I have been working on an animation of the starship combat from Star Trek II. While I've been happy in general, the one thing that really bothers me is the nebulae background. I want it to be all encompassing with stars filtering through. The problem is to get the stars close to a size I like I have to tile the background quite a bit (6 or 7 times). This causes the nebulae to rotate by the panning camera and repeating itself and it loses its realistic quality. I have been using Photoshop to create the backgrounds. Is the solution just a larger background and if so what would anyone recommend for a size canvas to work from? Thanks all memaci

I just use a very big bitmap for my backgrounds. I had to do some serious studies on how to rig cameras and backgrounds to get your issues resolved for my stuff. Looks good! I'm a Trek fan myself. I'm looking forward to more! Did you build your ship models yourself? -Kix

Kix. Thanks for the input. I did build the models myself. I know many of the details are way off on the ships. For the Enterprise I used a tiny 4 model I have of it at home and for the reliant I put the movie in my VCR and pressed pause at key moments and made some quick sketches. Consider both ships needing an accuracy refit! I have seen your work in the gallery Kixum, excellent details and proportions, I am a fan. What do you use for reference material when building your ship models? memaci

I have detailed drawings from the plastic models I've used. I've also learned that it's a good idea to create a very crude rough model with all of the proportions correct and then build a ship over the top of it. It can really speed up your work and get everything the right size a lot faster. I've included an image of the Classic Trek Enterprise I use to set up shots and I've actually used it in shots when I need a Starship in the background a long way away (or lots of Starships). I don't have the drawings on hand but the AMT plastic model of the movie Enterprise is very detailed and well proportioned. I haven't squirreled up the time or skill to build that model yet but I hope to someday. That's a model which is beyond the spline modeler and I know virtually nothing about the vertex modeler and it's tricks and traps and pitfalls. It's interesting how many places you can get that model for 3D programs on a few sites on the net. Glad you're working on it and keep it up. -Kix