[Texture] Custom Skymaps [WIP]

[Tofurkeymeister]

So I was futzing around on the forum when an idea hit me: why not make some custom skymaps that people could use in maps?

Immediately thereafter I took my camera and snapped some sample shots off in my backyard. I then used a program to stitch them all together into a panorama.

Panorama 1:



Panorama 2 (360 degrees):



After getting it a decent size, I output the file as a .dds and loaded it up onto a map:



Granted, this is a VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY big work in progress (Notice how it even doesn't reach half-way up the sky), but I just wanted to show how I could make a normal skymap out of pictures.

I'm thinking about making a panorama of around 180 degrees of the sky, and using some nifty clone work and gradients to get stuff worked out.

I will post some more refined shots, sans palm trees, soon. It helps that I live in Florida, which thankfully has some VERY dramatic sky's.

-Tofurkeymeister

[Tonnie]

i like the second one... not 100% sure how skyboxs work but that would be pretty cool

[IronTaxi]

have a look at some of the example skies..

dont know off hand how they are made but they are basically blended around the top and they are rectangular...just tried to load one up in PS but my computer is way too busy...hehe..

alot of games use cubemaps..and there are lots of tools for formating cubemaps...

bf2 another story of course...as usual...hehe

[Tannhauser]

they're simple to make, really.

Rather than form a cube, the skymaps (skytextures) form a sphere.

Just make sure the top of the image is rather uniformized or else it will look odd when you look directly up (90 degrees). Same goes with each sides of the skymap, if they don't blend perfectly with the other side (left end with right end) they will show an odd vertical ''cut'' when in-game. What i do to prevent that kind of ''cut'' is I copy and mirror a small part of the left side end, and blend it to the right side's end. Voila.

Also, try to have a small line of uniformized color at the bottom of the image (it should fill the bottom from left to right) in order to prevent colors from going wacko when you look on lower angles of the map (where there is no skymap, the skymap is a halved spherical form that only goes 180 degrees.)

If I have time i'll explain myself later with screenshots. I might be wrong, I remember this from when I messed with the editor and got frustrated by the lack of skytextures.

[Tofurkeymeister]

Another 360 degree panorama. This one covers the entire sky, but looks kind of crappy in the editor. Will remove trees and try to improve color quality, etc.

If it were in the day time or sunset/sunrise instead of dusk it would likely turn out better.



In bfeditor:



Color edited:

[05grottim]

wow good stuff makes the game a little more interesting to play.

[Tofurkeymeister]

wow good stuff makes the game a little more interesting to play.

A stormy, late evening sky, WIP.





I hope to finish these skymaps and distribute them to (hopefully) hungry mappers, as well as to detail my method. I'm still waiting for the ultimate sunset to capture .

[Rhino]

cool.

You should really remove all horizons on your sky and at the very bottom have a solid colour that then the map can match its fog colour too

What we really need is more day time skies. BF2 is kinda limited with them and what we could really do with

[IronTaxi]

nice work....three thumbs up

[HughJass]

[CG Textures] - Panoramic Skies

good work, and good luck

[cyberzomby]

Wauw! That is cool how you got your own sky in the map there!

What resolution and file extension are you using?

[space]

This is how sky's are made :

Convert your Terragen cube cross skies to bf2 hemispherical format

Its not easy - have fun

[Tofurkeymeister]

This is how sky's are made :

Convert your Terragen cube cross skies to bf2 hemispherical format

Its not easy - have fun

No... its really, really, REALLY easy. All you need is an SLR camera, an open field, and a capable computer. The hardest part is editing out the foliage and ground. I'll update the first post with my method later today (hopefully).

[Deer]

Very nice =) too bad dark night maps doesnt work so well for the gameplay, night skys looks so cool, but its not fun to play if you cant see.

[Hans Martin Slayer]

Cool beans man!!

[duckhunt]

nice work man, stick with it.

[DankE_SPB]

Tofurkeymeister, ruuun its a DEV trap!!!




liked this one
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/9531/ineditor.png

[Tofurkeymeister]

How do you edit a PR map to make a custom map? I was just wondering because I wanted to put some custom skymaps in-game and post some video.

All I want to do is change the skytexture, and I can't figure out how to open the maps in the editor.

P.S. If I can't get it to work for PR, instructions for vanilla BF2 will do :O

[Rhino]

this might help ya: https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-m ... audit.html

But all you really need to do (as stated in that tut above, as well as many other things ) is unzip the client and server .zips into the folder then you can open the map with the editor to edit things like sky texture etc

[WelshManDan]

I just had a thought, is Stormy battles possible? because fighting in the Rain would be amazing. Obviously if the engine disallows it then fair enough. Obviously.