CompuServe Thread

<<1. I cannot seem to be able to create a light source that affects the ENTIRE scene within 3d Studio in the same way, with a soft falloff on the planet and other objects within the scene.>> Move the spotlight a LONG way from the planet. The further you move the spotlight the more parallel the light beams will be and therefore more like those of the sun. <<I cannot in any EFFICENT way create an undistorted scrolling backround of a gasous nebula without projecting it onto a hemisphere, which heavily distorts the image takes away from the scene.>> Map the gaseous nebula instead onto a flat plane and use Alpha or a mask to make the areas around the nebulus in the bitmap transparent. DaviD "Mapping monoliths" GouID

>>lighting the universe… I recently had a rotating earth shot with the sun moving from behind. The earth had a separate cloud layer. To get a soft falloff on the earth and atmosphere, I had to carefully place a spotlight AND several omni lights in a row in front of the sun, each a little dimmer than the last to help fake a soft edge. The omnis were set to exclude everything but the atmosphere. I do not think you will be able to light the entire scene effectively with one light. Most of the time multiple lights are required (sometimes one or more for each separate object), each excluding everything in the scene except the target objects. If things move, the light sources or spot targets can often be linked to the objects or to dummies. As to the scrolling nebulous sky background, you would need a trememdously large bitmap to get a lot of detail in a background. With the proper mapping and hemisphere placement, however, the distortion should be small. If moving thru the scene, the hemisphere should be very large or actually moved with the camera to minimize perspective distortion. If the camera simply pans, the camera should be close to the exact center of the hemisphere. Since an appropriate single sky bitmap may be cumbersome, you might try a different method: decal map each of a number of small planes or hemisphere sections with small hi-rez maps of nebulas, galaxies, etc, and set them way back from the camera.

>2. I cannot in any EFFICENT way create an undistorted scrolling backround of a gasous nebula without >projecting it onto a hemisphere, which heavily distorts the image takes away from the scene. 3DStudio Special Effects has an article on a space scene that probably contains exactly what you want. It has so many nice tips and tricks (and the people that wrote it deserve the support) that I hate to give anything away, but the basic premise behind the gaseous nebula is that it's an object, created in a very clever way that looks very effective. Maybe the author of that article will describe the technique in detail for you — or you can just run out to Barnes/Noble and get it!

>>1. I cannot seem to be able to create a light source that affects the ENTIRE scene within 3d Studio in the >>same way, with a soft falloff on the planet and other objects within the scene. This light source must also >>illuminate the planet, but not in a way the de-saturates the planet's texture map. Last year I attended a seminar in LA. and the people who do all the space shuts for Babylon5 demo'd some very cool effects and then took questions from the audience. I asked him (forgot his name) about space lighting "how to" and his response in short was that in space there is only one light source SUN. and if the angle of the sun is in any way making a lot of shaded areas on your object, then simply make the space background a bit blue and ambient light at 0. Well I tried to do that and it worked for me. the more lights the worst it becomes. Got to go. I hope this help a little. Also go to other Autodesk forum and search with key words of moon,earth, and stars and see the image I created (640×480 gif). -Kouros.