Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Skybox Utility

Discussion in 'Formats & External Tools' started by podperson, Oct 15, 2007.

  1. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
    Here's a wee utility I wrote for converting short movies into skyboxes. If you create a skybox using an animated camera that rotates clockwise (looking from above) for 4 frames, then down then up -- render to a movie -- this program will convert it into six files automatically with default settings.

    Updated zip archive -- slightly improved UI (it scales the preview images to fit).
     

    Attached Files:

  2. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
  3. bigkahuna

    bigkahuna

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Posts:
    5,434
    Very cool Podperson, I'm downloading the alpha tool also...
     
  4. norby

    norby

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2006
    Posts:
    277
    thanks for sharing

    Norby
     
  5. VICTOM

    VICTOM

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2005
    Posts:
    233
    Looks cool PodPerson,

    It reminded me of a simple tool I used long ago. This tool lets you paint directly onto the skybox via a paint program. It only supports pc I'm affaid - but someone out there might like to use it with your tool because you can do touch up work or completely paint a skybox with it.

    http://www.skypaint.com/

    Cheers,
     
  6. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
    My masterplan is to write my own Photoshop killer, and one feature it will have is wraparound brushes for editing materials and skyboxes.

    I must try to finish Project Weasel first, though.
     
  7. nickavv

    nickavv

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2006
    Posts:
    1,801
    Ooo, a Photoshop killer. Sounds intense. :) All these cool little apps you're making are.. well.. cool! Keep it up.
     
  8. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
    Actually I'm not insane. What I really want to do is write a program that complements Photoshop rather than competes directly.

    http://loewald.com/pixelninja/
     
  9. andeeeee

    andeeeee

    Joined:
    Jul 19, 2005
    Posts:
    8,768
    A skybox file format would be a good invention - a single file that holds six square bitmap images. Perhaps done with a Photoshop plug-in (one layer per cube face + import/export extension)?
     
  10. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
    I think Unity has an internal skybox file representation (it doesn't rely on links to the original bitmaps). That said, naming the files to match Unity's notation is as close as I can currently get.
     
  11. proparjak

    proparjak

    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2006
    Posts:
    108
    Hello Podperson,

    Before all, thank you to share skybox application.
    Well, I've got problems to produce 6 images of my skybox.
    I use C4D to create a quicktime movie with 4 frames.
    But I don't know what specifications I need to have correct file with The Skybox Utility.

    Like I have to make 4 frames, I put a focal length to 12 to have the top and the bottom from the center of world. That doesn't work.
    And after I saw you specified "looking from above" but the image of example I see on your post shows a classic "from center" vue.

    I'm sorry not to understand intructions and I ask you help please.
    How can I do a good quicktime ?

    Thank you

    Proparjak
     
  12. podperson

    podperson

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Posts:
    1,371
    I explained the necessary specs at the top post, but not very clearly.

    Imagine you're a camera with a 90 degree field of view (and a square rendering image).

    Frame 1 is straight ahead ("North") if you like
    Frame 2 is 90 degrees to the right ("East")
    3 is South
    4 is West
    5 is Up (Face North, then tilt up 90 degrees)
    6 is Down (Face North, then tilt down 90 degrees)

    Sorry for the slow reply.
     
  13. chiefbobo

    chiefbobo

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2007
    Posts:
    25
    First Podperson, thanks for the great utility!

    I'm looking for a little external tool help here with skyboxes.

    I can't seem to get the correct settings in Carrara for rendering out a skybox. I have the camera set to render in the six positions Podperson describes (north, east, south, west, north up, north down) My camera is at a 90 degree angle to the ground plane with no tilt or roll. My frame is set to 512 x 512 square. But my images never quite match up.

    I have tried using the "normal" 50mm lense setting, and the "wide" 25mm setting (and I've gone down to 12mm too), but I can't find the magic focal length to get my rendered images to all match up. (See the image attached)

    Anyone out there had success creating skyboxes via Carrara? Thanks.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. bigkahuna

    bigkahuna

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2006
    Posts:
    5,434
    I tried using Carrara Pro for skyboxes a year or so ago and had the same problem as you. I spent a couple hours tweaking the camera settings and never got it to work. IIRC there was something about the camera settings that kept me from getting it exactly right.

    I have since switched to using Bryce, Terragen or Blender for skyboxes.
     
  15. aaron-parr

    aaron-parr

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2007
    Posts:
    577
    I assume the trick to this is having a 90 degree field of view, but I haven't gotten this to work yet either. If I have success in Bryce 5, I'll post very specifically what i did.

    -- The problem might be that I didn't set the camera right, but I haven't delved into this yet.
     
  16. Thomas-Pasieka

    Thomas-Pasieka

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2005
    Posts:
    2,174
  17. chiefbobo

    chiefbobo

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2007
    Posts:
    25
    Hey Aaron,

    I do have Bryce 5.5. Unfortunatly the sample Bryce file Podperson includes with the nift Skybox Utility must be a Bryce 6 file, because it crashes my version of Bryce. So I can't see the settings used, but if you have figured it out in B-5 I'd love to see your steps. Thanks.

     
  18. aaron-parr

    aaron-parr

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2007
    Posts:
    577
    I believe part of the solution involves squaring the size of the paper, but I never got this to work. However you can set the resolution of the render in document settings. Give it a shot.

    Also there is a choice for panoramic shot. I tried it once and it worked for me. I used photoshop to extract the views from the panorama instead of this SkyBox Utility but I still got what I needed so I count that as a win.
     
  19. AaronC

    AaronC

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2006
    Posts:
    3,552
    Aaron-(+ Aaron Sullivan)

    (Does your cellphone ring often because when your friends sit on theirs accidentally it rings you because your name is at the top of the alphabetical list? Mine rings all the time to hear street conversations, and the scuff scuff of people walking with their phone in pocket... :) )

    set the camera viewing angle in bryce to 112.5 degrees, its a weird Bryce anomaly

    AaronC
     
  20. aaron-parr

    aaron-parr

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2007
    Posts:
    577
    112.5? That is ridiculous.

    I'll give it a shot. Thanks.