Create a skybox

Last updated: October 13, 2026

Make a 360 degree skybox from a prompt, look around it in the viewer, and download it in the layout and format your engine takes.

Before you start

  • A skybox surrounds the player, so describe the whole view: the sky, the horizon all the way round, and the ground below.
  • Each skybox is one run. See Creative Units for how runs are charged.

Steps

  1. In a session, open Create skybox from the side panel (under See all tools if it is not listed).

  2. Describe the sky and the world all around the player: the time of day, the weather, what stands on the horizon. Projection is already set to Equirectangular 360°, and Aspect ratio offers only the 2:1 sizes a skybox takes. To match an existing look, add an image under Look reference; the slot shows only on models that take one.

  3. Click Create skybox. The skybox is drawn as one 2:1 panorama whose left and right edges meet, and lands on the board when the run finishes.

  4. Click View on the skybox. The viewer opens it in 360, with you standing inside it: drag, or use the arrow keys, to look around, and scroll to zoom. Flat shows the panorama as an image.

  5. Click Auto-rotate at the bottom right of the view to turn all the way round. Check the place where the left and right edges meet, and look up at the sky and down at the ground.

  6. Under Export, click Download as.... Choose a Skybox layout and a File format (see below for which your engine takes).

  7. Click Download. The file is written and saved by your browser.

Result

The skybox lands on the board as a 2:1 PNG. Its details list Projection as Equirectangular 360°, Wrap across as Repeat and Wrap down as Clamp to edge: that is what makes the viewer show it in 360 and what Download as... reads to offer the skybox layouts.

Skybox layouts

Equirectangular is the 2:1 panorama itself. Unity takes it in a Skybox/Panoramic material, Unreal Engine in an HDRI Backdrop (download it as HDR), and Godot in a PanoramaSkyMaterial.

Horizontal cross lays the six faces of a cube out in a 4 by 3 cross. Unity imports it as a Cubemap: set the texture's Texture Shape to Cube.

Cubemap faces (.zip) is six square images named px, nx, py, ny, pz and nz, for three.js and other loaders that take one file per face.

Choose None, export the image to download the PNG as it is.

File formats

PNG works everywhere. HDR (Radiance) and EXR (OpenEXR) are written in linear light at the panorama's own brightness, for engines that light a scene from its sky. Set the sky's intensity or exposure in the engine.

Production tips

  • Keep the top and bottom quiet. The poles of an equirectangular image are stretched across its whole width. An open sky overhead and plain ground underfoot hold up; a detailed ceiling or a pattern on the floor smears.
  • Put the subject on the horizon. A castle, a city or a mountain range reads best at eye level, where the panorama is least stretched.
  • Light the scene from it. Download as HDR or EXR to use the skybox as the scene's environment lighting as well as its backdrop, then balance its exposure against your sun.
  • Make a set for one level. Keep one description and change only the time of day or the weather ("at dawn", "under storm clouds") to make the variants a day and night cycle needs. A reference set or the same Look reference keeps them in one style.
  • Need to walk around in it? A skybox is seen from one point. For a place the player can move through, see Create an explorable world.

If something goes wrong

  • A seam shows where the edges meet. The panorama is made so its left and right edges continue into each other. If a join still shows, run it again.
  • The sky overhead looks pinched or smeared. Detail at the poles is stretched. Describe an open sky above and plain ground below, and keep the detail on the horizon.
  • There is no Look reference slot. The model does not take reference images. Pick another model from the model menu at the top of the tool.
  • The HDR looks too dark or too bright in the engine. It carries the panorama's own brightness. Raise or lower the sky's intensity or the camera's exposure in the engine.

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