MCM2 Tutorial

Sky Cubes

Create a custom six-sided sky and add it to an Armadillo track.

Tutorial by Maui_cool

This tutorial assumes a working knowledge of Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro and of the Armadillo track editor.

A sky cube surrounds your track with six square images: front, back, left, right, top, and bottom. Those images are combined into one .cub file that MCM2 uses as the track's sky.

Tools and sample files

Sky Walker

Sky Walker helps arrange a panoramic sky image into the six faces needed for a cube.

Sky Walker program window

Four Seasons

Four Seasons was another program used to generate sky images. It is included here for historical reference; its original download site is no longer available.

Four Seasons sky program
Select the image to view it full size.

You may also begin with a panoramic photograph or a sky image made in your preferred graphics program. The important result is a set of six square TGA images that line up at their edges.

Build the cube file

Download MakeCub and place the program in a working folder. Export the six cube faces as uncompressed TGA files using these names:

sky_front.tga sky_back.tga sky_left.tga sky_right.tga sky_top.tga sky_bottom.tga
  1. Place all six TGA files in the same folder as MakeCub.
  2. Run MakeCub and select the six images for their matching cube faces.
  3. Save the completed cube as a .cub file.
  4. If you want working files to compare against, download the cube sample.

Add the sky to your track

Copy the new .cub file into your track project folder. Then open the track's .ini file in a text editor and set the sky value to the name of your cube file.

Opening the track INI file
Open the track INI file in a text editor.
Setting the sky cube filename in the INI file
Enter the cube filename in the sky setting.

The exact section names can vary with the project, but the sky cube entry will look similar to this:

[Sky] CubeFile=your_sky.cub

If you manage the project with Armadillo Project Manager, add the cube to the project along with the track's other supporting files. See the Armadillo Project Manager help for details.

Armadillo does not display the custom sky while you edit the track. Package or test the track in MCM2 to see the finished sky cube.

Example project entries

A project SCN file may reference the cube like this:

[Sky] CubeFile=your_sky.cub

The matching INI entry must use the same filename:

[Sky] CubeFile=your_sky.cub

Once the filenames agree and the cube is included with the project, compile the track and check each horizon seam in the game.