[KARMA]

well, today I was too bored to draw textures, and I was too bored for modelling too....
so I decided to try to draw a custom background, since most of the "real" starimages can't be used at all in game...
I used some tutorials from greg martin, some other tuts over internet and some techniques/tricks I already knew + others I found while drawing.
I found it very simple and it turned out pretty well in my opnion, so I may be able to try something harder in future, btw here is the result:
(750k image)
http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/swfs2/img/starmap.jpg
(question regarding hosting: can those kind of files be shared w/o putting em on fileplanet?)

[Drew]

ok KARMA i took some ingame screenies for you

the good...

the nice...

and the ugly...


EDIT: Bob, can we use a TGA instead of a PCX backround?

[Flipside]

You can use TGA or JPG backgrounds

[KARMA]

not bad, but definitively too warped.
I think it will be very easy to create a starfiels wich fit the background starfield of my nebula, and I'll try to uvmap a sphere tileing this background starfield and placing this map only on a specific area
ps: it should already support TGA JPG and PCX

[Drew]

the map needs to be bigger to minimize warping; the box dosnt make you feel like your in space; there needs to be TONS of clear stars; if its a small map it needs to be simple or the warping with just make any complex starscape look ugly

EDIT: KARMA if you need hosting iv got of space on my server, just PM me if you need anything posted

[KARMA]

well, it looks way better now:)

I used 2 images, a starfield background and the image above.
Since I creted the starfield later, you can see (barely) an edge sometimes, + you need an higher detailed background model than the one I used, or you can see some warping as you change point of view, + the starfield I created is too dense and noised  now.
I should be able to solve those problems, and I'll try to create a new better background. If you guys are interested, I may write a small tutorial about how to create a custom background from scratch with photoshop/lithunwrap, it really isn't too difficult

[FreeTerran]

boah.... thats awesome

[Ashrak]

PSSST put greg martins nebs as background

[DragonClaw]

Originally posted by Ashrak
PSSST put greg martins nebs as background

Dumbest thing I've ever heard? Edges man... edges.

[Lynx]

The background behinfd the TIE is rather nice, though the stars seem too big and the nebulas there could be darker. The first wo pic look somehow like some standard FS2 nebulas were overlayed over each other, though. I don't really like bright nebulas like that with their 'in your face' style. Bright nebulas are like a plague in the new space sims with FS2 being a prime example. A rich starfield along wit the milky way and rather dark nebulas would be much more beautiful than the sky being covered with some colored blob.

[KARMA]

well, I like bright coloured nebulas, and If you browse through "real" star photos you can find even brighter and more coloured nebulas.
But the point of the thread is...don't you like em? then do it by yourself in the way you like.
Images from outer sourcers, such as greg martin's nebulas or "real" photos, simply are not suited for a ingame background: you can't use many of them due to copyright, most have edges, or suffer of some grain/resolution problems, or they simply look odd once in game.
The images don't simply have to be nice, they have to be nice in game.
And since it isn't that difficult, with some practice, to create an image from scratch close at the level of "real" photos or images created by other artists (this one is my first attempt ever at a starfield...), the best solution probably is: do it by yourself designing your image specifically to be used in game.

[KARMA]

okkey, second try:

no warping,  no edges. The starfield looks good, probably it could be just little less dense, and probably the sphere could be less detailed.
The nebula I created is very simple (I was a bit lazy this time), but doesn't look bad at all, my only concern is about the quality of the image in game: it looks like it isn't 32bit, I think it's my  system's fault.
If someone want it just send a pm: If you want to play with backgrounds you will have just to substitute the two images with your own

[FreeTerran]

i luve it

[Drew]

Originally posted by KARMA
okkey, second try:
If someone want it just send a pm: If you want to play with backgrounds you will have just to substitute the two images with your own

could you make a box that was dual texture, but only 1 texture was actually on it? Youd have a nebula on the sxybox but the rest of the box would be transparent so you would see regular Fs2 stars?

[StratComm]

I thought stars were off when a skybox was used?  The "falling sky" bug never had any FS stars behind it.

[Drew]

Originally posted by StratComm
I thought stars were off when a skybox was used?  The "falling sky" bug never had any FS stars behind it.

look again.  stars are always there

[StratComm]

They are?

*adjusts contrast on monitor*

Oh yeah, they are.

I've never gotten a skybox working on my system (never got one that I was happy Fredding into a mission) so I didn't know from experience.  And when that error was reported, the shrunken images practically killed out the stars.

[KARMA]

it would look crap if you want my opinion, since you would see the edges of the first map
To make this you should draw a partially transparent nebula, with only the nebula itself visible, and the outerspace invisible, but I'm not sure what kind of results you can expect.
If you want to try I can give you the background (you will have to just delete the starfield and in the nebula image cover all the space outside the nebula with green)
With alpha channel on TGAs, this would be very possible, since you would have a standard fs2 starfield behind a fading nebula