Making a sorta of glass earth image...

I was wondering if anyone here knows how to make something like this?
http://images.jupiterimages.com/comm...3/22776322.jpg
without the rings around the earth
or if you can't do that then how bout this? only either without the fake land locations...
http://www.glassearthlimited.com/ima..._Horiz_Duo.jpg

It can't be more than 400 pixels high or 200 pixels wide...
it doesn't have to be the whole earth but it just has to have a glass/glossy feel to it...
I have posted the image down below that the earth is going into... BTW its going in at the left side...

The colors can be light gray to black, dark blue (#00137F), white, it should either glow or fit in to the picture...


THANKS!

This tutorial would be a good starting point. You might be able to get away with just using the map image as the background, or you might have to put it on manually. djr33 will probably know more about this sort of thing.

k
thnx

I've been summoned! :p

I'm a bit confused about the request. And I don't see an image of the Earth to use, so I suppose I'll just search google.
Hmm... I'll start with http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary.../earth_day.jpg
(Note: NASA has a lot of free images to use, I believe, though I have no clue if this one is allowed. I was a bit curious about the method, and that image seemed to work, so I went with it. I don't make any assumption that it's free use, though, there's also a 10% rule (I think, or at least an understood rule), that if you only use 10% of an image, it's ok, and, after all this distortion, perhaps this fits. //shrug.)

Your location ('Where ever i want to!' :p) isn't helping me pick a location. I suppose I'll default to Texas or so...

Ok,
1. make new image from that picture.
2. pick a location, center that. I'll tile the image a bit so I can center North America. (Duplicate layer, slide them next to each other, merge.)
3. readjust/resize/move/etc til you get the location right for step 4. kinda hard to figure out.
4. use spherize (a photoshop filter that brings out the center and pushes back the edges). With a rectangular image, works better to select a square region in the center.
5. (be sure you have a second copy of the original image at this point)-- do that again for the other side of the world, after centering that within the same selection, but with the center as the middle of Asia or so.
6. Invert both layers. Note that the second layer should be flipped horizontally so it lines up later on.
7. I used Channel Mixer to apply the red channel value to each layer. Easy way, based on that image, anyway, to get sorta close to the look you want.
8. Set the top layer to "darken", and you can see the effect working. Sorta. Set back layer to 50% opacity.
9. Now using Levels on the layers to change the contrast, settings: 0, .3, 230.
10. Using lighting effects (inverted on the background layer), I simulated 3D a bit. Use your judgment here. I can't really copy the numbers. Plus, you can decide what angle the light should come from. I made an oval about 2x as long as the sphere's diameter, and about as wide as the diameter. Then rotated/slid that to invert it.
11. Using levels again, I readjusted so it works well. Top layer 0, .5, 175. Bottom layer 50, 1.5, 255, with bottom levels of 20 and 255 (B/W levels).
Starting to look fairly reasonable now. Of course these levels depend entirely on how you lit it in the last step.
12. I'll import your text and make it a layer between the two hemispheres.
(Arg. Photoshop just quit itself, and I didn't save. But, hey, I've been writing directions, haven't I?)
Hmm... step #1... save. Right.
Anyway...
13. Apply spherize to text, so it looks cool. (I don't really like your font by the way.)
14. Then I did a bunch of stuff I don't really feel like typing up for the text. It was a pain. Mixing blending modes (screen, lighten, multiply, darken), a ton of layers of the two hemispheres and the text, inverted (and colors readjusted 180º) at times, then zoom blur, and some gaussian blur. Then lowering the opacity some, so it sorta blends. Yeah...
15. And now some random fun with the hemispheres:
slight radial blur;
duplicated the layers, blurred a bit, set to dissolve mode, turned opacity to 50%, merged them, then set the transfer mode to the original (lighten, for the top), then the opacity for the bottom back to 50%.
16. Added some highlights with the circular gradient, then some specific highlights with the starburst gradient.
17. Feathered the edge... seemed to sharp before.
18. Resize.
Do this yourself:
19. I also like the "glow" look of duplicating the entire image as a second layer, setting the transfer mode to overlay, then blurring it (gaussian blur, likely) with a radius of about 10.


http://ci-pro.com/misc/earth/200.gif

And more:

Bad framing...
http://ci-pro.com/misc/earth/400h.gif
Sure you can't do 400x200?
http://ci-pro.com/misc/earth/400w.gif
And full size:
http://ci-pro.com/misc/earth/full.jpg

Just played with it a bit more. This is with overlay. And a glow in the center. Low quality, to save bandwidth for the board.

Perhaps I am having too much fun....

http://ci-pro.com/misc/earth/glassearth.mov (2.3mb)

I like how it collapses in the end of the movie. That effect is cool. Good work.

who thats cool thats like exactly the same earth though i think having the text over it is a little to common... i was thinking about man! only if the text "IBW Design" could be to the right like (crude example below)
Lets just say "O" is the earth and "M" is the text:

Code:

---

        O        M

---

If this doesn't appear right or if ure confused, i'll pull up an attachment... *again crude version without detail*...

Also it might seem mean or unfair or rude, but its sort of blurry when its full sized, I think if you make it bigger then

BTW: I'm using Paint.NET not GIMP or Fireworks anymore...
THANKS djr333

Hey I'm messing around with paint and I got a pretty good version its awesome... I'll put it up in a second...

ok i got the final product, thanks djr333 that map was really helpful... I'll post later to tell what I did... cuz right now I gotta make the menu! *yepee!*