Glowing planet

By on November 25, 2005 in Effects, Photoshop, Tutorials

With this tutorial I am going to show you a way to create a nice glowing planet (sphere) effect. Here is an example
Final Adobe photoshop tutorial result.

1. Start by creating a new document 40*40 pixels. Get the Paint bucket tool and fill it with a light blue color. Then with the Elliptical Marquee tool and select a perfet circle (hold down Shift while selecting) at the center of your document and fill it with white. You should now have an image like this.
Pattern.

2. Go to Edit -> Define Pattern and give your pattern a name. (If you want you can use the image above)

3. Close this document and create a new one with a size of 800*800 pixels.

4. Select the Paint Bucket Tool (Fill: Pattern) and fill your new document with the pattern we ‘ve just created.
Fill with pattern result.

5. Get the Elliptical Marquee tool and select a circle at the center of your document.
Elliptical Selection.

6. Go to Filter -> Distort-> Sperize and use Amount: 100% Mode: Normal.

7. Now we are going to inverse the selection. Go to Select -> Inverse (Ctrl+Shift+I). Fill the new selection with black and deselect (Ctrl+D)

Pages: 1 2

About Dimitris

My name is Dimitris and I am from Greece. I created this blog as a learning tool for Photoshop both for other but for me as well. I am definitely no Photoshop Guru or a professional graphic designer, I am just an amateur trying to learn as much as I can about Photoshop.
View all posts by Dimitris →

24 Responses to Glowing planet

  1. Krishna November 26, 2005 at 12:59 am #

    Again a nice one, i have started liking all the tut u write.

  2. Bimbel November 29, 2005 at 8:43 am #

    Very good effect! But I woultn’t call it “planet” rather “abstract disco ball” or something else ;) Will post my result later!

  3. Tim November 29, 2005 at 7:13 pm #

    verrrryyyy nice….i wonder if one could make this a disco ball…hmmm…

  4. DJ Emir Hiphop Mixtapes November 30, 2005 at 12:53 am #

    Nice tutorial You can also rotate the canvas one more time clockwise and get an opposit effect which also looks cool… one tutorial limitless possibilities. Thanks.

  5. Durga Charan Tudu November 30, 2005 at 12:01 pm #

    very nice tutorial with good hands.

  6. roser reeves December 2, 2005 at 4:00 pm #

    when i do this tutorial and get to part 8 i have the sphere still partially there…what am i doing wrong?

  7. roser reeves December 2, 2005 at 4:06 pm #

    nevermind…i just did’nt deselect…

  8. Louise December 5, 2005 at 3:19 pm #

    I’m confused on step 5 :-/. How do you get it so that the ellipse is transparent and only shows the outline. Sorry, I’m a beginner :( !

  9. Dimitris December 5, 2005 at 3:30 pm #

    Hi Louise, the Elliptical Marquee tool is in other words the elliptical selection tool. You were probably trying to use the Ellipse tool.
    I hope that helps and if not feel free to ask again

  10. Louise December 8, 2005 at 1:27 pm #

    Thanks Dimitris! I was using the ellipse tool!

  11. PhotoshopTower.com December 19, 2005 at 9:27 pm #

    sweet tutorial, very unique effect! Almost looks like a blood cell close up.

  12. Psychospike December 21, 2005 at 2:45 am #

    my result isn’t the same,

    i doing everything right, just until step 6, the sperize filter only gives me a sphere, but without the ‘motion’ blur on the dots…

    i can’t see what i’m doing wrong ( i am usng the elliptical marquee tool)

  13. Dimitris December 21, 2005 at 8:11 am #

    Have you checked the second page of the tutorial?

  14. PaTrick[HUN] December 27, 2005 at 4:50 am #

    Think It wonderful … before this tutorial I dont know about how could I make my own pattern … so I learnd much :) … thx

    Keep On …

  15. GJ January 9, 2006 at 3:09 am #

    awwwoucch… very nice tutorial there turned out pretty good with my water background. Afterall i made it like a flashball in a dance party..

    well im still kind of a biggener but i still like it…

  16. couldnt follow January 9, 2006 at 1:07 pm #

    This is not possible after creating a huge marquee in 800×800 image:

    “6. Go to Filter -> Distort-> Sperize and use Amount: 100% Mode: Normal.”

  17. natasha January 10, 2006 at 12:33 pm #

    i liked that alot awesome

  18. QuicK January 22, 2006 at 7:35 am #

    I didn’t get the same effect either, could you please post how to make the “planet” glow?

  19. Dimitris January 22, 2006 at 12:04 pm #

    Hi, do you mean how do I get to the end result from step 13? If yes I just use a gradient map (Image -> Adjustments ->Gradient Map) with a gradient from blue to a very light blue. If that’s not what you are asking then please explain a bit more at which step you can’t follow the tutorial.

    Dimitris

  20. Rizwaan February 6, 2006 at 12:02 pm #

    waw…. how wonderful before this tutorial I can’t beleve photoshop

  21. matrix February 13, 2006 at 3:40 am #

    how did u get that finshing touch of the lights coming out of the holes?

  22. Dimitris February 13, 2006 at 11:56 am #

    I used a gradient map to get the final result.

  23. Efe April 6, 2006 at 1:23 pm #

    Thanks thats so nice

    Efe From Turkey ;)

  24. wizardofoz October 4, 2006 at 11:13 am #

    Nice Tut Dude. It work´s and is easy to understand and that´s what counts.