I decided to try using Notch to create as realistic a space scene as possible. Here's what I was able to come up with for my first attempt. I grew up watching Carl Sagan and The Cosmos and when I realized I would be happy with the results it seemed fitting to turn this into a sort of tribute.
Everything you see is generated, in realtime, by Notch. I did create one asset in Blender to assist Notch's particle generator to arrange the stars in a believable layout. To do this, I simply layered the object at different scales and randomized each's rotations and that gave me great control over how the stars would appear.
Next I decided to add an image of The Eye Nebula, which I found on NASA's website, as a texture for a skybox. This is what made the image appear to wrap around the scene and give the illusion of depth. The radial blur on the source image enhanced the effect.
Things were starting to progress to the point where I wanted to render out a clip. I found some amazing audio at www.Bensound.com and layered it with one of my favorite recordings of the late Carl Sagan. I used Audition for this task.
Now for the cameras and some post fx. I decided on three animated cameras. One is just a simple zoom forward. For the other two, I created a rig by parenting the cameras to a null. The cameras are offset from their null parent so that when I rotate the null I send the camera along a curved path.
From that point it was just a bunch of reviewing and fine tuning values until I was happy with my result.
I'd like to mention what a joy it is to create in realtime with Notch. As I make changes I can instantly see if I prefer the result. I can switch back and forth between changes and compare, a lot like an eye exam actually! I'm able to spend more time on this step now that I don't have to worry about lengthy render times. I'm able to execute my ideas as they pop into my head, without having to pause and let the workstation catch up.
What a blast actually, I'm off to make more!
