HowTo:Make System Backgrounds

See also this Turorial: Panoramic Image Conversion with HDR Shop

Quoted Spiner: "This is how to use HDRShop.

Once you have your image done load it into HDRShop and choose Image/Panorama/Panoramic transformations.

Under your source image (left side of menu) there will be a format option (should say mirrorball) choose mirrorball closeup. Now on the right side (destination image, keep new image) under format choose Cubic Enviorment vertical cross.

You should now have a cross with only half the image in it (saves anything but will call it "image 1").

Ok now to the second part.

Go to your original image and press "V", that will turn the image 180. Now go to the panorama transformations again, choose Mirrorball closeup under source image, and cubical map under destinated image. Before you transform the image go to "3D Rotation" and choose arbitrary rotation. Choose settings. Under X axis change it to 180. Leave Y and Z 0.

Ok, now we have the rest of the cross. Save it (this will be called image 2).

Now go to image/calculate. Under image a choose your first image (image A) and for image b choose the second image (image b) (leave c and d alone). This will caculate the image and put it together to have one seemless image.

Note, this also makes your image double so try to change image b before you transform it.

Quoted hurleybird: "And another way i found out how to make cube maps is this...

If you have a texture which can be tiled then you can use longitude/latitude to cubic enviroment (note, you want to add stars AFTER this is done, not before) then you can get some really nice efffects."

Source: PhpWiki from September 28, 2003 10:49 am.