Semi-OT: making planets.

[Timstone]

I've been trying to make nice planets. Unfortunately this is something I've never tried to do. I have tried it with SolidWorks, but the results are very disapointing. Then I got 3DS MAX from a friend of mine (he loaned it to me). Since then, I've been trying to make a nice planet with that program. Also here my succes is devastatingly low. I've followed several tutorials, but to no avail. Then I remembered the discussion here about art and Renderosity. I registered yesterday and today I've posted my first question. I hgope I get an answer pretty quick.
I just want to thank you guys for having that conversation, otherwise I would never have found that site. Top notch guys! /threads/images/Graemlins/icon09.gif

[dogscoff]

I find the best tool for making planets is Matter Gravity Sphere III. It's produced some really spectacular results for me in the past.

[Ragnarok-X]

Hope you get the help you seek on renderosity. I always got my answers quite fast.

Just in case you can stick with 2-D planets, try the Photoshop plugin which is called "Lunarcell".
You can create EVERY kind of planet within minutes. You can even create textures with it, so in fact you could just create a sphere in 3dsmax and skin it with the texture you have created in photoshop.

[Timstone]

Ragnarok-X said:
Hope you get the help you seek on renderosity. I always got my answers quite fast.

Just in case you can stick with 2-D planets, try the Photoshop plugin which is called "Lunarcell".
You can create EVERY kind of planet within minutes. You can even create textures with it, so in fact you could just create a sphere in 3dsmax and skin it with the texture you have created in photoshop.



Oh my goodness!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
Tjees, I really have to start a search for that. I will give a go.
My aim is to make planets in 3D, might come in handy for SE V. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Thanks for mentioning this.

[TerranC]

Don't you have a geosphere option in 3dsmax?

I thought making the planet was easy in 3ds max; IMHO, it was the texturing that was a pain in the arse.

Edit: I know you said you wanted to make planets in SEV, but if you want only to add a planet onto a picture, here is a good tutorial on how to make cool-looking planets with photoship 7.

http://gallery.artofgregmartin.com/tuts_arts/making_a_planet.html

[Spoo]

I find the best tool for making planets is Matter Gravity Sphere III. It's produced some really spectacular results for me in the past.



How much does it cost? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Fyron]

Spoo said:

I find the best tool for making planets is Matter Gravity Sphere III. It's produced some really spectacular results for me in the past.



How much does it cost? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

A mere 90 billion dollars!

[Renegade 13]

That's all?? I'll take 2...nah better make it 3! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Fyron]

Cash only.

[Renegade 13]

You sure you won't accept VISA?

[Fyron]

Positive.

We have a once in an eon deal! Buy just 37 Matter Gravity Spheres, and get your 38th at a 5% discount!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

/me steals them all.

[Kamog]

What a bargain! Let me see, how much money do I have in my piggy bank? I've been saving all my pennies since Christmas... /threads/images/Graemlins/icon41.gif

[Timstone]

You petty criminals! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aiken]

Unfortunately, US dollars are not considered as MONEY outside United States http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Instead, I can offer you high quality Plutonium from obsolete russian nuclear warheads. /threads/images/Graemlins/icon49.gif

If you're interested, please contact with me, so we can work out bargain details:

merchandise@nukesforseriouspeople.com

[Timstone]

Ragnarok-X said:
Hope you get the help you seek on renderosity. I always got my answers quite fast.

Just in case you can stick with 2-D planets, try the Photoshop plugin which is called "Lunarcell".
You can create EVERY kind of planet within minutes. You can even create textures with it, so in fact you could just create a sphere in 3dsmax and skin it with the texture you have created in photoshop.



Rags:
I've DL'ed Lunarcell. It's quite a cool program. But I wonder how you extract nice textures from it. Please help me make the best use of this program in conjunction with 3DS MAX.

[Ragnarok]

*gasp* How dare you use my nickname on another Ragnarok... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif Struck with /threads/images/Graemlins/Lightning.gif you shall be!

