Planet Filter's Texture Tab

This tab allows you to choose the exterior look for the planet.  You can choose between Uranus, Venus, Gas Giant, Electric, or you can select an image map provided by "NASA/JPL - Caltech" for a realistic look.   There is also an option to use your own custom image map.

URANUS    |    VENUS    |    GAS GIANT    |    ELECTRIC    |    IMAGE MAP    |    CUSTOM IMAGE MAP

PREVIEW WINDOW:  As you change the different parameters, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect that the changes made to the planet.  If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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URANUS TEXTURE

This selection has 4 different parameters.

COLOR    |    VARY    |    NOISE    |    ADD SPIN

COLOR - This color will provide the base color for the planet and will be used in the remaining options for this planet texture.   Click here to see the dialog window. You can select a preconfigured color or create your own custom color.

VARY - There are 4 choices: None, Hue, Saturation, and Luminance.  The Hue, Saturation, and Luminance variables work the same as these variables do in the color dialog window except, if chosen, this value will vary throughout the planet's color where the other values remain fixed.

NOISE - This parameter defines how the different colors of the planet's surface are blended together.  Click here to view the Noise Dialog Box.

ADD SPIN - If this is checked, any clouds on the planet are swept to look as if the planet was spinning.

PREVIEW WINDOW: As you choose each item, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Uranus texture with "Blue" color, Luminance in the Color Variation, "Noise" selected for Noise and "spin" checked.   You can see the resulting planet in the preview window.  If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area is chosen, the planet* will be centered in your entire image area.   The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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VENUS TEXTURE

This texture has 4 different parameters.

CLOUDS    |    SURFACE    |    NOISE    |    ADD SPIN

PREVIEW WINDOW:  As you choose each item, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Venus texture with "blue" clouds, "light blue" surface, "Noise" selected for Noise and "Add 'Spin'" checked.   You can see the resulting planet in the preview window.  If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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GAS GIANT TEXTURE

This texture has two different sections where you can choose the planet's band colors and then adjust how they rotate around the planet.

Color Table for Bands

Paint Shop Pro and PhotoShop allow you to create a table of colors in a palette file.  For Paint Shop Pro, these files have a .pal extension.   PhotoShop palette files have a .act file extension.   These palette files are in a table format and typically have 256 entries.  When using a palette file, you can specify the beginning table entry (Start) and how many entries to use in the table (Length).  The entries chosen will be used to determine the colors for the bands on the planet.   Since each palette file could have a different number of table entries, we cannot check for problems until the planet is rendered in the preview window.   Possible problems include selecting an entry that doesn't exist in the palette table specified.

The palette files should be placed in the "Universe Image Creator Plugins/Palettes/Gas Giant" directory.  We have provided 4 sample palette files which are:

Noise Section

This section allows you to adjust how the bands rotate around the planet.  It also controls how the band colors are blended in with adjoining color bands.  

PREVIEW WINDOW:  As you choose each item, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Gas Giant texture.  If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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Electric Texture

This was titled "electric" because it could resemble an electric discharge.  However, this texture can resemble so many different things depending on the settings chosen, that it really has a wide variety of looks.   This planet texture has the following settings:

PREVIEW WINDOW:  As you choose each item, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Electric texture with yellow streaks and a blue planet surface.  The frequency is set to 2, the Fractal Noise was chosen with Dimension=100, Lacunarity=2, Octaves=8, and Offset=50.  No spin was added. 
    If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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IMAGE MAP TEXTURE

You can choose one of many planet texture maps provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech.  These images are from the planet or moons which they are named for.   They give a great deal of realism to your planet.  The image maps are stored in the "Universe Image Creator Plugins/Textures/Planet Maps" directory.   If you wish to provide your own image map, choose the "Custom Image Map" selection and choose the image map to be used.

PREVIEW WINDOW:  As you choose each item, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Image Map texture with the "Mars" map chosen.  You can see the resulting planet in the preview window.  If you choose "OK", this planet will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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CUSTOM IMAGE MAP TEXTURE

You can choose any image to be used as a texture for a planet.  Several formats are supported including: JPEG, GIFF, BMP, TIFF, or PNG files.    Click on the "Browse..." button to locate the file to use.    The preview window below is using a texture map of Mars' moon, Phobos, which is also listed in the Image Map Texture above.   I also chose every day pictures which were then wrapped around the planet's sphere.  

PREVIEW WINDOW:  After you choose the Image Map, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect on the planet after the change.   Below is the dialog for the Custom Image Map texture with the image map for Mar's moon "Phobos" chosen.  You can see the resulting moon in the preview window.  If you choose "OK", this moon will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor.  If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area.  The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.

* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.

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