PART II: The Space Scene
Step 09: Getting Started on the Space Scene	open online photoshop Back to homepage

OK, let's put your head aside and use some new tools to create an amazing, dazzling space panorama.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you work through the remaining Steps of this Picture editing help:

• Since we have already discussed what many tools do and why we are using them, these directions will not go into detail about any tool we have already used (if you can't remember what a tool does or why we are using it, go back to the step it was covered and refresh your memory)
• Continue to take notes and work through the directions step-by-step
• Once a technique has been described it will not be described in future steps that use it - you will have to actually remember how to do it
• Your image WILL NOT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE ONES THAT ARE SHOWN AS EXAMPLES IN THE Picture editing helpS - this is ok and is actually what is supposed to happen; your stuff is supposed to be different and unique
• The directions are in the order they are in on purpose - work the steps in this order to make sure everything comes out like it should
• There are usually several different ways to do everything in ToolPic, and we will generally cover only one way to accomplish each task, and not always the easiest way - keep in mind that we are interested in learning as many of the tools as we can so we can use them in a variety of situations in the future
• Save your work often as Space followed by the Step number (you will be reminded of this as the end of each Step)
• Your space scene will be a LARGE, complicated file when you are finished - work through the steps CAREFULLY and read all of the DIRECTIONS!

Follow along with the directions and you should end up with an amazing image. We need to start a new document that is large enough to fit everything we are going to be doing in this part of the project.

1. If you still have your Face file open go ahead and close it now - we will not need it again until Step 19
2. Open ToolPic and click File then New... to begin a new document
3. We want a large image, so change the settings to the following...
   
   Be sure that all 5 of your settings exactly match those above as they are very important; for example, by choosing Transparent for Background we will avoid having to remove the default white background that we will not need for our project

Be certain your Width and Height are set to px (which is pixels - the red arrow above) and NOT Inches (or any other setting). If you make a 1000 inch square image you are creating a graphic that is over 83 FEET wide. Yeah, that will crash ToolPic, your computer, the Internet, and probably every computer network around the world. Ok, just kidding, but you will kill ToolPic. Just make sure it says px.

4. Click Create

ToolPic should open a new blank image and name it Space09. Note that if we had not put in a Name that ToolPic would have named our image New Project. This is actually a very common name for ToolPic images as this is the default name given to all new images created in ToolPic and will remain the image's name unless you change it.

Our first step in creating an amazing space panorama is to create a field of stars.