.. |bolt| image:: ../img/ui/iconic-bolt.png
   :class: filter-invert

.. _qs-visual-settings:

Visual settings
---------------

.. tip:: Expand and collapse the visual settings pane by clicking on the |bolt| bolt button or with :guilabel:`l`.

The **visual settings** pane contains a few options to control the shading of stars and other elements:

-  **Star brightness** -- control the brightness of stars.
-  **Magnitude multiplier** -- exponent of power function that controls the brightness of stars. Controls the brightness difference between bright and faint stars.
-  **Star glow factor** -- close-by star size.
-  **Point size** -- size of point-like stars and other objects.
-  **Base star level** -- the minimum brightness level for all stars.
-  **Ambient light** -- control the amount of ambient light. This only affects the models such as the planets or satellites.
-  **Line width** -- control the width of all lines in Gaia Sky (orbits, velocity vectors, etc.).
-  **Label size** -- control the size of the labels.
-  **Elevation multiplier** -- scale the height representation for planets with elevation maps.

.. figure:: ../img/ui/pane-visual-settings.jpg
    :alt: Visual settings pane
    :align: center
    :target: _images/pane-visual-settings.jpg

    The visual settings pane.