But nevertheless, I know I am not Ragnarok-X but I think I can answer your question. I do not believe you can extract textures from lunarcell. At least I have not seen a way to do so in my use of the program. But then again, I am not too proficient in it yet... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[David E. Gervais]

About Lunarcell,.. I don't know if this quick sample of saving 'layers' is what you mean by 'saving textures' but here goes..
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/298149-PlanetTextureTutorial1.jpg

Step 1: Create a planet in Lunarcell
Step 2: Launch Lunarcell again and without changing any settings click on the export PS layers button.
Step 3: Load the .psp image that lunarcell just created to see the results.


Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Timstone]

Ragnarok:
I plead guilty as charged. I shall never again use the abreviation known as "Rags" when I mean to adres you, "Ragnarok".
Your Honour, I request a punishment of lifelong watching the best science-fiction movies/series.
What will be your rule?

David & Raganarok:
Thanks for the screenie and the help with finding this amazing program. I finaly got the change of using a biut more and discovered how to make a very good layout for a 3D planet. You've got it all: cloudmap, cloudbumpmap, landmap, oceanmap, landbump, etc. You shapp see result quite soon when I mastered the art of making an 3D atmosphere. Thanks!

[Ragnarok-X]

Hey,

i was just going to post how to "extract" textures using lunarcell when i noticed the screenshot from David. Thats exactly what i meant. Hope it helped you.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Oh, the whole rags issue is easy.

Rags1 and
Rags2.

[Timstone]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Oh, the whole rags issue is easy.

Rags1 and
Rags2.



And, dear Narf, which should be which?

[Timstone]

Okay, I've produced my first nice planet. Naturally I chose a rock oxygen planet type. Hope you like it.
Please, don't withhold any criticism.

[Ragnarok-X]

Just onecomplaints: Please think about Users which are using dialup, for example Atrocities and me. Your bmp is quite big, so please save it as a jpg or gif.

Question: Is this actually a 3d scene or a 2d scene ?! Cant tell..

[Timstone]

I'm terribily sorry for using a bmp. I'll use a nasty jpg from now on. I just hate jpg, it really craps your pic up. Give me bmp of tif, but I was unable to opload a tif. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

It's a real 3D scene. The goal was to make a nice planet with a transparent atmosphere. Well, I say I succeded in that. I was hoping you guys like the pic. When you guys give me some feedback I may produce more planets.

[Ragnarok]

Timstone, save the file as PNG instead of BMP or JPG. It loses just a tad of quality of the BMP but you can hardly notice the difference.

And the whole shortening of my nick...You can call me Rags all you want. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I was referring to calling the second coming of me, Ragnarok-X, Rags instead of myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif My whole attempt was to confuse you and it must have worked. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Fyron]

Ragnarok said:
Timstone, save the file as PNG instead of BMP or JPG. It loses just a tad of quality of the BMP but you can hardly notice the difference.

Actually the entire purpose of the PNG format is to have lossless compression. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Avoid JPG at all costs! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Injured.gif Also, don't listen to David Gervais when he chimes in to tout his JPG compression algorithms... they still have some color loss. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Timstone]

Okay, I'll use PNG from now on. Thanks for the advise.
But what about the pic itself, any comment?

[Raging Deadstar]

Ragnarok said:
And the whole shortening of my nick...You can call me Rags all you want. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I was referring to calling the second coming of me, Ragnarok-X, Rags instead of myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif My whole attempt was to confuse you and it must have worked. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif



So you have a second coming?

Is Rags a Prophet or Messiah? Will he bring about a new religion or the end of the world? Will he be shot before he causes more trouble than he's worth? Find out next week.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

And the Picture is dam pretty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Timstone]

Raging Deadstar said:

Ragnarok said:
And the whole shortening of my nick...You can call me Rags all you want. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I was referring to calling the second coming of me, Ragnarok-X, Rags instead of myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif My whole attempt was to confuse you and it must have worked. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif



So you have a second coming?

