BAT Projects - SimGoober

[SimGoober 2,351]

(long blank stare at Vids comment, then a little light bulb...LOL....)

 

Here's the beginnings of Tesco, for our British friends.  I think they are in other nations as well..

One of these days I'll figure out how to create new roof textures in Photoshop... For now, i can lighten and darken a bit, but no more. I'd like to get more variations in the pattern and such...  Some day...

Here's the pic it's based on :

[ak72 54]

That  looks pretty good! The roof textures could use a little variation but other than lightening and darkening it there is not much diffrence between asphalt roofs.

[buckbeach 8]

Date:6/10/2004 1:16:59 PM
Author:SimGoober

Hmmmm.... We had that happen once during testing, but we thought we had it fixed.  I'll look some more under the hood and see if i can figure it out.

 

EDIT: Ok, I think I fixed it.  There is an update on the STEX.  I'm not sure if this will fix the one that grew or not. It might have to re-grow for the fix to be in affect.  Actually, come to think of it, you might be better off bulldozing that one before you install the update.  Sometimes, if certain details of the lot have changed, and SC4 looks at it wrong, the game will crash.

 

The lot is set as a Cs$ building, but one of them had one of the settings (Occupancy Groups) as Cs$$.  That one had a few properties of both buildings, so I think that caused it. 

quote>

FYI , still having one or more of the 7-11 Bldgs not showing up after your fix. Double checked my plugins and it does have the corrected file.

 

[Urbncowboy83 0]

I was wondering if you were planning on making anymore of the strip malls with more stores included in them? That's pretty much all the suburbs have around Chicago, and they look perfect in my cities. Just wondering, thanks...

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

Hey simgoober what about a Costco next?

[JaWood 194]

SimGoober, ironicly enough, Photoshop is probably the area I'm most proficiant at when it comes to BAT.  I was messing with the roof texture using the dodge and burn tools (GREAT tools for creating roof and wall shadows!!) and here's what I've come up with.

 

It should line fairly decently up when tiled as to not have any hard edges

[SimGoober 2,351]

@JaWood : Thanks a bunch!  I'll try that one out.  I'll also play in Photoshop some more with those two tools.  I have the full version, but have never had the time to dig into it.  I use it on digital photos to do minor touch ups, but only know a few tools.  I'm just going to have to eventually take several days off of anything else and dig into it.

 

@Buckbeach ; I am completely stumped at this point.  This was our first experiment with building families, and I am getting the impression there is still more to be figured out.  When you get the blank building, can you query it?  Unfortunately, with it being growable, it's hard to recreate it.  I've also had others who have these lots grow by the dozen, and had no problems.  IT might even be completely unrelated to the building family.  It might be a TGI conflict with some thing else.  I'll keep digging into it.

[builderman 3]

Date: 6/12/2004 3:30:55 PM
Author:

It might be a TGI conflict with some thing else.

quote>

Dood, those things suck (as we've established.) Fortunately, I'm starting a thread for the TGI checker now, and I expect it to have a beta before I leave Friday for my vacation. It works now, but it's slow slow slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

btw: Simgoober, Publix rocks (as I've said before.) I have to go download the 7-11 soon. Toys R Us is very good too.

[buckbeach 8]

Date:6/12/2004 3:30:55 PM
Author:SimGoober

@JaWood : Thanks a bunch!  I'll try that one out.  I'll also play in Photoshop some more with those two tools.  I have the full version, but have never had the time to dig into it.  I use it on digital photos to do minor touch ups, but only know a few tools.  I'm just going to have to eventually take several days off of anything else and dig into it.

 

@Buckbeach ; I am completely stumped at this point.  This was our first experiment with building families, and I am getting the impression there is still more to be figured out.  When you get the blank building, can you query it?  Unfortunately, with it being growable, it's hard to recreate it.  I've also had others who have these lots grow by the dozen, and had no problems.  IT might even be completely unrelated to the building family.  It might be a TGI conflict with some thing else.  I'll keep digging into it.

quote>

Well I got the Shmails Lemon Farm to clear up by taking out the NetworkAddonMod_Beta.

That's the good news. the bad news is no matter what I tried I could get some of the 7-11s to grow right (including taking out the vehicle props).  Some with Bowsers do grow and some without grow.  Yes, the problem lot(s) does query  and it says its with a Bowser.  I have had the bowsers show and no building and then neither the bowsers or the building shows. Latest was the latter with two dumpsters showing.  I have tried the ploppables and they both show fine.  Things that I have taken out to solve other conflicts are to take out: Gizmos wooden poles; one of BRF train sets; and a construction lot file (I don't remember which) and then the aforementioned NetworkAddonMod_Beta.  

Thought you would like to know it case someone else has trouble.

 

 

[SimGoober 2,351]

@BuckBeach : Thanks for the update.  I'll look into it some more from my end, and see what I can figure out.

 

I made some more progress on the Tesco... I've gone a little deeper into details.  I added some fresh flowers outside, like many I have seen over here, and a couple vending machines.  I could addd more vending machines, but I haven't found any more pictures to use as textures. 

