Skycubes

Pedro Amorim

Hi all

Was wondering how to make a skycube or skybox whatever you wish to call em' from photos. Like, if i take a panoramic 360 photo can i transform that into a skycube? If so, how can i do that?

Thanks

Rob Galanakis

http://lumonixsoftware.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1170849816/3#3

Eric Chadwick

My digital camera doesn't have a decent zoom lens, so photographing a little chrome ball bearing doesn't really work.

I also tried using a 12-inch garden-style gazing globe, but the dimples and imperfections were magnified huge when I finally got to the 512 or 1024 skybox stage.

If you don't want to buy a better camera, you could try the cheap solution of just shooting a bunch of pictures and hand-stitching them. Not as easy as a light probe, but it goes pretty fast once you figure it out. Some pics/ideas here.
http://boards.polycount.net/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=171028&page=0&vc=1

Some example output.

pliang

Adding on to cheap solutions, getting a nice able tripod to mount it on will make it eaiser too...

Neox

in max you could use the reflect/refract maps to get the siedes of the cubes easier then bens tip with rotating the camera, all you have to do is mapp your panorama on a sphere and put another object into that spehre, now add a reflect/refract map and render it in the desired resolution.

Pedro Amorim

[ QUOTE ]
in max you could use the reflect/refract maps to get the siedes of the cubes easier then bens tip with rotating the camera, all you have to do is mapp your panorama on a sphere and put another object into that spehre, now add a reflect/refract map and render it in the desired resolution.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your idea sounds like something i could use along with Eric's idea as well.
Care to explain a little bit more?

Professor thanks also for the link i will read it as well.

Rob Galanakis

pliang: Using the six renders is simpler because you don't need to worry about converting light probes and whatnot, its a much more direct solution (and one I particularily like).

bitmap: Also, try using Terragen to get your six cubemap renders (there are tutorials around), works well also.

Eric Chadwick

bitmap: I searched for Reflect/Refract, found this...
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=78170&an=&page=0&vc=1

Pedro Amorim

thanks Eric