simmars-forum-threads BAT Workshop

[Shoji_sim 9]

Evillions: You could do that by adding pics of office buildings with people going about (you can get several at http://www.cgtextures.com), or adding interior walls, etc.

PS: I've always wanted to know what "evillions" means.

[timcravey 168]

I also wonder what 'evillions' refers to.

Here's a tip -

All the lines drawn inside the window and used for railings inside are simple drawn Splines - you can use the same technique to create almost any shape.  Set the Thickness to suit your needs - I like a value of .2 or .3, sometimes .5; also the number of sides can be set - I prefer 4, 6, or 8. Be sure to check the Display Mesh box and after you create the shape apply a UVW modifier and material.

You can see from this shot that I modeled the interior space - I cut out the inside then added boxes and tubes to make floors and walls. It doesn't have to be very detailed because you can't really see into the building very well because of the heavy Martian glass.  The planters and plants are simple modeled shapes and the sofa is a download from Planit3D - I could still do a lot to it. The interior back wall has a self-illuminated texture of office windows on it to simulate 'stuff' (like what Shoji suggested) but it doesn't really work well on this model.  Also there are 6 omni lights for day lighting and 8 for night on this 2x2 tile lot.

If you look closely at the Sirius Building you can see I tried to map the windows with self-illuminated texture of office windows.

I guess it's OK but I still have a lot to figure out.

In a similar vein - I shot the medium Pool again

While Andisart is away I have been developing the Barsoom Style - flagrantly ornamental, airy and elegant but speaking to the untamed savagery and grandeur of the Martian Mythos.

This is the Curia Ares - a possible replacement for the State Fair.

[Evillions 552]

Wow that's great! The only thing I don't get is how do you cut a shape? I tried everything but it turned out to be errors.

By the way, I made an improved martian apartments and a complex since it does apply to the rule. I haven't exported yet but who knows? Also, is your doors like an arch and no door? If you want, try using some of those airlock textures for your doors. They look excellent. Its genni's. Although I'm not using Simmars in the moment, I could send a GMAX file if you want. You may edit if you wish or change the shape. Its a basic shape, side with eight sides.

[timcravey 168]

Well, let's see.

Let's start with a simple group of boxes, something like Shoji suggested a few posts back.

The green boxes are the ones we want to keep; the red ones are the parts we want to cut out. 'Union' adds the parts together; 'Intersection' produces the difference between two intersecting shapes. 'Subtraction' will cut away.

The result - quick and easy.  If you're getting errors on a boolean operation then your pieces probably aren't intersecting - for example, you can't subtract one box from inside another unless the inside box pokes out like through a window or door opening.

So we have a very basic model we can easily dress up with simple splines and shapes. I'll use mostly boxes and planes with a few lines and rectangles and for the adventurous - Lattice!

Here you see that I had to convert the Plane object (or any other simple primitive object) to an editable mesh before I could edit it at the Edge level. Select the object, then the yellow button (Edge Select), drag a selection rectangle around the object to get the edges ('ignore backface' will cut down on the number of selected edges for complex objects). Now scroll down in the tool panel to the Edit Geometry section and click on Create Shape from Edges.

Just remember after you create a shape to deselect the object you created it from and select the Shape from the selection list before adjusting the Mesh Settings and Interpolation. Last apply UVW mapping and texture. I set the Interpolation at 0 for tight square angles or 2 for more open 'Barsoom' style lattice.

Voila! A simple Martian house.

Taking advantage of the Modular style parameters we can easily do this -

Those textures were giving me fits - you will spend more time tweaking textures and lights than you will building the model. I decide to name the building 'Shoji-koya' - House of the Paper Door - as a tribute to Shoji-san. And it gets a little taller and fuller.

If you take your time you can crowd a lot of junk into a model to make it look busier - here I have dozens of plants (downloaded from the STEX), a bar with cafe tables and even a Poser figure (you would think a guy that is 8 feet tall would be more visible). There are free objects all over the web that you can use for modeling just don't re-distribute them.

There are 23 omnis lighting the scene. You should learn some forceful and creative curse-words before you start lighting a model - you'll definitely want to use them!

[Evillions 552]

This is a HUGE help to me! Thanks for the tips, now I know how to BAT for Simmars and can BAT too!

[timcravey 168]

Here it is in-game. Render took 3 hours.

