SkyDome Lighting

[Jman]

Hey Guys,

I'm trying to put the finishing touches on my initial prototype before diving into some of the more advanced stuff. The main problem I'm having now is that my SkyDome isn't being lit properly and sections of it come out entirely black. Anyone have any advice for me on this?

Thanks,

Jman

[tachzusamm]

1. Are you using a sphere or a cubic skydome?
2. Are you using Blender or 3DS Max?

If you use Blender, here are some things to check:
a) Shading(F5): Links & Pipeline: Set Shadbuf OFF, ZTransp OFF
b) Shading(F5): Material: Set No Mist ON, Shadeless ON, VCol Light OFF, VCol Paint OFF, set Col to white, TexFace OFF
c) Shading(F5): Shaders: Drag Amb to 1.0 (or a bit lower if it comes out to bright then. Or adjust with Col color.)
d) Shading(F5): Map Input: UV
e) Shading(F5): Map to: set Col ON, others OFF, Texture blending mode "Mix"
f) Texture buttons (F6): Map Image: make sure Use Alpha + Calc Alpha are OFF, Filter = 1.0

[Jman]

Thanks tachzusamm. I am using Blender and the Skydome is a half-sphere. I already have some of those settings set, but others (like Step A) are not. I'll try out your changes later today.

I had to solve my problem yesterday though, since I actually made the Age as a final project in my Interactive Multimedia class. I accomplished this by using the suggested 3 light source model (a Sun in the proper place on the Skydome, a weaker Sun tinted light blue offset towards the unlit side of the terrain & an even weaker Sun tinted light gray under the terrain, all of them pointing at the terrain) with a couple of tweaks. I changed the last 2 Suns to Hemis (these lights only emit light in 180 degrees and in one direction), turned their Energy levels up a bit and pointed the Blue Hemi towards the dark part of the Skydome. The result was a nicely lit terrain & skydome, which you guys will hopefully be able to check out yourself (as soon as i figure out how to upload to the ULM site).

[ddb174]

UAM is usually used instead of ULM now. You can just email or ftp or megaupload or whatever the files and notify me!