*restructuring* Condos and Surprises!

[Goin2Chicago 4]

those bats are really good and cool looking. can't wait for some of them to be released!

Page 2!!!

[bixel 1,223]

I have an interesting ideal for some of your texture problems...I noticed your windows are big and bold...which is nice...yet it will be difficult covering all those windows with a styleized interesting texture...so here is my idea.

I make a psuedo detailed window frame in 3DS max

I texture it, then render from a flat perspective.

I copy the render image and paste into photo shop...I delete the black background and assign an alpha channel. Save...then use a texture...the idea is to add detail without the geometry...I typically do not bother with this in 3DS but...since you are using sketchup this could be a pleasing alternative for you.

[starrdarcy 4]

Well i have tried that technique before and have found it too be very time consuming, as not many of the windows are the same size. I will try to use textures for the curtains, but it will be hard to use with so many windo sized on the building.

This pictures shows the windows on the bottom portion. The bold blue colors are temporary reference colors, and will be replaced with the final textures a little later.

BTW, how do you render in a different view?

[bixel 1,223]

use the "houses" icons....for Top Left Right etc....you can render from those views....You have a couple more icons than I have. For instance in the Upper Left below the open and save Icons, you have 2 spheres and next that you have out-of-the-box and in-the-box, icons...what are those?

[Alakazam 3]

Oh my god, I really can't wait to see the pack released, seriously! Kepp up the good work, it's much appreciated!

[sendarrow 3]

wow! I like them a lot

[SimFox 802]

!!!! Bixel!!!!!

!!!!Criminal terrible!!!!

That's what you're doing? And I wonder why does it takes soooooo long to render!!

This excessive use of alphas will bring render to a stand still!

IMHO there is NO NEED what-so-ever to texture window frames! If done properly and realistically it wouldn't be noticeable at all!!! Just assign to them some procedural material

[USA Patriot 49]

Okay, wow! This is the coolest thing I've seen in awhile! I will totally love to have these kind of condoes. ;D Amazing work.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

this is a great thread, i cant wait to actually use these!!! amazingly realistic!!! keep it up!!!

[SC4Noobie 5]

I have an idea about how to make your towers truly mixed use! You'll have to grow the tall portion, that will hold R, and you can convert the base part to C, and make it extend off the lot onto the tower. This must be ploppable only, though.

[toxicpiano 125]

Originally posted by: Canadian Mind Dude, isn't english bay at the mouth of false creek, between stanley part and UBC? Casue the science centre is at the end of false creek near the olympic village.

I personally like number one, a possible improvement could be a darke beige or tan on the walls and a slightly blu-er tinge to glass (if possible)quote>

lol, I got confused.

[starrdarcy 4]

bixel:  That is the google earth plugin; the buildings made in SKP can be exported into the google earth for building renders. Not very useful since the content is automatically claimed by google, but it's nie to see your scaled work

SC4Noobie:  Nice idea, i am however completly clueless to the technincal.coding side to bating. I know very little of the ilive reader.

[SC4Noobie 5]

I'm sure you can ask a more experienced modder, like Twrecks, he can help. If it's a batting problem, just look at the STEX for BATters.

[Wolves 0]

This is very nice stuff, there is a lot of this sort of thing going up all over the UK at the moment. Have you thought of putting retail units (small shops ect) on the ground floor of any, allthough i know you wouldnt be able to have retaail jobs in the lot.

[collgab 10]

wow...those buildings look great!!! i can't wait to see them released!!!

[tSlater 134]

Really nice looking.. I can't wait to use these in my mid-sized cities

[starrdarcy 4]

1 Trend Place Update

After 8 hours of solid work on the building over the past few days, i finally came up with a "beta" version of this 1 Trend Place. The beta or test render went better than expected, despite running into many runtime error messages. The whole file is well over 45 mb's for some reason, the 3Ds just kills my memory each time i run GMAX.

So here it is, version one of the beta version. It is already starting to look strickingly like some of the condos in Vancouver!

Still, much work is needed as the matching 2&3 buildings are still needed to be created as well as the townhouses that go right next to this lot (right). Also, the textures are going to further tweaked to give maximum realism and the transparency still needs work. Floor plans and furniture are also in the works.

