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Eclipse ... kind of ....


JgraphNet

JgraphNet

Power User
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An absolutely meaningless attempt at some useless space art.
Well, actually ... it was an experiment at reversing the worklflow by going from AE to PhS. As such the experiment was successful, since it was done in a jiffy to render a single frame in 3500 x 2500 pxl to a psd-file.
Pity a lot of detail goes lost when scaling it down... like the starfield in the background and other subtle details added in PhS...

ecl.jpg


Maybe I should have revealed more of the planets surface texture by cranking up ambient light, but then some scientist prolly would go : "No - that's not physically possible ... jadda-jadda-jadda .. " and destroy the whole thing with negativie attitude, so let's at least not have that.

Here's a more tightly cropped and claustrofobic closeup version ...

ecl-cl.jpg


Enjoy ! ... if possible ...

It's a kinda cool lensflare in any ways ...
 
Nice . that's cool!
 
iDad said:
Nice . that's cool!
Click to expand...

You sure you're OK there, fellah ... ? :)

Well - maybe it's just me but I think it S-U-X .... :neutral:
The only thing I'm really pleased with is how the light streaks sweap along the surface and the lensflare istelf.
Seen the ones in PhS .. ? Give us a break !!!!
 
sure you do. that's why you posted a "S-U-X" lol . the light streaks are what makes the image, for sure ........Phs?
 
iDad said:
sure you do. that's why you posted a "S-U-X" lol . the light streaks are what makes the image, for sure ........Phs?
Click to expand...

Mostly it was for "look, it's possible to go the other way around here - from AE to PhS - and not only the usual flow"...

Nope. The lensflare and those lightstreaks are pure AE - untouched in PhS. Most other things are touched up in PhS and an (now almost invisible) starfield added but not that area.
 
Zeealex - you should be careful when your cursor is close to that Like button. You might accidently hit it ... :)

Thanks for the Like !
Glad someone likes it ...
 
Thanks, Zeealex !
Dunno why I can't let the images in ... there's something odd about them ... but perhaps that's just me ...
 
Very professional mate, you under sell yourself and theres no need to.
 
I think it´s really cool too. I have to try to make something like that in this weeks challenge and I don´t have a clue yet. :)
 
can i ask how did you create such a great image? i'm dying to learn how you did it
 
Zeealex said:
can i ask how did you create such a great image? i'm dying to learn how you did it
Click to expand...
Of course you can, Zeeleax !
Just tag along when I reply to Vafann:

Vafann said:
I think it´s really cool too. I have to try to make something like that in this weeks challenge and I don´t have a clue yet. :)
Click to expand...

Well, I'm sorry to say you can't do this in Photoshop. At least not anything that looks similar to it and I'm not trying to diminish your PhS abilities either.

These images are done in Adobe After Effects CS 5.5 and besides the very software itself (read: $$$$...) you also need the Optical Flares plugin. Actually, you could use any version of After Effects that accepts Optical Flares, so you don't need CS 5.5 specifically.

Now - one of the more interesting features of AE is the ability to create scenes and animations in 3D. Usually, you place 2D-layers (planes) in 3D-space - as I did in the animation Trow Away - but some of the Cycore plugins that ships with AE are 3D out-of-the-box.
One of them is CC Sphere which creates a 3D Sphere you can wrap a texure on - in this case a HiRes 360 degrees Moon Map - and since it's 3D you can animate a spin around it's Y-axis (vertical axis) and the texture follows along in the spin.
In "Throw Away" I used Fractal Noise and Color Balance instead of textures on all the planets you see.

Ok - next you need the Optical Flares plugin from Video Copilot. It's a simply amazing plugin designed to primarely generate lens flares and it gives you full control of every conceivable aspect and feature of them. You can start off with a default redy-made or start from scratch and build the flares yourself - any way you fancy.
The fact that Optical Flares is an amazing plugin is supported by - for instance - Digital Domain using it in the upcoming movie Transformers 3. Read, watch clips and weep ... :)

Optical Flares is mentionend on the second page - scroll down to the header "Software".
Actually, I think I also spotted it used in a couple of scenes in Sucker Punch.

So - we got After Effects, we got CC Sphere with a Moon texture and we start adding a Lens Flare.
Can this be done in Photoshop ? No - and yes. It should be possible but it will be fiddly and timeconsuming, including lots of selections filled with apropriate colours and blurring, brushstrokes and what not. Check out the tutorials provided by Lizad in Photoshop Challenge Week #5 for tips-n'-trix.

To break down the Lens Flare for you as a guide, I started off with 2 basic Glows. One small and crisp for the suns core and one large and fuzzy for the corona. Both aligned and placed behind the planet sticking out slightly in the upper left.
Added another Lens Flare built with a Glint - the bright shape in the center - a Star with 4 beams and a Shimmer - those lots of lightrays going in all directions from center and out. The Shimmer will be the most difficult one to replicate in PhS (but it doesn't have to look the same).
Topped it all off with two Multi Iris elements - the multi-coloured beam running diagonally across the image. One large, more spread out and blurred and one smaller, dense and sharp inside the larger one.

From there it's just a matter of overall Colour Correction (Curves - or Color Balance) and Contrast control (Curves - or Levels).

... and if you think the images are great, you haven't seen the animation ..... ... yet ... :)
 
Last edited:
Belial said:
Very professional mate, you under sell yourself and theres no need to.
Click to expand...
Seems more have the same opinion .. :)
What I think it lacks is the sense of "massive" and space. Could be that I'm missing the fourth dimension - movement - but I think it feels like something I could fit inside a locker at a bus station ...
 
Ah .. C'mon Cindy ... you're just saying this to cheer me up ... aren't you ..? (Did we agree on $200 for a positive review ?)

No - just kidding... of course !! :)

Thank you very much, Cindy. If you like it - I'm happy !!!
 
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