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This is a tutorial on how to make a realistic looking earth in 3D. This can be done in any 3D program, but all images in this tutorial are made in Lightwave. It's not a step by step tutorial, but it will give you helpful tips on how to make a realistic model of the earth. The texture maps available are in 1000x500 size and will only be big enough for small images of the earth. The original maps I used for these images are in 5000x2500. The texture maps are intended as reference material.

This is the image I'm gonna show how to make. Here you can see the African continent and part of South America. The night is illuminated with moon light, and you can see lights from the biggest city's.

THE TEXTURE MAPS YOU NEED
	Earth atmospheric corrected image This image is corrected to the color of the earth as it's seen through the earth's atmosphere. This is very important to get the most realistic color in the final image.
	Earth elevation image This is a gray 8 bit image. I found this image on the web, and the original one was in over 43000 pixels resolution. This show real elevation, where white is the top of mount Everest, and black is sea level. Use this as a displacement, or a bump map.
	Earth sea highlight image This is a gray 8 bit image. If you want specular highlight on the sea you can't do it without this texture. White is sea, and black is land or ice. Also made from the atmospheric image.
	Earth cloud layer image This is a gray 8 bit image. Might be the most difficult image to create, and it's vital to get the realism you need.
	Earth moon lit image Here's how the earth would look like if it was illuminated in moonlight. Here's also the night light from the city's included. If you want the night side of the Earth to have texture, this is what you need.