Nebula background
Contents
Nebula background
You can create very nice nebula background if you are using many, low-scaled images. The optimal scaling factors are between 2 and 4, but you may choose to use larger scaling factors for more detailed (512x512, 1024x1024) images.
You will also have to be familiar with how FRED handles the co-ordinates for the background images. You should move between the horizintal values of 60-280 approximately to get the nebula piece to the co-ordinates you typed in. Becoming familiar with the FRED background co-ordinate system requires experience. You can also use bank(rotation in another word), or pitch (for changing the height).
Using extreme-scaled ({6,6} or higher) nebula textures is simpler, covers more space, but produces blurry results. If you want to use large scaling factors, try using the large scaling for only one axis, and using a small factor on the another axis. (Examples: {5,2} and {6,1})
These are the original Volition nebula textures, sorted by their colors:
Red
- dneb01
- dneb02
- dneb03
- dneb12
- dneb18
- neb01
- neb02
- neb03
- neb12
- neb18
Green
- dneb04
- dneb05
- dneb06
- neb04
- neb05
- neb06
- Grey*
- dneb06
- dneb13
- neb06
- neb13
Blue
- dneb07
- dneb08
- dneb09
- dneb10
- dneb11
- dneb14
- dneb15
- dneb16
- dneb17
- neb07
- neb08
- neb09
- neb10
- neb11
- neb14
- neb15
- neb16
- neb17
Mix RED with GREY, or BLUE with GREEN to achieve optimal nebula colour results. According to my experience, mixed nebulas of the colours RED and BLUE are somewhat ugly. But this is my opinion.
One should add planets to your backgrounds only after you are satisfied with your nebula background. The reason for this is simple: the game renders the background textures according to their place in the background bitmaps queue in FRED. Therefore, the first element in the queue will be painted first, the second will be painted second and so on. In addition to this, the later elements in the queue may be placed in the foreground compared to previous elements. Thus, if you have a planet first then a nebula, you may have the planet appearing behind the nebula, instead of the nebula appearing behind the planet. Afterall, the nebulas are supposed to be many lightyears away.
