hkabat-forum-threads Skyfire's Asian BATs

[richard5608 1]

any idear when the citic plaza will be made as i have it in my skyscrapers book

i think its the biggest reinforced concrete building in the world

its also one of the biggest buildings not yet made.just wondering what ranking it is in regards to its height.its also one of my personal favourites

[cityhawk 12]

Did I hear that you finally got a building exported?! Good job on handling that, and I look forward to seeing it on the STEX soon.

[Skyfire2275 23]

@ SC4 Noobie: Thanks for the compliment!

@ dmscopio & jacqulina: Thanks!

@ bixel: Thanks, and yes I have the fixed Dynasty Court.

@ richard5608: CITIC Plaza... should be done by the beginning of Septembet... I hope! I think it is the 7th tallest building in the world, or somewhere around there.

@ cityhawk: Thanks, I hope it will be on the STEX by the end of the month at the latest.

@ all: The modding on Shun Hing Square is done and it is currently being tested, so expect it to be on the STEX before the end of the month.

In other news, I asked you about how I should do the Cheung Kong Centre... 30 degrees OR not? So here is a preview at 30 degrees for you to see for yourselves what it will look like in game at that angle. I think it looks great. More intersting than just an orthogonal to the grid building. I think it would be on a 5x5, but maybe a 4x4 lot at this angle. Anyways, the preview is just draft quality and I still need to finish the base and roof.

Also, does anyone know why gmax is brutally bleaching out all of the textures and details on the roof? I had the problem with Shun Hing Square as well... but only sometimes.

Anyways, here's the pic. I look forward to your feedback.

For comparison, an orthogonal view from a vew pages back. (click to enlarge):

The only other work I have done is to reduce the poly count from 195 000 to 165 000. So now I think it is low enough to continue and finish this thing!

EDIT: imgcity.net... where I upload my images is being kind of slow today, so if it takes a while to load the pics, I'm sorry!

[cammo2003 20]

I liike how it looks on an angle. Go with it, I reckon. We could use a few more angled buildings to break the dead grid look.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Whoa, that's looking fine! Will be difficult to lot, though. I just think that the roof is too bright, both the grey texture and especially the white trim around it. Then again, I suppose those textures aren't the final word anyway, right? Some "6459978-ification" will make the roof look great.

[jacqulina 162]

sky my friend you are doing an awesome job

[HONG KONG 74]

I like the 30 degree version very much!

[Skyfire2275 23]

@ cammo2003, jacqulina, & HONG KONG: Thanks for your input.

@ T Wrecks: Yeah, it will be difficult to lot, but that's not my problem this time. HONG KONG is going to lot it... if he still wants to, that is. About the roof textures... they are not turning out how they are supposed to. gmax is bleaching and bleeding them more than I thought was ever possible. That's the problem. But you are tight to othat the textures are not final. Also, the white part is not textured yet. I forgot to do it and didn't noticed until I posted the pics. thanks for the feedback.

@ all: It appears that imgcity.net disappeared... Unfortuneately I hosted my images there. So, I guess I will have to go through this thread, and fix all of the relevant ones atleast. I will do it later when I get the pics off of my other computer as the yare not stored on this one. I do still have them though. Expect them to be back up within a day. Oh yeah, and thanks for your support.

[cityhawk 12]

Originally posted by: Skyfire2275

@ all: It appears that imgcity.net disappeared... Unfortuneately I hosted my images there. So, I guess I will have to go through this thread, and fix all of the relevant ones atleast. I will do it later when I get the pics off of my other computer as the yare not stored on this one. I do still have them though. Expect them to be back up within a day. Oh yeah, and thanks for your support.

quote>

My whole CJ came from imgcity.net, so I know how you feel, but on a much larger scale! Anyway, good luck with that.

[dmscopio 225]

I use imageshack. So far I don't have any problem with it. How is your ShungHing Square doing? Any chance we will see it on STEX soon?

[jacqulina 162]

sky do you make houses too

[Skyfire2275 23]

@ cityhawk: I feel your pain.

@ dmscopio: It should be on the STEX before the end of August... or near then.

@ jacky: No houses, yet, I suppose I could, but I don't have enough time right now!

@ all: I decided it would be a waste of my time to fix all the defunct pics, and instead will just post the new pics when I get them. I did some work on the CKC yesterday and I hope to finish it next week. I will post a pic when I have made enough progress to actually show you something.

[Skyfire2275 23]

I know I am doubling posting, but in this case, I think it is ok as the two posts are totally unrelated and I am not bumping a thread as it is already at the top of the list anyways.

