Requirements: Blender 4.2 LTS or newer. Scene generation and Cycles renders tested on 4.2 and 5.0.1. EEVEE has not been tested. Uses numpy, which is bundled with Blender. 8 GB RAM recommended.

Quick start (no scripting):

1. Unzip the download.
2. Open MilkyWay_MHDINT.blend.
3. Press F12 to render the current frame, or Ctrl+F12 to render the animation.

Change the camera: go to the Scripting tab (the script is already open inside the .blend), set ONLY_SWITCH_CAMERA = "edge_on" and press Alt+P. This does not rebuild the scene: it switches the camera and shows the objects that belong to that view. Camera keys: face_on, edge_on, tilted, bar, from_sun, satellites, rotation_curve.

Rebuild with your own settings:

1. In the Scripting tab, edit the settings at the top of milky_way_v1.1.py. The main ones: N_STARS (number of points), STAR_GAIN (brightness), SHOW_ARM_LINES, SHOW_RINGS, SHOW_LABELS, SUN_ORBIT_SECONDS, SHOW_ROTATION_CURVE, SHOW_TEST_ORBITS, RESOLUTION.
2. Set ONLY_SWITCH_CAMERA = None and press Alt+P. The scene is rebuilt from scratch.

Read the data: select an object named MHDINT_… and open Object Properties → Custom Properties. Values carry their source and say whether they are measured, computed or illustrative.

Performance: rebuilding takes about 15 seconds. A Cycles render takes 2–3 minutes on a laptop CPU; reduce N_STARS for faster previews.