Well as stated in the title, I don't have Photo Shop. Therefore I can't use LunarCell... <_<
I was wondering if anyone knew of a different program (preferrably not expensive and hopefully free :rolleyes: ) that is good for creating the planet graphics. I'm currently experimenting with GIMP but it's not going so well. I've got a few "ok" graphics done but nothing I'm impressed with.

Here's what I have so far from GIMP:

AppiusCyriacus.png (70.6K)
Number of downloads: 25

Valerius.jpg (20.93K)
Number of downloads: 18

What do ya think?

They look pretty good, but I have some advice. Take a look at the planet tutorial linked to in this post. If you can get the script provided to work (it takes some fiddling but is possible) then you can have awesome atmospheres for your planets. Just follow the tutorial.

@shlimazel, on Jun 14 2008, 01:48 PM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

They look pretty good, but I have some advice. Take a look at the planet tutorial linked to in this post. If you can get the script provided to work (it takes some fiddling but is possible) then you can have awesome atmospheres for your planets. Just follow the tutorial.

Awesome!! That's exactly what I was looking for!

I'm glad I could help. I hope it's useful to you!

Everything worked great! I made about 10 in about an hour whereas before it took me longer and they weren't nearly as good. This is one of my favorites:

Valerius.png (95.59K)
Number of downloads: 41

What do you think?

This post has been edited by Eirikr : 14 June 2008 - 03:51 PM

Looks excellent. Good work!

oOOoooh... this looks very handy. Maybe I'll actually have some luck making planets now...

@keldor-sarn, on Jun 14 2008, 04:58 PM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

oOOoooh... this looks very handy. Maybe I'll actually have some luck making planets now...

Yeah it's really nice and really easy!! I went to this site ( http://www.spiralgra...acks/browse.htm ) and used some of their terrain textures. That made it really simple to make realistic and very nice planets!

Good Luck!

Sweet! Thanks for the pointer. I found some nice hi-res maps of Earth with google and sphere-ified them and put together an Earth graphic, just to test things out. I think it came out looking pretty spiffy. Now I just have to master the art of making my own planet textures for other places...

@eirikr, on Jun 14 2008, 01:50 PM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

Everything worked great! I made about 10 in about an hour whereas before it took me longer and they weren't nearly as good. This is one of my favorites:

What do you think?

That's pretty good, Eirikr. I only use LunarCell, but seeing you add an atmosphere to that planet using a program other than Photoshop is really cool. I'm sure that tutorial would be very useful for creating spöb rlëDs.

@king_of_manticores, on Jun 15 2008, 11:10 AM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

That's pretty good, Eirikr. I only use LunarCell, but seeing you add an atmosphere to that planet using a program other than Photoshop is really cool. I'm sure that tutorial would be very useful for creating spöb rlëDs.

Yeah it was really really nice! Now I'm trying to figure out a way to make planets with rings..... hmmm :huh: any tips? Should I add the ring afterward or while I am creating a planet?

Well to do a proper ring it's going to leave a shadow around the planet, so you'd definitely have to figure out how to do that/simulate that. Oh and the planet is going to shadow the ring too, even more so, since rings really aren't that dense, they'd probably create less of a shadow.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm stumped on. Maybe I'll play around some more and do more searches here and other places to see if anyone else has any ideas.

Well I still haven't found anything so here's my question, What is a good way to create a ring for a planet? What would be the best is to have the planet graphic and the ring graphic be two separate things. Kind of like layers on an image except they are 2 different images that I then overlap in the game. I have enough planet graphics now I just need to know how to create a ring graphic that will also have the appropriate shadow. Then I need to know how to overlap the graphics in the game to look like one and the same. (it is very important that they are 2 different graphics because I want to be able to give them different properties.)
Any suggestions?

You should make a topic regarding this issue in Just Graphics. You'll be sure to get assistance there.

There are two ways to make rings with GIMP. Both are complex, one can be used to take advantage of ring textures, (e.g. the Saturn's Rings textures that are just a cross section of the rings from the outer ring to the inner ring.) and the other is used to make rings from scratch. I'll write a bit more about them later, sorry to leave you hanging. For now, I'll just point out that my avatar used the former method for its "phantom planet."

Nice find with those seamless textures, but there is no .gtx viewer program for OS X (which is what I'm using now that my Windows machine conked out) which means that many of us will be stuck with 512x512 .jpg textures. For a beginner who's making small, 200x200 planets this is fine, but I'm making 1000x1000 planets and I know people who've gone up to making 3000x3000 planets. (Eeek...) Yes, I know the textures are seamless so they can be any size you want, but I've always been able to point out patterns in planets when they use seamless textures. I guess I'm just picky. <_<

You're doing a good job with those planets, by the way.

@jacabyte, on Jun 17 2008, 10:24 AM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

There are two ways to make rings with GIMP. Both are complex, one can be used to take advantage of ring textures, (e.g. the Saturn's Rings textures that are just a cross section of the rings from the outer ring to the inner ring.) and the other is used to make rings from scratch. I'll write a bit more about them later, sorry to leave you hanging. For now, I'll just point out that my avatar used the former method for its "phantom planet."

Nice find with those seamless textures, but there is no .gtx viewer program for OS X (which is what I'm using now that my Windows machine conked out) which means that many of us will be stuck with 512x512 .jpg textures. For a beginner who's making small, 200x200 planets this is fine, but I'm making 1000x1000 planets and I know people who've gone up to making 3000x3000 planets. (Eeek...) Yes, I know the textures are seamless so they can be any size you want, but I've always been able to point out patterns in planets when they use seamless textures. I guess I'm just picky. <_<

You're doing a good job with those planets, by the way.

I'm looking to create man made rings like the one on Earth, Kontik, and Kel'ariy.... :blink:

I'm running a Mac as well and was disapointed that we don't have a .gtx viewer... <_< Oh well. I'm not making the huge planets so I don't really need one for now.

Oh and thanks for the encouragement!!

This post has been edited by Eirikr : 17 June 2008 - 10:58 AM

Right.

For man-made rings like what you're talking about, I think it can't be done without a 3D program, in my opinion. You're welcome to surprise me, though...

@jacabyte, on Jun 17 2008, 10:58 AM, said in Need help with planet graphics because I don't have PS!:

Right.

For man-made rings like what you're talking about, I think it can't be done without a 3D program, in my opinion. You're welcome to surprise me, though...

Okey Dokey. I'm using blender so we'll see how that goes. I'll Post back here with my results

I take it back; those textures are extremely useful. cryptic grin