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360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2023 10:52 pm
by Berserker
# 360° SkySphere for Mappers

> Q: What is a SkySphere?
> A: SkySphere is a special spherical brush, which aims to be an alternative to SkyBoxes.

My zip file includes 2 example maps. In case you're confused on how SkySpheres work, you can simply open one of the example maps in Ued and see how they function. I have made 2 types of SkySphere brushes - Low Poly and High Poly. I highly recommend using the Low Poly brush only. Use the High Poly brush if you see any visible "stretching" with your sky textures.

SkySpheres have Equirectangular projection mapping. This type of projection mapping is used in 360° Panorama images. People also call them Environment textures or HDRIs. Use these terms to find sky textures on the internet, there are a lot of free sites with a big selection of images, the skies used in my examples are from PolyHeaven. Alternatively, you can make 360° AI Skies using Nvdia Canvas 360, or using other alternatives like the AI SkyBox tools of Blockade labs. Nvdia Canvas 360 is more suitable for photorealistic environments, while Blockade labs will give you an artistic "fantasy" look.

Quick Guide:
Method 1: Using my maps.
Open one of the maps in Ued and copy/paste the SkySphere brush over to your map. If needed, replace the sky texture with your own. The SkySpheres in my maps are aligned for 4K textures. If you have smaller sized textures, such as 2K, you can select all of the surfaces inside the SkySphere, open the Surface properties window and re-scale them with a value of 0.5, make sure you have the "Relative" scale check marked.

Method 2: Using obj import.
Obj import needs 469c patch or upwards. IMPORTANT: You need to import your texture first, make sure you select your texture from the Texture browser before proceeding! Import the obj brush using "Brush -> Import" then subtract the brush. This will automatically align your texture, no matter the scale.




Image

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 8:57 am
by Lunic
Really nice job on this one! I gave it a try and you can just change the image to any 360 image and it works perfectly. I like how the top and bottom doesn't align like sh*t. You can't see edges or anything there just have to get a good quality source image.

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:26 pm
by Deepu
This is very good, can you provide the original textures of the skybox?

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:57 pm
by Berserker
Deepu wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:26 pm This is very good, can you provide the original textures of the skybox?
They were already there in the zip file

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:03 pm
by Deepu
I mean the original images, not the .pcx files, do you have the source?

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:39 pm
by Berserker
Deepu wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:03 pm I mean the original images, not the .pcx files, do you have the source?
https://polyhaven.com/a/clarens_midday
https://polyhaven.com/a/sunflowers_puresky

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:01 am
by Deepu
Wow thank you man

Re: 360° SkySphere for Mappers

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2023 11:26 pm
by mikaeolke
Nice concept for the beautiful DM-map! )