Is Rags a Prophet or Messiah? Will he bring about a new religion or the end of the world? Will he be shot before he causes more trouble than he's worth? Find out next week.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

And the Picture is dam pretty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



I say shoot the bastard. But that's only because of the fact that I love to shoot (I've been shooting since I was 11 or so, I have a licence since I was 18, that's 7 years now).

Thanks for the comment RD!
I'll soon post more pics.

[David E. Gervais]

Imperator Fyron said:
...Avoid JPG at all costs! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Injured.gif Also, don't listen to David Gervais when he chimes in to tout his JPG compression algorithms... they still have some color loss. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



David casts his wrath.. /threads/images/Graemlins/Lightning.gif See Fyron run.. /threads/images/Graemlins/Running.gif When Fyron rounds the corner David smacks him with a /threads/images/Graemlins/Fish.gif

JAY-PEG! JAY-PEG! JAY-PEG!

BTW Fyron is right, there is a slight color loss when I save a .jpg, but by giving the 'color and saturation' priority and choosing 1x1x1 instead of the 2x1x1 default compression, the loss is about 0.025% If that's not good enough I feel sorry for you fyron. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif (FYI: Perfection is an illusion easilly influenced by spiritual beliefs.)

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[XenoTheMorph]

Well Timstone the planet is great and I truly do like it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I can only find two things to comment on, and only by being a perfectionistic git. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

1. The cloud fronts at the poles don't quite ring true, they should be infuenced more by the planets rotation (coriolis force sp?) and should generally be curved around the pole.

2. Why are a few areas green (and only in the north hemisphere), not the 'normal' colour of the world?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Timstone said:

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Oh, the whole rags issue is easy.

Rags1 and
Rags2.



And, dear Narf, which should be which?


Well, obviously, the one that was here first is Rags1.

[Timstone]

Thanks for the comment.
Here are some answers:
1) I can't control it very accurate. I'll try with the next planet. I can't garantuee this.
2) The few area's that are green are related to the huge amount of desert and ice I chose to form this world. I'll remedy that with the next planet.

On to the next planet! Again a Rock Oxygen.

[Timstone]

Okay, I've got a few more planets to show.
This will be more than one post. Jippie, this cranks up my number of Posts.
First up a rock hydrogen planet.

[Timstone]

Now a rock methane planet.

[Timstone]

And another rock methane planet.
I tried a rock none atmosphere, but I'm not very happy with the result. I'll keep trying.

[geoschmo]

The one you posted a few back, the rock/oxygen, looks neato but I agree with the other poster about the lack of green.

Perhaps call that one an ice/oxygen world instead?

[Timstone]

Okay, okay, I'll rename it to a Ice Oxygen. Sigh...
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Timstone]

I've been experimenting with the atmosphere thingie all day long. Almost made forget an appointment at work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif
Good thing a collegue called me about that.

Okay, I've done things diffirent now. I've seperated the clouds from the land (Jippie, cloud shadows!) and I've added a transparent atmosphere.
On the previous images you looked at an illusion (duh, it's a computer-generated image), the atmosphere wasn't truly transparent. As soon as you set a light on it, it went dull and you couldn't see a thing. This time it's fully transparent. Just look at this marvel!
Feel free to complain.

[Timstone]

Another planet, this time with a methane atmosphere.

[TerranC]

I like the planets, but the atmosphere on those two planets seem a little too thick to me.

[XenoTheMorph]

Hmmm nice new cloud syle! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Seriously very nice. Much kudos.

[geoschmo]

Those are very cool. The landscape effects and clouds give it almost a 3d effect.

One thing, the lighting angle looks very neat for pictures, but if your intention is to use these in the game you may want to reconsider. It's been done before and the look is a little odd in the game. Because your lighting could end up on the wrong side depending on where the game sticks the planet in the system map.

Unless you are planning on only using that light angle for the large images that show up on the planetary detail screen. If you used a straight on lighting angle for the small pics that go in the big planet.bmp file then this could work. But that means you have to make two renderings for each planet, instead of just resizing. But if your software is fairly user friendly maybe that's not such a problem.

