Leopard Starburst effect in PhotoshopListThumbs
Leopard Starburst effect in Photoshop
Here we are, in June, another WWDC with Steve Jobs and lots of cool stuff. This time what impressed me the most was the new Mac OS X, called Leopard. The finder has changed, finally, besides that, some cool features like the cover flow for files, quick view and time machine are great and make me really want to use it.
Well, one thing that I loved was those new Mac OS banners, like the space, stars and those dust and flares. Awesome. So I tried to do that in Photoshop, and I have to say, it’s not that difficult, and this is what I want to show here.
1- Create a new document: Fill the background with black;
2 - Create the small stars: Duplicate the layer and add a noise>15%>gaussian>monochromatic.
3 - Adjust the Brightness/Contrast so there won’t be too many stars.
4 - Big Stars: Duplicate the small stars layer and apply a Brightness / Contrast again.
5 - Scale it like three times its size, we want to create bigger stars.
6 - Apply Images>adjustments>Threshold: This will show only a few stars. Apply SCREEN as blending options
7 - Refining the stars: Apply a mask on the layer and with the eraser with like 200px start deleting some parts of the layer. after that the stars won’t be too uniform anymore.
8 - Create some light: Add a new layer and create Clouds. Filters>Render>Clouds. Your background color has to be white and the foreground black or vice-versa.
9 - Apply a Hue/Saturation in the cloud layer and COLOR DODGE as a blending option.
10 - Now apply a Hue/Saturation in the big stars layer.
11 - Create some flares: I did that using some free ps brushes which you can find for free at http://www.psbrushes.net/ or http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes. Change some presets like Diameter, Spacing and play with that, testing the Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Other Dynamics and etc... Don’t forget to add some glow in the stars through the Layer Styles.
12 - Creating the Starburst Light: Create a Custom Shape, like the one I chose in white, apply a Gaussian Blur and after that a Twirl. Scale it down until it gets a perfect circle.
13 - Create a new Layer: Fill it in black and merge it with the Starburst layer.
14 - Add a Radial Blur to the Starburst and after that change the Hue/Saturation. Colorize it until you get a green color.
15 - Duplicate the first Starburst Light, reduce its size and apply again a Hue/Saturation, this time set a red/orange color to it.
16 - Addin the Text: For the X or Z just apply a simple Bevel and Emboss plus the Contour option.
17 - Create the reflections on the type: Create a mask and fill it with a gradient from white to black. Set SCREEN as blending options.
Final Result:
Download the Photoshop File
Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial
Plus, there are good sites with tutorials showing how to create a galaxy, stars and stuff like that. Bellow some that I used as reference.
- http://gallery.artofgregmartin.com/tuts_arts/making_a_star_field.html
- http://www.andreibilan.blogspot.com/2006/08/photoshop-tutorial-sparkling-stars.html
About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
42 Comments
I tried this tutorial several times, I get to step 5 and everything turns out wrong. "Scale it like three times its size, we want to create bigger stars." What the heck is that supposed to mean??
It's nice looking, if only there was more explanation to it.
Great tutorial mate!
But can u please do a tutorial on how to make the other leopard (Aurora) wallpaper or this one: http://mac.softpedia.com/screenshots/Leopard-wallpaper-set_4.jpg
Hope to hear form you soon
Thanks
graet tutorial but needs more explications
thank you for this nice trick... everything was clear to understand.. thanks bro....
mr. zer0,
Mach es drei mal größer so daß man einer größeren starn machen kann
you are welcome. ;-)
hey guys, im from switzerland - and i dont understand step 5.
what doeas mean that?? :S
thanks
A faster way to do the background stars is to create noise (gaussian) - about 1% then use levels to make some bright.
good post
ZAYIFLAMA HAPI
That's very effective and seems really simple to achieve. Thanks for the TUT. Gotta try it tomorrow :)
i agree with others who had a hard time following- i usually dont have difficulty following tutorials, but this one (along with another one of yours i tried), is definately missing steps or missing details. Most of the time i can usually figure out what was left out, but this one gave me some trouble. i totally understand though how that can happen- when you're trying to teach someone something, it's hard to include every single little detail- it's easy to forget that certain details may not be as obvious as you think they are to someone who has never done it before. So anyway, the results you have are awesome, id just suggest that you maybe expand any tutorials you do in the future by including even information you feel is trivial or obvious, and explain step more clearly. Thank you so much for your time & effort- it is so niice of you to take the time to post tutorials for people to learn, and like i said, the results of your tutorials are really nice:)
this tutorial already looked cool as soon as I saw step 10. Good work.
thanks see
Nice tutorial :) But, while going from 14th substance to 13th substance how is the black at the back dissepered?
Thanks :)
good post
all thanks brb nice
nice tutorial. thanks.
Sweet tip, just what I have been looking for! Well Pleased...
its pretty cool, but really confusing to follow. I can follow tutorials very easily, and this got me lost... I didnt get the results... not even close...
Hello, I just discovered your blog and I'm simply amazed. Thank you for sharing knowledge, I think I'm going to stick here for a while.
Knowledge is the most valuable thing available on the Internet. Thank you, really.
To confusing. to grainy on the screen and I think there should also be a video tutorial.
FANTASTIC WORK!!!
Valeu pelo post. Muito bom mesmo.
Gostei bastante.
Até comecei a escrever em inglês e depois vi que tu era de porto alegre. E tudo ficou mais claro. Parabens pelo lance do site do CJC (me liguei pelo nome zee design). Ficou muito bom também.
Grande trabalho...
abraços
Thanks for this post,
its a great tutorial.
Thanks a lot. Great work!
Actually after this step, the resulting image should appear dusty with all the standing-out small stars.
I suspect you missed out something between step 9 & 10.
Still, thank you for this great post.
Tried out but really you have to be more specific and explain better. Felt like parts were left out.
Totally dig it dude. Really enjoyed doing it.
Good stuff, mate!
How to scale to get bigger stars, plz?
nice job
Hey, I'd like to say thanks for all comments... Now, Kasper, after you merge the star-twirl with the black background, you have to change the blending options of the merged layer to SCREEN, that will make the black disappear... I hope I have answered your question... and let me know if you have any doubt cool?
I'm having trouble at the step where you merge the star-twirl with the black layer.
You don't write how the black background goes away again... Could you please explain this???
Man that awesome.
Nice tutrial......
http://www.kulturbalans.com
Amazing!! This is great!
Holy cow, this looks amazing! Great work and thanks a lot for sharing this tutorial, will definitly be using this one!
Fantastic work as usual. Thanks!
what font did you use for the letters ?
Nice tutorial.
this tutorial already looked cool as soon as I saw step 10. Good work.
I cant apply a twirl effect it's grayed out... What can I do?
Oh gosh. Your tutorials are great and this isn't the exception. Nice effect.
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