How to Create a Galaxy

Posted by Ben Amend On August 18, 2016 In Materials & Texturing, Simulations, Tutorials 2 Comments

In this tutorial, learn how to create a spiral galaxy using particle systems, force fields, volumetrics, and some compositing at the end.

Final result of this tutorial:

About Author Ben

I've been using Blender for 7 years now, and have worked as a freelancer for several people and companies. Other than running Blender Smoothie, in my spare time I enjoy writing, playing, and recording music.

David Mcsween

Wow, great result! Aren’t the Force object powers fiddly to set. Would be useful if there was a way to visualize their effect while you dial them in, especially as they interact with other forces (one can easily overwhelm another).
For an animation I think that I would bake the stars onto the disc as a texture, assuming you don’t want to fly though the galaxy. And galaxys only have 2 bars IIRC but they stretch around each other a lot so its hard to count, just check the arms in the middle.
- http://blendersmoothie.net Ben Amend
  
  Thanks! Yeah, that would be nice. I suppose baking the stars onto the disc would work as long as you were viewing the galaxy pretty much face-on.
  
  That’s true for barred spirals, but I’m pretty sure that a fair number of them have more than two (take the Sunflower Galaxy, for example).