Sun Tutorial

[jerry533482]

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

Hey, guys. I know I'm posting a mile a minute, but I've stumbled upon another cool technique that I believe the forum and it's members will benefit from. I have figured out how to make a sun.

Please note that this tutorial was based upon a planet tutorial by flip. I strongly encourage you to check it out; it's an awesome, in-depth, quality tut.

 

You'll need a few plugins:

- Shape 3D

- Color Filter (optional)

- Feather (optional)

 

Your goal is this:

 

1. Create a new document with white as your background at 800x600. Make your primary color black and your secondary white. Fill it with black or press Ctrl+Shift+I. Render noise in at the following settings:

 

2. (This step is optional; if you don't want a nebulae in your background, skip to step 6) Create a new layer. Make sure your colors are black and white, or this effect will get screwed up. Go to effects>render>clouds, set the blending mode to difference, and use the following settings:

 

3. Repeat (Ctrl+F) three times. It should look like this:

 

4. Use color filter(effects>color>color filter) to change the clouds to the color you want your nebulae to be. Once done, it should look like this(it'll be a different color if you don't use dark blue):

 

5. Go to layer properties for the current layer(the cloud layer), change the blending mode to glow, and reduce the visibility until you can see your noisy starscape.

 

6. Merge your two layers, & create a new layer. Change your primary color to yellow and your secondary to black. Render clouds (effects>render>clouds) on your new layer with a high roughness, a low scale, and normal blending mode.

 

7. Go to effects>render>shape3D, and use the following settings(make sure lighting is turned off):

 

8. Once you have rendered your clouds into a sphere, name that layer sun. Now this is where it gets a bit tricky. Make your primary color orange and your secondary black. Now create two new layers. Name the lower one surface and the upper one radiation. Once you have done this, go back to the sun layer and use the magic wand to select the outside of the sphere. With the selection still made, switch to the surface layer. It should look like this:

 

9. Choose the paint bucket tool from the toolbox, and fill the selection with orange.

 

10. Press Ctrl+I to invert the selection. Now the sun should be selected. Switch to the radiation layer, and fill the selection with orange again. If you do it correctly, the entire canvas should be orange.

 

11. Press ctrl+D, make the radiation layer invisible by unchecking it's box, and switch back to the surface layer. there should be no selections. Go to effects>blurs>Gaussian blur, and blur the layer somewhere around 130.

 

12. Go back to the sun layer & select the outside of the star. Switch back to the surface layer and press delete. You should see some orange covering the star only; there should be no orange around the edges.

 

13. Make the radiation layer visible and switch to it. There should be an orange disk covering the star. Go to effects>blurs>Gaussian blur and move the radius bar up until you are satisfied with how much radiation is spurring out. Click OK.

 

14. Change the blending mode for both the surface and radiation layers to glow.

 

15. Merge the surface and radiation layers. Duplicate the new layer, then merge those two layers.

 

16. Go to layer properties for the new layer and reduce visibility to around 170, or whatever you prefer. If the edges are a bit rough on any of the layers, use Feather to fix it (Effects>Object>Feather).

 

You now have a flaming star within your PDN window. Congrats. If you want, try changing the colors to make a red giant, a white dwarf (formerly blue dwarf), or a star from the Alpha Centauri system. The choice is yours.

[mcamp14]

Jerry,

I might have to add this to my sig like I did your galaxy, but I might not. You know, because of night and all.

As an astronomer I must correct you on one thing. There is no such thing as a blue dwarf, there is a blue giant, a red giant, a white dwarf, a brown dwarf, a red dwarf, a red supergiant, a blue supergiant, and maybe even a black dwarf. Sorry, it is an OCD thing

I loved the tut, and it reminded me of one of the planet tutorials.

[jerry533482]

Sorry, I wasn't checking sources with this. I thought I meant white dwarf, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for reminding me.

[mcamp14]

Sorry, I wasn't checking sources with this. I thought I meant white dwarf, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for reminding me.

No prob. Sorry if I seemed harsh, I can be that way sometimes, don't take it personally.

Once again, I love your tuts. So far we have an excellent sun tut and galaxy tut. All we need is a nebula (plural being nebulae) tutorial. One that goes in depth!

[jerry533482]

All we need is a nebula (plural being nebulae) tutorial.

I knew plural was nebulae!

[mcamp14]

All we need is a nebula (plural being nebulae) tutorial.

I knew plural was nebulae!

I noticed that in your tut.

[jerry533482]

All we need is a nebula (plural being nebulae) tutorial. One that goes in depth!

mcamp14, I'll take you up on that. However, I can't make guarantees. But I'll try.

[mcamp14]

Hey, you seem to be an expert at these tuts.

[PancakePaint]

Nice tut!

I'll post my results here later...

[jerry533482]

Hey, anyone know how to add flares? I've tried tackling this challenge quite a bit, but can never seem to find out how to do it. Anyone got any techniques or ideas?

[Bjarni]

Maybe use brushes or smudge?

[Sarkut]

jerry533482,

Could you give more details on what

appearance you're going for in the flares.

[Remii9512]

Basically, all I need for a sun is a yellow ball with a smiley face.

But, seriously, great tut. I've seen trickier uses of Shape3D, but hey, what else can you do for a sphere?

[jerry533482]

Well, I'm not trying to make it look like the sun's exploding; just a little side flares.

[Ancient Shed]

Here's my go at it

Great tutorial btw ^_^

Hidden Content:

[jerry533482]

Sweet pic, Ancient Shed. :wink:

[Ancient Shed]

I managed to make it only thanks to your tutorial

So, yeah, thanks for the tutorial ^^

[Dark Zarosia]

Check my gallery for my go at it, nice tutorial! I had been wanting to learn how to do this for ages, haha.

[Balthesar]

Dude, this is a nice tutorial man

Here's my try, I added something from another post, I thought it looked cool

Greetz

[PirateLordxX]

Hey guys! im new to this but I was wondering about the sun Flares as well... so i mixed this tut and one from viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26966 to make my go at it... plz let me know what u think.

[jerry533482]

PirateLordxX, why don't you try making a derivative of my tut that uses your techniques for flares? Although I'd work on the blending and effects so the flares blend more into the star first.

[PirateLordxX]

will do... i will work on the tut tonight when i get off work...hopefully it will be helpful

[Midgetalien]

great tutorial, we need a sun one.

I have created a sun previously, (see my gallery for the picture) that was made in a completly diffrent way, however i have a feeling that if i combine this tutorial with the way i made my sun it could turn out pretty well. I am going to experiment and see what i can come up with.

Once again, thanks for this tutorial,

=MA=

[jerry533482]

Please post a link if you finish the effect - I'd like to see how it turns out.

[riddleboy]

Ive tried changing the colours, because i want to make a range of different suns and make it into a nice pic. But when i make it in different colours and set the layers to glow they dont pick out the dark bits of the planet like the orange on yellow did. They just come up really bright in the denter of the star. Am i doing something wrong or are there only certain colours that work? Thanks for help in advance.