[Mobius]

I noticed mixed feelings about them in the past and forgot to post a poll and see what the (active) community members think about this subject. Basically, those are old backgrounds (I'm sorry for the ships present) I made where multiple nebula types of various colors are used, and such backgrounds cover a good portion of the skybox, if not most of it. So here I am, asking for opinions on the matter. 

In this particular case I would prefer votes over comments, but you're free to do whatever you want as always.

EDIT: if you chose the last option of this poll, please specify it at the beginning of your post.

[Phantom Hoover]

Way to load all the poll options.

[niffiwan]

(last option)
well... I think they're too colourful.  Sorry, but too much colour makes it very hard to see the HUD, and I like space like the Star Wars movies, lots of stars & not a lot of nebula.

[headdie]

Other:

I actually cringed at a few of them lol.

my personal preference is for complimentary colours with more neutral tones and a few stronger elements for interest.

ultimately though the BG needs to match the mission and setting

[Axem]

What do I think of those backgrounds? Pretty messy and distracting. Too many different colors, too many of them, and with little feel that they could be real nebula-like clouds.

If you look at pictures taken of nebulas, there's usually predominant colors that take up most of the image, with other colors that accent the finer details. I don't know how many of those pictures are taken in visible light or in false color, but they usually look pretty nice, which I would guess is the goal.

What's the worst (THEEE WORSE) is when a background is so bright that it begins to make my HUD unreadable.

[headdie]

Other:

personally the bottom 2 in this post are what I would consider good nebulas, they are interesting without dominating the scene, personally I would use these for missions set in fringe territories. 

in a FS setting with reds and oranges would make good "shivan" systems
Greens and blues would be good Terran/home systems
Oranges, Yellows and Browns would work well for Vasudan areas

but as I say its all dependant on what looks good for the setting and to help establish the mood the mod/fredder is trying to achieve

[The E]

I uniformly dislike them. I like my backgrounds to be sparse; I find the need to fill every possible pixel with colours to be too distracting.

It can be done well, certainly, but these ones don't do it. For example, Strike Suit Zero and Homeworld 2 both have very colourful backgrounds, but in both cases those are parts of the story (the vast structures of HW2, the megaadvanced Earth in SSZ). Backgrounds like the ones from Diaspora, or BP2, are closer to my aesthetic sensibilities because they support the main action, not overwhelm it or distract from it.

[Lorric]

EDIT: Option "Other" chosen.

I generally like a colourful nebula to brighten up the background, but not if they take up too much of the background space. Dimensional Eclipse is a good example of this, some of the stages don't feel like you're in space at all. Although I've only looked at Youtube footage of that mod, so if you're actually supposed to be inside a nebula, then that's perfectly okay. That's really the only Freespace thing I've seen where I've actually disliked the background nebulae. Usually I'm pleased with them being there.

I favour the more pleasant colours over angry reds and oranges and such.

EDIT: I have no problem with a multicouloured nebula.

[Mobius]

To all those who chose the last option ("Other"), please edit your post and specify your choice at its beginning. Thank you.

First post edited to encourage everyone to do that.

[Veers]

Choice: Other

Reason(s): I actually like them a lot, I just feel that they might need to also have a 'dimmer' version as well as this strong colour version. But they would look fantastic if used in another galaxy or somewhere completely unexplored/foreign (well well beyond GTVA space) as they are completely alien, bright, so many colours etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like it all simple, black or one/two colours that we already have. But these are really awesome. Something completely different. And I feel it is important to have something different, it is just that extra option to spice everything up with.

[mjn.mixael]

Sorry dude. I looked at those images and the artist in me vomited... and he wasn't vomiting rainbows, either.

There's no semblance of design and no artistry in those. Just colors, Colors, COLORS.. MUST HAVE MOAR COLORS AND MOAR NEBULAS. MOAR MOAR MOAR. And then I got a headache and had to look away.

[0rph3u5]

Play my campaigns to get my answer. 

[Nyctaeus]

Prefer something less messy. 1-2 colors in general, sometimes more but with shape. One of the Singh's background, the one used in Forced Entry is a good option.

[Droid803]

No offense but those look like cluster****s.

[NGTM-1R]

While in theory pretty, there's the minor problem that in-mission I really don't care backgrounds exist, and you asked for my opinion rather than my feel for what the community likes.

Not that I think most people like these, judging from the commentary.

[Woolie Wool]

Sorry dude. I looked at those images and the artist in me vomited... and he wasn't vomiting rainbows, either.

Space Skittles: Puke the Rainbow!

I prefer my nebulae subdued, preferably in a single color or two similar colors. The nebula background in Twist of Fate Chapter 1 (set entirely in the Beta Aquilae system) is blue with some highlights in green, desaturated to gray-blue by post processing.

The colors should match the ambience of the place the mission is set in. If you're looking out into roiling orange clouds of Space Fire (tm), you're probably not in a nice neck of the woods.

Also a nebula backdrop should not cover the whole sky. Space is supposed to be dark, damnit!

Come to think of it, dim gray would work very well.

[Polpolion]

I agree with a lot of the sentiment already posted: It's way too visually noisy and distracting. Also when have so much stuff in there it stops looking like nebulae and it just starts looking like random swirls of color. Granted, you can't really see nebulae with the naked eye but the pictures in the original post still just don't look like space. I think I'm mostly a fan of how vanilla FS nebulae were used.

[Shivan Hunter]

I love colorful backgrounds when they're done well, but most of the ones you posted are extremely badly designed (sort of like your poll options). There's no shape to them, they're just huge wads of Lightspeed bmps stuck together, and you plaster different colors on top of each other willy-nilly.

The very last one is a good example of using different colors together; the colors fade into each other, and it isn't just a huge cloud that takes up the entire screen. If it's a huge swath across the screen like in your first images, the differences in color and brightness need to be minimal. Yours look like nebula patchwork which is extremely distracting.

[EDIT] part of the problem is that most Lightspeed nebulae are very bright. There are few darker options to take up larger areas on the screen, so people who use Lightspeed nebulae and want to take up huge areas of the backdrop have no options but to make them look terrible.

[Droid803]

at least those don't have bloom cranked up.
oh god the horror

[Mobius]

EDIT: Option "Other" chosen.

Choice: Other

Six community members chose the last option, yet only two of them (Lorric and Veers) explained why. I'd like to know what the remaining members had in mind when they voted "Other". Thanks in advance.