Building Log: World Trade Center (Pre-9/11)

[rubik3 118]

With the panoramas Bigmac posted I was able to go through and redo a lot of the roof.  There were a few small structures, a couple antennas, and most importantly, the night lighting that I hadn't seen in any images.  I was also able to model the window washer track though I had no images of the washer itself so I had to settle with designing my own.  I might add a few more details to the entry but I think I can now call the roof of Tower 2 complete.

 

[DarkMatter 21]

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif> Shadows!! How long does it take to render with the BIG size rig? Longer, shorter? I am really curious to know why it takes so long to render on your system.

How many polyons is it, and what system do you have? I'm able to render one zoom 5 angle with high-quality AA in 45 minutes or less on my system. My building has 116,000 polygons, and I've got a P4 2.4Ghz with 512Mb DDR400 ram. Hows that compare to your buildng?

[Smurfer2 7]

I think your right. It's done. It sure is exceptional!https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/24.gif>

[DuskTrooper 316]

Excellent!  Keep up the great work!

[rubik3 118]

I really didn't do a full fledged test but the improvments over the huge rig were negligable if any, but the shadows did end up a lot crisper in some areas.

 

Currently I'm at about 680,000 polygons.  Most of the time comes from the night lighting, which is pretty extensive.  It takes just as long, if not longer to render the night scene.  It was the same way with the hotel.  Another factor for time is the amount of handrails and guardrails on the roof as well as each individual steel web, which i'm sure makes the AA time skyrocket (though I'm not exactly sure on how AA actually works.  I know what it does and how to tweak it but I have no clue how it does it). 

[BigMac 24]

Here is a picture of the window washer machine as seen from the observation deck.

[Minotaur420 2]

wow that is so long and so big, but that should mean that we will end up with a better final product at least(because all the detail you included). Your work is truly amazing and inspiring rubik. way to go man.https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif>

[DarkMatter 21]

Hmm....680,000 polygons......mmmmm, ok, I guess if you multiply my 45 minutes by 5.8, you get 4 hours 30 minutes. And your lighting is more complex than mine (it looks excellent! ).

 

As for the AA, I think its supersampled AA. So, for low, the renderer actually renders at 2x larger, samples the undersampled pixel from the 4 rendered ones at 2x larger, and interpolates between them. At medium, you render at 3x larger, and at high, you render at 4x larger (or so I'm assuming...Maxis made it sound like the high quality AA was extremely good...they might be rendering at 8x larger, giving the renderer a total of 8x8, or 64 pixels to interpolate between to give you an antialiased pixel. Its also possible they are using a larger curve...low=2x, med=4x, and high=16x...16x AA is REALLY good!). Anyway, when you render with supersampled AA on, your rendering an image thats initially 2x, 3x, or 4x/8x larger than the actual resulting image. That image is scaled down using either a bilinear or bicubic filtering method, resulting in a smoother render. (There is also multisampled AA, which is a lot more complex to explain, but its usually faster, as you can use color compression and rereading techniques to speed up the process, but I don't think Maxis put in the time to make a multisample AA renderer.)

[Equinox 1,218]

Holy crap!!  https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/6.gif>

[rubik3 118]

Thx for the pic again Bigmac....I guess i'm not quite finished with the roof afterall.

 

Whoever was saying that they hoped my file wouldn't corrupt didn't knock on wood hard enough as I've just had my first corruption with GMax.  Luckily I'm very anal when it comes to backing up my important files and I ended up only losing 5 minutes of work.  A reminder to all you GMaxers....backup those files whenever you can because you never know when a disaster will strike.

[DarkMatter 21]

Rubik, you havn;t happened to install WinXP SP1 recently, have you? SP1 causes a problem with gMax that is only fixable by a quickfix not found on Microsofts site. Every time I make a hardware change or have to do a rollback in my WinXP restore points, I have to reinstall this patch. So far, I have never encountered a corrupted file in gMax that is really corrupted....only locked out because of this bug caused by WinXP SP1.

[rubik3 118]

Well I had a system crash in the middle of saving so I don't think XP had anything to do with it.

[Equinox 1,218]

DM, that's insanely useful, a lot of people would benefit from that knowledge I bet.

