Designing a crystal ball in Photoshop

This is cool technique I’ve discovered which uses the Polar Coordinates filter in Photoshop to make a globe or a planet.

Start with picture (I chose one of some nice clouds). You may or may not at this point convert it into a square, but at some stage you will need to. As the edge of the picture will end up in the middle it’s a good idea to get it all the same colour. To do this draw a feathered rectangular Marquee (M) a little bit inside your picture frame, inverse the selection (Cmd/Cntl-Shift-I) and fill with a harmonious colour (see below top right).

Now, go Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates… check Polar to Rectangular, go Image > Rotate Canvas > 180º, and then Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates… check Rectangular to Polar and you should have something that looks like above bottom left.

To further increase the spherical illusion go Filter > Distort > Spherize, choosing Normal +100%. You will notice that this leaves a funny crossed shape in the middle of the sphere. I knocked this out with a feathered circular marquee filled with a blue that merges in.

After a bit of brightening, re-cutting out and adding a drop shadow, you will have created another world! This’ll work with any picture.

This article was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 10:33 am and is filed under Photoshop.
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8 Responses to “Designing a crystal ball in Photoshop”

Gabriel, on June 27th, 2007 at 8:53 am, said:

This one is a cool tip! I made a crystal ball before but it was cartoonish. I haven’t tried a realistic crystal ball like the one above. Thanks Rob! The procedure is short but effective.
Rob Cubbon, on June 27th, 2007 at 11:50 pm, said:

Thanks again for the encouragement, Gabriel. I should have said you can download a Photoshop action for the Polar Coordinates bit at ShutterFreaks here
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Actions/FreeStuff/CrystalBall/CrystalBall.html
Peter, on June 6th, 2008 at 2:36 am, said:

Yet another awesome tip. I don’t know how you do it. you keep amazing me with your magic.
Nate, on November 14th, 2008 at 4:04 am, said:

That’s awesome dude,turned out great.
Anybody know of a website that has free graphic designs on it?
kavitha, on May 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pm, said:

cooooooool blue
ayonk, on November 13th, 2009 at 2:42 pm, said:

cool man,,,, thanks
amuletts, on August 18th, 2010 at 3:54 pm, said:

OMG! You are a lifesaver. At the moment I have crystal balls appearing in mulitple frames of my comic, and your method speeds up making them NO END! Thankyou.
Rob Cubbon, on August 19th, 2010 at 12:32 am, said:

Cool, amuletts, glad to save you time!

Graphic and Web Designer London UK