Skybox looks flat

[InsaneLampshade]

Does anybody else find the skybox to feel quite flat compared to everything else when using the rift?

It's kinda hard to describe, everything in the game looks so real except when I look at the background and it just feels like the depth stops there, like there's just a flat wall with some stars painted on at some far distance in space.

Maybe the simple answer is that it's because it actually is just a flat box with stars painted on... whereas everything else is rendered with depth?

Are there multiple layers of skybox at the moment? If not is this a future enhancement, or out of the question due to excessive computing requirements?

 

[ScottGust]

in one of the release notes they mentioned modification to the skybox to increase system performance..its a work in progress. Not sure if that is the rift issue but...

 

[govny]

Does anybody else find the skybox to feel quite flat compared to everything else when using the rift?

It's kinda hard to describe, everything in the game looks so real except when I look at the background and it just feels like the depth stops there, like there's just a flat wall with some stars painted on at some far distance in space.

Maybe the simple answer is that it's because it actually is just a flat box with stars painted on... whereas everything else is rendered with depth?

Are there multiple layers of skybox at the moment? If not is this a future enhancement, or out of the question due to excessive computing requirements?

stars are too far away to se a 3D effect; basically in our eyes they are all the same distance. Have you ever seen a 3D effect in the night sky?

 

[grodenglaive]

Yes, I notice that in the lighter areas of the galaxy, but the black space looks fine. The background galaxy does seem to have gotten some attention since alpha, but is still pretty flat. Part of the problem is also the noticeable pixels in the rift. There is also the issue that you don't need to change your eye focus when moving from your ship interior to the distant galaxy and that info normally aids in depth perception.
[edit] flat is not quite the right description. I would say at times that the galaxy background doesn't appear to be very far away.

 

[InsaneLampshade]

stars are too far away to se a 3D effect; basically in our eyes they are all the same distance. Have you ever seen a 3D effect in the night sky?

[edit] flat is not quite the right description. I would say at times that the galaxy background doesn't appear to be very far away.

Actually yes, this makes more sense, it does feel like the background is perhaps too close, but I can't really explain why it feels so.

Edit: Maybe the content also has some effect. I've mostly been flying around systems with lots of visible stars/colours etc in the background. If I flew to a system with a mostly empty background then it may feel further away?

 

[Ace Rifter]

I had noticed and had an issue with this for a while. You are essentially inside a box, there was a screenshot with a glitch I saw a week or so ago, and one side of the skybox had not loaded in or was being displayed correctly, and you could see how big the skybox is and how its made up.

I found that turning down the Gamma setting a notch or two helped a lot, although this depends on where in the Galaxy you are, but it turns a lot more of the skybox into black, instead of having a blue hue to it. Although looking towards the centre of the Galaxy you won't see much blackness due to the various colours that are showing, it did help pop some of this scenery and improved the view of being inside something far greater than a skybox.

 

[Mech_Donald]

The Background Starfield is just a sphere with a starfield as a texture. You can notice it very clearly by looking at the milkyway. Unfortunatly the sphere is too small now. Frontier mentioned it in one of the last updates, that the backdrop has been decreased in size. Pity for all Rift users.

But i think there would be a solution for this. Frontier could make two spheres. One a little bigger than the other one. The smaller sphere should be part-transparent. Only the stars should be visible. Propably this could give us a nice 3D effect with the backdrop. It would be very interesting to try it out if it would really work.

 

[Rambowjo]

Stars are rendered at infinity. You are probably having this issue because you can see each individual pixel.

 

[Mech_Donald]

Stars are rendered at infinity. You are probably having this issue because you can see each individual pixel.

Truly? Where do you know that? Just asking - no offense.

Frontier has mentioned that the Backdrop has been decreased to safe performance, right?

 

[onesungmirror]

Actually yes, this makes more sense, it does feel like the background is perhaps too close, but I can't really explain why it feels so.

That's because it is. In reality the distance to the next star is about 4 ly, which would be perceived as infinite by the human eye. You can't do that with a skybox.

Edit: That won't change with a bigger skybox, because infinity is not only distance but also size. Stars in reality can be infinitely small (yes I know that's physically impossiple but his is about perception). So the other limit is resolution. The third is dynamics. The varions in the intensity of stars cannot be replicated on a computerdisplay.

 

[redpoint]

I've definitely noticed this too, and look forward to trying the reduced gamma approach. It does break the perceived realism a bit for me. Interestingly enough I find the sense of 3d space a lot more compelling during warp speed travel (or whatever it's called), where all the crazy effects have a much more 3d character to them.

A similar realism issue I've personally experienced is looking out my ship's window at a planet/star and feeling like it's around the size of a basketball and sitting right next to my window... perceiving the sense of scale all wrong. Not sure if this is my brain tricking me or whether it's some limitation in the way these bodies are rendered. Or maybe, it's because in supercruise you move quickly past these objects and my intuitive judgements of scale are assuming much lower rates of speed. For some reason, though, I get a bigger sense of scale if I look over my shoulder (in the Eagle) and see the star/planet looming behind my ship.