HAVE A LOOK AT HD28185-F

[Don. Edwards]

Time for some new info about the add-on.
So here is what I have this time. The first shots of the all new texture for HD28185-F.
In the first incarnation of the add-on, this was an earth size frozen terrestrial planet. I decided that was just a little boring and since I have been playing around with a very interesting texture I just made, I decided to reclassify the planet. So in the new HD28185 add-on it is going to be a Sub-Jovian. This is one of those in between planetary types we have no idea what it would look like, we have the same problem with Super-Jovian and Brown Dwarfs, as we don't have one in our system, unless one wants to downgrade Uranus and Neptune to the sub-Jovian class. I do not think they are considered subs so my Sub-Jovian is nearly 18,000 kilometers in diameter. That’s nearly three times Earth diameter but not quite as big as Neptune and Uranus. This of course gives me some creative freedom with what it will look like. This planet has an orbit that falls just outside of what would be Mars orbit in our system. So I had to consider the elements available in the HD28185 system would still be similar. So it has a make up of mostly hydrogen and helium surrounding and Earth size rocky core. So here is what I have come up with.
As always click the thumb for the big picture.

HD28185 F


If you look at the big picture you can see that the atmosphere is very thick like Jupiter’s but at a scaled down size for a smaller planet. Of course it is extremely dynamic. With big low pressure storms and large high pressure areas and high speed jet streams. It being closer to its sun than Jupiter this allows for more solar heat input. This is the best face at this point. The texture still needs a little work and it is only a 2k. It may have to stay at the 2k level. But the detail will still be pretty good.
A good question to put to everyone is, can anyone figure out what this texture originally was a picture of?
It came from a picture of a region on the Earth's surface. Of course it has been changed a great deal. Any takers on were it might have been?

Hint #1 It is North of the Equator.
Hint #2 It is East of the Atlantic Ocean
Hint #3 It is West of Japan.
Hint #4 It is below the Arctic Circle
Have fun with this one!

And yes I do know were on Earth it is!

Don. Edwards

[maxim]

Depends on how much you have tweaked the colors.
Sahara i would say, or maybe Afganistan region.

maxim

[Don. Edwards]

The colors have been changed quite a bit. The original image the colors are greys, blues, whites, and some tan.

And no it is not the Sahara. But the other choice you mentioned could be close by!

Don. Edwards

[TERRIER]

I could be very vague and just say that the texture has come from somewhere in the North African / Asian Desert region, but I'll put my head on the block and suggest that it's looking a bit Saudi Arabia.....ish ! ?

[Don. Edwards]

Again close but not it.

Here are a few shots of how HD28185-F and its moons are coming along.








It is kind of hard to believe that F's texture is from the Earth's surface.

Hint #5 and the last hint, the location is between Saudi Arabia and Afganistan.

If you can't get it with that hint I don't what else to say.

Own, and I want the region name not the country that it is in. I have to keep some dificulty in this.

Don. Edwards

[Rassilon]

Was this a photoshop standard plugin used in warping that texture? Nice job Don!

[maxim]

Since Version 6 Photoshop inherits the liquify-tool which can be of great help.

maxim

[Jeam Tag]

Don Edwards:
Very impressive work! I'm waiting for the final release
Jeam

[Cormoran]

Looking lovely Don.

Umm.... I may be mad but I think I see the Himalayas in there.... mind you, I just got home after a beery day with the boys, and I don't know where my specs are

Cormoran

[TERRIER]

Looking lovely Don.

Umm.... I may be mad but I think I see the Himalayas in there....

Surely not.......
.........BHUTAN ?

[Don. Edwards]

Ok!
I will give of the answer.
It is the Dasht-e Kevir region in Iran.
The texture was made from this image.


And the following images show how it evolved for the most part.
Step 1 The big stretch to 2048x1024


Step 2 Offsetting the image so that the seem lines will match.


Step 3 Cloning some of the features that are going to take center stage.


Step 4 Blending the halves together and getting a cohesive texture.


Step 5 After some color adjustment. Ok after severe color adjustment.


