143 — Sky and Background

When you look at a site or a panel in 3D, AutoCAD draws a sky behind it. Sky and Background lets you choose that sky. You can pick from AutoCAD’s own outdoor skies, or from the Professional sky library of photographed skies when it is installed. You can also make your choice the default for new drawings.

Where it is

ConstructiVision Site & Tools toolbar → Sky and Background, between Tutorial and Color Theme. Its icon is a blue sky with a sun and a cloud. The same command is on the ConstructiVision menu, as Sky and Background…, under Tracker. Typed command: CV-SKY.

This lesson starts from a new drawing. The dialog works the same in any drawing: the video uses AAA039.dwg from the Arlington Airport A sample project, and the dialog reads the same there.

Try it on a new drawing

  1. Start a new drawing.

  2. Click Sky and Background, or type CV-SKY and press Enter.

  3. The ConstructiVision - Sky and Background dialog opens. Top to bottom:

    • Region, Setting, Time of day and Weather: four lists that narrow the skies shown. On a new drawing, Region reads AutoCAD built-in skies and the other three read Any.

    • Skies: the list of skies to choose from. Its heading explains the marks: a * is a favorite, and the list puts the nearest skies first when the project has a location.

    • Under the list, the name of the selected sky, and a line saying which skies are available.

    • Make this my default sky for new drawings: a check box.

    • Preview, Star / Unstar, OK and Cancel.

    • A credit line for the sky photographs and place names.

  4. Read the list against Reading the result below.

  5. Click Cancel to close the dialog without changing the drawing’s sky.

The video opens the dialog with CV-SKY on AAA039.dwg, reads it top to bottom, and closes it with Cancel.

Reading the result

Without the Professional sky library, the list holds AutoCAD’s five outdoor skies:

Sky

What it shows

AutoCAD: Gypsum Crater

hills and trees

AutoCAD: Dry Lake Bed

open desert

AutoCAD: Plaza

a city square

AutoCAD: Snowfield

overcast

AutoCAD: Sepulveda

concrete and a dam

The line under the list says:

The sky library (Professional add-on) is not installed – AutoCAD’s own skies only.

That line is not an error. AutoCAD’s five skies come with AutoCAD. The photographed skies are a Professional add-on, so a Basic installation shows only these five.

The buttons

  • OK applies the selected sky to the drawing’s view.

  • Preview shows the selected sky before you commit to it.

  • Star / Unstar marks a sky as a favorite (* in the list), or removes the mark.

  • Make this my default sky for new drawings remembers your choice for the drawings you start next.

  • Cancel closes the dialog without changing anything.

What this lesson does not cover

  • The Professional sky library. With it installed, the Region, Setting, Time of day and Weather lists narrow a much longer list of photographed skies. This lesson uses a Basic installation.

  • Rendering and 3D views. This lesson chooses the sky. It does not set up a 3D view or a rendering to look at it in.