@ Dennis....
Before I answer your questions I have one for you Dennis. How do you make these faint small tiny details (the black dust structures) in your picture "Hulakara-Minkares nebula" ? I can't figure that out..., how do you make them? Do you render them in Terragen (so is it just a question of settings) or do you stamp them later on into the rendering via Photoshop? Hmmmhhh....
Well...thank you Dennis for your quick response!
I know Hubble and to get the colors just from HST Galery is a good idea. I used a nice astropicture from ESA of the Orion Nebula M42 which I had in mind in my first attempt to render a nice orion-styled nebula. I just found the colors composition by chance, using the trial and error method. But it worked perfectly, the result looks very convincing...
If you like to render your own stars in3DsMax, I could send you my Max-File. It is made in 3dsMax 2009. If you have the program, you could use my setup to render your own stars in a big resolution and excellent quality. This would provide you also the Alpha Channel, so you will be ready for masking. Just mail me, I can send you my file if you like... :-)
I use the negative multiply method for fading stars into a picture or to overlay a scene. Just lay the stars layer over your rendered space scene (nebula) and apply the negative multiply blending method for your star layer. -> Good for fading stars into an evening sky! I rendered a big Master Star in 3DsMax over a black background. In different smaller sizes I created my master starchart. So I just need to copy them into my scenery with the negative multiplication blending method. In the result, everything which is black becomes transparent and so you just got your star hovering in free space and can put them in the right place. As an example please look at my picture "013 Luz del Mondo" or "004 Morgenrot in Alaska" which you can find here...
http://www.dirkkipper.de/Galerie_Terragen/Terragen_01/index.phpThank you also for the Link with the NASA Starcharts, I already got them. I have created additionally all kind different star maps to use them in my own animations. Also own star maps for special purposes. I created one, based upon the NASA Starcharts only with the bright stars of the constellations for instance. So I'm able to fade over between the milky way and the constellations and their main stars only. I underline them with my favorite music just for viewing and relaxation. They're excellent for a cool power nap. Hehhehehe.... Here is an example (the second video on the right side). Please notice the fading in the video...
http://www.dirkkipper.de/Galerie_Video_Tutorial/Video_Tutorial_01/index.html#
I'll attach some pictures for your benefit to make it crystal clear to you Dennis :-)
STORMLORD