So:

Attention Ladies and Gentlemen! I have just made my first upload to the STEX! Langham Place is now uploaded for your gaming pleasure. I hope you enjoy it! It can be found here:

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=16730

There is one dependency, Cerulean's Base Textures V101. I'd like to thank bixel for his glass texture and T Wrecks for the modding and lotting work! Thanks guys! All other stats and information can be found in the readme file and on the STEX.

[villagemayor 0]

The building I have been waiting for!!! Langham Place is wonderful. Very good work!!! The only thing that would make it better is if you included the 10 storey glass atrium and shopping mall. Because the glass atrium is so tall, and is see through on both sides, it would be spectacular. Especially with the 7 storey escalator as the centrepiece in the atrium, it would look amazing at night. But never mind the suggestion, the building on its own works too.

[tankmank 853]

it is ausome in game can't wait for another of your bats

[SimFox 803]

I'm cracking virtual champagne bottle for you here!

BRAVO!!!

[____----____ 37]

steals the bottle

[SC4Noobie 5]

Congrats on a great success, Skyfire. Good work on front paging it immediatly. I really like this one.

(takes the bottel from AK and runs away like a idiot)

[SimFox 803]

What a world we are living in!! Man’s bottle is never safe no more!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

To make matters worse, a champagne bottle!

*leans against wall and slowly sips German beer while others run around the house hunting for that champagne bottle*

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull finish sky just thought i would ask about the houses but thats ok

[SimFox 803]

Jaxqulina: sorry, but what do you mean when you say houses?? Residential buildings generally, or just small, one family houses/townhouses?

T Wrcks: what a sweet lovely Bedlam we are living in... oh there the doctors are coming with the syringes…

[Skyfire2275 23]

@ village mayor: Thanks for your complimetns. Maybe one day I will BAT the mall at Langham Place, but not anytime soon, sorry.

@ tankmank, SimFox, Aleking, SC4Noobie, T Wrecks: Thanks!

@ jacqulina: Thanks, I am not planning on making any houses, sorry. Not enough time.

@ all: Here's an update on the CKC. I did the roof and base... just minor tweaking now, after I get some feedback of course!

The first image in just a refresher of what the 30 degree angle looks like.

The second is a daytime high quality render that took 6 hours to make. I only have 165 000 polys and a much lower object count than before (I that time I could have rendered the whole Shun hing Square or 3 Langham Places!!! lol). No ideas why it takes so long, but I think exporting this will be a 2 or 3 day job...

The third is just a draft quality nighttime preview.

My thoughts... the roof texture needs to be a bit darker... the white trim on the roof also needs to be darker. the nightlights need to cover a larger angle still and I need o fix the light leaks around the roof. I also need to make the light that lights the sign smaller so it does not shine onto the roof in that weird spot. And I will rotate the final render by 30 degress I think. Also, I did not put doors on it at the base under the little awning... do you think I should? What are your thoughts?

[bixel 1,224]

Oooh both renders look extremely awesome!!!! I luve the idea of having to styles...and the 30 degree one looks really good!!

Yeah..you are right on both counts of the textures...a little darker would be cool. Anyhoo I think you did a fabulous job on the model simply amazing!!

I am so glad you are on the team!

[mightygoose 92]

yeah i ote for the 30 dgree final could you do a overhanging lot so we could have it surrounded with diagonal roads too if at all possible cos in my mini hong kong theres a gap lol.... and the ckc would fit perfectly....

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull sky i dont know much about batting but i do appreciate what you great people do

SIMFOX I WAS WONDERING ABOUT RURAL HOUSES LARGE AND SMALL AND MEDIUM FOR MAKING A VILLAGE

[owenluby 1]

Looks great Skyfire!

Keep it up!

[SimFox 803]

Sky! I'm very impressed with your progress!! Incredible!

 

As for my usual 22 cents – well I beg to differ with you on couple of issues but then again agree on others. So here they are:

1. Yep I think roof texture has to be changed if possible. Not Simply darker but more weathered. It is especially important since ligh doesn’t produce right shados and all the stuff on the roof look like it is levitating in mid air. Draw the dirt around the base of Aircon units and other structures on the roof and it should settle those down.

2. General layout of the roof is too clutter free. Take a look at Google Earth…

I think you can utilize that window cleaning unit you’ve made for Langham Place here as well. But these are just a mild suggestions.

3. May be mast with Cell phone antennas. The bunch of them! How many providers are there in HK?

4. Roof edge texture probably could be changed, although actually it does have that sort of metallic shine to it. What you can do is to play with various secular settings to see if you can reduce it.

