Ever wanted to create realistic planets? In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a planet, and more importantly how to create planet textures. We will have a look at several different planets to see how they are created, and how to easily change the look of planets using layer modes.

FINAL IMAGE PREVIEW

These are the planets we’ll have a look at, we will focus mainly on how to create that blue one:

Here is a larger preview of the blue planet we will create:

Read this if you want to save some time:

This tutorial is split into three parts, in the first part we create a basic planet with atmosphere and shadow, but with no textures. In the second part we create and place textures on the planet we made making it look like an actual planet (the fun part in other words), the third part is rather small and just gives you some planet making tips and a quick look at how to create some other planets.

So if you just prefer to read along, or if you’re already comfortable with making the basic planet and just want to learn about textures then you can download this xcf file and just read part1. The xcf file contains all the work we do in part 1 of the tutorial (except installing the script of course).

Part 1

Step 1

To make our task easier we’re going to use a script, you can download it here. (depending on your browser, you might need to either right-click and choose Save Link as, or click on the link and then choose File->Save as). If you can’t get that to work then download this zipped version of the script instead, remember to unpack it.

To install the script simply place the file called “planet-render-gtuts-edition.scm” inside your Gimp scripts folder.

• WINDOWS
  Place the script in C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\.gimp-2.6\scripts

• UBUNTU
  Open your Home folder, then press Ctrl-H to see hidden files, place the script inside .gimp-2.6/scripts. Press Ctrl-H again to hide the files.

• MAC
  In Gimp go to Edit->Preferences.
  Select Folders, and then Scripts. In the window on the right it should say where to put the script. (in many cases there are two different folders you can put them in, it shouldn’t matter which one you put it in).

After the script has been placed inside the folder:
In Gimp go to Filters->Script-Fu->Refresh Scripts.

That’s it, now it should be installed.

Many thanks to Rore for making the script possible!

Step 2

Now go to File->Create->Misc->Planet render mygimptutorial.com edition.

Set the Planet size to 600, and make sure the Planet color is 0a4664.
The outer atmosphere color usually works best with white or a brighter version of the planet color, since our planet is blue we set the atmosphere color to a bright blue such as b0eeff.

Also set the sun orientation to 315, and untick the Add Glow box.

That should give us this:

Step 3

See that selection around the planet? We’re going to need it for a path so click on Select->To path.
It looks like nothing happens, but the path is actually stored in the paths dialog.

We also need another path from that as well, but we want it slightly smaller, so first go to Select->Shrink, and shrink by 1.

After you’ve done that go to Select->To path.

Now we have two paths, one slightly smaller than the other, we’re going to use them both later when we work on the atmosphere.

Just get rid of that selection we don’t need it anymore. Select->None.

Step 4

We’re going to customize our planet a little, we’ll start out with the shadow.

Delete the layer named “planet shadow”, and then create a new layer and name it “shadow”.

Use the Ellipse Select tool to create a circle about 800×800 covering a large portion of the planet like in the image below:

Now fill that selection with black. (by using the Bucket Fill tool).

Next, get rid of the selection. Select->None.
Then Gaussian Blur by 250. Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur.

Set the opacity of the layer to 95, this will allow a little bit of the planet to shine through the shadow.

Step 5

Now we’re going to customize the atmosphere. I want it a bit smaller, and mainly focused on only one side of the planet.

To do this we’re going to add a Layer mask to the atmosphere layer so that we can control the opacity for different areas of the layer.

In the Layer Dialog, right-click on the layer named “planet atmosphere” and choose Add Layer Mask.
Set it to White (Full Opacity).

Now we need something to put inside that layer mask.
So duplicate the layer named “shadow” twice.

Your Layer dialog should look like this know:

Now merge our two new shadow layers into one. (Right-click on the top one and choose Merge Down). Change the name our new merged layer to “shadow mask”.

Select the “shadow mask” layer, and press Ctrl-C to copy it, then select the layer mask and press Ctrl-V to paste the layer into the layer mask, and then click on the anchor.

Make the “shadow mask” layer invisible by clicking on the eye, we will use this layer later.

The atmosphere could look a bit stronger, so duplicate the atmosphere layer, and reduce the opacity of the duplicate to 50.

Step 6

We need to remove part of the shadow layer since it goes outside the planet.
To do that first select the layer named “planet base” in the layer dialog.

Next, grab the Fuzzy Select tool and click once in the middle of the planet so we get a selection of it, after that invert the selection. Select->Invert.

Now we have a selection of everything except the planet.

Select the “shadow” layer in the layer dialog, and then hit the “delete” button on your keyboard.
Our image should look like this afterwards:

Get rid of the selection. Select->None.

Step 7

Remember those paths we made earlier? Well now we’re going to use them to add a little extra to our atmosphere.

Create two new layers, name them “line small” an “line large”. Make sure they’re both placed above the “shadow layer”.
Select the “line small” layer, and then doubleclick on the top Path in the Paths Dialog so it becomes active.

Next, set your color to c8ffff and click on Stroke Path.
Set the line width to 3.

Now Gaussian blur it by 3. Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur.
Also, reduce the opacity of the layer to 50.

It should look like this afterwards:
(just click on a random tool to hide the path)

Now we’re going to do the same with the other path.
So select the “line large” layer, and doubleclick on the bottom path in the Paths Dialog to make it active.

Stroke it by 8.

After that you gaussian blur it by 12. Filters->Blur->Gaussian Blur.
Also remember to reduce the opacity to 50.

Next, add layer masks to both of those layers. (right-click on the layer and choose Add Layer Mask).

We’re going to use the “shadow mask” layer again as a layer mask, but we first need to make it a bit larger since “line small” and “line large” are a bit larger than the planet.

To make it a bit larger, first make the “shadow mask” layer visible, then duplicate the “shadow mask” layer once.

Now merge the two “shadow mask” layers into one layer.

After you’ve done that copy that layer and paste it inside the layer masks of our line layers.
Just delete the “shadow mask” layer afterwards, we don’t need it any longer.

Our image should look like this now, notice how the atmosphere and those lines we added are only visible on one side of the planet, that’s the magic of layer masks.

Step 8

A quick final touch before we proceed to part 2, add a new layer below all the other layers and name it “simple stars”.
Grab the bucket fill tool and fill it with black.

Next add some HSV noise. Filters->Noise->HSV Noise

Set Holdness to 8, Saturation to 50, and Value to 200.

That should give this result:

Our basic planet is ready, now let’s head over to part 2 and texture it!

Part 2 | Part 3