This tutorial will show you how to output six skybox textures for use in your maps, using Terragen 2. This tutorial does not show you how to use Terragen 2 or how to create your sky.

This tutorial uses the Terragen 2 – Technology Preview 1 (Free Version), which is available from the official Planetside Software website. Note that the interface and ability of Terragen 2 is likely to change. Additionally, a plug-in which automates this process is likely to be delevoped at some point.

Terragen 0.9 users - download and use the skybox script instead!

First of all we need to set up six cameras, and configure each one to point in the relevant direction, which will form the basis of our screenshots.

If you haven’t yet created your scene/sky, click here to download a template file, which is already set up for you (this crashes on some computers, unsure why). You can then skip to Step Two.

If you have already created your scene/sky, or want to complete these steps manually, you’ll need to put in some additional work. Complete steps 1 to 4 below.

1. Navigate to the Renderers screen, using the buttons at the top of the screen.

Select "/Full Render" then click the ‘…’ button next to the cameras field, and select ‘Create New Camera > Camera’ from the menu that appears. Do this five times (not six, as we already have one camera). Ignore any other settings at the moment.

2. Navigate to the Cameras screen, using the buttons at the top of the screen. You should see six cameras on the list.

Click on the first camera, and enter the following settings;

Name: North
Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0
Rotation: 0 / 0 / 0

Check the ‘Perspective’ option, and the ‘Use horizontal FOV’ option. Use a horizontal FOV of 90 (This is 90 degrees).

Note: Terragen will crash if you render a camera position of all zero. To get around this, I used the tiny value of 0.001

Your first camera should look like this:

Configure the remaining cameras using the following settings. This should be clear enough – but refer to the above image if you are unsure of where to enter these.

Camera 02 Name: East Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0 Rotation: 0 / 90 / 0 Perspective: Tick Horizontal FOV: Tick Value: 90	Camera 03 Name: South Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0 Rotation: 0 / 180 / 0 Perspective: Tick Horizontal FOV: Tick Value: 90	Camera 04 Name: West Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0 Rotation: 0 / 270 / 0 Perspective: Tick Horizontal FOV: Tick Value: 90
Camera 05 Name: Up Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0 Rotation: 90 / 0 / 0 Perspective: Tick Horizontal FOV: Tick Value: 90	Camera 06 Name: Down Position: 0.0001 / 0 / 0 Rotation: 270 / 0 / 0 Perspective: Tick Horizontal FOV: Tick Value: 90

3. Navigate to the Renderers screen, using the buttons at the top of the screen.

Select Full Render, and enter the follow settings;

Image Width: 512 Image Height: 512

GI Relative Detail: 0 GI Sample Quality: 0

Note: The free version of Terragen 2 limits the resolution to 800 x 600. Unreal can only import powers of two, therefore the best size we can obtain is 512 x 512).

For your full render settings, you may wish to ramp up all your quality settings. Setting the Global Illumination settings to 0 will ensure your skybox does not have any seams. However, it may reduce the quality of your scene. You have to tweak other settings, such as your cloud color, which is covered in the next section.

For your Quick render settings, set the same Global Illumination settings as above and use your discretion in setting your image dimensions and quality. We will use the quick render to ensure your skybox fits together how you like, before wasting hours of render time!

4. Save this file as a template for future skyboxes. If you have already created your sky, you may wish to configure and save a blank template separately.

Now that everything is set up, it’s time to create, tweak, and test your scene/sky before rendering it.

If you haven’t yet created your scene, now is the time to create your scene exactly how you like it. This tutorial will not teach you how to use terragen 2 or how to create your sky.

If you have already created your scene, you may need to tweak it. Specifically, you may need to lower your terrain, and alter your cloud color. Remember that your scene will be rendered from the camera’s view at the origin, so you want to concentrate on only the areas that will be visible. Remember to make back ups!

Testing Your Skybox
Rendering your skybox in Terragen 2 takes a long time, even on today’s computers. Depending on your computer and quality settings, your skybox renders could even take days! This is why it is crucial to render a small, low quality version of your skybox first, to ensure your images line up without seams.

You can do this as follows;

1. Navigate to the Renderers screen, using the buttons at the top of the screen. Select ‘Quick Render’, and ensure your image dimensions and quality settings are low.

Select the correct camera. Click the ‘…’ button next to the cameras field, and select ‘Assign Camera > /North’ from the menu that appears.

Click on ‘Render Image’, and wait for your image to render (Shouldn’t take long!). Save your render as ‘north.bmp’, close the render box, and select your next camera, /East. Render and save each image appropriately.

2. Open your favorite image program, and create a new, large, blank image. This should be large enough to contain all of your renders, with some surplus space.

Open each of your render images, and place them on to the blank image you created. You should be able to drag each of your render images around, and position them side by side (north, south, east, west). Ensure it looks correct, and that there are no visible seams.

If everything is good, you can close your image program, delete your low quality renders, and start to render your new, high quality screen shots.

Note: There is other methods that you can use to check your skybox, but I find this the quickest and easiest.

Rendering will take a long time, and you won’t be able to do much else on your computer during this time (Otherwise you’ll slow your render). The highest quality settings can easily take over a day!

After rendering, you should now have a good, high quality Terragen 2 skybox, ready to import!