[6459978. 106]

Here's a few pointers I use for photoshopping roof textures (actually, I don't use photoshop, but its all the same...)

 

1) Set the top down viewport in GMax to show smooth textures, maximize the window, and print screen. You can now use this image as reference for the edges of the roof and where any specific roof junk might be.

 

2) Create a new layer overtop of your guidelines. Outline the edges of the roof in black and also also outline the shapes of any roof junk. Save this layer as a new bmp or jpg.

 

3) Smudge the black outlines you created (I find that microsoft photo editor is the quickest way to do this)

 

4) Obtain a suitable base texture for the roof. Depending on its size you might have to cut and paste to make it a few times bigger than the original.

 

5) Copy the smudged overlay as a new layer onto your base texture. Set the transparency type to 'darken' and set it at anywhere from 50 to 70 percent.

 

6) Crop the image to the extents of the actual roof. Apply the texture to your roof in GMax, making sure that the UVW is fit to the size of the roof.

 

This much takes care of the basics. Using the same techniques, I usually add some cracks on the roof, and/or darkened patches.

 

If you want a more comprehensive tutorial I can put one together; I just didn't want to clutter your thread with pictures.

[joerg 278]

Looking good like always simgoob. However i cant stand your choice of blue i mean no offense but its such a girly pupleish blue alot like the blue on toys r us. The pic shows a nice deep navy blue for Tesco.

 

Also for making roof textures here is what i do. Basically you simply move on of your viewports to top view with all the shading and textures on. The you make that viewport full screen. Now take a prnt screen of that and paste it in photoshop. Now crop the acctuall roof. The once you have just the roof go to image\image size and increase it to a rather large size for tesco probably 2000 pixels accross maybe more if that appears bad in the render also make sure you have constrain proportions checked when you do this.

 

Next open the texture you are going to use on the roof and drag it into the image of the roof you just created. Now scale this texture to the size you want it with the edit\transform options making sure it is on its own layer.  Once you have it the size you need it select that layer by left clicking while holding ctrl on that layer on the layers pallett.  Once you have it selected just do a ctrl+c that copies it. The just keep pasting it each time you will need to move it to its tiles accross the entire roof. And yes i know this takes awhile.

 

Ok now you have a tiles image that will fit perfectly on your roof. Once that is done simply merge all the visible layers.  Now we move on to making dirt and stuff. The first thing i do is creat a ring of dirt around the outside. You can do this with the paintbrush or the burn tool or my favorite way(which i will explain next).  The way i do this is by making a new layer. Then fill it with black making sure it is on top of the roof layer. This should make everything black then right click on the black layer and go to blending options. Once there you see blend mode, change this to screen. Now you cna see the black is all gone but dont worry there was a prupose. Now still in blending options go down ont he side to stroke. And change it to an inside stroke. Then change the stroke type to gradient. Pic the gradient that goes from a solid to a transparent. Now you can change the gradient if you know how but if not dont worry about it for now. Next you go to gradient type and select shape burst this makes it fit the inside of the giant invisible black box we made. Ok now you can change the strokes size and a few other settigns to get it right also you may have to reverse the gradient.

 

Ok now you have a dark ring of dirt around the outside of the roof. Next you can make a new layer and on it start using the burn and dodge tools to sort of  add dark spots. Once you have all the dark spots you want you should maybe add some small cracks and lines. You can do this by simply drawing them with the paint brush. And lastly you might want to add in some leaves and garbage on the roof. Fortunetely photoshop has a leaves brush just go find it then change your color to an orangeish red and start dropping some leaves. You may need to changes the brush size though.

 

Now once you have everything you should merge your layers again and save as a jpg. And when you go to place this texture on your roof it shoudl fit just perfect.

 

edit: 6459978 you beat me to it

[joerg 278]

Ok i trhough this together really quick.

[vidioman 21]

Date:6/12/2004 10:26:15 AM
Author:SimGoober

(long blank stare at Vids comment, then a little light bulb...LOL....)

quote>

I inspired you! If you want a pic of Zellers or other Canadian Big Box stores, let me know. I'd love to havae a Canadian Tire in my city!

-vid

[megaman 1]

Very impressive, SG. You would be a very good designer in the simworld auto project.

[SimGoober 2,351]

Thanks for the feedback.... 

 

645 & Joerg : Thanks for that info.  I guess it really is time to sit down and start playing with Photoshop.  After JaWoods post I started playing with the burn and dodge tools, and got some interesting results.  I didn't post the full size pic above, but I did darken around the edges, and added a couple darker areas in the middle as well.  I'm going to play some more tonight.  One thing I don't like in my roofs so far is the uniformity of the grid pattern.  I fly a fair amount, and I see some roofs during take off and landings.  Most of them either don't have any visible lines in the roofs, or they are more random. They are usually much longer than wide, and don't line up.  I think I'll start with a base layer, draw in the lines as a layer, and try to blur them.  I'll play with it for a day or two.

