Adding skyboxes

Skyboxes are cubemap image sets that compose the background in 3D viewports. Each image set is a subdirectory of the resources/skybox directory.

To add a new skybox, create a new directory and add six square images, one for each side of the cube:

• right.png
• left.png
• top.png
• bottom.png
• front.png
• back.png

For example, this is the top image of the simulation skybox image set:

And this is what that skybox looks like in game, as used in the tutorial scenarios:

Using skyboxes

Setting the default skybox

The default skybox uses the default directory, which depicts a starfield. To change the skybox using the Lua API, for instance during a scripted scenario, pass the skybox image set's directory name as the parameter of the setDefaultSkybox() function:

setDefaultSkybox("simulation")

Using local skyboxes in zones

Accessing zone properties requires ECS features that might be available only in development builds.

Zone() entities, which define a region of space, can change the skybox using a fade transition as a player enters or exits them. Set the skybox property of a zone to define its custom skybox, and the skybox_fade_distance property of a zone to define how far inward from the zone's edge that the fade transition area extends.

local zone = Zone():setPoints(-1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, -1000, -1000, -1000) -- 2U square zone around 0,0
zone:setLabel("Purple zone")
zone.components.zone.skybox = "purple"
zone.components.zone.skybox_fade_distance = 250 -- 0.25U fade-in

In game, entering this zone looks like:

zone-transition.mp4