Guide to Making a Beautiful Game: Skyboxes in URP

Hello all!

Today, I will talk about how to setup Skyboxes in URP!

Sunset with the Procedural Skybox!

The 4 Kinds of Skyboxes

First, let’s talk about the different kinds of skyboxes in Unity.

6 Sided

This one is simple. It uses 6 different pictures to make a cube as your skybox.

CubeMap

While similar to the 6 Sided skybox, this only uses 1 picture with all 6 images in one sprite-map. This also helps with performance since it only reads 1 image.

Panoramic

This one also reads from one image but is typically a 3D image.

Procedural

Procedural skyboxes do not need images. They come with a sun, day/night features, and grounds which can all be customized. This can also be linked to a directional light that the sun follows to simulate a day/night cycle!

Adding A Skybox

Adding a Skybox is the same in both SRP and URP. To get started, you will need to make a new material:

1. If it is not there already, add a new folder to the Project tab and name it “Materials”.
2. Add a new material to that folder and name it “Skybox_mat”.
3. With the material selected, go to the Inspector tab.
4. At the top where it says shader, click the dropdown tab.
5. Go down to Skybox.
6. Then select whatever kind of skybox you want!
7. Now open the Lighting tab under the Window menu.
8. Click the Environment tab.
9. Beside Skybox Material, drag and drop the Skybox material in the box.

That is how to add a skybox to your scene!

Next time, I will talk about Lighting in URP!

Thank you for your time!