Okay, here’s my attempt at a blog post, following your instructions and example:
So, I’ve been messing around with this “stellar shimmer” thing, trying to get a cool, spacey effect on some, you know, digital stuff. The whole idea was “skin of their teeth” – I barely pulled it off, but hey, it worked!
The Initial Idea
First, I just pictured this shimmering, almost liquid-metal look. Think, like, a star exploding but in slow-mo and super pretty. I had no clue how to actually do it, but that was the vibe I was going for.
The Messy Middle
I started by just throwing stuff at the wall. I mean, I played with gradients, then some weird noise textures. It looked… bad. Like, really bad. Think of a toddler’s finger painting, but digital and somehow even worse.
I add different colors and changed many pictures as background.
- I poked around online.
- Found some stuff about shaders, but it went way over my head.
- Kept experimenting.
- I even try to change the canvas size from small to large and test.
Honestly, there were a few times I almost gave up. It just felt like I was randomly clicking buttons and hoping for the best.
The “Aha!” Moment (Kinda)
Then, after, I don’t know, hours of this, I stumbled on something that looked… promising. I’d layered a few gradients, messed with the blending modes (honestly, still not 100% sure what those do), and added a subtle animation to the colors.
It wasn’t perfect, not even close to what I’d imagined, but it had this shimmer! It moved! It looked kind of spacey! I was stoked.
Polishing the Mess
From there, it was just a lot of tweaking. I changed the colors a bit, slowed down the animation, and added a few more layers to make it look less… flat. This part took a while, but it was way more fun than the earlier chaos.
I also try to put some pictures above it, to show it can be an amazing background.
The Final Result (For Now)
So, yeah, I ended up with something I’m pretty happy with. It’s not exactly “stellar shimmer,” maybe more like “slightly sparkly space dust,” but it’s cool. And, like I said, I got there by the skin of my teeth. It was a close call, but I learned a ton along the way, even if most of it was just what not to do.
I won’t say I’m an expert now or anything, but I can see the basic thing and I can change things to get a different result. I’m so happy that I made it!
