hkabat-forum-threads Skyfire's Asian BATs

[Chris M 406]

Ah, ok, thanks for answering my question so detailed. I see your poly counts are extremely high, here's a trick: [if you're using GMAX] when extruding deselect cap start and/or cap end IF the changes are not visible on cap end. You should notice a huge performance boost in your model's previewing and rendering abilities and working with the model in the BAT scene. You'll have little or no lag.

This is what I've learned from DuskTrooper via MSN when my first building's poly counts were extremely high. He said that even some of his bigger buildings are extremely low poly. Like, the NDEX Piedmont Bank Tower is only around 19,000 or so.

I hope this helps!!

[dmscopio 225]

renders in 3 days for the Cheung Kong Centre? Most of the time just rendering nitelite I guess. Man...I think you should consider switching to BatforMax. Anyway, it looks great, I like it.

[jacqulina 162]

your welcome look forward to more progress

[SC4Noobie 5]

Shoot! 3 DAYS! OMG... thats crazy. Well, I don't know why it took so long. Make a overhanging lot for Cheung Kong Centre, it'll add variety.

[HONG KONG 74]

Wow, your CKC is breath taking, special the night version. I look forward already to the model-file.

SC4Noobie: I will make also a overhanging lot

[SC4Noobie 5]

Yea, it's good to have some overhanging lots, especially with a new project I'm planning... (don't tell anyone! lol) We really need some more overhangs. Good work.

[amal81 3]

Great work...skyfire!

I loved the Cheung Kong Centre BAT for 3 reasons. 1) because it is at 45 degrees, which makes the skyline of city look a lot diffrent than normal high rise buildings. and secondly it is a CO$$ building, I always have a lot of demand fro CO$$ buildings once my region hits about a million pop. The lighting in the night version is unique to what I have seen in many BATs.

Cant wait for this to be published!!

[Skyfire2275 23]

Ok, so I got frustrated with my Quantum Mechanics assignment (Yes, I actaully have one of those) and I decided to work a little bit on CITIC Plaza. I only worked on it for about 45 minutes. but I added some roofjunk! Wow! I so far took the cranes from Langham place and the rest of the stuff from the CKC and built the rails for the cranes. I have no good pics of the roof of this one, but the one I do have shows that there are things that might be cranes, and one side is very crowded with stuff, including HVAC units, and the other side is more bare. So that is what I started to do here... I will probably make a few more changes to it, but I think it looks good as is.

As for the base, I think I will leave it the way it is. I don't think I will try playing around with the textures anymore as I think what I can achieve is limited by gmax.

I also added lighting to the sign, but it doesn't look good so I won't show it here.... it needs a lot more work. As for the rest of the building, the lighting will be done almost entirely with the night textures, and maybe a few lights, but I am going to try to keep these to a minimum as they seem to exponentially increase render times.

Let me know what you think... ie: what I need to add, remove, or change, or if it looks good like that.

This time you get a high quality preview that was unforetunately ruined during .jpeg-ification (I doubt that's a real word)... yeah! Click to enlarge:

Anyways, I might not get the chance to work on it again for a while, but I might also get time any day of the week... it's just unpredictable.

Let me know what you think, so I can make this BAT better! Thanks!

[bixel 1,224]

Yay Quantum Mechanics!!! .......oooooOOps

Yay CITIC Building!!

[jacqulina 162]

very nice i say go ahead with your bat and make it better your work is excellent anyway

[Skyfire2275 23]

Thanks for your comments bixel and jacqulina. They are appreciated. I hope you like the final product!

Ok, so I had time again... err... I made time because I was frustrated with homework and needed a break. I did the nightlights and added a few little things to the roof. I rendered the beast too. It was 55000 polys and less than 1000 objects... It had 28 nightlights and took 9.5 hours to render. First time too, yeah! So here are the first in-game screenshots (click to enlarge):

 

Well all my Asian projects are done now except that mystery project I have listed in my first post... now I wonder what that could be? I'll let you in on the secret when I have done more work on it. But for now, I will concentrate on lotting and modding this building now that I know how... then on my other (non-Asian) project: The Renaissance Centre in Detroit, Michigan (link in sig.).

[richard5608 1]

looks very realistic to me and the night lighting looks even more realistic this building is gonna stand out very well and thanks for making it .you would be great using auto cad and become a architect

[spa 970]

It's looking good. It makes me think of the PDA Headquaters already on the STEX.

[bixel 1,224]

Hrmmm......CITIC is looking well.....I know its realistic but it looks awefully boring for SC4...so here we go...I have added a slight gradient ot the main CITIC facade texture...use that intead...also do not tile it..otherwise it will look funny...make x coordinates tthe same as y...in otherwords make width = to tower height, it should look more like this

also I have provided some gradients that I used on One Kowloon...mix and match and place these on all the very thin splines...also you may want to add a gradient effect on the windows but have it going opposite direction of the white facade gradient. Do a test render see what you think. I have attached textures here.

[Skyfire2275 23]

Thanks bixel... I will try it out when I have time, which may not be for a few months as school has finally dragged me down into the realm of homework.

[dmscopio 225]

Looking great skyfire. The night light just stunning. But I think you can improve the white texture. Make it more glossy or have a relection of the nearby buildings and sky.

BTW, any hint on the mystery project? I just can't wait to see it!

[richard5608 1]

will these ever come on the exchage????

[Skyfire2275 23]

Well, since it was bumped, I will give you an outline of what I hope to achieve in December.

Yes, they will be out before the end of the year, I hope... CITIC Plaza will be anways. I have just been tied down with homework, lots of it. It's my last year of my B.Sc. degree, so I have tons of work, final project... and classes... and I have a job to pay for it. So I have had much less time for fun than I did in the summer. Anways...