 

I'm also not fond of that blue.  It looks better before the preview.  I'm sure I can darken it in Photoshop as well.....  It's amazing how many programs I have in one dedicated folder now just to work on BATs.  I work mostly on my company laptop, so I keep all this stuff isolated.  Must be a dozen programs now....

 

@Videoman ; Pick one chain you'd like and send me a couple pics to simgoober@cox.net .  (trying to help conserve bandwidth).  I've still got a long list ahead of me, but I'll see what I can do.  I'm open to trying a couple companies outside the US, just need inspiration.

 

Also, I still have ideas for more strip centers.  Just so many ideas, so little time.....

 

EDIT : Here's a minor update.  I'm playing with the roof some, it's getting better, and I darkened the blue color.  Is it enough?

 

 

 

 

 

[SimGoober 2,351]

Ok, It's officially Monday, and my eyes are getting really heavy...

 

FOUR NEW LOTS are now on the STEX :

 

Kinkos

Blockbuster Video

Goober Electronics (Just had to....)

Shoppers Food Warehouse

 

SFW may have had a problem during upload, I'll confirm it works in the morning.  My connection went screwy for a sec, and I'm not sure if it finished uploading or not....

[Sabretooth78 808]

Have you started work on the Wilson Farms lot yet?  Not being impatient, I just thought it was one of the next ones on the list.  In all honesty it could wait as far as I'm concerned since I'm up to my forehead in BAT at the moment (at least it's not BAT dung!)

 

Just asking because 7-Eleven is probably running rough-shot over the convenience market in SC4, someone needs to bring them down to earth!

 

Good luck!

-Chris

[deadwoods 542]

Hey, SG, are you goimg to publish your props packs as separate downloads on the STEX? I'm using the trucks in one of the BSC lots.

[Casper3141 60]

simgoober do you think you could make a set of growable Carl Jrs and Texacos and Chevrons maybe even an AMPM

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

Hey that is a good idea!

 

But what about Ploppables?

[joerg 278]

SimGoob just alittle tid bit of advice, the stuff your doing now is so dearly appreciated by all of us but perhaps you might wants to sort of take a short brake from the chain stores only for your own good but if your still enjoying them then i guess things are fine. It just seems like you have so many requests coming in. Anyhow your doing great and the new blue looks perfect i think. Also perhaps in the middle where it is so bare you could add a shopping cart rack or maybe  a couple trees or something.  Also another tip on the roofs well the biggest reason you dont see the lines is becuase most roofs have been redone over the years. When they re-tar a roof they cover it completely and there for no lines but as time goes on the tar fades and more tar is added in lines and small patches to sort of fix up cracks and leaks. This is what makes it look so random. Also from an airplane im guessing that alot of the lines dont even show up even if they are really there.

[jondecker 0]

Greetings simgoober, I just made a suggestion on the Barry Sanders Project thread about Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods, I used to work at one when I lived in Detroit. The company is getting massive and adding stores in new states on a bi-monthly basis. They have become so large that they sponsor college games on ESPN and ABC now and have overtaken many of the larger chains in yearly sales. Just a though, and by the way, awesome job man.

[SimGoober 2,351]

Oh Boy, Lots of questions :

 

@Deadwoods : I was thinking of that.  I actually have a few new ones to add, and I'll do that.  I am working on a few simple vending machines, nothing fancy, but i want to do them as props to make them easier to light up at night.

 

@Sargeant : Wilsons Farms is still on the list, I just got side tracked.  I'll probably have it done for next week.

 

@Casper / JonDecker: Who knows, but the list of to do is really long.

 

@Joerg : I have a few other ideas, and I have been experimenting on them here and there.  I still want to do another mini strip mall or two, and some low rise office buildings.  I am also planning on some parks; Geoffhaw is helping with some new overlay textures which will really be nice.

 

[subedei 3]

SG, first of all Great Job on your recents bats. I was wondering have you considered making any suburban schools?  I know your to do list is long perhaps this could be put on the back burner as i dont imagine they would take to long.  Thanks

 

Subedei

[+Guest]

Thanx for all the great lots but ya need to increase the parking lots.Thanx

[mario123 0]

Can you do a Costco warehouse for your next BAT? They're common all over California and the Southwest. Sort of like Sam's Club, but bigger and better.

Here's a picture and description of one: Warehouse

Your current stores look great, very suburban. I've never seen a Piggly Wiggly before

[SimGoober 2,351]

I have a Costco in the back of my mind.  We have one locally, and I shop there a bit myself.  I snapped a few pics last time there.  Not sure when I'll get to it though.

[PhilTheMagicDragon 0]

Wish we had more than one person frequently creating cool name brand buildings...

And I wish we had more gas stations, like Exxon, Shell (a ploppable one), Texaco, Sunoco, Mobil, etc.

[UrbanLegend 63]

SimGoober - The Blockbuster looks good. If I might make a couple of suggestions though - Make the ticket sign slightly larger and higher on the wall and put BLOCKBUSTER in big letters across the blue awnings. They usually are pretty garish looking. That might be the fix you're looking for.

It's too bad 6x6 is the max growable size. Some of those big superstores have massive parking lots.