Request: A Really Huge Star Field...

[Moviefan2k4]

I posted a copy of this in the "Custom Cover Art" thread, but I thought it would be good to do so here, as well.

I'm designing a poster for an upcoming "Star Wars" convention as a hobby, and I need an insanely hi-res basic star field image. I searched Google like crazy, but even the biggest ones weren't enough. Nothing stylized, please; no clouds, galaxies, planets, etc....just the stars. The full dimensions for the finished poster will be 41 x 27 inches, at 300 pixels per inch. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I posted a copy of this in the "Custom Cover Art" thread, but I thought it would be good to do so here, as well.

I'm designing a poster for an upcoming "Star Wars" convention as a hobby, and I need an insanely hi-res basic star field image. I searched Google like crazy, but even the biggest ones weren't enough. Nothing stylized, please; no clouds, galaxies, planets, etc....just the stars. The full dimensions for the finished poster will be 41 x 27 inches, at 300 pixels per inch. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

Have you looked at flickr? Once you find something, ask the owner if you can use it and if they have a higher solution version that you can use. I have had people approach me for things to use.

BTW, a quick search came up with this:



Or this:

[Moviefan2k4]

Not bad, but both of them are far too busy. I need something more like this...

[Clark Kent]

Perform a Google Images search on "star field Hubble" or something. I imagine there are free images of real star fields with the detail and resolution you want.

[Moviefan2k4]

Well, I have one that's almost the right width, but the height is only about half what I need. I tried looking for seamless textures, but all of them are far too obvious when tiled. I've tried mirroring different hi-res ones in Photoshop, but the effect still doesn't do well.

There's a program on my PC called Xenofex 2, which can do great results, but I don't have enough RAM in my computer for generating a poster-sized image.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

Well, I have one that's almost the right width, but the height is only about half what I need. I tried looking for seamless textures, but all of them are far too obvious when tiled. I've tried mirroring different hi-res ones in Photoshop, but the effect still doesn't do well.

There's a program on my PC called Xenofex 2, which can do great results, but I don't have enough RAM in my computer for generating a poster-sized image.

If you have Photoshop, create the size of image that you want first. Go up to File -> New and then input the dimensions in the popup prompt. From there, get the image that you like, open in Photoshop, paste it into this frame that you created, then stretch it so that it covers the entire canvas. Depending on your OS, the shortcut key for stretch (actually called "Transform") will either be apple-T (Mac) or ctrl-T (Windows).

You can perform a constrained stretch by holding down the shift key, of if you don't care about maintaing the aspect ratio you can just grab a corner and stretch it freely.

[rkolinski]

How about this?

[Show spoiler]

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by brettallica

If you have Photoshop, create the size of image that you want first. Go up to File -> New and then input the dimensions in the popup prompt. From there, get the image that you like, open in Photoshop, paste it into this frame that you created, then stretch it so that it covers the entire canvas. Depending on your OS, the shortcut key for stretch (actually called "Transform") will either be apple-T (Mac) or ctrl-T (Windows).

You can perform a constrained stretch by holding down the shift key, of if you don't care about maintaing the aspect ratio you can just grab a corner and stretch it freely.

I know all about the Transform tool; my main concern is avoiding too much distortion from upscaling a clear image. One of the main "rules" I was told in college was that an image can be safely increased by about 10% at the maximum, before the clarity starts breaking down.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I know all about the Transform tool; my main concern is avoiding too much distortion from upscaling a clear image. One of the main "rules" I was told in college was that an image can be safely increased by about 10% at the maximum, before the clarity starts breaking down.

Understood completely. I do my best not to stretch and scale whenever possible, but sometimes you just have to deal. There really isn't any other way to do it other than to get a photo with that native size or something close to it. If your image has a sufficient dpi in the beginning, then you will be A-OK. The size you mention (41" x 27") really isn't all that big, so I wouldn't think you'd have too much of an issue.

Also, is this for a background or for a foreground/focal point of the design? If it's for the background, then I think this is even less of an issue.

[Moviefan2k4]

Originally Posted by brettallica

Understood completely. I do my best not to stretch and scale whenever possible, but sometimes you just have to deal. There really isn't any other way to do it other than to get a photo with that native size or something close to it. If your image has a sufficient dpi in the beginning, then you will be A-OK. The size you mention (41" x 27") really isn't all that big, so I wouldn't think you'd have too much of an issue.

Also, is this for a background or for a foreground/focal point of the design? If it's for the background, then I think this is even less of an issue.

Its mainly intended for the background of the poster I'm doing, but I'll be adding different stuff to it also. I wanted to start with a blank starfield, though, so no predone extras would get in my way. As for the sizing, the biggest one I have is just barely big enough for a 300dpi image of that size, but its also crowded. I could paint all the unwanted stuff out, but that's very time consuming. I was able to use my Xenofex filter in Photoshop, to create a starfield at 150 dpi, but there's not enough RAM in my tower to do full-on 300. I'm just trying to make the best poster possible, since the convention is less than 2 weeks away...

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

Its mainly intended for the background of the poster I'm doing, but I'll be adding different stuff to it also. I wanted to start with a blank starfield, though, so no predone extras would get in my way. As for the sizing, the biggest one I have is just barely big enough for a 300dpi image of that size, but its also crowded. I could paint all the unwanted stuff out, but that's very time consuming. I was able to use my Xenofex filter in Photoshop, to create a starfield at 150 dpi, but there's not enough RAM in my tower to do full-on 300. I'm just trying to make the best poster possible, since the convention is less than 2 weeks away...

I don't believe I have that effect on any of my rigs, but it looks like there's a free demo available for download. Do you want to give me the source file and have me render it for you? I can then DropSend or YouSendIt the final file. I've got a few RAM options for my three design setups, from 8GB to 16GB. I'm not sure what the minimum requirements are for such a large file, but I sure as heck hope I have enough to support it.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by rkolinski

How about this?

[Show spoiler]

Can you make it bigger

[rkolinski]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

Can you make it bigger

Sorry , but I don't know how to resize that image. However, you might find the information you need here: http://paulbourke.net/miscellaneous/starfield/