[WIP] High quality skyboxes

[FiendishlyInventive 7]

Absolutely over celestial objects with anticipation. 

[Guest]

Holy shit. Nar Shaddaa looks great. It fits the dark tone too. It's gotta be the one that needed improvement the most, and yours fits to perfection.

[Zhaboka 91]

TRAFFIC = VERY YES!

[Malkior 476]

Wow, Kexikus, those look incredible!

Some of those Nar Shadaa shots look like something from the Pre-Rendered scenes in Dark Forces 2 (And I mean this in a good way). I've always hated how bland Nar Shadaa looked, so it's so good to see it get the appropriate treatment.

I'm also glad to see the Coruscant mod map get the kind of attention it deserves.

 

These look seriously phenomenal. I can't wait to see all of these parts come together when you release the mod. 👍

[Jorak Uln 458]

Breathtaking stuff Kex! Coruscant looks unreal with those 3d clouds! Personally, adding the traffic is a must-have here, since it upgrades the realism factor by a mile.. Love it!

 

[Kexikus 995]

Thank you all for the kind words! I'm glad you like these.

I have since finished Yavin 4 and I'm really happy with the result:

It's slightly less of a jungle than what we see in the movies so that it blends better with the modules usd in the mod. But I think that works really well too, so I'm fine with it.

Now onto the last completely new skybox I want to create: Ord Mantell

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

I had an evil thought about a skybox suggestion last night: Cathalan.

[Salk 376]

Congratulations on this new, excellent skybox!

One question: the table in the opening post is not updated, right?

[Kexikus 995]

On 9/13/2020 at 10:28 AM, Sith Holocron said:

I had an evil thought about a skybox suggestion last night: Cathalan.

Nope.

On 9/13/2020 at 11:28 AM, Salk said:

Congratulations on this new, excellent skybox!

One question: the table in the opening post is not updated, right?

No, it isn't. I switched the format of my sheet that keeps track of all the things I do and that new one doesn't lend itself to be such a presentation.

[Malkior 476]

On 9/13/2020 at 10:28 AM, Sith Holocron said:

I had an evil thought about a skybox suggestion last night: Cathalan.

We dare not speak such words here, lest it return....

[Sith Holocron 2,480]

18 minutes ago, Malkior said:

We dare not speak such words here, lest it return....

I did say it was an evil thought.  You gotta change that color from red to orange. To stay thematically on point.

[Malkior 476]

1 hour ago, Sith Holocron said:

I did say it was an evil thought.  You gotta change that color from red to orange. To stay thematically on point.

It was as Orange as I could muster while keeping it dark enough to hide the text.  

I should write in all orange one day as tribute... on second thought that would be very painful to read on the forums.

:|

 

[Kexikus 995]

And here's the final skybox. Ord Mantell based on InSidious' reskin of the mod and SWTORs depiction of the planet.

There are still quite a few skyboxes that need to be rendered in full quality and other minor fixes that need to be applied as I go through them so don't get too excited quite yet but it's getting there.

And here's a not very impressive screenshot of the latest skybox I finished:

[Zhaboka 91]

That's Yavin IV on the bottom?

[LordMerek 48]

I've been seeing your awesome work for years now, and can I ask when you plan to release these? Or are you waiting until you've completed all of them and are satisfied with the final product?

[Kexikus 995]

5 hours ago, Zhaboka said:

That's Yavin IV on the bottom?

No, it's Dxun.

4 hours ago, LordMerek said:

I've been seeing your awesome work for years now, and can I ask when you plan to release these? Or are you waiting until you've completed all of them and are satisfied with the final product?

It's done when it's done.

But to give a slightly more helpful answer: Yes, I'm waiting until all skyboxes are done before I release them. But as you can see from this thread, I am getting very close to this goal.

[LordMerek 48]

13 hours ago, Kexikus said:

No, it's Dxun.

It's done when it's done.

But to give a slightly more helpful answer: Yes, I'm waiting until all skyboxes are done before I release them. But as you can see from this thread, I am getting very close to this goal.

I figured as much, thank you for the clarification.

[Kexikus 995]

It's been a while since the last update but progress has been going well.

The main thing still left is to render all the skyboxes. There are not many left but Telos is currently taking a long time (200+ render hours already and not done yet). After that the rest should be much faster though.

And I also started assembling and collecting the final files for the releases as well as checking all modules again to see if there are any issues that need fixing. At the same time I prepared the screenshots for all locations. This also includes comparison screenshots and that's where this post comes in. I could use some opinions on which type of comparison you prepare, so here is the same scene in three different comparison style. I do have a pretty clear favorite but I'm still open about changing my mind.

Style 1:

Style 2:

Style 3:

Let me know what you think!

[ebmar 893]

28 minutes ago, Kexikus said:

I could use some opinions on which type of comparison you prepare...

Style 3 all the way! Simply because it provides a clear view of the surroundings, hence make it easier [for me] to compare the before-to-after results. Also impressive-looking stuffs there.👍

[Salk 376]

Agreed!

Style 3 is by far the best option. 👌

[jc2 581]

I prefer Style 1, but Style 3 is very good as well.

[DarthParametric 3,795]

Pester @Tyvokka to implement one of those screenshot wipes where you can move a slider back and forth across the image.

[LoneWanderer 103]

I prefer Style 1. You can view both skyboxes at the same time and compare them.
Style 3 is cool, but the constant change (flickering) of the image prevents me from looking closely at small details. The flickering of bright colors on the towers quickly tires the eyes. And when I imagine a Download page with a bunch of these flickering images ... ugh…
Style 2 would be the best, but only if you could manually move the slider left and right. So, that leaves Style 1.

Anyways, awesome skyboxes!

[KnifeMaster 33]

I agree with @LoneWanderer - an entire gallery of flickering .gifs might be a bit much, and the somewhat rapid change makes it tough to really compare fine details. I think Style 1 is the best overall.

[Guest]

I say option 3, since it shows how impressive the change truly is, but when viewing the gif on imgur it can flicker instead of having the expected waiting time. You could also have two screenshots in a before-and-after fashion. I definitely prefer this to a cut-in-a-half picture of both.

That Taris landscape is really something, by the way. Feels like something an official remake would have.