5. For night view, I don’t really think you should widen the beam of spots, quite an opposite. Reduce it and while you at it do the same for the intensity! It is way overpowering. At this setting it kills your night windows completely. I would say you should narrow the spread of the beam(maximum of it) so that Falloff pf neighboring beams wouldn’t intersect. Cause when they do default GMAX/MAX lights produce ugly unrealistic multiplication effect. Another thing – make Hotspot/Beam really small! And change it from circular to rectangular and make it in a 1:5 shape.

6. You light leakage problem comes most probably from the fact that your nitelites do not seem to generate any shadows. If it is so you wouldn’t be able to fix it. Just let them have shadows. You also could set some decay after certain point. Or do you already have it?? I can not tell…

7. As far as doors go, I don’t think you need them.

[Cjah 15]

Alot of skill...here....

Great job!

[Skyfire2275 23]

@ bixel:

Originally posted by: bixel ... I luve the idea of having to styles... ...quote>

What do you mean to styles? Anyways, I fixed the textures, I think, so take a lok and tell me if they are better. Thanks for the compliment!

@ mightygoose: Thanks, I will probably export the model at 30 degrees.

@ jacqulina & owenluby: Thanks.

@ SimFox: First off, thanks for the compliment. Now to answer your points...

Originally posted by: SimFox

Sky! I'm very impressed with your progress!! Incredible!

 

As for my usual 22 cents – well I beg to differ with you on couple of issues but then again agree on others. So here they are:

1. Yep I think roof texture has to be changed if possible. Not Simply darker but more weathered. It is especially important since ligh doesn’t produce right shados and all the stuff on the roof look like it is levitating in mid air. Draw the dirt around the base of Aircon units and other structures on the roof and it should settle those down.quote>

I changed the roof texture and white trim so they are darker... tell me what you think, did I succeed? I don't think I am going to make it look more weathered because the building is not that old and is very high class... I want it too look classy... remember in real life, nobody sees the roof, so it can look like crap. In SC4, we all see the roof, so I think having a tidy roof gives a building a sense of class. Agree?

As for the odd shadows, I cannot explain that... the roof is at the same height as the bottom of every single thing on it... it comes right up to the base of the A/C units and everything else... no ideas how to fix that. Anyone else know why that's happening?

2. General layout of the roof is too clutter free. Take a look at Google Earth…

I think you can utilize that window cleaning unit you’ve made for Langham Place here as well. But these are just a mild suggestions.

3. May be mast with Cell phone antennas. The bunch of them! How many providers are there in HK?quote>

The Google Earth images show that it is pretty plain... no cranes or cell phone towers. And again, the plain clean look helps give the building an air of class, in my opinion.

4. Roof edge texture probably could be changed, although actually it does have that sort of metallic shine to it. What you can do is to play with various secular settings to see if you can reduce it.quote>

Changed it... any better?

5. For night view, I don’t really think you should widen the beam of spots, quite an opposite. Reduce it and while you at it do the same for the intensity! It is way overpowering. At this setting it kills your night windows completely. I would say you should narrow the spread of the beam(maximum of it) so that Falloff pf neighboring beams wouldn’t intersect. Cause when they do default GMAX/MAX lights produce ugly unrealistic multiplication effect. Another thing – make Hotspot/Beam really small! And change it from circular to rectangular and make it in a 1:5 shape.

6. You light leakage problem comes most probably from the fact that your nitelites do not seem to generate any shadows. If it is so you wouldn’t be able to fix it. Just let them have shadows. You also could set some decay after certain point. Or do you already have it?? I can not tell…quote>

Sorry, no new previews... I forgot to enable shadows on the lights ... (oops!) so that fixed my "leakage" problem. I also changed the decay from the default 80m to 10m, and I think that fixed some "leakage" issues as well, but didn't impact the look of the tower itself. I think I am going to leave the size and shape of the spot lights as they are, but I did turn down the intensity. I went from 4 to 3.5. I also fixed the light that lit up the CKH logo on the top of the tower. It nolonger lights the roof as well.

7. As far as doors go, I don’t think you need them.quote>

Haven't decided yet... Let's see if someone else has an opinion.

@ Cjah: Thanks for the compliment!

@ all: Here is the new preview... it is just a low quality render, but in my opinion it looks fine anyways. Is there much of a difference between this and a high quality render? If not I will export the tower in medium or low to save some render time, which I estimate to be a few days! I fixed the texture issues around the roof. And some other night light issues, but I don't have a pic of that.

Also, for the lot, I BATted a flag that appears on the real life lot. It is the Cheung Kong Holding Co.'s (CKH) flag... the same logo that appears on the top of the building. Is it any good? (Below is a shot from the lot editor as it only takes 4 seconds to export... lol )

Looking at that pic again I can see that saving it as a .jpeg was a bad idea... It sort of blurred everything... so look past the blurriness when judging it, please!