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Skydomes

Last Updated: November 3, 20242.3 min read

Overview

A panoramic skydome, or sky sphere, is a crucial asset in creating immersive game environments. This tutorial will guide you through rendering a panoramic skydome in Blender, allowing you to capture a seamless 360-degree sky texture that you can import into Sceneri as a sky sphere. This process involves setting up an environment in Blender, rendering it into a spherical panoramic format, and exporting it for use in Sceneri.

Set Up the Scene in Blender

  1. Open Blender and Start a New Project:
    • Open Blender and create a new project file.
  2. Switch to Cycles Render Engine:
    • Go to the top menu, select Render Properties (the icon resembling a camera), and choose Cycles as the render engine. Cycles provides realistic lighting and reflections, ideal for creating skydomes.
  3. Set Up a Panoramic Camera:
    • With your 3D viewport active, add a new camera by pressing Shift + A > Camera.
    • Select the camera, go to the Camera Properties tab (camera icon), and set the Type to Panoramic.
    • Under the Panoramic Type, select Equirectangular. This setup will allow the camera to capture a full 360-degree view, essential for a seamless skydome texture.
  4. Adjust the Camera Position:
    • Position the camera at the center of your scene (usually the origin, at coordinates [0, 0, 0]).
    • Ensure that the camera’s orientation captures the entire sky, with the lens pointing outward.

Set Up Render Settings

  1. Set Render Resolution:
    • Go to the Output Properties tab and set the resolution for your render. For skydome textures, a resolution of 4000×2000 pixels works well. Ensure that the aspect ratio is 2:1 for compatibility with spherical mapping in Sceneri.
  2. Enable Transparent Background (Optional):
    • In the Render Properties under Film, check Transparent. This will exclude any ground plane or background from the render, isolating the sky.

Render the Panoramic Skydome

  1. Render the Scene:
    • Press F12 to render your skydome. The camera will capture a seamless 360-degree panoramic image of the sky, ready for use as a skydome texture.
    • After rendering is complete, review the result to ensure there are no seams or visual artifacts.
  2. Save the Rendered Image:
    • In the Image Editor, go to Image > Save As.
    • Save the image in a format that supports high-quality textures, such as PNG or HDR. Name your file and set the appropriate resolution for Sceneri.

Conclusion

Rendering a panoramic skydome in Blender for use in Sceneri provides an efficient way to create immersive skies that wrap seamlessly around the player’s view. By following these steps, you can achieve a high-quality sky sphere that adds depth and atmosphere to your game environments. As you develop more skydome textures, you can experiment with different HDRI images, lighting settings, and render resolutions to further customize the look and feel of your skies.

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