Felsmak

Heh, maybe I will eventually! Nothing I feel like doing at the moment, though. I just draw planets. Anyway, here is a picture of the Pluto system! While I was scaling the bodies I also realized that Kerbin is actually the same size as Charon. I already knew it was small and all, but still!

Thanks, everyone! They're actually quite simple. They're really just coloured circles with a ton of effects added to make them look less like mere coloured circles, especially the gas giants. The cloud bands basically come from fuzzy, black and white stripes that I twist around with Photoshop's Liquify tool. For the rocky planets I just add a cloudy layer of "detail" on top of the circle. Then I use some layer effects to give them craters and atmospheres - the airless bodies gets fake ones that are meant to give them some volume - and then I add a shadow in the back. Smooth and soft for atmospheres, and rough and hard for no atmospheres.

So I heard you were talking about planets. How do you like these ones?

And here is the final planet, the red gas giant Orbo! It rolls on its side, just like Uranus, and it has icy rings and four equally icy moons. - Luck, an asteroid orbiting below Orbo's rings, offering a spectacular view in both directions. Scientists are pretty sure that the tidal forces should have ripped it to pieces long ago, but apparently they haven't. They are not sure whether this should be cause for concern or not. - Ump, a small moon covered in craters. It has a slightly inclined orbit, which gives it a nice view of the rings. - Toop, an icy world with a tall mountain ridge protruding from its equator. - Dack, another icy moon with a traumatic past. It has a huge impact crater on its northern hemisphere, and the collision that created it left it with cracks over its entire surface.

Yeah, I was thinking that two real looking gas giants was a little lazy. I'll go back and experiment a little. And it doesn't even have to be as pale and hazy as the real Uranus. It could have cloud bands like those of the first two! Those are stand-ins for the other gas giants that Squad hasn't created yet. They make the system look more complete and are also fun to make!

Good news.

No problem! It really suited the pale blue giant I had in mind at the time. Anyway, here is a preview of my gloomy Uranus analog! I have no idea what to call it. Its current name is Glupp.

Teenagers.

Ahh, that balloon and its weather problems. Checking whether it was actually gonna take off on time was almost as exciting as the jump itself.

So, now the legendary GP2 has some moons as well! I decided to dedicate that one to NovaSilisko, so it has the same moons that he wrote about in the Planet Ideas thread. Anyway, Voon is a ringed and really huge gas giant, even bigger than Jool. It has eight moons, all of them quite small: - Rocko, a jagged moon with steep, mostly vertical cliffs all over its surface. - Daphy (Nova's), a tiny ball with practically no gravity at all. - Eeloo (Nova's), an icy moon with lots of geysers coming through the cracks on its surface. - Sotus, a ridiculously dark moon with deep cracks near its poles. These also seem to be responsible for the mysterious orange substance that covers parts of the surface. - Fonso (Nova's), a not-so-pleasant desert world with tall mountain tops reaching high into its thick atmosphere. - Blan, a generic moon with craters and not much else. It is the most boring place in the entire solar system, and should it actually appear in the game it would be that one moon that nobody has ever been to. Ever. - Potatus (Nova's), a small moon that spins so fast it has become an oblate spheroid. Have fun! - Ud, a strange saucer shaped rock that basically has its own natural balcony.

Hehe, I was just joking. That's really how I see Kerbals too. I do wonder what the mythological king of the Kerbal gods would choose to use his animal transformation skills for, though. Snack acquisition, perhaps?

Hmm, that could of course be a problem. Thought of it more as a fun gas giant formula, but the Uranus analog should probably get a different name. Yeah, that could work! I'll see if I can come up with some moderately R-rated mythology for them.

That's correct! Before I switched to those warmer colours I was planning to call it Isus, after a planet created by RogueMason. But to my ears that sounds a little too cool and tranquil for this one (Sorry, Rogue). I think I'll call it Voon! Yes, I do! http://pineapple-insurance.deviantart.com/ A little painting and lots of effects!

Wow, that's quite a compliment! Thank you! Anyway, here's another preview. This time I'm making the mysterious GP2! I was originally going for a somewhat blueish colour scheme, but then I played around a bit with the hue sliders and discovered this one instead. I kinda like the warmer colours better, actually. It sort of makes sense that the planet is warmer, too. Given that it's so freakin' massive and all.

I also tend to take way too many screenshots, even though I know that I probably won't look at them or even care about them ever again.

Three-sided symmetry? Heathen!

Herbal Blaze Program it is, then!

I watch my Kerbals when they sleep.

I agree. Large numbers without any kind of digit division are hard to read even without dyslexia. That goes for phone numbers, too. There is a special place in the fiery, non-European netherland that Peter Pan accidentally brought his friends to when he was drunk for people who type large numbers without dividing the digits. Just like there is for people who write should of instead of should have, and make video tutorials where they type their instructions into Notepad.

Just a map of the Kerbal solar system I made for my planet thread.

No! There's a reason why I use Kerbals to begin with!

How about these? This planet is imagined as the Kerbal system's equivalent to Neptune. Its moons are also heavily influenced by Neptune's, ehehe.

And now Naal has some moons as well! Much needed. I had to give it its own picture, though. Looks kinda stupid to include it in the solar system when nothing is between it and Jool. Anyways, Naal is basically supposed to be the Neptune analog for the Kerbal solar system. It has three moons: Cobb, a dark and blockish asteroid; Kyle, an icy world that orbits Naal in the wrong direction; and Loopy, a small lump of ice with a ridiculously eccentric orbit - kinda like Nereid. Kyle is probably way too similar to Triton, yes. But I really like Triton.

Heh, this is the second time someone neglects Dres today. Poor Dres gets no love. But yeah, neither Dres nor Eeloo are, ehum, real planets. I might include Dres when I've made up some dwarf planet friends for it, but Eeloo will be included as a moon of the second gas giant when I care to draw that one. Speaking of gas giants and making things up. Here is Naal, the outermost of the Kerbal gas planets! As I imagine, of course. Equally imaginary moons will arrive shortly!

Nja, det är inte riktigt lika suspekt. Att Ikea frivilligt skulle etablera sig på Ike verkar ju knappast troligt, men Laythe - den skulle mycket väl kunna tänkas heta Leif i verkligheten. Kerbins regering har bara låtit hemligstämpla den informationen, av någon outgrundlig regeringsanledning.