Animated Skyboxes

[Nanatsumi]

Is this possible to make the animated skybox? For Example - The blue sky with a moving clouds

[Romulator]

Not really.

Cubemaps in Amnesia cannot be animated due to the way that they are constructed. What you could do is animate a plane and place that above your map. Or alternatively, create some large clouds using the Particle Editor and have them flow from one side of the map to the other at a slow speed.

[Spelos]

Also... you can set the skybox texture with code.

Code: (Select All)

void SetSkyBoxTexture(string& asTexture);

You could perhaps set the skybox repeatedly through frames, but that sounds really rough and could really hit the performance of the mod.


If you REALLY REALLY NEED IT, you could try something like this:

- If you have the frames of the skybox like: MyTexture1.dds, MyTexture2.dds...

Code: (Select All)

int count = 1; //Used for the cycle method
int last = 5; //What is the number of the last frame (MyTexture1... MyTexture5)

void OnStart()
{
    AddTimer("", 0.5f, "SkyboxCycleTimer");
}

void SkyboxCycleTimer(string &in asTimer)
{
    if (count > last)
    {
    count = 1;
    }
    SetSkyBoxTexture("MyTexture" + count);
    count = count + 1;
    AddTimer("", 0.5f, "SkyboxCycleTimer"); //0.5f is the refresh rate in this case
}

But this method is SUPER rough... I wouldn't do it...

[Amnesiaplayer]

this is a question which is not related to amnesia, but I really am stuck with, why do most of the games nowadays, still have skyboxes that doesn't move?!
I mean it's so beautiful to see moving sky, like gta V etc, but I reall don't get it why most of the games released now still have "cubemaps" which is just a picture... I mean I thought about it being "too big to handle for a pc or console" but if I play some games, then like a aliens type of map, where is a "nuclear smoke" as big that covers almost the whole map, and that DOES move, so it actually count as a " moving sky box " but at the very end you ca nsee some clouds which doesn't move, I really want to know why there aren't sky boxes moving in mosto f the games
Btw don't get me wrong, i'm not talking about amnesia haha, this game is old but handles good!

[Spelos]

AmnesiaPlayer...

The very idea of making a level seem believable is (just like many other things in design) just another problem.

This problem is solved by layering details. It is not the best practice to give everything in the Game the same amount of details, simply because it could have an impact on the performance, or even higher the creation budget.

Just like you could read a car's licence plate from a meter, but would struggle if the car was on the other side of the parking lot, it is better to create a high performance low quality model. You could then argue that if you go close to it again, you would see that it's low quality and here's where skyboxes come into the mix.

There is a good design principle of not rendering what cannot be seen, if player can't get somewhere, use low quality. If player can't see somewhere, don't render it.

The usual game level (in an open space) would consist of something like these layers:

• Player Gun / Lantern / Hands
  These are the things to get the most detail. Notice that in Amnesia you can even see Daniel's hair on his arm...
  
  
• Things very close to player
  This depends on engine and graphical settings, but it the usual detailed stuff that is being rendered to it's full potential. Try changing Amnesia's graphical setting to the minimum and observe the increase of texture quality when you're really close to the ground and from the standing height.
  
  
• Things close to player
  Usual detailed things that create gameplay but can be for example rendered in lower quality by the engine because player is further away.
  
  
• Things player sees, but can't get to
  Here we get into the interesting part. This is your usual static trees, low res buildings but also MOVING CLOUDS (as actual objects) and also rain particle effects...
  They are usually really far away and Player won't see them up-close.
  
  
• Enhancers
  Here is your skybox. I intentionally made this my last point, because if we don't use skybox for now and use a solid color instead, the final look is actually pretty good. You have your buildings in the distance and even your clouds moving. (or explosions as objects). We add a skybox as a solid backdrop to all this to tie it back together with it's color palette and to provide something to hide the fact that behind that low red building is just a plane and then fall into the abyss.
  
  Would you invest money and effort into making an animated skybox? A 360° video playing constantly in the background? Or would you rather create some low-quality large objects in front of the skybox but far from the player to hide the fact that the skybox doesn't move.
  

I don't deny that some skyboxes might actually change and move, that might be a thing. But you really really don't need it that much.

I hope it answered your question.

Also!
Some skyboxes don't animate... They just rotate and fade into another skyboxes.

[Amnesiaplayer]

Oh that was a great explanation!!!
I do understand about these quality things, I mean amnesia is one of the smartes game that is "low performance good" because it's so smart, things you can't see like "behind floor" is nothing to save up some mb's, same for some objects, if there is a ball with spikes on top of it, the inside of the spike ball isn't actually textures or whatever, pretty smart, some games still have these things filled with useless textures but still, now about the skyplane, I really don't see a point of investing money to it...
If I was a decent modeller, I'd probably made a BIG cloud that turns around from the bottom of the map, till the very top...

Wanna show this vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLt3jwRYF4I
watch some parts of it, you'd probably see the player looking up, and I know it's something you don't get close to, but we all can't deny how beautifull that "explosion after effect" looks like, I mean I played this myself couple of times, and I enjoy so much of these things I mean it looks so good, but thank yo uso much for your explanation
Appreciate!!
I'm happy enough that current games atleast have skyboxes without pixels on it xD

[GoreGrinder99]

What I have done on an IFC that has been in creation on and off for years now is to use the ChangeSkyboxColor script. I have set over 100 ChangeSkyboxColor scripts to get the effect of noon to midnight and back to noon set on top of a timer. I have the timer set to finish once a full 24 hours in game time has finished to reset the scripts and start it over as many times as I feel needed. I hope this gives you some ideas even though the skybox is still static, but at least it gives a time lapse effect, it's simple but effective. As for the stars, moon and clouds, I can't share yet. Lol