Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star

Ah, the classic star field background. Ever since the Tantive IV came screaming by with a Star Destroyer in hot pursuit, I've always had a obsession with space-fantasy, (I got one of these for Christmas when I was a wee lad!) and what I would have given to generate realistic star fields back on my first computer, when I was ten years old!

Star fields are pretty easy to conjure up in Adobe After Effects, but I'm going to share a quick and easy technique for making your star fields really shine!

Okay, first, let's start with a simple composition in After Effects. A single layer with a black solid that's the size of the layer. That's your black deep-space background, where no one can hear you scream. Next, create another solid layer on top of your black layer, this one white. Now, go to Effect:Simulation:CC Star Burst and apply this effect to your black solid. This effect comes with After Effects, and is a good starting point for your star field. With the default settings, you should have something that looks like this -

Not bad, but it looks more like you've been drinking too much Fizzy Lifting Drink, instead of being ready to zoom through space. No worries. Let's make some adjustments to the effects settings. Make these adjustments -

Scatter - leave at 100
Speed - change this to .10
Phase - Leave at 0
Grid spacing - make this 8
Size - make this 20
Blend w. Original - Leave at zero

Okay, so now you should have something that looks more like this -


Much better. But it's still got that too-perfect, computer generated look. One way to improve this situation is to use the Effect:stylize:glow effect, which will give the stars a nice subtle halo. The default glow settings actually look pretty nice, but go ahead and fine tune them to your taste.

My favorite way to make stars really shine, however, is to use the Trapcode Starglow effect. Yes, it's a third-party plugin, but trust me, the Trapcode plugins are well worth the money. They are reasonably priced, and you'll find yourself using them all the time. Download the free demo and give them a whirl.

The default setting for Starglow is a bit strong, looking like something out of Superman The Movie, so let's dial them down a bit. Use the Warm Star preset, and set your streak length to 2.

Now you should have something that looks like this -


Fine tune this to your taste, but you can see what a huge improvement this is over the original, and how well it matches the traditional cinematic star field look.

Got your own tasty AE star field effect? Let us know in the comments.

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