This time, i want to do lights, but i don't know how to do them. I have come to learn that the omni lights are not a good way to go. I nned help on this lighting issue.

Anyways, back to work for me!

[toxicpiano 125]

oh wow! its very pretty! it reminds me of jawood's One Starr Center

[starrdarcy 4]

1 Trend Place

This new and trendy condo development soars 25 floors above the devon avenue condo district. Features include hard wood floors, panoramic views of the city, and open desgin concepts. So far, the building has recieved rave reviews and has sold out most of the floors.

The building is 25 floors, at 4.5 meters each. There are 4 suits on each floor up to level 24, were there are 4 penthosue suits. There is also 2 community areas on the top and below as well.

So with the building complete (version1), i will be releasing it to a few people who are interested in placing in there city to see how it blends with the rest of the maxis buildings.

Please PM me if you would like to participate.

Here's another shot of the Devon Street Area Developments!

[Canadian Mind 1]

I'm hoping for the bright glass look. After awhile the city's just get to dark, dreary, and dirt, even if they have a top environmental rating and zero garbage.

[SC4Noobie 5]

Wow, they look pretty good in a SC enviornment! I can't wait for public release.

[starrdarcy 4]

NewUrbanist Update

Well after 4 hours of making some more alterations and changes to the TrendPlace 1,2 & 3, i'm now going to be releasing it several users who are interested in testing out the lots. These 3 lots will be only plopable for the testing phase, however, will eventually be growable for com/residential.

Each building has been slightly changed, i'm still tryign to find the perfect glass/concrete combination.

Also available to the several the users are these beta parks. Some of these are crazy looking, but i think it goes with the whole new-urbanist look. They are basically to just spice up the area and give nearby sims some palce to breath and get away from it all.

The water texture still needs work...

I should note that these lots in their test stage should be ONLY be placed on flat terrain, and not any slopes or hills. These lots do not have custom textures, but will use custom textures for the public release.

So what is my next project? Well i will be working on some new designs for another highrise residential tower. It wil be 35+ floors

Anyways, here are the buildings i have created so far!

[bixel 1,223]

Your exports are getting better...they still look nicer in Sketchup but is because I like that thickline defualt rendering it does in the preview screen. Excellent work btw.

[spa 968]

Looking good. Your use of trees and benches around the the buildings is quite nice. I also like that you've made several variations of the same type of building. I hope to see these out of beta and on the stex. It's not very glamorous, but I also really like the small condo on the far right. A nice low-rise. The parks look promising too although, as you've already said, the water textures could use some work. Anyway, keep up the great work.

[toxicpiano 125]

very nice!

[Flumes 3]

This is really cool!!! Nice Job with the BAT's.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

great work, man, i love this project!!!

[SC4Noobie 5]

The buildings look great! Those wierd looking pools are great. I think that should represent the modern park. I think this was mentioned before, but is there a tute for how to get skeckup to export to a sc4model file? Thanks. Waiting for the release!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

There's some extraordinary stuff shown here, and tons of talent at work! I'm very impressed by your buildings so far, as they are not only well BATted (or should I say 'SketchUped'), but also good in design. You have some very original and interesting ideas, too. That park, for example, will look great in a modern environment, and I like how you made the ground texture fit the sidewalk tiles.

I agree with you that the glass buildings still need some adjustments. On the smaller ones, you might try making those bright reflections a tiny bit less flashy. As for the taller ones, I think that they somehow lack a bit of crispness. The textures look a bit cloudy, and windows and walls are not as clearly separated as on the other buildings.

Are ypu planning to leave the windows of that reddish low-rise apartment block as they are? I could imagine them to look quite nice after a bit of jasoncw-ifying the window textures - check jasoncw's BATs to see what I mean... his window textures are among the best IMHO. Maybe he can teach you some of his tricks.

Otherwise, I don't suppose there are too many tricks left to be told you... superb job so far, and a great addition to the Euro tileset!

[bixel 1,223]

Yes...is there a way to enable the catmull-rom filter?...it does great antialiasing on edges...increases sharpness of the export. And your park is totally gorgeous!