If you are using the high res map, the jpeg file TychoSkymapII.t5_16384x08192.jpg will work just as well as the tiff without the file size overhead. Go to the image file’s ADJUST tab and set the Exposure to something like 2.0. You’ll be absolutely amazed at what is lurking in the lower range of the image. ☺
This should work equally as well whether you use the Environment shader that Matt suggested or a sphere object. If you are using a sphere object though you should set the material to a constant shader for best results. I find an exposure of about ~1 to ~1.5 lets these details show up without making the Milky Way disc too obvious. You’ll also want to avoid looking at either of the poles. The projection they used does not appear to compensate real well with a typical spherical UV projection From a personal perspective, to see the universe in this way and with this level of clarity is really amazing. Our sun is just one of those dots. -- Joey Ponthieux LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES) Mymic Technical Services NASA Langley Research Center __________________________________________________ Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not represent the opinions of NASA or any other party. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nancy Jacobs Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2014 2:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Ideas for star fields? I'm rendering with Redshift. What I've been experimenting with is to take the star field map I'm using for the background, whether Hubble or now Joey Ponthieux's wonderful suggestion of the NASA star field image. It seems to wrap nicely to a sphere, not much shows up in the render, but it's a good base to work with.
