[WIP] HD Cockpit Skyboxes

[tjsase 116]

Inspired by the amazing work Kexikus did on the High Quality Skyboxes, I realized that the skyboxes within the Ebon Hawk's cockpit could use improvement.
Whenever you're on a planet but within the Ebon Hawk, you are able to look out of the cockpit window and see the landing platform of whichever planet you've arrived at. These shots are an illusion made from a cylinder around the cockpit displaying a render of the landing platform. These renders are low resolution, and have inaccurate colors. So what I'm doing is re-rendering all of them! Here's my work on the M4-78 cockpit skybox:

Why did I start with M4-78? I already had the landing pad models in Autodesk Maya, so I experimented with that. The images are distorted so as to wrap around 240 degrees around the cockpit.

[Kexikus 994]

Awesome

 

I was really hoping that someone would do this eventually and even thought about doing it myself, so I'm very glad I inspired you to do that.

 

One question: Will those be done for TSL and K1?

And if you do them for K1, I could also send you my skyboxes to use in those cases where the sky is actually visible from the cockpit. (Or maybe, my pack is done before you start with K1 and you could use it anyway^^)

[milestails 264]

Never thought about those! Good stuff here!

[Sithspecter 909]

Those look much better. The default ones are really pretty pathetic.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Thank god, those look way better!

[tjsase 116]

I'm definitely considering doing K1 as well, and I would love to use your skyboxes Kexikus!

[Kainzorus Prime 205]

Finally. The fishbowl effect and piss-poor colors/lighting on the stock ones was just abhorrent.

[Sith Holocron 2,471]

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of these.  Perhaps posting updates for two planets instead of just one might be the way to go for this thread?

[Kexikus 994]

I'm definitely considering doing K1 as well, and I would love to use your skyboxes Kexikus!

 

Awesome. If you start working on them before my skyboxes are done let me know and I'll send you what's done already

[tjsase 116]

So does anyone know who made the Realistic Nar Shadda Skybox mod? I would like to use it but I can't find it on this site! Was this mod free for anyone to use?

[Malkior 476]

So does anyone know who made the Realistic Nar Shadda Skybox mod? I would like to use it but I can't find it on this site! Was this mod free for anyone to use?

 

The creator was Sharen Thrawn, I believe. I've tried to get in contact with them in the past, but have gotten no response.

[milestails 264]

The author is Sharen Thrawn, and I don't think it is free for anyone to use.

[Sith Holocron 2,471]

So does anyone know who made the Realistic Nar Shadda Skybox mod? I would like to use it but I can't find it on this site! Was this mod free for anyone to use?

Doesn't the cockpit face away from the skybox on Nar Shaddaa (i.e. the cityscape skybox seen outside of the ship)?

[tjsase 116]

Not quite. The Ebon Hawk landed and is parked at an angle, facing about 45 degrees to the left towards the swoop platform. Next to it you can clearly see the skybox on the left. The original cockpit texture made it face forward when it wasn't supposed to.

[tjsase 116]

Used Wayback Machine to find the mod, looks like I need explicit permission. Hopefully I can contact Sharen Thrawn. If not, I'll use the original skybox textures. I hope he hasn't left modding...

[milestails 264]

Hopefully I can contact Sharen Thrawn. If not, I'll use the original skybox textures. I hope he hasn't left modding...

 

Hoping for the best, but I think Thrawn may be long gone...

[Kexikus 994]

Used Wayback Machine to find the mod, looks like I need explicit permission. Hopefully I can contact Sharen Thrawn. If not, I'll use the original skybox textures. I hope he hasn't left modding...

 

I also wish you the best of luck but it seems like Thrawn has been gone for 6 years now :/

You could ask L0ki if he knows a way to contact him. (He made the loadscreens to use with the skybox, so maybe he has a way.)

[tjsase 116]

UPDATE TIME!

I've finished the Nar Shaddaa skybox. Rotation has been corrected to match the Ebon Hawk's true position (it's facing a bit to the left, but the original skybox showed it facing forward). It seems that most of the skyboxes are looking down at the ground a bit, so I've corrected that.  All the cockpit skyboxes wrap 240 degrees around the player. I render the skyboxes as a sphereical projection, 360 around and 180 up-down, then crop it to 240 around and a few up-down (it should be rendered cylindrically, but I can't find a working lens plug-in for Maya to do that. Besides, cropped enough vertically there's hardly any distortion).

SCREENIES:

 

I think the most tedious part it behind me. Nar Shaddaa is very panoramic and has many models. The other landing platforms just face some walls and should be easier to make. 

[Kexikus 994]

It would have been even better if you could have used Thrawns skybox but it's still such a big improvement, it's simply amazing I really can't wait to use those next time I play the game. Even if those views are rarely seen ingame, they still improve the game by a lot.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

So... why can't we use the Nar Shaddaa skybox? I'd like to point out that this mod uses Sharen Thrawn's original texture to create derivative resources.

 

I don't see how using the realistic Nar Shaddaa skybox to remake these low quality textures should be off limits. It doesn't in any way negate the need for the original mod.

[Sith Holocron 2,471]

So... why can't we use the Nar Shaddaa skybox? I'd like to point out that this mod uses Sharen Thrawn's original texture to create derivative resources.I don't see how using the realistic Nar Shaddaa skybox to remake these low quality textures should be off limits. It doesn't in any way negate the need for the original mod.

VP has a good point. I'll allow it.

[tjsase 116]

Got it. I'll re-render it then. Still working on the Dantooine skybox. It can be quite stressful to have to extract and texture all the meshes, but it's worth it to see the final result.

[Sith Holocron 2,471]

Got it. I'll re-render it then.

I think you should have the original Skybox for Nar Shaddaa available - for those that wish to use the original skybox.

[tjsase 116]

I think you should have the original Skybox for Nar Shaddaa available - for those that wish to use the original skybox.

I was going to do that. Anyway, I'm placing objects and NPCs into the Dantooine set, but I'll have to delay work on it to upgrade my computer's motherboard.

[Constar 23]

I was going to do that. Anyway, I'm placing objects and NPCs into the Dantooine set, but I'll have to delay work on it to upgrade my computer's motherboard.

 

Regarding NPCs: Could you do an animated version of this one, where the NPCs move around/ or at least have their idle animation?