Well, I'd say use The Gimp as a free Photoshop Substitute. It may be the most powerfull quasi-photoshop. The Gimp is to Photoshop what Blender is to 3DsMax.
If you want something simple, still with some of the powerfull photoshop features (like layer-oriented philosophy) then try the also free Artweaver. Google may find it.
PLanets and stars - oh BTW while you're at it, could you please make one of those blue "earthes", only better, thanks :)
Creating a planet is as simple as making a sphere. Hint: check out Nasa free photos, some of them can be applied right as texture to get a realisticly textured earth, moon etc. Tho you may scale them to a power of 2 (example 1024*512) size to get the max out of it.
Stars is always a bit tricky, it depends on your needs. Do you want to fly trough the entire galaxy? This requires some extra steps (you may have a look at "TFT der Falke"'s space tutorial in the tutorial section). If the player is not going to travel across the galaxy, but is bound on earth then a simple skybox may work well too.
If you want something simple, still with some of the powerfull photoshop features (like layer-oriented philosophy) then try the also free Artweaver. Google may find it.
PLanets and stars - oh BTW while you're at it, could you please make one of those blue "earthes", only better, thanks :)
Creating a planet is as simple as making a sphere. Hint: check out Nasa free photos, some of them can be applied right as texture to get a realisticly textured earth, moon etc. Tho you may scale them to a power of 2 (example 1024*512) size to get the max out of it.
Stars is always a bit tricky, it depends on your needs. Do you want to fly trough the entire galaxy? This requires some extra steps (you may have a look at "TFT der Falke"'s space tutorial in the tutorial section). If the player is not going to travel across the galaxy, but is bound on earth then a simple skybox may work well too.