Can't unwrap a sky box

[Anonymous]

I have some nice space skybox textures that I want to put on a skybox and then export to use in UDK. It's easy to apply them to a box and it looks fine, but I can only have one diffuse map in UDK, so I need to get all 6 textures in the right place in one texture square. I tried rendering to texture, but this only works if the box is unwrapped and that ruins the alignment of the textures and I can't see how I will get them all properly lined up again.

I feel sure there must be some straightforward way to do this - I have the box looking right, I just need to export it - and feel a bit stupid, but I can't work it out and can't find it here or on the web.

If actually, this is really awkward, I am open to other suggestions, but I would like to use the space textures I have. I know a skydome/skysphere is what I would be using ideally, but I don't have the right texture for that.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[blakestone]

Maybe you could included all your Skybox Textures into a single texture file and then Unwrap your Skybox to this?

Another option is setting up all your Skybox Textures again into a vertical cubic formation and then convert it to a Latitude/Longitude or other preferred setting using a program such as HDR Shop... remove all the leg-work from Autodesk 3dsMax!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion. I can unwrap the box, render out a template and try and line up all the images to it in Photoshop, but I can't see that I'm going to get it pixel perfect as it is now and I'm going to wind up with obvious seams. If you have any bright ideas for how I might do this i'd be delighted to hear them.

[blakestone]

your welcome to email me your 6 images and i can arrange them for you?
email: blakestone(at)live.com

[Anonymous]

Thank you, you're very kind. I have emailed them to you.

As I've said in the email, in case anyone else is interested, I can line them up in Photoshop and create a UV Template, but it's matching those two up seamlesly that I can't do - I have tried to attach screenshots.

[blakestone]

I apologise for the delayed response, my day has been very hectic.
I have emailed you the CUBE and PANORAMIC files including the 3dsMax file so you can see how they're setup.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

It did help - it made me go back to the UV editor and see what things I had been missing, which were the grid snap, and the individual coordinates figures at the bottom (I normally work with edges and faces so these are always empty and I hadn't really processed them). So now I can get my layout lined up exactly with the edge of the texture square and it's all good.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous and @blakestone 4 years later, I have the same problem! I've spent many hours already trying to get UVW rights but seams are getting me insane and low quality final result.

Any chance I can get the same perfectly Unwrapped Cube with the UVW Template please?

Thank you so much for helping

[blakestone]

send me your images and will set this up for you - blakestone@live.com