[rscaper1070]

This is awesome piece of work! You will see your pretty skybox in 13rd mission of Shadow Genesis .

Hey that's good news. I can't wait to play it! I appreciate all the positive feedback. Thanks.

[Luis Dias]

didnt know the nebula worked with skyboxes

I wrote this still in a skeptical mood. I'd be swayed if someone showed me how to make it work (I can't)

[rscaper1070]

Not sure what the problem could be. Here's what the background settings should look like in Fred.

[Nyctaeus]

I tested skybox in the mission. It looks nice, but I think the cloulds should be more sharper and the fragment of clear sky above us looks like a sphere.

[Luis Dias]

Hm thanks I were able to see where I went wrong. I checked the "no lighting" box under the skybox flag.

EDIT: experimenting with it.

Hm. An Orion isn't visible at 2000 m (ok), and then shows up like boom! in a blue sillouette, which fades to usual mapping as we get nearer (something that would be invisible with no skyboxed nebula).

I'll try with 10k visibility.

EDIT2: Nope, changing the range does not change the effect.

[Commander Zane]

Yeah nebula range is for radar detection.

[Luis Dias]

Yes, so unless the ships used are very small (smaller than a deimos), I don't think this effect is very neat. At least with current fog stats.

[rscaper1070]

I tested skybox in the mission. It looks nice, but I think the cloulds should be more sharper and the fragment of clear sky above us looks like a sphere.

Yeah I agree, so I sharpened it up some and rendered it differently and I got this. It's still a little dome like at the top but it's not as bad. There's one more thing I'd like to try before I'm done with this. Maybe remove a lot of those clouds that are moving towards the center. Personally I like this version.

New Maps:http://www.mediafire.com/file/n564ao1v6slfg6b/RerenderGasGiant.7z

Yes, so unless the ships used are very small (smaller than a deimos), I don't think this effect is very neat. At least with current fog stats.

This is supposed to be the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. A ship the size of a Deimos, much less an Orion, has no business being in this environment. Short of a sub space jump I can't imagine how an Orion would even get there.

[Luis Dias]

Yeah well I'm just sayin. Other people could have other ideas and instead of treating your skybox like a giant gas planet, they could interpret it as inside a nebula and try to make capship fights within it.

EDIT: I understand how my comments are getting through, look I think the skybox is amazing and that's why I went to test it .

[Deadly in a Shadow]

Yeah well I'm just sayin. Other people could have other ideas and instead of treating your skybox like a giant gas planet, they could interpret it as inside a nebula and try to make capship fights within it.

EDIT: I understand how my comments are getting through, look I think the skybox is amazing and that's why I went to test it .

THAT is exactly one reason why I want to use this skybox....some epic fighting in the middle of a big nebula.

[rscaper1070]

Well that sounds like a job for superman Valathil. Maybe he can get the shaders to play nice with poofs and skyboxes.

[BlasterNT]

It looks amazing.  How did you do it?

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I made both of these a couple years ago, just recently stumbled across them again. The volcanic one was made for ED, then scrapped; the civilized one was originally for now-hibernating EW. Both are in 2048^2 DDS, ready for in-game use. They're not the greatest, but I think they're not too bad either

Volcanic:



Civilized:

[Rodo]

amazing work..

oh how I miss working on a background bitmap... I need some holidays :C

[Nyctaeus]

I was thinking who made that awesome volcanic planet for ED. I love your style, great work .

EDIT: Something is wrong with rar with the civilized planet. There is a star bitmap with table, not the planet.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Something is wrong with rar with the civilized planet. There is a star bitmap with table, not the planet.

Whoops! Should be fixed now.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I've always wanted to see this... still working on it, but I hope it's going the right way. Loosely based on NASA's and Jon Lomberg's work.

[Rodo]

yo man, awesome!

[Deadly in a Shadow]

You hope it's going the right way? It's always going the awesome-space way. Keep it up

[Antares_Z13]

After roughly a month of work, restarting this thing about three times, constant critiquing from others, frustration, and learning in Photoshop, I present to you all this planet:



Below you can download the .psd file if you like. Anyone can use this planet as long as I, Antares Zyklus the 13^th (aka Nu Zalem), gets the credit (I'm a fan of open source material *thumbs up*).

.psd file: http://www.mediafire.com/?hn3e3mznd5exh45 (64MB)

Some tidbits about the planet:
- The resolution is at 4096x4096
- I tried to make the darker side of the planet as dark as I could, but I couldn't completely make it black. If anyone has any tips or such then please drop me a line or something.
- The texture for the planet was originally made at 8192x8192 resolution, but I shrank it to 4096x4096
-29 layers in all
- The thing is massive

I hope you all put it to use somehow and enjoy it. It was certainly a learning experience for me and has given me confidence to try out new things. I'd like to thank the following for help/advice/criticism: Brand-X, Herratohtori, Zacam, Kyad, Lester^, Bloody Excerment (a friend of mine outside of HLP), FSOSara...if I missed anyone my apologies.