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Thread: The Orion Arm

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    Administrator Facebook Connected Diamond's Avatar
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    Wip The Orion Arm

    Okay, so, inspired by a couple of the current awesome WIPs here, especially Daelin's, I decided to try my own. I've never done anything like this, so I have no idea how good (or bad) it will turn out. I decided I would try to map the Orion Arm and its immediate environs, using mostly made-up star locations and names, since I'm not about to precisely locate every real star that we know about. Besides, new stars are being found all the time...

    What I did to start with was make a basic generic starfield, then import an actual painting of the Milky Way and zoomed in on the relevant portion. Using it as a template, I added some cloud layers in various blues, whites, and grays over the arms. Next I'll start placing the stars...
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    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    yep, I've been rather inspired by Daelin's map too... but sticking to fantasy for now
    It looks good (gotta zoom in though to enjoy the details) ... of critizisms I have the following: I think its a bit nebula heavy - I would concentrate (zoom) on a single circle or two, leaving the middle out - and I think you should add some parts of black space to the map - afterall, thats what one expects of space... deep black... neverending... darkness... sucking you in.....
    looking forward to seing more
    regs tilt
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    At this scale those aren't really nebulae, or not only nebulae. At this scale the white areas are made up of nebulae, stars, and general dust particles. The darker areas are also made up of the same, just in lower concentrations. So the map is accurate except for the star field in the background. You shouldn't be able to see individual stars at this scale except a few super-giants. However one of the reasons I'm not much of an artist is because I stick too close to the science and don't take enough artistic license.
    “Maps encourage boldness. They're like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible.”
    -Mark Jenkins

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    *lol*... whereas I take the artistic route, saying *beep* what the picture consist of - just as long as it looks good
    regs tilt
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    Guild Member Fuse's Avatar
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    Looks great.
    I think it would be nice to have some ambient lighting of the proper color.. like a yellowish haze cast out (maybe lens flare or something)
    That and a few bright stars in the bg

    Great job!~

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fuse View Post
    Looks great.
    I think it would be nice to have some ambient lighting of the proper color.. like a yellowish haze cast out (maybe lens flare or something)
    That and a few bright stars in the bg

    Great job!~
    Yep, this is just the first baby steps. More stuff to come, but not tonight; too damn tired after an 11-hour work day.

    What I want to do is sprinkle a whole bunch of brighter stars (signifying maybe more 'important' or explored systems, and then off to the sides and bottom of the map have enlarged pictures of the individual planets in a bunch of those systems, done using Ascension's great planet tut. (Is that guy even CAPABLE of making a bad tutorial? )

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    I think I overextended myself, so I'm gonna scale this waaaay down, and focus instead on the 'local bubble', the roughly 350x350 light years centered on Sol.

    First efforts:
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    Publisher Facebook Connected bartmoss's Avatar
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    I like it, except the tiny dots in the background (starfield) seems to make no real sense.

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected tilt's Avatar
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    nice... I would still like some totally dark areas though ... and are all the colored stars going to be featured systems? - cause then you sure got your work cut out for you
    regs tilt
    :: My DnD page Encounter Depot free stuff for your game :: My work page Catapult ::
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    Quote Originally Posted by bartmoss View Post
    I like it, except the tiny dots in the background (starfield) seems to make no real sense.
    Call it artistic licence. The plain black is boring.
    Quote Originally Posted by tilt View Post
    nice... I would still like some totally dark areas though ... and are all the colored stars going to be featured systems? - cause then you sure got your work cut out for you
    They're all going to be named (and more to come), but not all of them will be highlighted with planets and whatnot.

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