I wonder when Service Pack 2 will be out ... I like to do things in big fat 150+ MB chunks ... https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif>

[Casper3141 60]

Rubik3, when you get done with the wtc you should make a copy of the Liberty Tower Building in L.A. if you did that i would appreciate it, i mean how can you have L.A. with out it

[DarkDragon 1]

Looking very good.

It's pretty remarkable how detailed you can get with this BAT. The framework steel lattice-work looks great. Were you planning on doing any of the other buildings down in the Financial District of New York, by chance? I know you'd do an outstanding job on them if you put this much work into one. It may take a while to finish them, but it looks like it would definitely be worth every second of wait and more when it's finished.

Can't wait to see it in SC4. It looks like something Maxis/EA would do.

[rubik3 118]

Well my next month or two will be spent on the WTC complex.  After the towers are complete I have the plaza to finish up as well as creating the rest of the buildings in the complex so in reality my next project is still quite a ways off.

 

Here's an update on the window washer.  I've gotten the basic framework done and I'm now trying to figure out what details need to be added and which details won't be visible.  I don't suppose you have an image of the front of the window washer do you Bigmac?  I know there has to be more than just a simple lift on that side of it.

 

[BigMac 24]

That is the only picture of the washer I have seen so far, but I'll keep looking. If there are also some other things for which you might want pictures or information, just let me know and I'll do my best to find it.

[Equinox 1,218]

Ahh!  When you said you'd be done in a few months, that's understandable if you're going to do the plazas and such, but PLEASE don't release them all as one pack!

I'd like to have the towers ASAP!  (besides, that will save some poor dialup users from a smoking modem)  https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif>

[SimTiki 4]

The fact that you even added in such a miniscule detail like that should be enough. That tiny prop looks fantastic as it is and the picture looks like its in Zoom 5.

[Daeley 46]

this looks absolutely stunning... excellent building!

[DarkDragon 1]

Ah, so you're planning on not only doing the twin towers, but all seven of the buildings in the complex? Very cool. If you need some help as far as how the low-rise buildings looked, emporis.com is a good place to go to get some shots of Seven World Trade, and I think it has a few images of the low rise 4, 5, and 6 World Trade. They also have several images of 3 World Trade (New York Marriott World Trade Center), which might help, too.

[BigMac 24]

rubik, one small detail I noticed in the panoramas is that the observation deck walkway had slightly chamfered (cut-off) corners, just like the towers. Also, I agree with SimTiki that the washer looks very good so far, considering what little could be gathered from the picture since the washer was seen from behind.

[4Finger 7]

Oh, come on, a few more months?

 

Then we will all be tired of the game

[DarkMatter 21]

Rubik, I certainly hope your not going to make everyone wait until you finish EVERY model for the entire WTC complex. That, plain and simple, is the most unusual and cruel treatment of everyone here. Your towers are almost done, and I think you need to release them on some plain and simple lots right when the yare complete, so we can at least use the towers in our cities while we wait for you to finish everything else.

[rubik3 118]

My plan all along was to release the 2 towers and the plaza but seeing as I have to rethink some of the foundation, the initial release will just be the 2 towers as 2 individual landmarks.  Then I will finish up the rest of the complex.  Trust me i'm not that cruel.

[rubik3 118]

Ok..hopefully I can now can the roof complete.  Unless of course bigmac points out another error https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif>.  The window washer is as complete as I can get it and the angled corners have been added to the outer railing and observation deck.

 

[BigMac 24]

That looks terrific, rubik!

 

In addition to releasing the towers by themselves, you could also release the plaza separately if you wanted to, for those who might want it by itself to use in their business districts (it could function as a large plaza, perhaps). I made a version of it last year for the Lot Exchange, but yours is far superior. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>

 

An interesting note about the plaza: In the early 80's it was named Austin J. Tobin Plaza after the executive director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the agency that built the World Trade Center.

[MacMayor 0]

I have been following this for some time and have to say it is looking Amazing. The detailing is simply breathtaking. Keep up the good work.

[jcabassa 20]

Will the helipad be functional? PLEASE make it functional! That would be SOOO sweet!

 

-jcab

[rubik3 118]

Here's an early scale test I did.  Don't mind the textures as it was a very old version.  Fortunately I didn't have to do any modifications as the scale is perfect.  Two World Trade is 417m in heighth while the ESB is 443m to the top of the spire.  The heighth of the ESB to the bottom of the spire is 381m so the WTC should come about halfway up the spire, which it does.