Mapdev:Howto skybox

-I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth -I am working on this... do not edit it please. -Smoth Skybox Information This is going to contain notes about the creation of skyboxes aka cubemaps. Skyboxes are created with a series of 6 separate images which form what we call a cube map. Below is an example of the skybox images that I created for a map. this is what we call a cube cross Despite what you will see on many sites you do not need a cube cross for the creation of your skybox. You will be using six individual images. Each image represents a different face on an imaginary cube. Each face is applied to the cube that surrounds the map. see how each side of the cube is it's own image Here an image is being applied to the cubemap. See how each side of the cube is an image? Skybox creation Creating your 6 textures You will need six images representing each side of your skybox. I will not go into any specific method of construction. There are tutorials out there for that. Just remember you will need 6 textures, front, back, left side, right side, top and bottom. Creating your dds using the nvidia dds utilities You will need these utilities from Nvidia's website: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_utilities.html Once you have downloaded and installed the tools you will need to created 2 files: Compiledds.bat and cubemapfile.lst Inside of compiledds.bat type in: nvdxt -cubeMap -list cubemapfile.lst -output cubemap.dds pause This will compile your skybox to the name cubemap.dds, feel free to change the name. Also, the pause command will stop the the batch file and force it to wait before it closes, this will allow you to see any errors that may or may not occur. Inside of cubemapfile.lst type in: left.jpg right.jpg top.jpg bottom.jpg front.jpg back.jpg The .dds file created should be put in the /maps directory with your smd and smt. Skybox notes Do not do these: sizes that are not to the power of two... 'i.e. use sizes like, 64x64,128X128,256X256 or 512X512' The reason: in my first release I used a series of 6 1000X1000 images and the ati video cards were having horrid fps. So avoid it by using 512X512.