My last exam is on the 20th... so I have 2 weeks off then. I will od some work on my BAT projects.

CITIC Plaza needs to be re-textured with a gradient, and re-rendered... The lot is done and I just need to finish modding and testing... hopefully that won't take too long. I want this one to be out ASAP... after the 20th that is.

The CKC, I gave to HONG KONG, who has disappeared for the last 2 and a half months... so then I sent it to T Wrecks (about 2 weeks ago)... I hope he has time to lot and modd it by New Years, but who knows... hopefully he will drop by and let us know what's going on.

So, is that a good update richard5608? Sit tight. I hope it will be worth it when the final products come out.

[bixel 1,224]

Yeah...kinda sad we lost HONG KONG...he's on my msn but he's never online. Hope nothing bad has happened.

[richard5608 1]

thanks i cant wait for the citic plaza ive already reserved a space in my downtown next to my tower 42

[Jasoncw 11,941]

Originally posted by: Skyfire2275 It's my last year of my B.Sc. degree...quote>

You mean a B.SC4, right?  The "B" stands for BAT?

[Skyfire2275 23]

^ lol.

@ richard5608: Do you want to help me test the lots when they are ready? You get to have the building first that way.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Ok, so Cheung Kong Centre was rendered at an angle. Not quite 45°, but different. Terribly hard to lot. I tried to muster some sympathy for asymmetry, choosing an angled base texture (not quite at the angle of CKC) and an angled overlay texture (not quite at the same angle as anything else).

You tell me:

 

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work you are doing

[Skyfire2275 23]

Wow, T Wrecks, that looks awesome.

The only thing that doesn't quite work is the base texture. Everything else is superb!!!

I really like the grass and trees... you have definitely done a fine job of working with the rather, uh, brutal asymmetry that I have given you.

Well, the tower is at 30 degrees, so perhaps one of the hexagonal base textures will look good. Or one that is slightly more random and less orderly... like a texture of octagons and squares. Other than that, I say it is good to go.

Good job! And congrats on the Trixies! This is another fine example of why you won so many.

[bixel 1,224]

Your Cheung Kong Center is pretty amazing...a long wait but worth it. This is definetly a great step for you. Congrats!

[Skyfire2275 23]

Well, here's the rest of the stuff I had been working on before school started or at the beginning of the school year that I have shared....

1. My lot design for CITIC Plaza... any comments? I still need to do the modding and a re-render of the building, but I think the lot is pretty good... much better than my rather, uh, barren lot for Shun Hing Square. How does it look?

2. This is  special request I made for DragonAnime. It's just Langham Place with a different texture that DA gave me. I asked if I could release it and he said sure. So, is anyone interested in it? Here's a pic to compare with the original one I made. If so, I would like to put it on the same lots that T Wrecks made already.. So, T Wrecks... since the lots are yours, can you do this or tell me how I can do it easily so that there are no conflicts with the original?

3. This is my "Secret Project" that some people have noticed I mentioned in my first post in this thread. First off: THE BAT IS TERRIBLE, I only made it to get the dimensions right. I have almost all the pics I need to do a good job of it, but I decided not to make it well until I could get it to work right. It's the Hopewell Center in Hong Kong. I wanted to get it to sit on a hill as in real life. And I seem to have accomplished that as can be seen in the pic. Sorry for the craptacular lot, but I decided not to waste my time making a good one.

So, should I continue this project at some point (I probably cannot start unti lthe summer)? Or not... Is something like this going to be useful? The way I plan to do it is to make it so the BAT can be placed on a hill or on flat land depending on the lot. Anyways, I am going to restart the BAT from scratch because this one is pathetic and useless. And I only made it to test this and didn't want to waste my time in case my experiment didn't work. Can anyone get me pics of the base from all sides... the top and bottom of the hill, and of the top of the building?

Thanks for your feedback in advance.

[SURUMI 2]

Skyfire, it's very hard to find some useful pics of Hopewell Centre. I learned, that this building has even different nightlights.

Here you can see:

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=121026&aid=8

http://en.structurae.de/files/photos/2011/hopewell__centre_hong_kong.jpg

About last pic: I have no idea if this it's from the base.

I'll try to find out more.

Keep up your good work.

[SimFox 803]

1 Sitic Plaza

I think those massive supports are prominent part of the design - it's signature if you wish, so, as such it shouldn't be hidden behind such a thriving vegetation. Some grace is good and may be some bushes /agava type of things, but not trees... But that is just my opinion...

2 Langham Place.

No Comment ;-)

3. Hopewell Center.

Not the most imaginative building in HK or anywhere else for that matter. And that is exactly why it could be very practical!! one can not really have the city full of "signature" pieces... it would look bizarre. There should be canvas and Hopewell is good just for that.. Plus being circular in cross section it has a little something to itself. But I'm afraid it wouldn't be possible to get this siome thing special to show up with Gmax... Still it could be good "pork Butts and taters" stuff!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Hey Skyfire, I'm glad you like the lot for your Cheung Kong Centre. I changed the base texture to a different pattern, let me know what you think:

As for CITIC Plaza, SimFox has a point when he says that the columns should probably not be hidden by the lot design. What about making some strips of trees, grass and some benches left and right parallel to those awnings sticking out from the cylindrical center section?

The new texture for Langham Place looks extremely good, and it should be nice to have both versions. Since you had to render with the new texture anyway, I guess the version with DA's texture has a different ID, so it can simply be placed on all lots with the LE instead of the original one.

I'm thinking about how to release the new version - update for the existing STEX file or new upload?