Ken wrote:
> 
> Opinion time !
> 
>   I have seen many a night sky renderd with Pov. Of these many
> star ladden skies there is often a tendency to add gas clouds,
> lens flares, and star bursts. I know that these added touches
> are fun to add in but how real are they really. Here in the US
> where I live in a large metropolitan area we are lucky if we
> can see some of the brighter planets let alone stars. But even
> when I get the chance to get out into the country and look up
> there a lot of stars up there but with the unaided eye there
> are no gas clouds, star bursts, or fancy lens flares visible in the
> night sky.
>   Is this trend for special effects a side effect of astro photography ?
> I know the hubble telescope has advanced nebular and galactic
> photography to a new level but it's just not the stuff you see localy
> in our solar system.
> 
> What do you think about this generaly ?
> 
> Do you as an artist go for the effect and damn the realism ?
> 
> Should these special effects be used only when viewing from
> space and go for more of a realistic impression when looked
> at through the atmosphere of the earth ?
> 
> Can you get away with excessive effects in a twin star system ?
> 
> Is it worth it to spend 3 weeks to model a perfect house with
> landscaping, streets, and street lights and then throw in the best
> special effect that galaxy.inc will give you when it's likely that
> the night sky is as boring to look at there as it is here where I
> live?
> 
> --
> Ken Tyler
> 
> tyl### [at] pacbellnet

I don't care much for space scenes as long as I get my weekly dose of StarTrek
;-)
The starry skies are perhaps not realistic, you could use them for effect. The
same as done in movies with a panoramic view where the top half of the screen is
getting darker, as if the sky would really look that way. You could even have a
movieposter with a desertlandscape in the middle of the day with sky growing
darker towards the top, even showing stars. It's all a matter of taste. If you
go for realism, perhaps you should just use some sort of filthy brownish gray,
for the average urban environment (on hot summerevenings the moon here is
actually orange in stead of pale).
I think the nightsky you describe takes an image away from realism and makes it
look more like a hollywood movie. Perhaps that explains why people would want to
do that. Besides: outside the POV-community it looks really great and few people
know where it comes from  ;-)

Regards,

Remco

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