good tutorial for skybox

[raycnyit]

i've been looking for a good tutorial for a skybox in unreal editor 2004.

i'm trying to put a skybox over a rather big land of about 4096x4096x4096

what size do you think i should make the skybox and what steps should i take to go about this?

also any good tutorials for designing an elevator in a elevator shaft to go up and down. ? let me know, thanks

[raycnyit]

how should i align the skybox, in the top, front, and side viewports? also do i need a zone info or just skyzone info in the skybox i create? let me know, thanks.

[Sly.]

The skybox can be small but also big (although you can do most stuff in a small skybox). It's not really important, however, the size of your objects in your skybox is. They shouldn't look bigger than your environment. For example, a skybox can have the dimensions Z: 512, X: 2048, Y: 2048 but can be much smaller. You can make a bigger one and scale it down with the scale map tool to e.g. 1/4 of its original size.
You need only a skyzone info.

[raycnyit]

sly, thanks for your reply, was just wondering do i need to align it in a specific way so the light from the skybox will show down on the terrain in the other cube? in the top, side, and front viewports, should the skybox be on top of the other cube or to the side of the other cube, etc, etc. and if i was creating a terrain cube with 5120 , 5120, 5120 size, what size should the skybox be? let me know,thanks.

[jefe]

The skybox itself can be aligned in any direction; it's the skybox info that controls the viewpoint you see. It's best to have both aligned to the north. Then you can rotate your sunlight actor as needed.

Another tip is to move the skybox so that it isn't in the same plane as the rest of the level in any direction. So you want to see something like this in every view:

[skybox]




                         [level]

The reason is that the bsp from the skybox can sometimes cause unwanted cuts in your level, in other words it can sometimes make things look glitchy.

The size of the skybox compared to the level does not matter. It can be very small or large, it's all about the perspective you create inside the box. Move your viewpoint to the exact center of the sky info - that's what you'll see in the level.

EDIT: to clarify, the sunlight actor can be placed either in the skybox or in the level. It usually doesn't make a difference, sometimes it's easier one way or the other, depending on the particular sky.

[Sly.]

That doesn't really matter as long as it's on grid. Do as you please.