I have been banging my head against the wall trying to get a sky sphere to work appropriately in XNA 4.0. I have the sphere loading correctly, and even textured, but i would like something a little more dynamic that can support a day/night cycle.

My issue is that, while i know a good amount of C# and XNA, i know next to nothing about HLSL. (I could make an ambient light shader if my life depended on it...) I also have not been able to find a tutorial on how to build a sky sphere like this. Of course i don't expect to be able to make an amazing one right off the bat, i would like to start small, with a dynamic coloring sky i'll work out the clouds and sun later.

My first question: Does anyone know of any good tutorial sites that could help me get a decent grasp around HLSL?

Second: Does anyone have a good example of or know where to find one of a gradient sky using XNA and C#?