PLNTSCAP.GIF is an example of using post-processing on raytraced images to generate realistic starfields. Povray was used to generate the large ringed planet and grey foreground moonscape. The stars were generated by using Fractint's starfield option on a "plasma" fractal. The purple nebula was generated by Corel's PhotoPaint. The images were combined using PicLab. In article tomg@mishima.mn.org writes: >What's the best way to generate starfields in Povray? Just map >a texture on a black sky? I've been wrestling with this problem for some time now - here's what I've come up with so far. The problem with generating starfields in Povray is that stars are more or less point sources of light. So in order to make a realistic looking star field, each star should consist of a single pixel. (Ok, this is a subjective opinion. Personally, I think stars look better as single pixels. Your mileage may vary.) This implies a resolution dependent texture function - something that Povray does not support (and probably shouldn't.) The thing to do, then, is to generate the star field outside of Povray and combine the Povray image and the star field image in a post-processing step. This can easily be accomplished with PicLab, a freely available image processing program (try one of the many raytracing ftp sites to find this.) The trick is to render your scene twice, once with a regular black background (where the stars will eventually go), and once with an all-white background and all of the foreground objects' textures set to black. The second image can be used as a mask to "cut out" parts of the star field image you don't want, allowing the modified star field to be added pixel by pixel to the original black-background rendered image. Complicated, yes, but the results look really good. I will try and upload an example of this technique to ftp.uwa.edu.au. The filename will be PLNTSCAP.GIF or something similar. Of course, you can always use image maps or try to kludge a texture map into looking like a bunch of stars. I've had reasonable results with both techniques, but find that using the above method yields more consistently better images. If you're trying to do an animation with star fields, good luck. Short of patching Povray to include a star field type texture (which has been done in the past, at least for DKBTrace) I can't think of any method which will look very good. Barry Ferg | bdf@dsi.bc.ca | Opinions expressed are my own