Leopard Starburst effect in Photoshop

Here we are, in June, another WWDC with Steve Jobs and lots of cool stuff. This time what impressed me the most was the new Mac OS X, called Leopard. The finder has changed, finally, besides that, some cool features like the cover flow for files, quick view and time machine are great and make me really want to use it.

Well, one thing that I loved was those new Mac OS banners, like the space, stars and those dust and flares. Awesome. So I tried to do that in Photoshop, and I have to say, it’s not that difficult, and this is what I want to show here.

1- Create a new document: Fill the background with black;

2 - Create the small stars: Duplicate the layer and add a noise>15%>gaussian>monochromatic.

Step 2

3 - Adjust the Brightness/Contrast so there won’t be too many stars.

Step 3

4 - Big Stars: Duplicate the small stars layer and apply a Brightness / Contrast again.

Step 4

5 - Scale it like three times its size, we want to create bigger stars.

Step 5

6 - Apply Images>adjustments>Threshold: This will show only a few stars. Apply SCREEN as blending options

Step 6

7 - Refining the stars: Apply a mask on the layer and with the eraser with like 200px start deleting some parts of the layer. after that the stars won’t be too uniform anymore.

Step 7

8 - Create some light: Add a new layer and create Clouds. Filters>Render>Clouds. Your background color has to be white and the foreground black or vice-versa.

Step 8

Step 9

9 - Apply a Hue/Saturation in the cloud layer and COLOR DODGE as a blending option.

Step 10

10 - Now apply a Hue/Saturation in the big stars layer.

Step 11

11 - Create some flares: I did that using some free ps brushes which you can find for free at http://www.psbrushes.net/ or http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes. Change some presets like Diameter, Spacing and play with that, testing the Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Other Dynamics and etc... Don’t forget to add some glow in the stars through the Layer Styles.

Step 12

12 - Creating the Starburst Light: Create a Custom Shape, like the one I chose in white, apply a Gaussian Blur and after that a Twirl. Scale it down until it gets a perfect circle.

Step 13

Step 14

Step 15

Step 16

Step 17

13 - Create a new Layer: Fill it in black and merge it with the Starburst layer.

Step 18

14 - Add a Radial Blur to the Starburst and after that change the Hue/Saturation. Colorize it until you get a green color.

Step 19

15 - Duplicate the first Starburst Light, reduce its size and apply again a Hue/Saturation, this time set a red/orange color to it.

Step 20

16 - Addin the Text: For the X or Z just apply a simple Bevel and Emboss plus the Contour option.

Step 21

17 - Create the reflections on the type: Create a mask and fill it with a gradient from white to black. Set SCREEN as blending options.

Step 22

Final Result:

Final Step

The PSD file can be downloaded. Plus, there are good sites with tutorials showing how to create a galaxy, stars and stuff like that. Bellow some that I used as reference.

 

AttachmentSize
abdApple.zip304.28 KB
abdApple.jpg310.28 KB

About author

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My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through abduzeedo.

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ZAYIFLAMA HAPI's picture
ZAYIFLAMA HAPI (not verified) 07/17/2008

Thank you my friend..

Chat's picture
Chat (not verified) 07/16/2008

That's very effective and seems really simple to achieve. Thanks for the TUT. Gotta try it tomorrow :)

Onedinkenedi's picture
Onedinkenedi 07/14/2008

i agree with others who had a hard time following- i usually dont have difficulty following tutorials, but this one (along with another one of yours i tried), is definately missing steps or missing details. Most of the time i can usually figure out what was left out, but this one gave me some trouble. i totally understand though how that can happen- when you're trying to teach someone something, it's hard to include every single little detail- it's easy to forget that certain details may not be as obvious as you think they are to someone who has never done it before. So anyway, the results you have are awesome, id just suggest that you maybe expand any tutorials you do in the future by including even information you feel is trivial or obvious, and explain step more clearly. Thank you so much for your time & effort- it is so niice of you to take the time to post tutorials for people to learn, and like i said, the results of your tutorials are really nice:)

Bella's picture
Bella (not verified) 06/11/2008

this tutorial already looked cool as soon as I saw step 10. Good work.

