions i can answer them

8el4.png


Don't go gentle in to that good night, rage on against the dying light.


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Here's my attempt at it. I played around with it a lot and got a little carried away! What do you think?

th_GalaxyGreen.png

Looks REALLY cool! Nice result

I like your galaxy core too! Really shows how flexible this technique is xD

Edited by Celestrial

8el4.png


Don't go gentle in to that good night, rage on against the dying light.


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  • 3 months later...

Hi there. Was messing around for a contest on another forum, and used your tutorial to come up with this:

2mwgwmv.png

In order to get it, after doing the Julia fractal, I clicked the transparent outside, inverted the selection, then used a Nebula Color Fill. Then I followed your directions from there. Came out kind of neat. ^_^ Thanks for the tut!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Haha nice tut! I tried it out, and here's what i got- (I know it looks a lot like yours :$)

Galaxysmall.png

Mysignature.png

Click signature to visit my blog!

:D

"Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, and Today is a gift. That's why they call it the present. - Anonymous"

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  • 1 month later...

This is a pretty cool tutorial

I added some colors in a new layer, than Gaussian blurred it to 100, changed the layer Blend to Overlay and this is what I got. It looked nice with Multiply to but I chose this one... It looks pretty nice :D

http://pic.mk/images/galaxy.png

Edited by EverestSt
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To be fair, this is actually really easy to follow and a great tutorial, thank you for sharing this with us.

This is my attempt at doing one:

galaxyimage.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Nice work! you might try dropping in some "bulge" effect to add a bit of 3-D effect to it.

 

The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
Amy: But how did it end up in there?
The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.
River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@sfifer - try it. It won't look as good without a lot more work.

 

The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
Amy: But how did it end up in there?
The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.
River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.

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  • 11 months later...

Nice tutorial :), but one image did not show. This was to glow the sphere for the centre of the galaxy. I ran glow on some setting but I was not happy with the result. I used a low gaussian blur for the centre.

Edited by Yusuf Zah
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  • 2 months later...
  • 10 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi there. Was messing around for a contest on another forum, and used your tutorial to come up with this:

2mwgwmv.png

In order to get it, after doing the Julia fractal, I clicked the transparent outside, inverted the selection, then used a Nebula Color Fill. Then I followed your directions from there. Came out kind of neat. ^_^ Thanks for the tut!

This one is awesome.Please tell me what you meant by clicked the transparent outside,

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It's a common trick used to make a complex selection.  You use the Magic Wand :MagicWandTool: to select the transparent area surrounding the object (i.e. in this case around the outside of your galaxy), then invert the selection to leave just the object/galaxy selected.

 

Works a treat with text, especially if you hold down the SHIFT key to make the selection Global.  Global selection mode allows you to automatically select the inside of closed characters as well.

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It's a common trick used to make a complex selection.  You use the Magic Wand :MagicWandTool: to select the transparent area surrounding the object (i.e. in this case around the outside of your galaxy), then invert the selection to leave just the object/galaxy selected.

 

Works a treat with text, especially if you hold down the SHIFT key to make the selection Global.  Global selection mode allows you to automatically select the inside of closed characters as well.

I should have known that.Duh.Thanks
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