Ty's Skies: My self-taken skybox zone

[Ty Cobb]

Gone are the days when I relied on non-commercial-licensed box images and converted them. My new tripod is here (alas, not my new camera holder as well), lockdown is lifting, and Mrs. Cobb and I have begun roaming free. She's gracious enough to let me stop anywhere I want on our jaunts and take pictures for skyboxing. I'll probably start taking some flat panoramas as well.

Initially, they'll either be day or night. I have to return to a place at the opposing time of day to get a second shot, and that will take a while. Bear with me on it—updates will be posted. I'll tell you right now, I lack the ability to (or inclination to fight mosquitos and black flies) take photos for pitch dark shooting, so night boxes will be evening shots...as late as I can manage. You'll become quite familiar with our little blue Hyundai Veloster as I add these. You may or may not see Mrs. Cobb and our dogs—she's camera shy and usually will hide behind her big purse.

Instructions:

1. Download skybox file and decompress it.
2. Drag the skybox folder to the folder "skyboxes" inside the Construction Kit. First example pic of where your construction kit folder lives is for a Mac. Second is for Windows—Steam version.
3. Re-open OOTP and go to the construction kit. The skybox should be there, ready to use.
4. Windows/Linux users: if you see DS.Store files, that's just a Mac OS thing and you can throw them out. I'll work on eliminating them.

Edit 6-8-20: Added a folder for standard panoramas (non-spherical stuff). This link should be good for them: https://mega.nz/folder/udAFTYZb#KGP0aoDlYRAf-ZuYRfkyEw


This link SHOULD provide access to my cloud folder of skybox images.

https://mega.nz/folder/qQpl3DYY#NyLrsV0mEtolFCrNtfBMQw

[Ty Cobb]

Mount Frederick is a hill, not a mountain. Frederic is a village 10 miles north of my extremely small town. Preview above. Game shot below. Set your camera angles lower and expand your FOV to about 55-60

[Ty Cobb]

Took this day before yesterday. What it looks like in the BCK with just a generic field tossed in.

[Ty Cobb]

just outside Gaylord, MI.

2 previews for you.

[Ctrane]

These are tremendous.

[Ty Cobb]

Thanks so much. Went out shooting again last night with Mrs. Cobb. Got a glorious shot over Lake St. Helen. I'll probably do well tonight, as we're driving to Traverse City to get the tripod mount for my phone. It's supposed to rain, but the storm looks to be falling apart. I'm thinking a trip past the vineyards on Old Mission Peninsula after fresh fallen rain, a visit to the Lighthouse, Furnace Hill in Elberta overlooking Lake Michigan...

[Ty Cobb]

as it crosses Old M-76. This one probably shouldn't be used for a stadium with a low back, as the railings of bridges seem to perplex my stitching software. Grrrrrrrr...

Previewed with a generic BCK stadium. See the link in post 1, as always.

[Ctrane]

More great stuff . Love how the background is visible thru the stands. I've got to start tinkering with this. Btw some years back I traveled thru the up. Spent a day in Traverse City. Beautiful country . Had my first pasty.

[Ty Cobb]

Was in TC Friday night. Went out on the peninsula for some more shooting!

[Ty Cobb]

A small lake outside Grayling. Lots of scrub jackpine out that way.

[Ty Cobb]

Kelly Park is a small public park on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay out on the Old Mission Peninsula. I'll probably update this with a different perspective later.

[Ty Cobb]

Unfortunately, the Lighthouse is to the rear. I'll do a reshoot and correct that, but this is still a pretty place at the northern tip of Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City, MI.

[Ty Cobb]

This was shot in the parking lot os the US 31 Meijer store in Traverse City. If you look hard at the tree line, you'll see the spires of the old Hospital for the Criminally Insane located over on 11th Street. It's a Michigan State Government office building now, which seems strangely appropriate.

[Ty Cobb]

Located almost in town in Traverse City, at the base of Old Mission. Lots of hiking for the city dwellers among us...and yes, where I was raised, Traverse City's 15,000 people is a large town. There's 16,000 in my whole 625 square mile county, and it's getting too crowded for me.

[Ty Cobb]

Winding up one shore of the Old Mission Peninsula, this road offers TONS of spectacular views. I'll be back this way in the fall for the colors, and possibly in the spring for Apple and Cherry trees blossoming in the orchards.

[Ty Cobb]

Partway between Grayling and Kalkaska, slightly to the south, the Sharon Road Bridge crosses the Manistee River. Eventually, when you're west of Tippy Dam, the Manistee offers some of the best steelhead and salmon fishing on the planet. Upstream, it's a solid trout river with a lot of beautiful scenery.

[Ty Cobb]

Once one of the premiere bluegill lakes in the Midwest, thanks to DNR mismanagement it has become a refuge for hammer handle sized pike and little else. Still, there's pretty countryside to be found. This is about a 40 mile jaunt from our place.

[Ty Cobb]

By the way, the new camera holder got picked up last night, and once I'm used to it, the quality of shots 'should' go up...I'm distressed by a couple of the shots having little glitches (OCD me!). Mrs. Cobb and the pups were quite tolerant of my exuberance, and we spent 4 hours driving about looking for pleasant places and walking with the dogs.

I've got 9 more boxes in progress that need some work, and then there may be a break. Tore a muscle in my shoulder the other day, and it's NOT fun to twist about while shooting.

Hope you all enjoy these as much as I have finding and making them!

[Ctrane]

Here's the path to the contruction kit on Windows 10
For non steam users folders Steam SteamApps and common won't exist.

[Ctrane]

Here's your cloud folder view in Windows 10