Galaxy

This effect generates a galaxy by rendering anti-aliased 3D points as stars. You can create a spiral, elliptical, or barred galaxy. Spiral galaxies use a 3D rectangle to simulate a gas cloud. Use the orientation and viewing distance controls to give the galaxy a true 3D appearance.

An example Galaxy dialog.

Controlling the Galaxy

Type Choose from spiral, elliptical and barred spiral. Use the elliptical type to create star clusters.
Core Color Controls the color used to render the stars at the core of the galaxy.
Stars Color Controls the color used to render the stars in the arms of the galaxy.
Density Controls the number of stars generated in the arms and core of the galaxy. Larger values result in more stars.
Gas Cloud (Spiral Galaxies only)
     Texture A bitmap or JPEG image that is mapped to the galaxy.  Several are provided to choose from or you can specify your own image.  Place images in the Textures\Galaxy directory which is located in the directory you specified when installing the plug-ins.
      Color This color will modulate (multiply) the gas cloud texture.    For instance, Red adds a red tint like you're looking through a red filter.
      Scale Factor Scales the 3D rectangle which the gas cloud texture is mapped to.  The setting for this depends on the gas cloud texture. If it is set to zero, the rectangle has zero width and height and it is the same as turning the gas cloud off.   If it is set to 10 (the highest setting), it may cause the gas cloud to be clipped.   6.0 is a good setting for the default textures.

General Controls

Preview | Reseed | Orientation | Viewing Distance

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