[Timstone]

Geo:
First of all, these are true 3D images. I just took a snapshot of it.
The atmosphere is a bit too thick, I agree. I'll fix that, that's a minor thing.
My goal is to be able to make nice 3D planets for use in SE V. So the lighting I used in this pic is only to show you guys and girls the planets themselfs. I just hope the planets can be used in SE V.
So things to do:
- reduce atmosphere
- make atmosphere a bit more glossy

The next thing I'll try to make are suns.
That should be pretty easy to do.
Thanks for the comment guys! Like Xeno said: Much kudos!

[Kamog]

Those planets look good! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Slynky]

I think those planets look pretty darn good! Looks like all your efforts are paying off.

[Timstone]

Thanks Slynky!
In the meantime I've been fideling around with different suns and more planets.
The only planets that seem to be a little bit more difficult are the gas giants and the planets without an atmosphere.
The gas giants will be more "real" with just a little bit more work. I'm getting there.
When I got some more pics to show, I'll post them here.

[Timstone]

Okay, here's your daily update on my quest to make nice 3D planets.
This time a lavamoon. I added lightning to dramatize it a bit. Makes the lave come out very nicely.
Like it?

[David E. Gervais]

nice, nice and diabolical. Be sure to wear your asbestos boots if you take a walk on that planet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I'm also guessing that it is a mineral rich planet. (where did I put my nice robo-miners? looks like I found a good planet to leech. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Edit: Is there a reason you don't place the pic in the thread like this..?
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/299450-LavaMaan01.PNG

[Ragnarok]

Wow! That is a awesome looking planet. I can just imagine what the conditions are like on the surface to work under. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Great work!

[Timstone]

Thanks for all the praise.

David:
I don't know how to post my pics like that. I don't have webspace to put it on. I only have my HD. So if I can post them the way you did, please show me.

[Fyron]

Timstone said:
Thanks for all the praise.

David:
I don't know how to post my pics like that. I don't have webspace to put it on. I only have my HD. So if I can post them the way you did, please show me.

Just edit your post after you upload the image to include something like this:

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre> http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/299450-LavaMaan01.PNG </pre><hr />

[Timstone]

Okay, I'll certainly try it. If I can't do it I'll post it here.
Thanks Fyron!

[Ragnarok-X]

David E. Gervais:


How did you create that planet ?!? I suppose it was somehow made with lunarcraft, but you must have added some pretty good layers and filters...could you explain how you got that "lava" effect.

thanks a bunch

p.s. dang it, has the Private Message option been disables ?!? Where is the button located ?!?

[Timstone]

Ehh... hey! I created that!

*grabs a pipe lying around and starts smashing the post of David* http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Ragnarok-X:
Please read a bit further down.
But it's nice to read you like it.

Edit:
It was entirely made with 3ds max 6.

[Fyron]

Ragnarok-X said:
p.s. dang it, has the Private Message option been disables ?!? Where is the button located ?!?

You have to view their profile by clicking on their name on the left. Then there is a send private message link.

[David E. Gervais]

It's not my fault, honest. TS made the pic, I just tried to help by using the image tag to place it within the tread instead of having to view the 'attachment'

I liked the pic enough to bring it to the foreground, and for some reason this simple act seems to have confused people into thinking I made the planet.

congratulate TS, this is his thread and all his babies.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Timstone]

Hahaha... babies... I'm a mom! LOL!!
Tjees, I don't even know if they are boys or girls. Ah well, I'll just call them my babies. Nicely found David.
No hard feelings here!

[Slynky]

Yeah, that "lava planet" is awesome!

[Timstone]

Does anybody knows some good atrificial textures? I want to use it for the basis of a ring-planet.

[Ragnarok-X]

Hey,

i think i misunderstood, but the lava planet is made in 3dsmax ??!

[Timstone]

Yup.

[Kamog]

That lava planet looks reeeeaaallly inhospitable.... Those glowing red magma continents with the firey coastlines look pretty hot! Great work!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif