Hi all,

I've been using Vue for a bit, but theres one thing I can't figure out that I hope I can do,

I don't like the way Vue renders stars, and I like to create my own starfields. What I want to do is render the pic with the sky left transparent so I can create a custom sky. Anyone know how I'd achieve this? Sorry its probably a stupid question!

I'd like to know how to do this too.

One work-around is to use the alpha image which is rendered at the same time as the full render, to produce a mask in Photoshop/Paintshop Pro into which you can put your custom sky.

If there is a way of getting Vue to do what you ask (like Poser does) it would be a lot easier.

I also feel the same about Vue stars. I usually save the alpha image from Vue render and use it for cutting the sky in photoshop and replace it by whatever else I want (normally I paint the stars manually).

Another option, directly in Vue and with no photoshop, which I also use sometimes (like in my "Far away from home") is to use a alpha plane with a starfield (taken from NASA site, for example). I put the alphaplane way in the back, remove all shadows from it, increase the luminous effect and there you have, a beautiful starfield.

Remember...the only stupid question is the one not asked.....so it looks like you're a pretty smart fellow lol..

You don't need a transparent sky in order to achieve this. Go into the atmosphere editor and under effects, unclick the stars.

Now, you can take a photo of stars, galaxies, etc from Hubble or make your own starfield in photoshop and place it on an alpha plane in the first panel, then place it again in the second panel. Click the little 'invert' button to the top right of that second panel and place your alpha plane way huge in the sky. Then, in the material editor under 'effects', raise the luminosity and diffuse till it's bright enough.

Check out Silverblade's tutorials at his site.....(I'm at work and can't switch to give you the link so just find his name in the forum here and click on it.)

Sorry for the redundancy...you got the answers as I was typing :)

Just one additional note:

If you use the luminosity slider, you can only go as far as 100%. But if you type the value directly in the little numeric box, you can input whatever value you want, way bigger than 100%. This could be important if you have fog and/or haze in the atmosphere and/or if the sky is very bright but you still want stars to show up. In these cases, you may need to raise the luminous effect a lot. In my image I mentioned earlier, I have about 5000%.

By the way, this procedure (change the value directly above the slider maximum) can be used in all sliders in Vue.

Hey again guys,

Sorry for the late reply,

Saving the alpha info worked great, thanks a heap! As for the luminosity settings I haven't had the opportunity to test it yet but I will do so soon.