https://www.mediafire.com/file/xmzo96pxoe492ri/Cloud_Texture_Maker.blend/file
(This only works in v2.83.3 or higher)
So when you open the file, you should get something that looks like this:
What we have to do now is change the render setting to "Viewport Shading" by clicking this icon at the top-right of the window with the sphere:
- Pic2.png (5.96 KiB) Viewed 6558 times
You should now see this:
If we go down to the node tab and move over, we see this noise setting which will determine the look of the clouds:
- Pic4.png (14.07 KiB) Viewed 6558 times
-W: This is just the seed for the texture
-Distortion: I recommend setting it between 0.3 and 0.85
-Scale: Set this between 4.5 and 10 for something that looks Earth-like
LEAVE EVERYTHING ELSE UNTOUCHED
When you get something you are satisfied with, select this node and click on the "New Image" icon circled in red:
- Pic5.png (20.76 KiB) Viewed 6558 times
You should get this menu. Make sure you have the width and height in a 2:1 ratio (example: 4096x2048). You can name the image anything you like. Once done, click "OK":
- Pic6.png (25.96 KiB) Viewed 6558 times
Make sure that you have the sphere and the image node selected, and then click on "Bake":
This will take some time depending on your PC or the size of the image texture that you set.
Once the texture is finished being baked, you should see the output on the bottom-left, but we aren't actually gonna touch this here:
We are instead going to click the "Texture Paint" tab:
- Pic9.png (4.58 KiB) Viewed 6558 times
You should see this menu:
You will then click on "Image," and then "Save As...":
Find a good place to save the file, and voilà! an alpha cloud map texture ready for any use:
