Image editing for the rest of us
In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a space scene in Pixelmator without using a stock photo or special brush, just the ones that come with Pixelmator. We will play with some filters and blending as well. The whole effect will not take you more than 20 minutes, and the end result is really impressive.
Step 1
Open Pixelmator and create a new document. Then with the Gradient Tool (G), fill the background layer with a Radial Gradient such that the center is a dark blue (030826) and the edges are black.
Step 2
Add a new layer and with the Paint Bucked Tool (N), fill the layer with black. Then go to Filter>Stylize>Noise. Use 10 for the Amount and Monochrome.
Step 3
After you create the noise, go to Image>Levels. Increase the Black to 43 and the White to 101. The Gray will be 70. With that, you will create a really nice star field.
Step 4
Now add another layer and go to Filter>Generator>Clouds. Use black and white for the colors and then change the Blending to Linear Dodge and the Opacity to 30%.
Step 5
Go to Filter>Distortion>Pinch. Use 435 for the Radius and 75 for the Scale. In addition, move the handler to the very center of the image.
Step 6
With the Eraser Tool (E), delete some areas of the layer and leave just a few clouds, as in the image below.
Step 7
Create a new layer on top of the others and fill it with black. Then change the Blending to Color Dodge. With the Brush Tool (B), select the stars brush and white for the color. Then start painting some stars.
Step 8
Add a new layer, this time on top of the background layer. With the Brush Tool (B), pick a light blue (005793) and then with a very soft and big brush paint a blue spot in the middle of the scene. Use the image below for reference.
Step 9
Create another layer, again with the Brush Tool (B), and then with white and a smaller soft brush paint another spot in the middle of the image, creating a gradient from white to blue and then black. Tip. You can use the Gaussian Blur to soften the transitions.
Step 10
Let’s create another layer, this time on top of the others. Fill the layer with black. With the Brush Tool (B), create some round spots in white; use different sizes.
Step 11
Change the Blending to Color Dodge and then go to Filter>Blur>Zoom Blur. Use 20 for the Amount. To make the effect a bit stronger, duplicate this layer twice and select the 3 layers, then go to Layer>Merge Layers. You will need to change the Blending to Color Dodge again.
Step 12
To make the effect even stronger, go to Image>Levels and incresae the White to 70.
Step 13
Create a new layer on top of the others and change the Blending to Color Dodge. Then go to Filter>Quartz Composer>Generator>Travelator. Use the default settings and move the handler closer to the center of the image. Use the image below for reference.
Conclusion
Now duplicate the Travelator layer and go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. Then you can rotate them a little bit until you find a nice position, one that makes it look like the viewer of the image is traveling at light speed.
All we used to create this image were simple filters, blending, and brushes. Once again, what is important is understanding what you can do with the tool and trying it out. I hope you enjoy this tutorial as much as I did creating the image.
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August 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Well done Fabio, I saw this posted on Flickr earlier, didn’t know a tutorial would come of it though.
Fantastic outcome, may try some things with this soon.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Thanks! Great for a beginner like me.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Hey! this is an awesome tutorial, but, I just wanted to say that, I’ve been having come trouble with some of the tutorials, I dunno if it’s something that has to do with the version but, for example, when I render clouds, it looks totally different how they are on this tutorial, it’s like a full screen effect, on yours it’s partial, as well as on some others.
One way or another, I’ve learned a lot from these tutorials, but, I’d love them to be a little more precise on v1.4.1, this program is amazing, and I’d love it to succeed, thanks for everything!
August 7th, 2009 at 5:25 am
First off, thanks a lot for the comments, I’m glad you like the tutorial.
@Marcelo, the Clouds filter render random clouds, so you wont be able to replicate the exact effect. Then it’s the whole screen too, but you need with the Eraser Tool (E) delete some areas and leave just a few, that with the blending will make the effect cool.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Looks great. Good job Fabio.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:41 am
I just want to thank you fro all the pixelmator tutorials it’s really appreciated.
August 9th, 2009 at 8:22 am
There’s a blend mode step missing after step 2 – once you’ve created the noise and changed the levels, how do you put the stars over the gradient?
Thanks, awesome tut!
August 13th, 2009 at 12:21 am
exactly, mark!
i tried blending: lighter color with 40% opacity to get the “noise stars” to appear on top of the background, but it’a not perfect, i guess
so yeah, how do you put the stars over the gradient properly?
thanks
August 21st, 2009 at 7:01 am
@ Fabio Sasso – First off your end results on your tutorials always look amazing, but are you rushed when you write your tutorials? Because you consistently leave out important steps or information which ends up confusing or frustrating a lot of people.
For example you explained to Marcelo how to achieve this:
“@Marcelo, the Clouds filter render random clouds, so you wont be able to replicate the exact effect. Then it’s the whole screen too, but you need with the Eraser Tool (E) delete some areas and leave just a few, that with the blending will make the effect cool.”
Don’t you think this information would have been helpful in step 4 of your tutorial? You should NEVER write a tutorial assuming the end user knows things like this already.
If a brand new Pixelmator customer bought the app today and followed this tutorial step by step the end results would be nothing like what your showing due to lack of important information left out of your steps.
Can you please review you steps and include the missing information necessary to help the end results of a user be closer to what your showing.
Thanks
August 23rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I am grateful for the gesture that this tutorial was even written, but, it was incredibly incomplete for a newbie like myself.
First of all, why were colors given in hex? How about RGB?
Second, step 2 failed to mention any kind of blending which is necessary (on a friend’s recommendation, I went with Color Dodge).
On step 3 and 4, the author fails to mention using Levels to intensify the contrast and a Free Transform to increase the size of the Clouds layer.
Those are the few I noticed, but, man it’s a good thing I had a friend experienced in these matters helping me, I would’ve never guessed those things myself with no design background. Please try and be more thorough next time! Thanks!
August 24th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
[...] beispielsweise die Funktion mit dem Namen „Zoom-Blur“, deren Effekt und Wirkung man in diesem Tutorial [...]
October 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I used “Hard Light” blending for Step 2.
December 9th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
well i have a problem when i finish with the levels i just see a star field but without the gradient in it , why mi image it doesn’t see like yours ?
February 20th, 2010 at 3:47 am
Thanks for the tutorial but I’m quite desperate too. I’m new and my picture doesn’t look like yours. How to blend in the stars into the gradient? (Thats where i had to stop because I got frustrated :)
March 14th, 2010 at 11:55 am
I just recently got a mac and was looking to get back into web designing. After some research I decided on PIxelmator. This software is soo powerful and user friendly once you know the basics. Fabio thanks for these tutorials. I have tried two of these and am at about 90% success rate, but I’m going to keep working on it.
Thanks!!
July 7th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Doesnt work for me, when i set the noise filter the gradient layer is not visible
July 7th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Doesnt work for me, when i set the noise filter the gradient layer is not visible
July 21st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
This tutorial is incredibly poorly written and difficult to follow. The results *look* excellent, but it’s impossible to duplicate them with the information given.
I’ve used photo editing programs since Jasc was still around, and so I know a bit about them, but I’m totally new to Pixelmator. I couldn’t follow this and had to give up halfway through.
Rewrite this tutorial or take it down, honestly.