---
title: "Skyboxes and 360 panoramas"
nav_title: "Skyboxes and 360"
summary:
  - "A skybox is one 2:1 panorama that wraps all the way around the viewer; roll it half a turn to check that the left and right edges meet with no line."
  - "Make it from text with Scenario Skybox GPT or from one picture with HY World Image to Skybox, restyle it with Skybox Flux.1, and upscale it for VR."
  - "HDRi Skybox gives the six cubemap faces and an HDR that lights the scene; a slow pan or an orbit turns the panorama into a video."
description: "Make a 360 panorama from text or from one image, check the seam, restyle and upscale it, export cubemap faces and HDR for lighting, and turn it into a pan or orbit video."
section: textures
order: 30
type: guide
level: Build
roles: [creator, artist, art-director, marketer, team-lead, admin, developer]
time: { read: 7, do: 15, wait: 3 }
needs: ["Credits for a panorama, and for an upscale or HDR conversion; the price shows on Generate", "A description of a place, or one image of it"]
last_verified: 2026-11-11
models_checked: ["Scenario Skybox GPT", "HY World - Image to Skybox", "Scenario Skybox Flux.1", "Scenario Skybox Upscale", "HDRi Skybox"]
hero: textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-01-what-a-skybox-is.webp
video: tutorials/3d-lesson-12-skyboxes-and-360.mp4
video_caption: "Skyboxes and 360 panoramas"
thumb: 3d/thumbs/lesson-12-skyboxes-and-360.webp
chapters:
  - { at: 0, title: "What a skybox is", image: "/media/images/textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-01-what-a-skybox-is.webp" }
  - { at: 31.54, title: "From text, and the seam check", image: "/media/images/textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-02-from-text-and-the-seam-check.webp" }
  - { at: 59.51, title: "From an image, restyle and upscale", image: "/media/images/textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-03-from-an-image-restyle-and-upscale.webp" }
  - { at: 112.56, title: "Cubemap and HDR", image: "/media/images/textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-04-cubemap-and-hdr.webp" }
  - { at: 147.95, title: "Video, and which output for what", image: "/media/images/textures/skyboxes-and-360/ch-05-video-and-which-output-for-what.webp" }
related: [3d-worlds-and-splats, seamless-textures, export-3d-to-engines-and-dcc]
pdf: true
run_in: [model_scenario-skybox-gpt, model_hunyuan-world-image-to-skybox, model_scenario-skybox-flux, model_sc-upscale-flux-skybox, model_hdri-skybox]
updated: 2026-11-11
canonical: https://learn.scenario.com/textures/skyboxes-and-360
---

Last updated: 2026-11-11

# Skyboxes and 360 panoramas

> Make a 360 panorama from text or from one image, check the seam, restyle and upscale it, export cubemap faces and HDR for lighting, and turn it into a pan or orbit video.

In short:

- A skybox is one 2:1 panorama that wraps all the way around the viewer; roll it half a turn to check that the left and right edges meet with no line.
- Make it from text with Scenario Skybox GPT or from one picture with HY World Image to Skybox, restyle it with Skybox Flux.1, and upscale it for VR.
- HDRi Skybox gives the six cubemap faces and an HDR that lights the scene; a slow pan or an orbit turns the panorama into a video.


This lesson makes skyboxes and 360 panoramas: the image around your scene, cube faces for your engine, HDR for lighting, and videos too.

## What a skybox is

![Film still: What a skybox is](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/02a3a8cb7fa0ce29ae86182a950d29c03128121764ab1dce842810dd50f6a0c9.webp)

A skybox is one image that wraps all the way around the viewer, stored as a 2:1 panorama. The left and right edges meet behind you, the top is straight up and the bottom straight down. Turn a camera inside it, and the flat image becomes a place.

## From text, and the seam check

![Film still: From text, and the seam check](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/393a00f79984e4a6fdb388f851bace3d12ca04ea5accfa9f6bc85712f88cd9c4.webp)

In **Scenario Skybox GPT**, describe the place from where the viewer stands. Ask for the horizon at the middle, and keep the view behind the viewer simple. The example uses **2048 x 1024** at **high** quality, in about seventy seconds.

Then check the seam: roll the image half a turn, so the left and right edges meet in the middle. Here, the pier, the water and the clouds continue with no line, so it passes.

## From an image, restyle and upscale

![Film still: From an image, restyle and upscale](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/e02c44fc7623244c6984777a8ed41a0606047a0163d57dd5bbd3001d040459ca.webp)

- **HY World Image to Skybox** extends one picture of a place into a full circle. From a harbor image made with GPT Image 2.5 Flare, it kept the lighthouse and the warehouses and built the rest of the view around them.
- **Scenario Skybox Flux.1** restyles a panorama, with 22 style presets. **Strength** decides how far it goes: at 0.65 it kept the harbor and only added a moon; at 0.85 the windows light up, but the harbor is redrawn.
- **Scenario Skybox Upscale** doubled the panorama to 4096 pixels around, and the seam stayed closed. Keep the strength low, so it sharpens the scene instead of changing it.

## Cubemap and HDR

![Film still: Cubemap and HDR](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/22fd4560374e98f228a75515591f941635af4431b43bedb1b2c69236f49d2458.webp)

- **Cubemap.** Many engines want six square faces: front, back, left, right, up and down. **HDRi Skybox** gives them as separate files, or unfolded as one cross.
- **HDR.** The same run converts the skybox to HDR, in **EXR** and **HDR** formats. A normal image stops at white; in this HDR, the sun is about ten times brighter than white, so the skybox can light a scene. The tugboat from lesson 7 is lit only by the harbor HDR, in Blender.

## Video, and which output for what

![Film still: Video, and which output for what](https://ufgc0c9mhl4ueq76.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/academy/e7d2499c7df4e87f071880369673c9000f21299b21fe4a3b06553db683f61a04.webp)

A panorama also makes a video. Put a camera at its center and turn it slowly: the full turn is rendered straight from the upscaled panorama, with no extra generation. Or fly around a model with the skybox behind it, and the light from the sky moves across it.

- **Panorama:** your background, and the input for a splat world.
- **Cube faces:** engine cubemap slots.
- **HDR:** the light of the scene and its reflections.
- **Upscale:** for VR.
- **Pan or orbit video:** trailers and previews.

Source: https://learn.scenario.com/textures/skyboxes-and-360