I had this wallpaper I got off deviantart that had a ringed planet. I got to thinking about how one might create rings. So, I did Marvin X's planet tutorial and added some rings to it.

Very simple to do, it is just solid noise with the x size set as low as it will go, and the y value set as high as it will go. You make a layer that is kinda "tall" and do the solid noise on it. Do Polar Coordinates. Then scale the layer in y so that it is the same size as your image. Cut a hole in the center for your planet. Map it to a plane (no lighting), and adjust the orientation appropriately. Might also apply a little blur to it.

Then once you have it done, position it over your planet and add a layer mask, painted to make it "wrap" around the planet.



I was lazy, didn't feel like doing a starfield for it. Also, probably should have figured out some way for the ring to cast a shadow on the planet.

Wow.. That is beautiful. I'm definitely going to have to try this..

It was pointed out to me that the rings are too smooth looking. Here is another version with the rings bump mapped with some plasma to make them look more particulate.

Also, i cut away part of the rings using select by color, messed with the opacity of the ring layer and the levels. Added a slight shadow on the planet for the rings.

Heh, I just wasted a bunch of time playing with this..

My result:

How annoying, photobucket isn't working.. >_>
Well anyway:

That's a nice lookin' planet and set of rings.

Nice clay as usual, I woud love to know the exact steps to create this ring actually.

regards

Wow, this is really impressive; I was never able to get decent looking rings. I'll have to play around with this when I get home!

I will have to experiment with this as well!
Very nice!