Skybox techniques: share yours!

armagon

I have always used Terragen to create my skyboxes (skydomes as well, in UE3). I start by choosing a good atmosphere, adding some details like mountains, etc. and then create a camera for each direction (t, b, l, r, etc.) and render them all.

However, i'm curious about new techniques with a more modern toolset. Terragen seems heavily outdated and it's final results are always 2000-ish. Do you guys use Vue or Lumion? Or other tools? What are your workflows?

Retronamic

I use Vue on our projects, but the camera setup can be a huge pain. However, the quality and freedom is great, specially for creating impostors.

armagon

I tried Vue, but the camera setup sucks. Is there a plugin or something to make it easier?

Obscura

I use a shader based solution in UDK:
http://lk3dworks.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/2/21928776/9156778_orig.jpg
http://lk3dworks.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/2/21928776/7616075_orig.jpg
http://lk3dworks.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/2/21928776/6554518_orig.jpg

I use only masks, and no "real" sky texture
The skydome has two uv channels. One top-down and one "side view" uv map.
The sky coloring is using the side view uvs, and a colored gradient.
The clouds are done with using a simple cloud filter texture from ps, and I made them moving with a bunch of adds and panners.
Here is the package, so you can see the shader from closer, and the sky too in action. I included 2 example maps too. A day and a night template:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u7e34xe341z4pnb/j1dLnjB5tQ

I think the positive side of the shader based solution is that you have a lot better resolution, and you can have moving or changing things easily, and its good for day-night cycles.