While I was browsing for some icons in Iconspedia, I stumbled upon some awesome looking shiny spheres. It immediately caught my eye and I wanted to recreate them in Photoshop. As I was finishing the image, I recalled one of the tutorials in PSDTuts, to create a realistic earth using the 3D rendering features of Adobe Photoshop CS4. Unfortunately, I have CS3, so i decided to try one of my own and have provided the tutorial here.

In this article, we will learn how to create a realistic looking orb and we shall continue to experiment with it and finally attempt to create planet earth and to add glow lines around it. This is an intermediate level tutorial. The final effect can be used to create icons and buttons. In this tutorial, we will be learning stuff with respect to layer styles, gradient tool to apply the shine and gloss and finally, how to use the pen tool to achieve amazing glow lines.

Step1:

As usual, Create a new file of size 800 x 600px and using the ellipse tool and the option set to shape layer, draw a circle using the SHIFT Key. Use the color #0c4787.

Step 2:

Rasterize the circle layer and double click on it to bring the layer style options and apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings similar to what is shown below.

Step 3:

Apply the Inner Glow with the following settings:

The result should look something like this:

Step 4:

We need to add a outer glossy surface. So, CTRL + Click the sphere layer and Go to Select>>modify>>Contract. Use 4 Pixels as expand range.

The result should look something like this :

Step 5:

Create a New layer and place it below the sphere layer and fill the selection with a lighter blue color as shown below.

Step 6:

Now to create the lighting for the sphere to give it a realistic look. Select the Ellipse tool and set the option to Paths and Create an ellipse as shown below:

Step 7:

Once the ellipse path is created, you can change the size and length as desired using the free transformation tool (CTRL +T). After you have finalised to the perfect ellipse, Right Click on the path (make sure the Pen Tool is selected) and click on Make Selection.

Step 8:

Create a new layer, Using the gradient tool and a gradient ranging from White to transparent, create a gradient in the selected area. Use the image below as reference.

Step 9:

Set the Opacity level to 10-15% or any value depending on the depth of glossiness you would prefer.

Step 9:

Now, using the elliptical marquee tool, Draw a huge ellipse which cover the lower region of the sphere as shown below:

Step 10:

Now create a new layer, and add another similar gradient to the selected area as shown below:

Step 11:

Make sure the new gradient layer is selected. Now CTRL + Click the sphere layer and Invert the selection by pressing SHIFT + CTRL + I. This is to remove the extra gradient which is overlapping the parts other than the sphere.

Step 12:

Now Press Delete and set the opacity of the layer to 4-8%.

Step 13:

We are almost there. Now, using the ellipse tool and the option set to shape layers, and the color set to black, draw an ellipse at the bottom of the sphere as shown below:

Step 14:

This will eventually become the shadow. Now drop this layer below the outer glossy layer and above the background layer and Rasterize it. Apply a gaussian blur of around 16 pixels.

Step 15:

Now, Duplicate this shadow layer and resize it such that it appears at the center of the bottom of the sphere. Use the below image for reference.

Step 16:

Now you need to experiment with the opacity of these two shadow layers. Make sure the smaller one is darker to give a realistic shadow effect. Here is a look at the final image of this stage. I applied a light blue gradient to provide a simple floor effect.

Step 17:

Well, If you are satisfied with this, you can stop here and try the tutorial out. I wanted to create a shiny earth with the sphere we just created. So, Here is what i tried to do. Even though the final result is not very realistic, it is somewhat reasonably good.

Now, Grab the earth image from this image site and Paste it on the document as shown below:

Step 18:

Now, bring the opacity down to around 75% and Using the Transform tool, select Warp and Twist the earth image to a circular shape as shown below:

Step 19:

Now, press enter and CTRL + Click on the Sphere layer and Invert the selection and Press delete so that the unwanted areas of the map are removed.

Step 20:

Stage 2 complete : We have successfully created mother Earth. Well, almost tried to :) Now to add some glow lines. Using the Pen tool, and the option set to paths, create a swirly path as shown below.

Step 21:

Right Click on the path and select STROKE PATH and select brush with SIMULATE PRESSURE ticked. Before doing this, make sure the brush tool is selected to a soft brush with 0% hardness with a radius of 4px.

You can observe that I have deleted the brush stroke which appears behind the Earth. This gives it a revolving effect. Now we need to apply layer styles. Apply Inner Glow and outer glow with a light blue color and repeat the above steps to make more of such strokes.

Here is my final Image. Hope you guys enjoyed the tutorial. If you did, Please subscribe to my blog for more of such stuff or follow me on twitter.. Thank you

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