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

[drewz15 0]

^calm down we all want to see it, but it'll take, what, a whole day to render? wow.

[rubik3 118]

Here an update on tower1.  Other than a few details on the roof it is pretty much done.  I still need to line up the smaller antennas and provide wiring for them but the main antenna is done.  I should hopefully have the first tower exporting sometime tomorrow night, maybe even tonight. 

 

I plan on spending some time on the actual lots providing some custom graphics as well as a custom query, subway functions, etc. It may take a few extra days to finish and test it though I'll probably end up setting most of it up while the exports are running...if my computer can handle it that is.

[ardecila 125]

OMG . . . . I fear for my poly count . . .

[Smurfer2 7]

It's very detailed. I think the roof is very nice!

[phillippbo 54]

I've been following this thread off and on, but never commented.  I have to say it, rubik, the WTC you've built is awesome!  I thought I had attention to detail, but you seem to have captured everything right down to the atomic level.  I have to say that you have accomplished something great here, and I commend you for it!

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>

[sparkythepenguin 90]

All I can say is wow over and over again!

How big is the final lot going to be?

[BigMac 24]

rubik, one more small observation is that the incline at the top of the original towers was such that, at each corner, it formed a triangle rather than a trapezoid. This picture shows what I mean. It's a minor detail, but one I thought you might want to know about for the sake of accuracy when it comes to the towers' general design. I hope this helps; beyond that, I notice no other significant differences at this point. It's looking great! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>

[rubik3 118]

Well I've tried to fix that error but I can't seem to make it look right.  I've tried everything I could but either it would end up looking too thick or too beveled.

 

If you can ignore that minor detail I can start my export tonight.

 

[Equinox 1,212]

Start rendering!  https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>  Fixes can be made later, when you have time for it.

The custom query and functionality will be GREATLY appreciated!

I'll wait quite a while for that, but don't make it partially transparent (it looks ugly).  https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif>

[BigMac 24]

The night view of the north tower looks very good; the antenna placement must have been a bit tedious. https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>

[oneil_1 138]

This is outstanding! the details are just real life like!
Are you going to make 3-7 TC buildings? (like marriot, seven WTC and the small buildings around)
I'm shore hope so, and if not so what, it steel be greater then ever!

[pepijn 1]

yep,can't wait to put the towers back on their spot,my compliments

[rubik3 118]

Well the export process was started at 1:30 this morning.  After 12 hours it's only 22% complete with only two zoom 5 views done.  It looks like each tower will take over a day to export.

[BigMac 24]

How does exporting work; what does that mean in this case? I have yet to learn the BAT.

[rubik3 118]

It means that it's currently in the process of rendering the 40 images (5 zooms x 4 rotations x 2 for the night views) that SC4 needs to display the building.  After 12 hours it has finished 4 of 40 though it will start speeding up when it gets to the further zoom levels.

[rubik3 118]

24 hours and it is just finishing the closest zooms.  Hopefully it won't, but it looks like these towers might break the 48 hour mark.

[Dargor 17]

Wow! That would almost discourage anyone who wants to make such a building. I guess it's the size, the detail (polygons) and all that. You've done an awesome job so far. Just don't think of what those buildings will look like in the game once you bulldoze it...

[simcity4crazyguy 24]

amazing! (In all caps)!!! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/4.gif border=0>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/4.gif border=0>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/4.gif border=0>Thats going to get my download/vote https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif border=0>
Now lets hope it'll be done soon

Ps. What does rendering mean???
I've always heard it, but never knew what it means

[Stardog13 44]

Wow, 24 hours and only finished with zoom 5!! I can't wait until it's finished, must be a record for longest render time (I wonder if Maxis ever had render times that long?). It looks amazing.

[rubik3 118]

Well I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news is I woke up this morning and was pleasantly suprised to find it had finished exporting.  The bad news is that I have some alpha map problems which are very irritating.  Not only does the support wires end up looking horrible but the subfloor foundation I am using is being partially displayed on the lot.  Heres an image showing the problem areas.  I am currently trying to export a foundation for the building in hopes that it will help the entry problem but I might have to re export the building with a more defined LOD.

