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          <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">- <a href="../index.html">Contents</a><br>
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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 39</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.32/pop/">Creating 
                a Space Scene (part one)</a>: Part one of Rick's ongoing tutorial.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.35/pop/index.html">Creating 
                a Space Scene (part two)</a>: Part two of Rick's ongoing tutorial.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.6/index.html">DRAW 
                Partner!</a>: Chris Buecheler's article on games and 2D art.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.26/feat/index.html">Two 
                Programs, Two Dimensions</a>: Rick Grossenbacher's tutorial on 
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                2D images.</font></p>
              
              
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../corner/index.html"><font size="-1">Painting 
          on Polygons</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Creating A Space Scene <font size="+1">(part 3)</font></font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Rick "<a href="mailto:flat@iserv.net">Flatness</a>" Grossenbacher<br>
          </font></b></font><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"></font></b></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here is a quick list of the 
          steps needed to work Starfield:</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>1.</b> In the <b>Rendering</b> 
          menu, pick <b>Video Post</b>.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>2.</b> Click the <b>Add 
          Scene Event</b> icon (the teapot with the arrow pointing to it).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>3.</b> Pick the camera 
          you are using from the pulldown menu (in the <b>Add Scene Event</b> 
          menu). You must have a camera set up for the <b>Starfield</b> filter 

          to work.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>4.</b> Click <b>Ok</b> 
          to exit that menu.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>5. </b>Click the <b>Add 
          Image Filter Event</b> icon (the rectangle with the curved line through 
          it).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>6. </b>Pick <b>Starfield</b>.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>7. </b>Click <b>Setup</b>.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>8</b>.<b> </b>Tweak whatever 
          settings you want, then press <b>Ok</b>.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>9. </b>View your <b>Starfield</b> 
          by clicking the <b>Execute Sequence</b> icon (the little running dude).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>10. </b>Render it.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I found that this star generator 
          is pretty handy, but it’s not really realistic enough, so I use it as 
          a starting point to make my starfield, then go into Photoshop and continue 
          doing the rest by hand.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><u>A Spiral Galaxy</u></b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">What space scene wouldn’t 
          be complete without a galaxy? So, I thought I’d show one that I created 
          by hand. It’s an older image of mine, and these days I probably wouldn’t 
          completely hand draw it. Most likely I’d find a picture of a real one 
          and partially hand draw, and partially rubber stamp some of the real 
          one for greater realism.</font></p>
        <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="spiral1.php"><img src="spiral1.jpg" width="109" height="64" border="1" alt="click for larger image"></a></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Unfortunately since this 
          image is a couple of years old I can’t remember exactly all the steps 
          I took to create it, but I do remember the majority of it.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. I made a big, thick splotch 
          of stars.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2. I put a lens flare smack 
          in the center.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">3. I used the twirl filter 
          (I think).</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">4. I used the distort transform 
          (from the edit menu -- not a filter) to get it to look like it was on 
          a slant.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">5. I went in by hand and 
          started erasing out parts, making parts brighter/darker (burning/dodging), 
          etc.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><u>Putting The Scene All 
          Together</u></b></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now that you have the various 
          elements of your scene made, it’s time to slap them together into some 
          sort of cool composition.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Take a look at the following 
          image. This isn’t a game screenshot, just a scene I put together in 
          MAX awhile back.</font></p>
        <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="ship.php"><img src="ship1.jpg" width="128" height="96" border="1"></a></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>Click the thumbnail to 
          see a larger image.</i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">You can see in the background 
          how the Earth-like planet (which you should remember from part 2 of 
          the tutorial) fits in nicely outside of the windows.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I went about making this 
          graphic a bit differently than you might expect. I didn’t render the 
          space background at the same time as the interior of the ship. I left 
          the background as negative space to serve as an Alpha channel. To exemplify 
          this, take a look at the next image.</font></p>
        <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="ship2.jpg" width="333" height="250"></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The red part is the Alpha 
          channel. If you are wondering why I did that, it’s because now that 
          I have an alpha channel created, I can throw any image into that channel 
          that I want, and I will have myself a new background. Take a look at 
          the next image. You should see some familiar things.</font></p>
        <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><a href="ship3.php"><img src="ship3.jpg" width="128" height="96" border="1"></a></i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>Click the thumbnail to 
          see a larger image.</i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, this concludes the 
          three-part space scene tutorial. I could have really exploded this baby 
          into about ten parts with lots of other aspects that I’d hoped to cover 
          (like nebulas). Really, the best thing to do is to take a look at real 
          space images from somewhere like NASA’s site. That way you’ll notice 
          things that you really didn’t before and hopefully be able to apply 
          them to your scene. Of course, you might want your scene to look more 
          other-worldly such as some of the images seen in the last segment of 
          <b>2001: A Space Odyssey</b>. If that’s the case, just think creatively 
          about what you want your scene to look like and then think even more 
          creatively as to how to accomplish what you are looking for (sort of 
          like the steps I took to create the spiral galaxy). Sometimes a certain 
          combination of tools or filters is the key... just finding the right 
          balance between them for them to work effectively is the real challenge. 
          I know that sounds easier said than done, but really it is the way you 
          will learn what works and what doesn’t. When I’m working on something 
          and spend an hour trying something new just to find that it sucks, I 
          try to at least justify it to myself by saying: &quot;hey, at least 
          I learned what <b>not</b> to do next time.&quot; That might sound stupid, 
          but it’s the way I learned the in and outs of Photoshop. Experiment, 
          experiment, experiment.</font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">- 
          Rick Grossenbacher is a professional 2D artist and graphic designer. 
          Amongst other things, he has worked at Ion Storm and done freelance 
          work for RCA and Sony records.</font></i></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> <b>Credits:</b> 
        Painting on Polygons is &copy; 1999 Rick Grossenbacher. All other content 
        is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so 
        don't do it, or we'll paint you white against a white background.</font></i></p>
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