3d skybox

[BEAR]

Im sure this probably isnt the right place to ask this (I want to help seemed even less appropriate somehow).

 

Are 3d skyboxes possible with doom3? I swore I've seen reference to them as well as some text tutorials, but I've had trouble figuring out how to implement one in doom3, I know the jist of what you do (they seem similar to how I did it in Rune)

 

A guy on doom3world said doom3 didnt even have them, which is kind of messing with my head. Im hoping he's wrong. I thought maybe I read it on the doom3world wiki or the tdm wiki (which is down atm so I cant check)

 

(Feel free to move/delete this as you please admins if you dont want it here, not that you need my permission)

 

Thanks

Edited December 5, 2007 by BEAR

[SneaksieDave]

Yes, both static projection type skies (think Doom) and portal skies (think Unreal) exist in TDM. The latter can be very, very complex if you wish.

 

Edit: Here's a nice one: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3101107847131156714

Edit: Does google vids not show the submitter's username? I can't see who the original poster was.

[Gildoran]

If you read through this thread it shows a few portal skies I did, and has links to videos in higher resolutions.

 

In particular:

Old V2 Skybox

V3 Prototype

V3 Sunset Sky

V3 Sunset Sky modified to produce "god-rays"

 

D3 is capable of just about any kind of sky you can think of, and it has the best material system I've seen in a game.

[Baddcog]

I hadn't noticed the light beams coming thru the clouds before, that is sweet!

[BEAR]

Thanks guys, but just to clarify, are 3d skyboxes ONLY available in TDM? I have dark radiant but none of the other tools so Im basically working with stock d3. Its not a problem but it was something I wanted to practice before I tried to become a betamapper.

[Gildoran]

I don't think they're available in vanilla D3. But you can probably find a skybox mod for vanilla D3 somewhere. Or you could get the D3 expansion, which I think has skyboxes.

[STiFU]

Uhh that's real sweet. What was your general technique to fake those godrays?

[Gildoran]

It's done by taking many cross-sections of the rays. A single cross-section multiplies the inverse of the cloud density texture (ie, bright where light can shine through) by a brightness falloff texture and adds the result to the rendered image. I also make cross-sections bigger the closer they are to the camera.

[STiFU]

That's cool. Are you planning to create multiple default skypresets for TDM? If so it would be nice to have a moonshine night in a similar manor, but of course way more subtle. Also a Sundown could be more suitable for a dark thievy environment and feature your nice effect.

[Mr Retarded]

Does that mean you could make the sun set at the start of the mission and have it slowly(ish) turn into full blown night time?

[SneaksieDave]

Absolutely. This type of skybox is basically just a room with a camera in it, and the view which is presented to the player. Very WYSIWYG. Whatever you can build, texture, code, or script, it can be. You could have a burning, spinning, flying castle in the clouds, with dragons buzzing around it if you want. It won't be easy to make, and might hurt framerate badly, but it can be done.