I'd really love to be able to rotate a skybox

I don’t think you guys understand. I don’t want to move those objects. I want the box itself to be able to spin.

Like the skybox would literally rotate rather than it be a box that stays in one place. I don’t care about moving the sun and I understand its already possible.

8 Likes

You can get an effect similar to rotating the skybox by rotating all the physical objects in the workspace and rotating the camera using SetRoll to rotate horizontally or CoordinateFrame and Focus to rotate vertically.

Of course that’s a terrible way to do it and I’m not at all recommending you do that or not at all suggesting that as an alternative to getting this feature.

2 Likes

Support ! Skyboxes really need to get updated. I think that first, we should be allowed to upload our own skyboxes (Yes, in a sense you already can by uploading decals… But their low-definition and the white square that appears around theme make them totally not suited for skyboxes :unsure: )

1 Like

HDR Skydomes anyone?

3 Likes

Pretty much

old thread is old. I still want a rotation vector for skyboxes.
http://devforum.roblox.com/t/im-bringing-it-up-one-last-time-spinning-skyboxes/609/3

9 Likes

On my thread when we had kuenna forum an admin edited it and put a conf tag saying they was putting it forward for consideration of something like that.

3 Likes

There are so many features that could be added to skyboxes, this is one I’d like.

Sorta related: I built a map and north is the wrong direction, I’d rotate it but I’d lose terrain details T_T I could change the sun’s path by editing geographic latitude, but I don’t think it can do that.
Maybe it could be possible to rotate Lighting, which would rotate the skybox and future skybox features.

8 Likes

Yes yes yes yes yes :+1:

9 Likes

Still waiting on this feature! I hope someone sees this ;-;

3 Likes

This is such a necessary feature that i feel it needs more support.

What i want to do is have the ability to rotate the skybox. Currently, it is impossible to do so, and developers are forced to either:

  • Scrap the idea of rotating the skybox, hindering the player experience

or

  • Create their own panel meshes, position them as far away as rendering permits, add the skybox decals to the custom skybox, and have a result that is extremely low in quality and possibly may not render correctly, hindering the player experience.

Here is an example of my attempt of making a lobby.

https://gyazo.com/15b8afd94f7045476bc5d83083c3dc53

In this video, you can see the space station the player spawns in. The space station uses the concept of centrifugal force to create artificial gravity. to make it appear as though the player is moving around the hull of the station, i rotate my attempt at a custom skybox with the hull to make the effect. This custom skybox model took quite a few hours to make, consisting of 6 panels, each of which have a decal on them with the Image ID of the original skybox. Unfortunately, the decal instead of adhering to one face like it normally does with parts is instead wrapping around the entire mesh, expanding the image, and distorting the skybox.

6 Likes

That’s because you used Decals. Unwrap your mesh correctly and create a texture of your skybox. It seems like your case doesn’t need the ability to change individual faces, so there shouldn’t be an issue.

But yes, every major engine has this feature and it is somewhat strange that Roblox never implemented it despite it being a fairly simple concept.

Roblox probably hasn’t updated their skybox system because their vision is procedural skies. Unfortunately they keep pushing that back :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I personally would love this feature for the same reason @Dudeguy90539 wants it. It’d also make games feel much more alive if I could make clouds move and stuff. This one feature would add so much more depth to skies.

i suppose im a little bit too late but oh well,
if anyone is still looking for a solution u can follow this tutorial i made: Animated Skybox For Roblox Studio

I was actually just thinking about this. It’s 2023, I wish we had this feature, it would be super useful.

Along with this, I think Roblox should consider adding a way to show which side of the skybox is which in the viewport (eg replace textures with ones that say front, back, etc) it seeks simple but it honestly can get jumbled up sometimes.

Here’s an example of a skybox in omegaspace. It’s great but if I wanted to rotate it I’d have to edit the skybox and reupload which is a pain. While we’re at it, if you look closely the black levels are not great and it’s because the images were made with high bit depth but Roblox limits us. If it was not a huge engine hassle I would love it if Roblox could overhaul the skybox system to implement the suggestions made here

3 Likes

Skyboxes, in general, need to be updated.

Can you just use a spherical skybox mesh, anchor it to the camera with a script, and rotate it that way? I’ve used this to show a sky in a ViewportFrame, but never in the actual game.

1 Like

That has its own limitations, such as all that comes with rendering a spherical mesh (not really all that much, but still, just another object to render), and the fact that you won’t be able to see the actual sun and moon (and stars) using this method.

2 Likes

Unrelated to this thread, holy cow this is a trip down memory lane… almost brings tears to my eyes about how far everythings progressed.

I think some scripter could make a fake skybox that does the same thing, even to the point of setting the position of a sun and moon decal based on TimeOfDay and GeographicalLatitude. It’s just slightly off from the real thing.

I kinda agree that a rotational Vector3 should be added if it doesn’t take Roblox way too much effort.
And further properties on the skybox wouldn’t hurt me, it would give users more ways to design their experiences.

I just don’t think there are many games that really need a spinning skybox, which is probably a reason it has not been added yet.