Nebula Workbench

Volume mode ray-marches an animated 3D density field in C. Rotation reveals depth through the gas, stars, spherical clearings, and jets. Texture mode retains the original flat generator. Motion is a procedural visual approximation, not a hydrodynamic simulation.

PNG exports capture the current frame with transparency, including the modeled stars and jets but excluding the distant preview starfield. Volume density exports contain the integrated gas column for the current view; Texture exports contain the original 2D field. Pause motion for a still composition.

Comets are animated 3D density fields inspired by the supplied photographs: a green-white coma, separated blue or cyan filaments, flowing knots, and a fading outer haze. Star bearing and elevation determine the anti-stellar direction; camera rotation never changes it. The scorched-planet variant uses a straight yellow sodium tail originating across the full planetary diameter at 0.387 AU or closer. Density flows outward along fixed anti-stellar streamlines; the tail never bends or wags. This is an artistic eligibility rule; hot Jupiters are deferred. RFL export bakes the current direction, so runtime attachment to an orbiting body requires the game to orient the volume away from its star.

Nova B lights scattered clouds in a detached shell just beyond the jet tips. Hydrogen ejecta use a separate warm palette. Jets emerge from the flash and reach full length at five seconds. Blue reflection starts at three seconds; bright green ionization starts at six seconds along both jet directions and spreads through the clouds. Each region returns to blue four seconds after the green arrives; total nova brightness fades to half from 16 to 46 seconds. Changing beam length also moves the shell to preserve the gap. Dark tadpole globules and branching pillars catch blue rims as the echo passes. This is a time-compressed visual model. Replay restarts the flash; Randomize changes the cloud.

Nova holds a red point, grows a Noctis-style dithered glare, then releases a nebula around a flickering blue-white remnant. The gas cutoff increases from 0.15 to 0.47 over the expansion, while the clearing radius grows from 0.12 to 0.28 at half that rate. The clearing then holds at its maximum while the shell continues expanding slowly until 60 seconds after the flash. Jet cones have a 50% chance per seed. Replay repeats the same event; Randomize starts a new one.