How To: Create rotating planets and moons in Photoshop

Pixel Perfect is the "perfect" show to help you with your Photoshop skills. Be amazed and learn as master digital artist Bert Monroy takes a stylus and a digital pad and treats it as Monet and Picasso do with oil and canvas. Learn the tips and tricks you need to whip those digital pictures into shape with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. In this episode, Ben shows you how to create rotating planets and moons in Photoshop.

See 3D in Photoshop from a different perspective: Deep Outer-Space! You'll learn how to create planets and moons in their orbit. Here are the steps:

Set up a tiled Earth graphic for animation:
Bert shows us how to rotate a moon around our Earth using movie files. Start with a full, flat image of the earth (just Google the image for a free, public graphic).

Apply animation:
In your animation window, switch to frame view, a new frame, and move the image to the opposite edge. Apply about 5 frames of tweening, then render the video.

Apply rotation to the globe:
Import the movie file to your original document (Layer > Video Layer > New Video Layer from File) and delete your old layer of Earth. The new layer will have a movie icon on the layer thumbnail.

Add stars:
Monochromatic noise on the dark background creates stars with some adjustments.

Add a moon to Earth's orbit:
With a flat moon image file, apply a Sphere shape as done previously to the Earth. When sized correctly, move the moon to the side of the Earth. To adjust the lighting to match Earth, select both layers, then choose 3D > Merge 3D Layers. The moon will then take on the same properties as the Earth.

Cast shadows on the Earth:
To apply shadows on the Earth as the moon orbits, apply 3D Render Settings > Ray Trace. When you choose OK, a shadow will appear. You can apply layer styles to the shadow to make it look realistic.

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