Youtube's picture
Youtube (not verified) 04/16/2008

thanks see

geciktirici's picture
geciktirici (not verified) 03/24/2008

Nice tutorial :) But, while going from 14th substance to 13th substance how is the black at the back dissepered?

Thanks :)

AyCii (not verified) 03/21/2008

good post

film izle's picture
film izle (not verified) 03/20/2008

all thanks brb nice

cinsel ürünler's picture
cinsel ürünler (not verified) 03/20/2008

nice tutorial. thanks.

computer jobs (not verified) 03/16/2008

Sweet tip, just what I have been looking for! Well Pleased...

Bubbila's picture
Bubbila (not verified) 01/31/2008

its pretty cool, but really confusing to follow. I can follow tutorials very easily, and this got me lost... I didnt get the results... not even close...

BRENDEN's picture
BRENDEN (not verified) 01/30/2008

Hello, I just discovered your blog and I'm simply amazed. Thank you for sharing knowledge, I think I'm going to stick here for a while.
Knowledge is the most valuable thing available on the Internet. Thank you, really.

Beginner (not verified) 11/03/2007

To confusing. to grainy on the screen and I think there should also be a video tutorial.

MacBuddy's picture
MacBuddy (not verified) 10/31/2007

FANTASTIC WORK!!!

ZOEY (not verified) 09/27/2007

Valeu pelo post. Muito bom mesmo.
Gostei bastante.

Até comecei a escrever em inglês e depois vi que tu era de porto alegre. E tudo ficou mais claro. Parabens pelo lance do site do CJC (me liguei pelo nome zee design). Ficou muito bom também.

Grande trabalho...

abraços

João Gabriel's picture
João Gabriel (not verified) 09/10/2007

Thanks for this post,
its a great tutorial.
Thanks a lot. Great work!

João Gabriel Danezi's picture
João Gabriel Danezi (not verified) 09/10/2007

9 - Apply a Hue/Saturation in the cloud layer and COLOR DODGE as a blending option.

Actually after this step, the resulting image should appear dusty with all the standing-out small stars.

I suspect you missed out something between step 9 & 10.

Still, thank you for this great post.

Sherlock Asimov's picture
Sherlock Asimov (not verified) 09/07/2007

Tried out but really you have to be more specific and explain better. Felt like parts were left out.

Anonymous (not verified) 09/02/2007

Totally dig it dude. Really enjoyed doing it.

Timmy's picture
Timmy (not verified) 07/16/2007

Good stuff, mate!
How to scale to get bigger stars, plz?

M (not verified) 07/13/2007

nice job

Anonymous (not verified) 07/12/2007

Hey, I'd like to say thanks for all comments... Now, Kasper, after you merge the star-twirl with the black background, you have to change the blending options of the merged layer to SCREEN, that will make the black disappear... I hope I have answered your question... and let me know if you have any doubt cool?

abduzeedo's picture
abduzeedo 07/03/2007

I'm having trouble at the step where you merge the star-twirl with the black layer.
You don't write how the black background goes away again... Could you please explain this???

Kasper's picture
Kasper (not verified) 07/03/2007

Man that awesome.

James Powell's picture
James Powell (not verified) 06/19/2007

Nice tutrial......
http://www.kulturbalans.com

Turin's picture
Turin (not verified) 06/19/2007

Amazing!! This is great!

Hybryd (not verified) 06/16/2007

Holy cow, this looks amazing! Great work and thanks a lot for sharing this tutorial, will definitly be using this one!

Chris's picture
Chris (not verified) 06/16/2007

Fantastic work as usual. Thanks!

banglogic's picture
banglogic (not verified) 06/15/2007

what font did you use for the letters ?

Anonymous (not verified) 06/14/2007

Nice tutorial.

Matt Ramos (not verified) 06/14/2007

this tutorial already looked cool as soon as I saw step 10. Good work.

An-Tone's picture
An-Tone (not verified) 06/14/2007

I cant apply a twirl effect it's grayed out... What can I do?

Anonymous (not verified) 06/13/2007

Oh gosh. Your tutorials are great and this isn't the exception. Nice effect.

Jaime's picture
Jaime (not verified) 06/12/2007

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