Sky Box | Affinity Photo

In this tutorial, I will show you how to quickly make a skybox for use in a game engine using Affinity Photo.

Sky box

The photo I am using is from Pexels

Use a 2:1 image so it will appear seamless when used on a dome shape

In my case, I will use a 3840 x 1920 scale

Unlock the layer

Duplicate the image and flip it horizontally

Select the duplicated layer and add a mask

Use the gradient tool and add a small gradient from one of the sides

Merge the layers

Make another duplicate

Hide the bottom layer

Select the top layer and under the Filters menu, go to Distort and then Rectangular to Polar

Using a soft brush, select the Healing Tool

Hold down ALT and Left-click to select an area and then use Left-click to paste the selected area

I would recommend trying a hardness of 25-percent but you may need to adjust this number

To unwrap the image, go to Filters, and under Distort, use Polar to Rectangular

For the ground, if you want the same type of image as the sky – that is a mirrored image, rotate the layer vertically

Then repeat the process with the Polar Coordinates

Rotate the image vertically so the land is back in place

If you want to use this image for lighting, you need to go to Document and Convert Format/ICC Profile

Change the Format to RGB/32 (HDR)

Export the image as an EXR (which can be used by Unreal Engine, Unity, and Godot)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.