Ty's Skies: My self-taken skybox zone

[Ty Cobb]

I'll probably republish this later after rotating it some. This was taken on the sidewalk just past the Engadine School building...yes, folks—elementary, middle, and high school in ONE building.

There's a number of farm fields just north of here, and I've got one of those to put out as well. Anyway, Engadine is one of a hundred small towns in the UP...old and well worn...but the people are quite friendly. There's a hilarious sign at the local cemetery that reads, "No ORV's allowed" which to me says they had such a problem the sign was necessary.

[Ty Cobb]

Apologies, as well, for the slow rollout. My Mom's health is occupying much of our free time...I hate what old age does to people. Also, Mom was doing better than usual yesterday and suggested I take a day for Mrs. Cobb and myself, so we went back to the UP and shot some more skyboxes.

When it's ready, I have a glorious but a bit grainy night shot from the Soo Locks (Sault Ste. Marie, MI) with the Arthur M. Anderson going through the locks. The Anderson is known for being the ship traveling in tandem with the Edmund Fitzgerald on Nov. 10, 1975. Great Lakes buffs or Gordon Lightfoot fans will remember that day as the day the single worst storm in modern memory ripped across Lake Superior, taking the Fitzgerald and her crew of 29 to a watery grave in Gitchigami. The Anderson had managed to make it to Whitefish Bay and was able to ride out the storm and called in the loss of contact. The Fitzgerald was caught in open water and waves over 20 feet were regular. Modeling data suggests a 36 foot wave nearly snapped her in half when she bottomed out in the trough.

It's drilled into your heads as a child if you're on the Great Lakes—"If you don't respect the Big Water, it'll kill you."

Today's Michigan history lesson...I'll try to make the next one a bit happier.

[Ty Cobb]

This is an open field with forest in the distance somewhere around Mancelona, MI. There's a parallax glitch in LF, so I'd only use this for MLB style parks. It's a good cloudy day, though...

[Ty Cobb]

Yeah, I know...a Lower Peninsula box...me!

Houghton Lake is a largish lake with awesome walleye and panfish to be taken. It's a great lake to swim in as well. Unfortunately, the town is packed like sardines with 'tiny-home-style' cabins from the 40s and 50s. It's got about 3,500 people in it...but it also has a Wal-Mart and a Home Depot. G's makes the best pizza in town...their pocket pizzas are a treat. The Limberlost is the local watering hole. Watch yer butt when you drive through town though—in the past they've been occasionally blacklisted as a speed trap by AAA. The people here are really nice though.

Outside of town, you can see some of the wonder of living in northern Michigan. This is a small marsh located just NW of town between Old US 27 and US 127. Ospreys and bald eagles nest here in the spring and early summer at the north edge of the marsh. I particularly liked the broken sky here, and the iPhone outdid itself on the original image. Some of the sharpness is unfortunately lost during the conversion to webp.

This is about 25 minutes south of where I grew up. I absolutely know I am lucky as **** to have been raised in an are this gorgeous!

[Ty Cobb]

Home of the world famous Soo Locks, I was fortunate enough to catch the Arthur Anderson going through a lock...it's right over CF!

[Ty Cobb]

Oh...baby...the new Macbook Pro is here!!!

[Ty Cobb]

35 boxes uploaded to the mega link in post #1. Some are updates, some are new...previews follow. Posting downsized versions of the original pix rather than previewing in ballparks...it's just way easier. until the background selector gets improved.

Antrim County Field
US 131
Brevoort Lake
Harbor Springs
Houghton Lake Marsh

[Ty Cobb]

See post 1 for link

Kaks Lake
Kelly Park
Lake St. Helen
Lonesome Lake Road
Lovells

[Ty Cobb]

busy busy

Newberry
Mancelona north
Old M-76 at the Souyh Branch of the AuSable River
Old Mission Lighthouse
Pelizzari Natrual Area entrance

[Ty Cobb]

Link in post 1

Peninsular Drive, Travers City #1
Peninsular #2
Pickford
Pontchartrain Shores
Port Dolomite #3

[Ty Cobb]

Link in post 1

Port Dolomite #4
Port Dolomite #5
Raber Bay 1
Raber Bay 2
Roberts Corner

[Ty Cobb]

Link in post 1

Seney
Sharon Road near Kalkaska
Soo Locks
Boyne Falls
St. Ignace

[Ty Cobb]

US 2 Dunes
US 2
US31 in Traverse City
Walloon Lake
Grand Traverse Bay, West Arm

[Ty Cobb]

Grayling is my hometown, and this is our local high school baseball field. Loved the cloud cover yesterday.

