Godot 3.0 Alpha 2 - Cubemap - Godot Community Forums

Godot 3.0 Alpha 2 - Cubemap

keltwookie

Hello all

Wanting to test the next release, I tried to create a first skybox via the editor, but unfortunately, it didn’t work as it was impossible to load images via editor/inspector. It is apparently a known bug, but I have read somewhere that there is a way to achieve this by creating a *.cube file. But no other informations found, so is there anyone who have solved the issue , and if yes, how ?

Thanks by advance

Calinou

Cubemap skies (skyboxes) are not supported in Godot 3, you should use panorama skies instead (or procedural skies). Therefore, you cannot use cubemap resource files in Godot 3. This was done because panorama skies are simpler to implement in the engine, and are more popular among artists and developers today (compared to cubemaps).

Note that panorama skies should use HDR formats preferably, rather than low dynamic range images like JPEGs. You can find free (gratis and libre) HDRI skies on HDRI Haven.

keltwookie

Hi Calinou

And many thanks : You confirm what I suspected by reading milestone and Q&A topics. Not wanting to learn at the last time, I changed my views about building environments on Blender and started to think procedural. And I confirm also the usefull and the time saved by using shaders, so procedural textures (a lot of fun by the way ), with some good tuts , nothing impossible and as I experienced making cubemaps and skyboxes , by the past, this new way for me is far more accurate than using pictures, well, maybe because I’m terrible at drawing. This said, I experimented it with Blender only, not yet with Godot

(any clue about a first stable release date? …. well, I know,:When it’ll be ready.)

And about HD/HDRI panoramas, yet to experiment.

Just other little noob questions please ?

Are procedural environments more « resources hungry » than images ? And maybe I misunderstood, but I believe I have read somewhere that it will be possible to adjust precisely the rendering parameters on Godot ? True ? If yes, a good balance between both should give the best results without freezing screens. Please, stop me if I’m totally wrong...

Calinou

Are procedural environments more « resources hungry » than images ?

No, as they are generated at load-time (Godot will generate the panorama texture when the sky changes, and if it never changes, it'll only be generated once, which does not impact the framerate). You can adjust their resolution in the ProceduralSky resource properties, the default value is a sensible default, there's little reason to change it.

And maybe I misunderstood, but I believe I have read somewhere that it will be possible to adjust precisely the rendering parameters on Godot ? True ?

Yes, you can adjust the procedural sky parameters in Godot (it is currently quite limited, but it's enough in a few cases, and it's still better than an uniform color in any case). Note that I'm talking about Godot's procedural sky abilities here, not Blender's.

keltwookie

Great ! Many thanks again for your time.

I definitively go with procedural as much as I can, the possibilities appearing infinite. You perfectly explained what I asked about loading times, and I will be honest : You answered positively to my secret wishes, a great moment as I don’t need anymore (or less) to go search textures everywhere on the Internet and less worrying about the size and definitions of pictures, without talking of those ]@^µ cubes

Happy wookie here ! :D

aaronfranke

Calinou, is there any particular reason that Cubemap skies can't be added again? For me, panorama skies appear to stretch near the "poles" way too much.

Calinou

@aaronfranke said: Calinou, is there any particular reason that Cubemap skies can't be added again? For me, panorama skies appear to stretch near the "poles" way too much.

It is likely possible to readd them. However, seams would become very apparent in the cubemap's mipmaps (which are used in PBR reflections). Since the seamless cubemap OpenGL extension is not available on all platforms (it's not mandated by OpenGL ES), these would have to be converted to dual parabolids for the purpose of PBR reflections — the sky rendering itself could still use the cubemap directly.