Free Skybox for Torque projects
by Spencer Boomhower · in Artist Corner · 12/24/2002 (1:12 pm) · 6 replies
Hey all,
I've been playing with various ways of turning photos into skyboxes. I'm making this one available free of charge to anyone working on a Torque Engine game partly to give back a little something to this community and partly to get feedback.
www.boomhower.com/Skybox.html
I threw it into Realm Wars and IM-not-so-humble-O it looks sweet :). Let me know how it works for you all and what would make it better.
Happy holidays!
-Spencer
I've been playing with various ways of turning photos into skyboxes. I'm making this one available free of charge to anyone working on a Torque Engine game partly to give back a little something to this community and partly to get feedback.
www.boomhower.com/Skybox.html
I threw it into Realm Wars and IM-not-so-humble-O it looks sweet :). Let me know how it works for you all and what would make it better.
Happy holidays!
-Spencer
#2
Looks pretty funky.
Phil.
12/24/2002 (1:57 pm)
Ok, can you give me a clue as to what process you used to create this?Looks pretty funky.
Phil.
#3
'Cause your skybox looks darn nice !!! ;)
Thanks for your graceful contribution,
Have a good one
12/24/2002 (2:33 pm)
Yep, I have to agree with Phil : a rundown on the process and tools you used would be very much welcome :)'Cause your skybox looks darn nice !!! ;)
Thanks for your graceful contribution,
Have a good one
#4
I initially wanted to allow people to do whatever they wanted with it. But being kind of a stickler for credit where credit is due, I wanted to make sure I got credit if it was used. This opened up the possibility of someone making an absolute mess of it and then sticking my name on it :). So I went with the more draconian "touch it and die" option. Sorry. I suppose if someone wants to use it but just has one little change that would make it perfect, they should run it by me so I can OK it.
Phil and Nicolas:
As to how I did it: I used a Nikon Coolpix 990 with an 8mm fisheye lens to take the photos. I took 4 images (N, S, E, W) each of which encompassed 180 degrees. I also took an image straight up. Then I used some tools found at
www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~dersch/
to process the photos into images that could be spherically mapped in 3DStudio Max onto a sphere. And then I used Max's environment map function to create 6 images from the center of the sphere. This is an over simplified account of what was a fairly complicated process, but you get the idea.
The thing is, it shouldn't have been so complicated but I haven't quite figured out how to use Panotools, complicated by the fact that I took the photos without a tripod. So there was lots and lots of tweaking involved. For some idea of the right way to do this kind of spherical panorama, try
www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tutorials/360/index.html
Phil:
... that's good, right? You don't mean "funky" as in "funky smell," do you? :)
-Spencer
12/24/2002 (5:16 pm)
Anthony: Quote: Looks alright, but I don't really like not being allowed to edit.. it if need be.
I initially wanted to allow people to do whatever they wanted with it. But being kind of a stickler for credit where credit is due, I wanted to make sure I got credit if it was used. This opened up the possibility of someone making an absolute mess of it and then sticking my name on it :). So I went with the more draconian "touch it and die" option. Sorry. I suppose if someone wants to use it but just has one little change that would make it perfect, they should run it by me so I can OK it.
Phil and Nicolas:
As to how I did it: I used a Nikon Coolpix 990 with an 8mm fisheye lens to take the photos. I took 4 images (N, S, E, W) each of which encompassed 180 degrees. I also took an image straight up. Then I used some tools found at
www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~dersch/
to process the photos into images that could be spherically mapped in 3DStudio Max onto a sphere. And then I used Max's environment map function to create 6 images from the center of the sphere. This is an over simplified account of what was a fairly complicated process, but you get the idea.
The thing is, it shouldn't have been so complicated but I haven't quite figured out how to use Panotools, complicated by the fact that I took the photos without a tripod. So there was lots and lots of tweaking involved. For some idea of the right way to do this kind of spherical panorama, try
www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tutorials/360/index.html
Phil:
Quote: Looks pretty funky.
... that's good, right? You don't mean "funky" as in "funky smell," do you? :)
-Spencer
#5
-Spencer
12/27/2002 (12:10 pm)
I should also point out that these panorama tools can handle photos taken with smaller FOVs, they don't have to be fisheye. Naturally the smaller the FOV, the more photos you need.-Spencer
#6
12/27/2002 (1:06 pm)
Thanks for the pointers !!! 8p
Torque Owner Anthony McCrary
So I'd have to pass.