• Required Products: None
  

Introducing the SkySystem– the easy way to do skies, atmospheric effects, backgrounds, and composites! The SkySystem consists of four panels (layers) that can be individually moved and resized however you like. The SkySystem can be used by itself, or with other scenery such as the Cyclorama or the DAZ Environment. If you need more than four layers, you can add additional SkySystems– as many as you like.

The SkySystem comes with 26 preset skies (for a few samples, see Popup 3), or you can create your own custom skies– with the 48 transparency maps and 45 texture maps included, you have nearly limitless versality in creating skies and atmospheres for any kind of scene or mood, including wild and weird skies for fantasy and science fiction. The SkySystem is also perfect for adding images to your scene wherever you need them, as well as for creating composite renders. No need to mess around with templates; any square image will work.

• File List

• You can find new icons for loading this product in the following Poser Libraries:
  • Figures: “B9999_Sky”
  • Pose: “B9999_Sky_MAT”

• You can find new icons for loading this product in the following DAZ Studio Folders:
  • “B9999_Sky”
    • “shaders”

• You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
  • “Environments:Skydome”
  • “Materials:Landscape”

• The B9999 SkySystem is a figure consisting of four square panels (layers) that can be individually sized and moved. This enables you to put the layers where you want them– for instance, you could have the first layer in front of the scene to create a fog or smoke effect, and the other layers behind the scene to create the sky.
• The SkySystem comes with a selection of transparency maps and texture maps, which can be used to create a wide variety of skies and special effects. You can also use your own pictures or textures– since the panels are square, any picture that is square will work. Thus, you can use the SkySystem as a handy tool for creating composite pictures.

• Loading the SkySystem
  • The SkySystem loads in untextured, with the layers visible so that you can easily move or resize them. In their default position, the layers are very close together, so that they appear to be one single square. To move layers, select the figure, then use the pull-down menu to select the layer you want to move.
  • The layers are numbered 1 to 4, front to back. Thus, in a typical sky setup, Layer 4 is used for the basic sky ambient color and texture map (if a texture map is used); Layers 3 and 2 are used for clouds, and Layer 1 is used for smoke, fog, or other effects.
  • Some of the sky presets use all four layers. If you need additional layers (such as for fog, smoke, etc.), you can load in a second Sky System figure and use that.
  • When it loads in, the SkySystem is a little over twice the height of a figure such as Michael 3; however, you can scale up the whole figure, or any of its layers, as much as you like. (You can also scale it down and use it to create a “view” outside a window, or to place a picture in a picture frame, or anything else of the sort.)
  • Once you have loaded in the SkySytem, use the supplied MAT Pose files (if using Poser) or the supplied material presets (if using DAZ Studio) to apply one of the sky presets.
• About the MAT Pose Files (for Poser Users)
  • There are 86 MAT Pose files, found in the “B9999_Sky_MAT” library. The MAT Pose Files are grouped according to what they do:
  • The “a” files at the top of the listing turn the layers visible or invisible:
  • The “White” files set the diffuse color to white and turn transparency off so that you can see the layers easily for sizing and positioning. (With transparency on, individual layers can be hard to see in preview mode if you have a lot of other things in the scene.)
  • The “AmbWhite” files set the ambient color to white and the diffuse color to black, and turn transparency on, so that the layer will render as invisible unless it has a transparency map applied.
  • The “Invisible” files set both ambient and diffuse color to black and turn the transparency on, so that the layer will be invisible when rendered.
  • The layers in the SkySytem are double-sided squares. In Poser 5, double-sided squares with diffuse color render oddly. Since all SkySystem uses ambient color, not diffuse color, this is not a problem. However, if for some reason you want diffuse color on a layer, add a small amount of displacement to eliminate the rendering problem.
  • The “b” files are the presets for various skies.
  • The “c” files are the presets for fantasy skies and effects.
  • The “L1” files apply transparency maps and/or texture maps for effects (rainbows and smoke) to Layer 1.
  • The “tL1” files apply transparency maps for fog and other effects to Layer 1.
  • The “tL3” files apply transparency maps for clouds to Layer 3.
  • Note: Since there are 93 texture maps included (48 transparency maps and 45 texture maps), it would not have been feasible to provide four MAT files (one for each layer) for each of the 93 texture maps, for that would have required 372 MAT files. Therefore, MAT files have been included only for the textures and transparencies most likely to be used, and for each of those textures, only for the layer on which the texture is most likely to be used. However, you can manually apply any map to any layer.
  • Most of the 45 texture maps are simple color gradients for sky and cloud colors. Some of these are not used in any of the presets, but have been included to give you more variety in making your own custom skies.

• About the Materials and Shaders (for DAZ Studio Users)
• As with the Poser MAT files, the materials and shaders are grouped according to what they do:
  • The “a” files set the ambient color either to white or black, and turn transparency on.
  • The “b” files are the presets for skies.
  • The “c” files are presets for fantasy skies and effects.
  • The “L” files are shaders to apply a particular effect (such as a rainbow) to a single layer.
  • The “t” files are shaders to apply a transparency map to a single layer.
• Creating Your Own Sky.
  • Start by using one of the presets, then customize it however you like– change the ambient color on any or all of the layers; use different transmaps and/or texture maps; etc. (To view all the texture maps easily, use P3dO Explorer.)
  • Have fun experimenting– with 48 trans maps and 45 texture maps to choose from, plus ambient colors, there are literally millions of possible combinations.

• This product includes:
  • 1 DSON Core Installer
  • 1 Poser Core Installer

• 2013-03-27 - 1.1 - Updated to DSON, added Metadata

• None