Quick Tip: Making Custom Skys

[AdroNesn offline]

I figured out my problem...for the sides that wouldn't display, I had a space after the extension for some of the file names in the .DML file. Once I removed the trailing spaces, they all showed perfectly!!!

[Frappuccino offline]

[Frappuccino offline]

[{NF}Reapperi offline]

i could do only this.....

i want to make cool but i was able to make a litle blackhole what i use in my next map..when i have released 2 maps what are not ready yet.

[ToKrZ offline]

How?

Well about 30+ hours of research, tests, forums more research tests forums then started all over again and then finaslly a bit of luck and seems started to disapear and the perspective began to look more and more realistic. Much of my initial post in this thread is flawed,but the concept is correct. When I have the time Iplan on writing an official tutorial on Cubic Envirerment Maps (sky box's)

my advice is to start simple and progress slowly from there.


here's a few screen shots of one of the first skys I created and ladstly oneof my most recent sky's, note there are no cloud layers in these pics:











these shots were all taken at the same resolution and same graphics setting, the first twqo were not as old as myintital skys you see in the first postto thisthread, I actaully deleted those and many many others that I decided were to flawed. As amatter facxt the sky in the first two pics is getting tossed out now


toke out.........

[{NF}Reapperi offline]

When i tried to make cloud layers......when i tested them..i could not see trough

[Bytor offline]

That fiery red sky is schweeeeeet ... keep up the good work ToKrZ!

[TseTse offline]

[ToKrZ offline]

excuse any typos mykeyboard is fubared

the 3d cube method i developed myself i havent heasrd of anyone else doing it like that. the generall method most professionals graphic artists use to create sky box's is to render the sky in bryce, terragen or another simuliar program setting the camera to the center position then rendering and exporting the five different views you can then bring these into your paint program and modify them from there. Ive used this method with 100 percent sucess the camera position angles and other settings, light source etc have to be correct though. see my post at garage games under graphics for the settings, you can dl a trial copy of terragen that will do the job. I get better results with my unconventionall method but thats just me and my backwards way of doing things......

[Angry Weasel offline]

Are you telling me I used PS4 for nothing? Will a scanline renderer work for your cube method? I have the perfect program to do it with. OK...shameless plug...here goes: , which is free, and from Not a Number (aka NaN, a totally cool Dutch company started by Ton Roosendaal). Blender 2.22 is the current release...which reminds me, I have to go download it. Bye!


P.S. I took a "graphic design" course at this "summer camp for smart kids" or something like that. I should have payed attention, because all they taught us was how to use Photoshop 4.0.

[Angry Weasel offline]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned alpha layers in cloud textures, but yes, you must have them. How else will you be able to see through the clouds to your sky?

[Angry Weasel offline]

I UE'd and then I figured out what I did wrong..

[Frappuccino offline]

[Angry Weasel offline]

[ToKrZ offline]

really i swear my kb was fubared got a new one today

hehehe

but back to the subject. 3d programs, Ive bin using painter 3d to render my texture onto the cube, I star with one solid 1024x512 texture then map it to the cube with a spherical setting, the texture is verticly seamless, then I take a screen shot of each side, and sometimes I'll touch them up in adobe or psp but I try to get the orignal texture correct first. Some of my best skys I start in terregen or bryce then onto psp and adobe then then to painter 3d or is it 3d painter (hmmmm damn dislexia) then back to adobe and psp for the finishing touches.

My best skys useally take me about 45 minutes from start to finish at this point.... but yes for your basic skys terragen will do it from begging to finish in less than 5 minutes.