 

[rubik3 118]

It turns out that it end up looking a little better in game but it's still not up to my standards.  I'm going to go ahead and start exporting Tower 2 with a better lod an some of the subfloor hidden.  If the results are a lot better then I will re-export tower 1 with the same changes.

 

[falcon5018 21]

AMAZING!

it looks fine how it is, no, it's perfect! it's better than perfect (if that makes sense )!

If you need some beta testers, send me a PM, I'd be happy to help!

My dad used to work across the street from the WTC, his building had all the windows blown out on 9/11. We moved in august of 2001 so he's ok, but everyday he took the PATH train to the WTC. I've been there so many times, and i can say surely, that your tower is very accurate.

[joerg 281]

Jeeze we almost need a freaking distributed computing system for some of these renders. I wonder if this woudl be possible something like Setti. Anyways i cant say much rubik it looks to amazing to descibe in words. If anythign it goes so far beyond maxis quality that it may feel out of place in a game like Sc4. But that sure as heck wont stop this from being the most downloaded lot ever thats for sure.

 

Do you have any idle computers rubik? Personally when i render i usually just hop on another computer during rendering.  

 

Oh and rubik about the triagle edges on the top it looks good now but if you are going to rerender anyway you probably could make it look good and be accurate. Im sure you have already thaught of this but if not then why not just put the sides and the corner and slightly different angles. Basically draw the ousides at the angles you want them then simply use a cutting plane and the corners from the uper vertex to the lowerr this shoudl give you that perfect triangle just not at the perfect angle.

[Equinox 1,212]

A SETI-type thing would be a really great idea to see for this type of rendering.  https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/1.gif>

[DarkMatter 21]

The SETI type thing would also be very complex and pretty much impossible with gMax. 3DSMax has a network renderer as part of the package, so if CycleDogg and GouRou can get their port of the BAT done for 3DSMax, we might be able to actually do some network rendering. It wouldn't really help over the internet unless everyone who is participating has very good broadband, but it would work on a network of home computers very well.

 

Rubik...about your alpha problem. I think there is a way to solve this, but it might be tricky. Many of the buildings in the core SC4 .dat files use a GRAY background with an alpha map, rather than just alphaing out black. I don't know exactly how you could accomplish this with the BAT, but there is probably a trick that could do it, and it might solve your antenna support wire alpha problem. If the BAT can't do it now, I'm sure Maxis can add support for explicit alpha maps for day view renders, using a gray background color.

[rubik3 118]

Do you have any idle computers rubik?

 

Yes and no.  Every other system in the house is ancient and can't really do anything I'm doing at the moment.  I could probably play a laggy COD game but it would be hell compared to the smooth games I'm used to playing.

 

Oh and rubik about the triagle edges on the top it looks good now but if you are going to rerender anyway you probably could make it look good and be accurate.

 

I spent about an hour trying to fidget around with the roof edge but nothing ended up looking right.  If I didn't have so much to change I'd redo it, but I would have to completely redo the window washer, the whole texture for the roof as well as scaling some of the observation deck down.  I have work coming my way on Wednesday and I'll have to be able to use my computer, so I'm running on a pretty tight timeframe and don't have time to make it perfect.  Hopefully all the detail I put into these towers will make up for this one small mistake.

[+Guest]

Umm, I think One World trade center needs Sattellites so it can look more realistic

just go to this link. http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=122388

[rubik3 118]

The satallites are there and where they are supposed to be.  Here is a pic showing the setup of the dishes.  Look closely in the rendered image and you'll see them in the same place.

 

http://www.netfeed.com/~jhill/wtc-c.jpg border=0>

 

One showing the overall roof (bigmac's from a page back).  The only satallites are those around the base of the antenna.

 

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[SimMaster 17]

How big do you expect this file to be? It's look pretty good.

[Equinox 1,212]

I'd expect it to be around 7.5 to 10 MB for a single tower and lot files.