are you exporting them as 2 to 4k in a 2:1 format?
anything less than 2k isnt going to look good





.

My point is that it looks great in Space Engine, very detailed but if I use cylindrical projection to import to Iclone I lose a lot of resolution. Probably OK for a DOF shot but not for a background shot. 

open the console with the tilde key ~ and type   set landlod 2
this can put some pressure on your vid card though

you can also edit  a planet's parameters
to have more interesting features
but not the ones in our solar system
which all look flat no matter what

page up and page down will also act
like wide to narrow lens but not in the projection modes




.

I will keep experimenting. I just did a shot from the surfacr of a planet with very nice detailed mountains but it does not look sharp enough for a shot.

the planet exposure needs to be lowered in the first one
this setting resets everytime you open the program
lower right hidden menu


.

[/quote]
a few things can be done inside space engine to make it look better
[/quote]
Cylindrical




Cubemap Skybox

These two pictures looks very similar, but I find a noticible difference in the quality of the shot. So, I am wondering what I could do to the cylindrical method to make it as good as the Cubemap..

a few things can be done inside space engine to make it look better
in the bottom right there is a hidden menu for controls for exposure of assets
there are also overall quality settings and the script in my video
can be altered to 4k output with notepad
also in iclone the tone map  can improve things if played with enough
and you want to use 35mm or below camera



.

Cool, I have been posting things that I have used, frankly, hoping that some other folks will use it and do things I haven't tried. Great way to get ideas..

Looking forward to SE .990 I have not  played with the ship editor. Just creating a movie is a daunting task enough...

Unfortunately i don't have AE. But i would love to know what has to be done to get the best out of it using free tools.
I find that the generated images look a bit fuzzy inside iClone (i don't mean the blurness slider).

---