WIP : Photo-Realistic Earth

[Good Guy]

http://www.confussled.com/earth2.jpg

[WhiteRabbitObj]

Hmm, I seem to remember reading a tutorial on creating the earth as well that discussed lighting an all. I think that a bit of luminance is helpful to create the glow that the earth has. It looks like you're on the right track at the moment, it has that nice halo around the outside, tho it shouldn't be all the way around, it should stop wherever the nightside begins.

Also, yes, if your texture maps are small then the quality will go down. I try to only ever use texture maps of 1024x1024 or higher resolution.

[Tommi]

Hi Good Guy!

I also started such a thread in the Lightwave forum. I got loads of response and very valuable information on the creation of a realistic earth. Here is the link to the thread: http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36740

Tell us the resolution of the textures you use - they appear a little bit low res... :shrug:


EDIT:

On this site you get Hires earth and cloud maps:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/BlueMarble.html

[Tikisan]

my guess would be the size of the texture file...if its too small it gets stretched and pixelated...also is there a way to down the opacity of the atmosphere to see more of the land and clouds....but im not that great at textures, so these are just guesses...as far as lighting is concerned you could try simulating the light of the sun on one side and make a more dramatic shadow in map.

[Good Guy]

Thanks Guys :D

Tommi : My resolution of the textures, i can assure you, wasnt above 1024x1024 ;) I'll leave that at that, so as not to embarass meself :P I also looked at that link you gave me to your photo-earth, fantastic stuff im reading through it now :buttrock: (and also noice finished earth ya made :D) The link with the earth pictures you sent me have already made my earth look 1000x's better - thx! :D

Tikisan : I have reduced the opacity of the clouds layer, this has helped me show more of the landmasses (though i think i need to increase it abit more)

WhiteRabbit.obj : I realised about the halo ring around the outside but i cannot seem to make it stop half way, if ya know what i mean ;) I am very new to gradient texturing (as i have stuck with image maps and proceedural textures)

Thanks guys, gonna play around with it a bit more and upload another pic in a bit!

:cool: Good Guy :cool:

[Good Guy]

Update:
http://www.confussled.com/earth3.jpg

Reading through that post still, some great information, i need to sort out my atmosphere halo thing tho :shrug:

[Tommi]

:beer:

Great :thumbsup:
I'm glad that I could help you. I'm sure that you'll figure out, that the most important info comes from mixolydian (sp?), related to the atmosphere's look and behavior toward's the incidence angle. Which 3D application do you use?

EDIT:
The cloud map from NASA is partially messed up - they seem to have cloned some areas (take a look at northern Africa) - maybe it's a good idea to correct this in an image app or do what someone in my thread suggested - make it on your own ;)

[Good Guy]

Lightwave alllll the way :buttrock:
Yea im just reading over the post about all the atmosphere, its really helpful (this whole CGTalk place is just one big helpful place :D :P)

Ive got this so far, will get better i promise ;) :thumbsup:

http://www.confussled.com/earth4.jpg

[Good Guy]

Ok another update this is all im doin for tonight, will pick it up again tomorrow. Im quite happy with it :thumbsup:

http://www.confussled.com/earth_final_high.jpg

Comments and Crits plz :beer:

:cool: Good Guy :cool:

[Good Guy]

http://www.confussled.com/earth_final_3.jpg

[killahsin]

wow liking it alot, looking very good especially that last update

[Tikisan]

I think its coming along really well, the last update looks really good, but dont dim down the quality of your earth with a pixelated background :)

[Chappo]

That is very very nice :)

maybe some more athmosphere around the earth

clean clean high quality earth , keep it up

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