Create a Floating Island Scene Similar to James Cameron’s Avatar

Create a Floating Island Scene Similar to James Cameron’s Avatar
Create a Floating Island Scene Similar to James Cameron’s Avatar
step3a_transform

Now that the first floating island is in place, we would need to separate it from its background. Activate your Magic Wand (W) tool and select the regions you want removed and after selecting those just press delete. Notice that the Magic Wand tool doesn’t totally remove all those unwanted areas, so we would have to erase it manually. Activate your Eraser tool (E) and erase the areas that have not been removed. For more accuracy, I suggest you increase the zoom to 400%. You can do that by going to the Navigator window and increasing the Zoom slider or the Zoom level. Erase those areas and come up with an image similar to the one below:

step3b_after_erasing

Next, we will fix the shape of the island. Activate the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and see reference below for the area we need to remove.

step3c_polygonal_lasso_tool

Now the image should be similar to this:

step3d_output

To thoroughly fix the shape of the island we would need to transform it. Activate the Transform tool and click on Warp from the contextual menu.

step3ea_warp

After doing that rename the layer to “island 1” and reduce its Opacity to 90% to make it blend with the background.

To make it more seamless, we would need to decrease the opacity of a small part of the island. Activate your Eraser tool (E) and use the following values:

  • Brush size: 200px
  • Hardness: 0%
  • Opacity: 100%
  • Flow: 100%
step3eb_seamless

For the second island, we would need to duplicate (Ctrl/Cmd + J) “island 1” then rename the duplicated layer as “island 2”. Resize “island 2” through the Transform tool and after resizing it, flip it horizontally. We would need to flip it horizontally to give variety over the islands.

step3f_island2_resized

Then after that, reduce its Opacity to 80%. Now duplicate “island 2” and rename that layer “island 3”. Activate your Transform tool once again because we need to reduce its size.

step3g_island3_resized

Now we would need to make this small island different from the two other islands. Activate the Eraser tool (E).

step3h_island3_erased

After that, reduce its Opacity to 55%. Duplicate “island 3”, rename it “island 4” and then scale it down using the Transform tool.

step3i_island4_transform

Reduce its Opacity now to 40%. Click on “island 2” and duplicate it. Rename that layer “island 5” and resize it using your transform tool.

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4 comments on “Create a Floating Island Scene Similar to James Cameron’s Avatar”

    1. There's a bug on the QBrushes website. You have to click on the download link several times in order for the download button to work.

      The link was changed to yours since it is more direct and works correctly. Thank you Su!

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