Making this logo look like like Earth

[brandonlee81]

n00b alert!

Novice question: Is there a way you know of to make the gray 'B' in this picture look like land mass, a la Earth, leaving the blue to look like ocean?

(and possibly add clouds?) I think I can manage adding a star field background.

Any tips would be much appreesh!

Edited July 31, 2012 by brandonlee81

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Land mass would imply a higher elevation than the surrounding sea. Therefore it should have a non-uniform/coastline-type edge and some height/lighting differences.

Select the Land mass with the magic wand tool. Adjusting the tolerance to get just the land area selected.

Run Bevel Selection (BoltBait's plugin pack) on the land mass. Turn the highlighting up a notch or two to make this edge of the coast seem higher. Keep the opposite edge at the same color so it appears the same as the rest of the mass.

Run Drop Shadow (Kris VDM's plugin pack) on the land mass layer (you will need to copy it to it's own layer) to create a thin darkening around the opposite edge than you highlighted.

What I got in 2 minutes:

....I'm back! I forgot your clouds question. I played with the Effects | Render | Clouds effect (cropping as necessary to the circle of the sphere).

Eventually got reasonable results:

[avim1968]

Hi brandonlee

welcome to the forum :-)

I have played with your picture , this is what i got. i haven't finished it around the edges but it is more

to give you an idea .

to do it:

1. duplicate the picture

2. select the B sign using the magic wand tool, play with the tolerance untill you select it all

3. press DEL and you would get a "transparent hole" in the shape of the B sign.

go to google and search for earth pictures from space, that have land mass, and another with cloud mass

load those into paint.net.

4. select the picture with the land mass and copy it to the clipboard. (check 1st that is is not bigger then your picture)

5. paste it into your picture as a new layer.

6. move this layer below the layer with the B shape hole. (do not unselect it)

7. use the layer rotate/zoom to setup the picture as you want it to show the land.

8. goto the picture with the clouds , check its size 1st. then use the magic wand selection tool make sure the flood mode is

set to global and then select the white clouds cover. you can use the add option and tolerance to select more clouds.

9. copy the clouds.

10. paste in your picture as a new layer.

11. move the layer up to the top over the other layers.

12. adjust as needed.

walla its done.

this is just an example, you can make it look better yourself now that you have an idea on the how too :-)

Avi

Edited August 1, 2012 by avim1968

[brandonlee81]

Oh my gosh, you are *both* so helpful! Thank you so much.

Edited July 31, 2012 by brandonlee81