Planet earth...

[masterofpuppets]

This is a little project I'm working on. This version features a better overall image, but I'm still working on getting a realistic island green texture. When I have that in the bag, I will work on real map continents.

http://www.m0px.net/images/photoshop/planet2.jpg

[Aphex_Tom_9]

i once read this great planet-making tutorial...maybe i can find it...

[Aphex_Tom_9]

hmm, i think this was it- http://www.deviantart.com/view/13060334/

[lalPOOO]

:p:

Try using more layers and textures on the planet. If you can, get the textures from photos. Even if its not textures of planets its still better then a computer generated pattern most of the time.

[masterofpuppets]

I am on dialup right now and most textures are >1mb which is painful. I could download some textures. Or maybe just take photos.

[masterofpuppets]

New version done! This one uses a texture originally from NASA image galleries. I modified the coloring, blurred it, and cloned it over the entire planet.

http://www.m0px.net/images/photoshop/planet3.jpg

[sky]

:p:

Try using more layers and textures on the planet. If you can, get the textures from photos. Even if its not textures of planets its still better then a computer generated pattern most of the time.

^^ what he said...
i'm assuming you use 3dmax for this (at least i'd do :) )... so you create multiple spheres inside of each other. the core sphere having a diameter of 100% is the actual earth. just pick a value for diameter, i'll use percentages, as it is to show the ~size of the other, bigger spheres. then put an earth texture on it and use that same map for a bump, but tune it somewhat. btw - there's some free sites out there that offer 2k textures (2048 x something) of the earth and other planets - i have grabbed most of those, rotting on my server now :).
ok, then the next sphere is a bit bigger, say 105%... get a big cloud texture or draw one yourself (the site i found years ago had 3 maps for the earth, actual texture, bump-map and a cloudmap) use alpha on it and put it on that sphere.. now if you want to add more clouds, or parallax clouds, add another somewhat bigger sphere and put another cloud texture there - play with the alpha-settings.. voila :)
5 mins work (3d work)..

hunting for the renders of this i did a year ago for a little background animation behind a newscaster...

[lalPOOO]

For my above posted planet I just used photoshop. I have one here done a while ago with Maya. Not bad for my first try at doing planets in 3d :p:

[aonic]

try to increasing the size of the innerglow, the innerglow is too thick right now :p

[dutchman.pt]

Amazing works!
Congratulations people! :toast: