Constellation

Constellation surrounds an object with a slowly tumbling sphere of stars joined by faint lines, like a star chart wrapped around it. The stars twinkle on their own rhythms and the lines fade in and out independently, so the network seems to flicker with activity.

How it works

The stars are spread evenly over a sphere, with small random differences in size. Any two stars closer than a set distance are joined by a line. Each star is a soft glow with a white-hot centre and a four-pointed spike, like a star photographed through a telescope, and the spike flares as the star brightens. Each line pulses with its own phase and speed. The whole sphere spins around the vertical axis while slowly tipping over, so the pattern never sits still.

Settings

• Star Count: from a sparse ten to a dense two hundred.
• Connect Radius: how far apart two stars can be and still be joined. Low values give scattered pairs, high values a dense web.
• Orbit Radius: the size of the sphere.
• Twinkle Speed and Star Size: the sparkle of the stars.
• Line Opacity: how strong the connecting lines are.
• Color: tints both the stars and the lines.
• Speed: how fast the sphere turns.

Use it for

Space and zodiac themes, network and connection visuals, data and tech scenes, starry night product shots. For a fuller night sky add Stars; for a network with travelling signals, see Neural Network.