Create a Star-skinned Playstation 3 with Nebula Background

Posted on November 16th, 2008 under Photo Effect, it has 15 Comments and 20,288 Views so far.

In this tutorial, we create a Star-skined Playstation 3 with Nebula Background in Photoshop. The techique I used in this tutorial is similar to the previous “rocky laptop” tutorial.

Together we can explore tools such as the selection tool, various image adjustment tool and various filters and layer style effects. I would also like to raise to attentions to features such as the curve, levels and black and white adjustment tool.

Let’s get started!

Step 1

download a copy of playstation 3 image

load it into photoshop and use any selection tool of your choice to outline the playstation console.

Step 2

Create a new document, size doesn’t really matter (I chose 800*600px), filled it with black background and drag the selected ps3 onto the new document. You may have to resize it a bit so it fits into the centre of the document. Name the layer “ps3″ and save the document.

Step 3

Hide the “PS3″ layer we just created for now and create a new layer called “nebula cloud”, fill it with black and put it under the “PS3″ layer.

Step 4

Use the lasso tool with 20px feather, draw a few circles. Tip: hold down the SHIFT key to draw circles simultaneously and link them together. Then go to filter > render > cloud to create some clouds.

Step 5

Use a big brush to add some colour on the cloud, remember to set the brush mode to color dodge (details see below images)

Go to Edit > adjustments > levels and Edit > adjustments > Curves to adjust the black and white contrast of the cloud layer, so it looks more like a nebula. (Optional: you can also adjust the hue setting)

Detailed settings see below:

Step 6

Hide the “Nebula cloud” layer, download a star image below (source: NASA)

select any portion of the star image you like and drag it on top of the “ps3″ layer of your document. Name the layer “Star skin”, resize and rotate the star image a bit so it fits the angle of the playstation console.

Step 7

Set the blending option of “Star skin” layer to overlay and go to edit > adjustments > black and white to get rid of its colour. Detailed settings see below

Step 8

Right click on the “star skin” layer and choose “create clipping mask”, this will turn this layer into a clipping mask.

10. Now we can add some stars onto the image. Create a new layer called “Star” put it on top of the “nebula cloud” layer. Set the layer blending option to “Screen”. Now hold down the ctrl key and click on the “nebula cloud” layer, this will outline the edge of the nebula:

add some noise onto it. Detailed settings see below

Step 9

Use the dodge tool to add some contrast onto the “star” layer, setting see below:

optional: you can go to edit > adjustment > curve tool for some minor adjustments, I used the following setting:

Step 10

Now we go and add some lighting effect and flares. Create a new layer called “lighting” on top of the “Star skin” layer and set it to clipping mask.

Add a lens flare filter effect onto it. Here you can try different layer blending options and lens flares, see which one you like the best.

Step 11

Duplicate the “nebula cloud” layer a couple of times and we will have the follow image:

That’s it! The rest is left upon your own creativity. You may want to add some glowing text, stroke path or more cloud/nebula onto it, but that’s totally up to you!

Here is one of my finished designs:

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Any questions, just drop me a comment!

Have a great day!

Hugo Says:
maybe one or two glowing stroke paths would add a nice touch to the final result?
James Says:
umm, i was thinking of making a bunch of glowing stroke passing through the entire image, but eventually gave up, thought it might be a bit too much
3DS Max Tutorials Says:
Nice tutorial, thanks for sharing.
James Says:
Not a problem~
PS3 Says:
Really nice tutorial there matey, I may have to try this! Not tried anything like that before.
Briefe Schreiben Says:
Hi! Your Post “Create a Star-skinned Playstation 3 with Nebula Background” is very interesting for me. Unfortunately my written English is not so good so I write in German: Dir, meinem liebsten, geh
_____ Says:
I think that the direction were horrible and who ever made this needs make the directions more detailed. Half of the directions were not where they said they were.
James Says:
Hi _____! This is one of my very early tutorials so I might not have explained certain part well enough. I apologise for this however if you could specify which part of the tutorial you get stuck with, I might be able to clarify it for you.
Goldmünzen Says:
Hey! I like your post
Business Cards Says:
Excellent idea! You could actually use the design, have it printed and dress your playstation console up! That would be so cool! Thanks for sharing this tutorial!
Mandala Says:
Hi. I’m very interested in this tutorial, however, as has previously been mentioned, you’ve missed including a few steps in your explanation. For example, in Step 4 you don’t mention that, after creating your clouds, you should cut them out and paste them as their own layer. As a result, in Step 8, when you hold the ctrl key and click on the Nebula Cloud layer, it selects the whole size of your project canvas, as the Nebula Cloud layer consists of the clouds and the black background that they’re a part of. There were 1 or 2 other instances where the instructions didn’t properly explain how to get the end result. You can see my final picture here: http://i40.tinypic.com/25ujm89.png (the stars are there, I think they’re just covered with a cloud layer)

Also, and this is a smaller issue, I’m using CS4, and the location of some tools are different than as expressed in your tutorial. An example is: “Go to Edit > adjustments > levels.” In CS4, the correct path is Image > adjustments > levels.

If you updated this tutorial, I’d happily give it another go. Thanks!
Marlet Says:
Thats a pretty good tutorial…now to make some sigs!
Playstation 3 Games Says:
Nice job, now I’m going to try and replicate this with some of my favorite games and make a series of desktop backgrounds (a “collection” if you will). Thanks.