This of course is just a quick peek I put together to show how just about any interesting feature can be turned into an out of this world texture. I have been thinking of making a tutorial about texture creating and I just may use this as the centerpiece to do the job. I have gotten allot of people asking how I make my textures. I would of course make the tutorial do that it could be followed by anyone using Photoshop or the GIMP as in many of these things they are very similar.
As everyone can see because this region has a very fluid look to it already I didn't need to use the liquify tools in Photoshop. The tool most used was the Smudge tool. When done right you can use it to create some very realistic jovian cloud effects. Here it was used to blend the sections on what will be seem as clouds. Of course the texture was recolored.
Last night I found a larger version of this picture so I am going to start it all over again so it can be a the 4k level like all the other textures in the add-on.
Well I guess that sums that up. Any question and or comments are always welcome. And if you think I should write that tutorial let me what you think.

Don. Edwards

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Dagnabbit, I was going to say Iran, but you beat me to it!

Looks very nifty though. A trifle too chaotic for my tastes though, I think it needs just a little bit more 'order' - a few more belts and less swirly features?

And what's Ganymede doing in orbit around it?

[maxim]

Wow, nice area.
I should take closer looks into the blue marble texture.

I like those kind of environements. Let's examine if it is possible to have a holiday trip down there.

maxim

[Don. Edwards]

Evil Dr Ganymede,
Ah, beat you to it.
Now, my intension was, as I stated earlier, to create a planet that has characteristics of say a terrestrial and a jovian. For example, the atmosphere and clouds are supposed to represent storm systems like you see on Earth but scaled of to a semi-jovian size. Hurricanes, high pressure ridges, jet streams. This picture afforded the opportunity to use its own features to do some standing in for these things. Again this is supposed to be a half and half world so I basically worked out in my head what a sub-jovian might look like. Most theories I have read state that they would have thick atmospheres, big storms like other jovians but on a less organized scale. I read about this somewhere but I will be dammed if I can remember were or what in.
Not all textures are for everyone. I was looking to do something very different. This is the outcome. As for the moons, actually I am temporarily using the old Pluto texture that was based on Ganymede for one of them. Another is a re-colored Ganymede but I do plan to change it. But the blue color will remain. I have plans for it. The other moon is actually Venus' surface texture with some drastic color changes to make it look like it is covered with ice.

Maxim,
The Dasht-e Kevir might not be the best place for a get together of Celestia uses. It is basically a salt marsh. So it would hot, humid, and infested with mosquitoes. I can think of many other places that would be more interesting. Although it is interesting from above.

Don. Edwards

[Dollan]

I think a tutorial would be a *wonderful* idea! I've been mucking about with making textures when I have time, but frankly I'm rather lost. Please keep us posted on the subject!

And by the way, I'm also looking forward to seeing the final release of this add-on!

Well I guess that sums that up. Any question and or comments are always welcome. And if you think I should write that tutorial let me what you think. Don. Edwards

...John...

[Don. Edwards]

A few new pictures.
A have done a little modifying of HD28185-F's texture, I feel it is nearly finished. My plan to make the texture at 4k had been scrapped. The problem with having the higher resolution texture is that things that were easy to fix in the smaller version are just a mess in the bigger version. For one the picture looks like it scanned on a piece of broken glass. There are cracks along one side and they are not that easy to deal with. I might continue on it in the future but I don't want to sit on any single texture more than a couple of day. If I keep to this as a rule I should be able to finish the Add-on allot sooner. If i just sit and fixate on a single texture to long I won't have this thing finished till mid-summer. Ok, that is an exaggeration but you get the idea. So F's texture is a go as far as I am concerned. Now on to its moons.
The inner moon as I mentioned in an earlier post was just the old 1k Ganymede texture re-colored. Allot of the textures in the original HD28185 add-on were like this. I will be trying to use as many self made textures as possible but I may out source and use a texture from another texture creator here and there to help cut the build time down. Those artists textures I do use will of course get there due credit and I will ask permission for there use before I release the add-on. As it stands the add-on has 73 separate textures for the planets, moons, rings, clouds and other needed goodies. That of course doesn't even count the other bodies that I plan to plug-in here and there.
Ok so back to F's moons.
Here are the first shots of F's inner moon's new texture with and without clouds.





As can be seen it is another watery world but semi frozen. It is kind of like what Europa might look like if it got a little warmer and the ice crust broke apart. There is a chance I may change this moons texture completely. Since F orbit in what is basically the same orbit as Mars it gets more stellar heat and the moon is being tidally pulled by its parent and it bigger outer sibling. Not enough for volcanism but warn enough to break the ice apart and keep vast areas of water unfrozen. It also a fairly big moon about Mars size. But again I may adjust that some.
Keep an eye here for more pictures of the next moon.

Don. Edwards

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Not bad at all ... is that white ball the other moon in the background?