Seamless Planet Textures

[MikeRobe]

How would one make a detailed seamless planet texture? I need some for a game that a friend and I are making.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Ishi]

You might have to use some professional software for that.

 

If you are talking about the planet terrain, I guess one paid software that comes to mind is a software called Terragen.

 

http://planetside.co.uk/products/terragen3

[Goonfella]

Terragen is also available free but with a few restrictions compared to the paid version obviously. So you could try before you buy. I have used the free one in some of my spacescapes with great results.

[skullbonz]

I agree on Terragen,I use the free version myself for a few things and also to learn the program to prepare for the day I can afford the pay version.  The free version has limits though which would make it difficult to make what you are looking for but it can be done. The pay version has no limits and can be animated if you buy the right one. Xfrog also has a great selection of plants for terragen that you can buy in bundles or separately,they also have 130 free plants right now you can download. 

[MikeRobe]

Nah, I need to render some planets - not the terrain itself. Think of some of the planets I do, I need to make a seamless planet texture. I have the Seamless Texture Helper plugin, and I could easily make a two colour planet, but if I wanted to make a detailed one, how would it be done - in PDN.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I'm not sure why you need a seamless texture - only half of the planet is ever seen at once.  Just make sure the joins are on "the dark side"

 

Try this: Fill a layer with any  texture and run Shape3D with the sphere model.  It gives you options to map the texture (half and full) and also does the shading for you.

[pdnnoob]

I'm not sure why you need a seamless texture - only half of the planet is ever seen at once

because...

I need some for a game that a friend and I are making.

[yellowman]

It depends, how you need it, side to side only, or four side seamless texture?

 

And also on how the details of the texure are important or part of the game,

In PDN you need to do the seamless manually,

 

 There are few helper tools and plugins, but you need to remove the seams by using Clone Stamp tool or Alpha Blur plugin.

[MikeRobe]

I'll explain - we're making a game where part of it is played in a galaxy map. You will zoom in on solar systems and view a particular planet. The planet rotates, so it will need to be seamless. However, the poles will probably not need to be seamless, because I can do polar ice caps easily (they're just completely white) and the top and bottom of the planet all link up from all sides anyway.

 

 

Edit: 42nd post! ;D

Edited February 24, 2014 by MikeRobe

[Ishi]

Is it supposed to be a rocky planet? Or a gas giant?

 

A rocky planet should have a rough looking terrain with craters and scars visible on its surface.

 

One theory I have is to use the concrete texture tutorial which should make a rough surface like that of the moon:

 

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/16075-concrete-texture-tutorial/

 

Then once all the layers are merged, use the Shape 3D Plugin to make a planet.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Ishi

[MikeRobe]

Well, there are lots of kind of planets - terra, water worlds, gas giants, rocky ones -

 

BUT, for this game, I need a flat texture to apply to a round surface in JOGL (Java Open Graphics Library). I need a flat one since the sphere is going to rotate and you will see all of the texture. This eliminated the need for Shp3d. That's fine, and I can make a flat planet texture easily, it's just the seam that annoys me.

Edited February 24, 2014 by MikeRobe

[pdnnoob]

This plugin should help. Set the mode to seamless texture helper, do whatever you need to remove the seams, then use the plugin again.

[MikeRobe]

Well, I've done it thanks to the Panelling plugin and the smudge tool (thanks pyrochild!), I've made lots of textures, and, being the efficient me, I made 9 seperate planet textures in under 20 minutes, thanks to the Ctrl+F and all the hotkeys!

 

Here's an example:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/236475228/terra01.png