GAAHH! Making a star..

Hi guys!
I'm using the Free Edition of Gamestudio, and need to make a star (being viewed from outer space). Now, this would be perfectly possible (maybe?) in the commercial and pro editions (shaders FTW), but I don't exactly have any money at the moment .

So far, I have a white sphere and a load of particle emitters. Now this would be perfectly fine on a top of the line graphics-based pc, but on the average user's this causes the game to slow down and eventually stop.

And now, for the question, is there a way to make the sphere shimmer (but now violently vibrate, which would happen if I constantly increased/decreased the x/y/z values) from a distance and also emit light? I have tried creating just a large particle emitter to simulate a 'sun', but this still slows down the pc and doesn't look right when viewed from different angles.

Sorry for the large post... needed to describe my situation .

Regards,
Matt.

a sprite?

Thanks! That would work (and I might have to use it :D), but it would look the same from all angles.. any other ideas? XD

Matt.

Set the sprite`s pan, tilt, roll that it faces to the camera.

Hmmm... I guess I'll have to go with the sprite idea then.. but is there a way to create the effect with 3d objects (in the free version)?

(And, if I did own the pro version.. would a shader be used to produce the effect?)

If you can use shaders, in the wiki is a planet shader...

Thanks! Btw, is there a way to set the pan/tilt/roll of a particle emitter (so it could be emitting from a side of the model)?

Thanks,
Matt.

Search for vel_x in the manual, that is what you need

Thanks! And one more question, is it possible to create 'flames' with the particle emitter (or shader)?

of course

Are there any examples?

Thanks,
Matt.

but the sun it to se from far distances or proximity?

It is seen from space, so yeah, quite close. Although if you move to a far away planet the effects could be disabled.

Still looking for a way :S

why dont use a shpere, ..
then you use some effect like bright star image /sprite that gets from the sun, overlaying the sphere... or even some coronal ejection effects but with simples particles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm1VutgxXkw&feature=fvsr

sun from XNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkV3raj93_o

Celestia


here

Good find! Like the one in celestia, how would I implement a visible glow around the sphere? Also, does anyone have any ideas about how to make an algorithm which generates particle emitters on the surface of a sphere?

Thanks,
Matt.

well the algorithm would be complicated, but i guess it is based on magnetic attraction, since thats what happens on the sun...

for the glow, just use a glow sprite, and put it in the sun axis, and facing the camera, with the function

ent_create("glow.png", sun.x, NULL);

your.pan=camera.pan
your.tilt=-camera.tilt

and so on
OF course there is better and more quality aproaches using Post processing glow etc...