Greg M. Johnson wrote:
> 
> I didn't quite like how the starfield pigments looked in a sky_sphere,
> so I'm going to make my own.
> 
> Q: which will render faster,
> i) pow(10,6) spheres, or

A mesh with triangles will render quicker, and use far less memory.
If the triangles are far enough away, they look just like spheres
that are far, far away.

#local SEED=seed(0);

mesh {

  #local iI=0;#while(iI<NUMBER_OF_STARS)

  #local vR=<rand(SEED),rand(SEED),rand(SEED)>*360;

  triangle {
    vrotate(<0,1,DISTANCE>,vR),
    vrotate(<-97/112,-.5,DISTANCE>,vR),
    vrotate(< 97/112,-.5,DISTANCE>,vR)
  }
  #local iI=iI+1;#end

  no_shadow
  pigment { rgb 1 }
  finish { ambient 1 diffuse 0 }
  translate CAMERA_POSITION // makes stars appear stationary
}

Set DISTANCE so that the triangles just become points.

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