Making a galaxy

[Celestrial]

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 :

 

 

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 2 : The galaxy

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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)

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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:

 

 

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,

 

 

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

 

 

Glow it like this then merge layer down :

 

 

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

 

 

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:

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial (my first)

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

[JulioCoolio]

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

[Celestrial]

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

[chrisco97]

Really nice result! Thanks for sharing!

[JulioCoolio]

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

[Celestrial]

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

Looks REALLY cool! Nice result

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

Edited February 5, 2011 by Celestrial

[JulioCoolio]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

Edited February 6, 2011 by JulioCoolio

[Moninca]

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

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!

[Shirtisred]

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

[EverestSt]

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

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

Edited August 6, 2011 by EverestSt

[xxRUSTYNAILxx]

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:

[david.atwell]

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

[NinjaManDan21]

Here's a galaxy I made awhile back! Not following any tutorial

Edited September 12, 2011 by NinjaManDan21

[Sfifer]

Is the Shape 3D actually necessary for this, couldn't you just make a circle and blur that?

[N00Bz]

Haven't tried making galaxy. would try this.

Is the Shape 3D actually necessary for this, couldn't you just make a circle and blur that?

ditto

Edited September 11, 2011 by N00Bz

[Sfifer]

Is the Shape 3D actually necessary for this, couldn't you just make a circle and blur that?

Same goes with the clouds I guess?

[liam263]

i had to copy your picture but im gonna give you all the credit because i cant find shape 3D so if you have a problem with it il remove it

[david.atwell]

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

[Yusuf Zah]

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 August 28, 2012 by Yusuf Zah

[Knightwind]

THANX

Edited November 17, 2012 by Knightwind

[EDOARDOMASTER]

I love this tut! I changed a little bit the steps & I get this: 

 

 

I think is good ^^

[johnnysdream]

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

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,

[Ego Eram Reputo]

It's a common trick used to make a complex selection.  You use the Magic Wand 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.

[Seerose]

Celestrial!   

 

Thank you so much! Very very nice work.

 

Here is my result:

 

[johnnysdream]

It's a common trick used to make a complex selection.  You use the Magic Wand 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