How do I put stars in a night sky?

[arcady]

I don't see anything for this in the sky or realistic sky editor.

How could I get them all up there.

I see the ability to put a 'star' effect around one light, but I'm referring to a sky full of stars, something like this:

[Piem]

Hi Arcady
As you have said
What you have to do is to put some bulb (or many ones) in the scene ,up in the sky ,and ,if you just want them to be glowing or lightning...flashing..marvellous... stars , put on them one of the availables light effects , after you've restrict the light to ..what you'll need.

mmmh sorry ,my english is not "tip/ top"

[arcady]

So there's nothing to scatter hundreds of little shapes into the sky?

It would take hundres, perhaps thousands of lights to recreate the effect by hand... and they're far enough away that they aren't really giving off lighting for the scene.

[Piem]

No ,there is a trick..set "restrict lights" only for..a camera in exemple.
An then duplicate

[arcady]

Duplication is giving me one at a time... ;)

I tried surface replication on a vertical infinite plane, but the bug that prevents light effects to go through a transparent object resulted in all those stars failing to show. The other form of replication does a grid, so I randomly offset that, but the lights still fail.


Would it be possible to make a 'noise shader' of little plusses and dots and such of random color and size and throw it up on an infinit plane?

Is that sort of thing possible?

[danilo.massa]

Hmmm... In order to create stars I use the StarBright plugin from Digital Carvers Guild. It is easy to use and let me avoid problems with the other tricks (like scatter bulb light in the sky).
I have enclosed an image created with this plugin (the house is still a WIP).

Regards!

[arcady]

Yeah that's the effect I'm looking for.

[Corndog]

I just purchased about 5 plugins from the DCG site.. Cool effects love it.. The starbright one is so simple too.. This is one expensive hobby

[arcady]

Quick question: Does this effect get in the way of the atmosphere you set?

If I use for example a realistic atmosphere with sun, clouds, and so on, can I also use this effect to put up stars and not get in the way of my atmosphere?

[danilo.massa]

Yes the starbright effect works with realistic sky, obviously is necessary to tune the stars (color and position).


Regards

[WillBellJr]

Universe is prolly the way I would have went with this (used as a backdrop) but I guess that plugin is pretty decent - question, does it do nebulas??

-Will

[AintNoSin]

Originally Posted by WillBellJr

question, does it do nebulas??

No, just stars.

[Aunty Betty]

I find that adding image backdrops is very effective for this kind of thing.
http://www.flamingpear.com/glitterato.html is an excellant photoshop plugin for adding stars.

I think the fx generated by glitterato are more subtle/realistic than the examples shown or even what's possible in say Vue or Bryce.

See what you think

Adding the same image as a background will make the stars show in any reflective areas.

[WillBellJr]

Yes, I had forgot about the folks at Flaming Pear - they have some nice wares as well.

I'd use Universe to add galaxies and the Pear tools for the others (Universe's nebulas are okay but they're not as powerful as in the Pear tools)

-Will

[danilo.massa]

Hmmm, Glitterato is quite good ... not so easy if you want to obtain some specific result but is good ...

Thank for let me know these plugins

[danilo.massa]

So at this point ... a quick test with a texture created with Genetica 2 Pro ...

[WillBellJr]

Cute image - just watch out, you have stars showing in front of your moon!

Actually I just reinstalled the Universe photoshop plugin and that gives better nebula results (plus you can layer your stuff) - actually on par with the Pear folks so while I like Pear's tools, I think I could live with the Universe plugin;

Pear's planets seem to leave a lot to be desired IMO??
Maybe exporting the maps and texturing a sphere is better...

What's funny is their animation showing the spinning planet with the >baked in shadows< LOL!

Still for $40 for all three plugins, it's a painless addition to the toolset...

-Will

PS - Hmmm, Genetica sorta reminds me of DarkTree Textures - I like the grate features and some others but I like the fact that my darktrees can be used in several of my 3D apps.

[arcady]

I've noticed in the last two images that stars got placed in front of the moon - a problem that also happens in Vue though not in the sample image I posted.

[bwtr]

There are several layered Photoshop .psd's around which are a great help in making backgrounds. I think I got originally from the Renderosity site. Try www.colacola.se . I have several but don't think it would be proper to put here?
And the jpgs for all the Carrara space objects/scenes are in the files to access!

[danilo.massa]

Originally Posted by arcady

I've noticed in the last two images that stars got placed in front of the moon - a problem that also happens in Vue though not in the sample image I posted.

Yes you are right, the published images are only quick test! The problem of the stars on the moon can be solved removing the stars from the image or adding the moon as image (so not using the Carrara moon).

Regards