How to set up a good skybox

[chronozphere]

Hi guys 8)

I like to know how to set up a good looking skybox.
What kind of geometry should i use.. A box, A hemisphere???
And most important.. How can i make, or where can i find good skybox textures??? :)

Thank you.

[Traveler]

Jump to this (http://www.sulaco.co.za/) place, scroll down to the post of 10 January 2006 and you'll find a link to a tutorial.

Alternatively you could also try this page (http://www.sulaco.co.za/opengl3.htm) and scroll about halfway to the Skyboxes item.

Hope that helps at least a bit.

[chronozphere]

Ok?© thank you :)

I found out that cubes are normally used. I saw some skybox textures and i think most of them should be mapped onto cubes.

But i like to learn how to make my own skyboxes. :razz:
Can someone provide me with some extra info??

[NecroDOME]

You can always do it the Ureal way: make a little map of your sky box with different objects. However in some cases it's useful, in other it isn't...

[chronozphere]

Sorry i didn't made myself clear :oops:

I like to know how to make my own skybox textures. I already know how to set up a box or a hemisphere. But it still needs a good sky texture. I found some textures on the net (link (http://www.scentednectar.com/skyboxes/). But i'd rather make them myself. :)
The problem is that the skybox textures must be seamless and must have a good perspective. Otrherwise the user will feel trapped inside a box or hemisphere wich is not what i want.

How can i make my own seamless skybox textures with the right perspective???

Please take a lookat these images (http://www.scentednectar.com/skyboxes/aa.htm) This is the kind of texture i want to create. ;)

[Traveler]

Maybe this (http://skymatter.thegamecreators.com/?f=tutorial) tutorial can be of some use to you?

[Sascha Willems]

Way back I wrote a tutorial on how to create textures for such a skybox in Terragen (and also how to render it in your application). Just follow this link (http://www.delphigl.de/tutorials/skybox.html).

[jasonf]

I'll second that, Terragen is really easy to make skyboxes with. I did a load of work with the Torque engine and as a part of that, I had to make skyboxes for my levels. Terragen did a wonderful job. Only thing was (my version) didn't do trees and so on. I did find the tutorial I used, but Sascha has it covered.

Just checked the Terragen site, and DAMN! Terragen2 is lookin' fine :o
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

http://www.planetside.co.uk/gallery/v/tg2gallery/

I think I've got a utility for rendering starfield skyboxes on my machine at home. If you need it, I'll have a look for it. The original page has gone though.

[chronozphere]

Thank you all for your replies :)

I've downloaded terragen and its indeed an amazing tool. I need to learn how it works though. But that's just a matter of time:)
@Sacha: I looked at your tut and i think it will be very usefull for me. Thank you :razz:
I've also downloaded the source and it looks nice.
But the landscape is a bit blurry... it makes me feel stonede LOL :lol: ;) So maybe 256x256 textures are too small for a skybox. I would use 512x512.
The landscape you used is an exellent one... the sun was dazzling me. :)