Qt Quick 3D 6.12 introduces a new SkyMaterial QML type, and in this post we will explain what it is, how to use it and why you'd want to.

SkyMaterial provides a way of writing custom fragment shader code to render a scene's sky, as well as computing image-based lighting (IBL) from it. This means the same sky acts as both the visible background and a light source for the scene. With it you can create a dynamic sky with a moving sun, day/night cycle, clouds, stars etc.

QML properties set on the SkyMaterial type are automatically made available in the custom shader, and whenever a property is updated, the SkyMaterial re-renders itself. This is what makes it possible to have a dynamic sky. Since the rendering is happening on the GPU, the performance cost depends on the complexity of the shader and how often it is updated.…