Implementing Galactic Dust Lanes ...

Howdy

I’m trying to model a galaxy. So far it’s looking good, but it’s lacking the dust lanes - especially around the central bulge.

I’ve been wracking my brains to come up with a good way of doing this … but so far nothing. They’re going to have to depth tested so as only to (partially) obscure stars behind them. That I do know. But otherwise I’m not entirely sure how to go about it.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Blended, depth sorted point billboards.