Setting up:
Using Aura, let's create
an oversize starry backdrop, against which we can place our planet.
I like working this way (in layers) as it permits me to save
the whole setup as an Aura Project. I can easily reload that
later to tweak positioning, blur and opacity levels, or animation
timing.
Start a New Project. Use a larger-than-normal size, say 1440
X 800. Name the project "Starfield" in the pop-up New
Project Requester for clarity. A single frame will do nicely
for now.
"In space, no one can hear you scream..."
I want you to fill the frame with a vertical gradient from black,
at the top of the screen, to a deep indigo at the bottom.
There are two reasons I
want you to use this gradient. First, it looks nice and I like
it. Second, it gives me a chance to remark on changes to the
way gradient fills are applied in Aura2.
Let's set up the gradient. Click on the "Gradient"
button in Aura's Menu Panel (it's right beside the little "Captain's
hat" button for the George panel.) In the requester, click
new, and enter the name "Deep Space" for the gradient.
There are three horizontal
strips in this panel. Click on the little color-swatch at the
left below the middle strip to select it. Then (assuming your
BPen is set to the default black) click on the "BPen"
selection button at the bottom right of the requester. Click
on the right-hand color swatch, and select the "APen"
button. Use Aura's "Color Picker" sliders to change
the APen color to RGB 0, 0, 50. Having done that, you can close
the Gradient panel.
Now click on the "FloodFill"
tool in the Main Panel. The "Filling Shape" settings
panel should appear. If it doesn't, click on the "Tools"
button in the Menu Panel (the Pencils icon.) Checkmark the "Gradient"
selection switch in the "Filling Shape" requester,
and your "Deep Space" gradient should become visible
in the horizontal stripe just below. Just below that, click on
the left-most button to choose a "Linear Gradient."
"Checkers anyone?"
Now
click anywhere on the empty open layer. Hey, what's with this
teeny tiny checkerboard? Yep, Aura's FloodFill function has changed
from version one. Aura2 provides much greater control over the
nature of the fill. The checked pattern simply shows where the
fill will occur. A second mouse stroke is required to complete
the fill. This determines the orientation of the fill, and the
smoothness of transition across the color range, and its' "skew."
Try this: having clicked once, simply click the mouse in the
center of the screen without dragging it. You should get a fill
that has little or no smoothing between the two colors. "Undo"
that fill, and try again. This time, on the second stroke drag
the mouse vertically from the top of the frame to the bottom
before releasing the mouse button. Now you should see a very
gradual blending of the two primary colors. It takes a little
getting used to, but in the end I think you'll like this new
interactivity!
"Is that a hunk of Mir over there?"
OK, moving on: create a new empty
layer above the gradient layer. Select the "Filled Rectangle"
drawing mode and the Pen tool. Select white as your APen color,
and draw a small-ish box in the empty layer. Switch the APen
color to yellow and add another, even smaller box. Do the same
with a light blue and then a red foreground color. This looks
kind of silly, but we're really just supplying some colors for
Aura to play with here and it doesn't much matter how we do it.
Now, open the SpecialFX/Blend filter, and click "Apply filter"
4 or 5 times, to scatter the colors all over the screen. Finish
up by applying a level 2.00 Gaussian blur. Yes, I know - stars
in space are so far away that they always look like sharp little
pinpricks. But God doesn't have to be concerned with interlace
flicker and we do! To my taste this is pretty satisfactory for
a quick and dirty NTSC or PAL universe. It looks just fine on
my Toaster output. If necessary, you can add a second blur operation.
The image above doesn't
really do our galaxy justice, scaled down as it is. You may need
to supply larger or smaller swatches of paint for the Blend operation
to "smash" all over the screen until you get something
you like. You may find the impact of the "Noise" filter
beneficial, too, in your new career as "Creator of Universes."
Now we need to add our planet to the view. If you've downloaded
the brush mentioned earlier, you can load it into Aura now and
simply paste it down in the lower left corner of your starfield.
I actually pasted it into another new layer above. Then I used
the Panning tool to position it precisely, finally applying the
same level 2.00 Gaussian blur to it to blend it in a touch.
Finish up Part 1 by merging
the layers. You may want to save the project first, in case you
decide to make alterations later. You could even add one of those
unnaturally saturated nebulas later to satisfy the art director!
It's wise to save your results so far, too - I did so as "Starfield.jpg."
You'll find it, along with the other imagery mentioned, in the
archive on the Downloads page.
In Part 2,
we go on to discuss the use of Aura as a "virtual camera."
Be sure to read that, as it gives a few pointers on the new features
of Aura 2's new and improved Keyframe filter!