Grayling is a small town in the heart of northern Michigan with a long lumber tradition and a rich fishing history. We're named after a fish...the arctic grayling, a herring. Those of you familiar with the once legendary Bear Archery (I hear it went downhill after it left us) know that back in the day, Bear bows were king. Fred Bear was a revered figure about town, and remained quite approachable til the end.

We're also the headwaters of the AuSable and Manistee Rivers, two of the midwest's finest trout streams. We often refer to town affectionately as Jack Pine City, as the scrubby jack pine is the cash crop of the area. Now, there's an Arauco plant here, the world's largest particle board factory. All of you with that cheap, godawful MDF furniture can now blame us!

There's a large National Guard base, and we still see a lot of activity in the summers from them, although it's far less than it used to be.

It's actually a pretty good place to live. There's not a lot of high paying jobs, but the people here are pretty good. We're still 'small town America'. Crime is low, folk are friendly, the natural beauty of Michigan is all around. If you come up this way, drop by Dead Bear Brewery and say, 'Hi,' to my son, Damian. Solid craft beers there—recommend the Maple Bacon Porter. It's no Dragon's Milk, but it's pretty good.

I've blabbered enough for today...enjoy!

[Ty Cobb]

Alcona County presses up against Lake Huron on the eastern shore of Michigan. It's a poor and rural area. Alcona Dam is one of the last portages on the famous AuSable River Canoe Marathon, a decent place to fish, and above the dam to swim in Alcona Pond.

[Ty Cobb]

Started basic work on the Skybox Tutorial today. More boxes will be forthcoming. It's been a tough 2 weeks waiting for the Veloster to get fixed. Mrs. Cobb and I are stir crazy! Thanks to the 'rona, the local dealership isn't exactly passing out loaners...which kind of sucks when the nearest Meijer and Wally World are a half hour's drive away and our local Family Un-Fare is a mile and a half walk. I've some saved up, but have been busy with other nonsense of late. I'll be back in production in a week or so...

Big thanks to Baconi for giving me the final piece of the puzzle to make other's models and my skyboxes play together. The detailed process will be in the tutorial.

[the_mad_monk]

It's been awhile since I've snooped around the 3D Models sub-forum. Like what you're doing with the custom photo backgrounds. My only critique is that the scale is a skosh too large. Maybe it's better in-game.

[Ty Cobb]

It's an issue to be sure.

The main focus at this point is twofold:

1. Increase the number of available skies for the Construction Kit.
2. Show people what's possible, and see if they follow.

I'm trying to work on the whole scaling thing. There's also what I call 'Floating Stadium Syndrome'...the tendency of the bottom of the skybox to not equate with the ground level provided by the modelers.

We're in uncharted territory here, and I'm glad to hear constructive criticism...it'll keep me focused on increasing quality, not just tossing out any old pic.

[Ty Cobb]

Don't scream, Boston fans. This was only a test to see if the whole thing works...and it does. Thanks, Baconi, for the missing link!!!

[Ty Cobb]

Mrs. Cobb and I made our way to the Lake Superior shoreline again yesterday, dogs in tow. What a great day to be out! As always, along the way she was patient with my skybox obsession.

First up from the trip, Two Hearted Aiport. It's a grass landing strip near the mouth of one of the most scenic rivers in the Upper Peninsula.

I'll probably rotate this one and re-release, but there is both a day and night shot here for better realism.

Following soon...a shot from the mouth of the river, Pine Stump Junction, Clark's Point at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River, and more...as always, follow the link in post 1.