9.5.2

458 • CHAPTER 7
OBJECTS MENU • MANAGING YOUR ENVIRONMENT • 459
If you want to apply a texture (e.g. the 2D cloud shader) to the sky, you should use Spherical or Cubic
projection. If the clouds appear too large, increase the repetition of the texture’s tiling and ensure
Seamless is enabled. Do the clouds seem a little articial? The possible reason for this is that the
clouds have the same tiling in both the X and the Y direction. Adjusting the repetition of the tiling on
the Y-axis, making them approximately twice as high as for the X-axis, ensures that the clouds look
somewhat pulled in their width and they appear nearer and more natural. Alternatively, you can use
several oor objects for the simulation of cloud layers.
Aiming the camera directly up will display a problem — the cloud texture tends to gather at the zenith.
You can x this by assigning Shrink Wrapping.
For the simulation of a starlit sky, the use of the cubic projection is recommended, as this will avoid
unwanted distortions at the poles.
With Environment Fog enabled, the Sky object’s visibility will be lost.
Environment Object
By default, only the topmost Environment object in the hierarchy will be rendered. If you want to
change the environment during an animation, use the Stage object with a parameter track.
Use the Environment object to dene several global scene parameters such as the scene’s environment
light (also known as ‘ambient lighting’).