Horizont in skybox

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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 19, 2011
Yea so ive been searching around with no clue about how to do it.
right now im making an outside map.
In this map the skybox is all around you. You walk on a normal brush, but it looks so bad when the brush just ends... is it possible to have the brush continue to infinity? And it still looks realistic?
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Another Bad Pun
516 Posts
Posted Nov 19, 2011
Replied 33 minutes later
Try using a 3d skybox. Making them correctly can get complicated at times, so if that wiki tutorial doesn't explain it to you very well, try watching the video tutorial at the bottom of this post. The only problem with using a 3d skybox like this is that it may be difficult to seamlessly transition from the play area to the 3d skybox. You can't actually go into the 3d skybox unless you noclip, but make sure it looks like you could if you wanted to. Be careful though; if the player wants to go somewhere that looks playable, (but is actually the 3d skybox), and an invisible wall is blocking them, it can get confusing. Make sure there is a distinct separation between the play area and the skybox; a fence will do the job. Another tip; make sure that the 3d skybox textures are scaled correctly, otherwise it won't look very good. The 3d skybox magnifies whatever is in it by a default of 16, so try to find the correct texture scale. Otherwise, the play area and the 3d skybox will not match up correctly, (texture wise.) Putting fog in the 3d skybox is a good idea as well. Not only does it make everything look more realistic, but it cuts down on the amount of work you need to do on it and will make your map more optimized.

Here's a helpful video tutorial that should sum up everything I've told you:

HOLY MOLY USEFUL VIDEO TUT LOLZ
ObtDnPlX30I

Good luck!

PS. The tutorial I posted is old so don't use CTRL H to hollow. They changed it and now it will hide everything other than the brush selected. Actually, don't hollow at all. Please. For the sake of humanity. Don't carve either. Please. Thank you.

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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 19, 2011
Replied 25 minutes later

Another Bad Pun wrote:

HOLY MOLY USEFUL VIDEO TUT LOLZ
ObtDnPlX30I

Good luck!

Never thought of watching the video! Thank you :smile: i think it will help. gonna check it tomorrow :wink:

Another Bad Pun wrote:
PS. The tutorial I posted is old so don't use CTRL H to hollow. They changed it and now it will hide everything other than the brush selected. Actually, don't hollow at all. Please. For the sake of humanity. Don't carve either. Please. Thank you.

Haha i know :wink: but what i dont know is, what carve does...

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Spam Nugget
492 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 7 hours later
here ya go
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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 2 hours later

Spam Nugget wrote:
here ya go

Yay i just learned something!

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Lpfreaky90
2,842 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 1 hour later

beecake wrote:
Spam Nugget wrote:

here ya go

Yay i just learned something!

Now forget it before you start using it :thumbup:

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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 13 minutes later

lpfreaky90 wrote:
beecake wrote:

Spam Nugget wrote:

here ya go

Yay i just learned something!

Now forget it before you start using it :thumbup:

Forget what?

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Lpfreaky90
2,842 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 9 minutes later

beecake wrote:
Forget what?

How to break the game by using the carve tool.

(if you carve out a door shivers the game will crash due to mircobrushes...)
DON'T EVER USE THE CARVE TOOL!!!!!! :notwant:

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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 4 minutes later

lpfreaky90 wrote:
beecake wrote:

Forget what?

How to break the game by using the carve tool.

(if you carve out a door shivers the game will crash due to mircobrushes...)
DON'T EVER USE THE CARVE TOOL!!!!!! :notwant:

Yes yes i know :wink: It was a joke :wink: You know like i already forgot what it was :wink:

Anyway! New problem:

My 3D skybox is now having an infinite platform. But the fog in the skybox makes me unable to see it.
The fog in my map, and the fog in the sky_camera is exactly the same.

Is it possible to make only the brush unable to fog, but the statics in the skybox still "fog-able"?

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Another Bad Pun
516 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
I'm not so sure there is an option for this, but you can try this method: Just change the fog end variable ever so slightly every compile until you find a fog that you're satisfied with. High fog ends usually work the best for 3d skyboxes. It may take a while, but you should get something like this:

2011-11-20_00001.jpg

Images 1
Post image 1
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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 46 minutes later
Yes i know, but mine is a little bit different, because the skybox is an extension of the touch-able brush. Take a look
img
The fog showing excactly where the skybox begins...
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Another Bad Pun
516 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 8 minutes later
How high is your fog end in in the real level? 3d skyboxes need to have a pretty high fog end setting to make the transition look right. While the fog in your actual level works well, it won't work nearly as well in the 3d skybox. Just experiment until you get it right.:thumbup:
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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 6 minutes later
Sky_camera:
Fog start: 3000
Fog end: 7000

Real level
Fog start: 1000
Fog end: 3000

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Another Bad Pun
516 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 28 minutes later

beecake wrote:
Sky_camera:
Fog start: 3000
Fog end: 7000

Real level
Fog start: 1000
Fog end: 3000

7000 isn't enough for a 3d skybox. Judging from you're picture, I would suggest doing something along these lines:

Fog Start: 100.0
Fog End: 20000.0

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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 20, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
Oh.. :smile:
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Skotty
671 Posts
Posted Nov 23, 2011
Replied 2 days later
The fog settings in the skybox camera are not scaled. If you write 5000 in there, it will be really 5000 units in Portal, but your skybox content will get scaled.
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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 23, 2011
Replied 4 hours later

Skotty wrote:
The fog settings in the skybox camera are not scaled. If you write 5000 in there, it will be really 5000 units in Portal, but your skybox content will get scaled.

So is there anything i can do?

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Skotty
671 Posts
Posted Nov 23, 2011
Replied 1 hour later
For example set the same values like in your fog_controller, so both fogs witll behave the same.
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beecake
484 Posts
Posted Nov 23, 2011
Replied 57 minutes later

Skotty wrote:
For example set the same values like in your fog_controller, so both fogs witll behave the same.

That was what i tried but what came out of it was what you see on the picture i uploaded

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Idolon
417 Posts
Posted Nov 23, 2011
Replied 2 minutes later

lpfreaky90 wrote:
DON'T EVER USE THE CARVE TOOL!!!!!! :notwant:

Correction.