[Evillions 552]

Nice, I rendered a building using your tips. And somehow, the BAT its self is pretty pleasing to me. But somehow, it won't grow. That's with every BAT I make, it never shows up unlike my IND ID building, Evillions Chemical Factory and Storage made by me. Just weird, can you help me on this, or someone who can help me if you don't know?

[timcravey 168]

Evillions - I have seen the trouble you're having in your Mars Colony and am sending you Peacekeeper Rangers to help you resist the terra-ists who want to make Mars like Earth. Here is the First Armored Airborne Division:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a3bfc4b1ec8e3039d2db6fb9a8902bda

Here they are leaving the staging area -

The whole set will include all pieces in both color sets.  Presently the blue set is larger on offensive units and the red set is heavier on defense.  There are no dependencies.  The rocket-assisted transport or RAT is large enough to carry 1 large and up to 6 smaller assault units. These all show up in the park menu.

The LM fortress structure needs a lot of work but I shot it anyway so I could see the nightlights.

Swat - Would you be interested in taking this whole package on - make it STEX-uploadable supplement seperate from the beta?  We may use these models for the finished Army Base Reward but we really don't need all these military park plops as part of the regular download. Still, they are fun to play with.  BTW lighting props is very easy - In the Plug-in Manager go to the Advanced tab and set Lights to True.

Let me know what you think.

[Evillions 552]

Nice war buildings / units! By the way, Mars had won against Earth with WW2 tanks and airships! WW2 tanks in 2076, lol! I couldn't find any other tanks like buildings for my war anyways.

[JakeMD 107]

I love these guys, great work!!

[timcravey 168]

Here is part 2 of the N4sr set - more red units and an improved LM fortress with a guarded gate (in the park menu). You'll need to delete the original LM for this one to work properly - it's in the Base1 folder.  The new gate is 1x2 and transit enabled; ideally you will level an area 9x9, place the LM piece on either side of a central street and plop the gates across the road.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zyjyiumzxzy

[TimeMaster 4]

All of the BATs you are creating look excellent. Keep up the work for beta 3.

[timcravey 168]

You're gonna hate me but I did it anyway!

I have put up the bulk of my previously not shared BATs. This includes all commercial, and residential lots, newer rewards and the props associated with the private school (I'm sorry, I didn't rename them yet with the SM_ prefix). Anyone that wants can give these a go. I hope you'll all try them and let me know what you think. Feel free to re-lot or cull. Mod them if you like. Just share your ideas about them and let's see if we can whip them into shape for the Beta.

The folder is pretty large (21Mb) but if you open it I think you can select a subfolder to download.

Files are here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a3bfc4b1ec8e30398c9e7c56ba37815f1dc9c1525912cf6b

[Shoji_sim 9]

I got my cube house structure thing almost finished (*ahem* almost finished).

I have a problem with nightlights. Spotlights and omnis work perfectly, but windows can't do anything good. You'll see why...

[timcravey 168]

Wonder what happened to your Night windows? Download NDEX Night Window Textures and put them in your GMAX folder (the Readme explains where).

[Evillions 552]

Personally, I don't use night window textures. I think its too hard to UVW map them to its correct form. Anyways, I don't think I can help out the Simmars project anymore. But if I can, I will make BATs for it then. But till now, I don't think I can. I'm too busy doing things in the real world.

[Shoji_sim 9]

Evillions: Well, have I good time, be sure to come back for SMB3...

Timcravey: Another shot shows that it may be something wrong with the BAT itself.

[AndisArt 2,067]

Tim: some good new stuff since I was away I agree with SWAT on the round building, more details. Regards the new block tower, looks cool! but please no chinese signs on the BATs. SimMars should be kept neutral. (or English as the universal language)

Xyloxadoria: Any updates on ur promising BATs?

Shoji: What exactly is the problem with the nightwindows?

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

Xyloxadoria: Any updates on ur promising BATs?

quote>

I was offered to be on RTMT so ive been mostly busy with transit stuff. Ive been working on that big tower i showed earler when i get bored with transit stuff but its a big building so it taking a while. I was thinking about maybe putting solar panels

I am plannig to put commnication stuff on the roof since its quite tall and maybe some wind trubines to help power the building during dust storms when the solar panels wouldnt work.

Im close to completing the tower and will post a pic when im done

Originally posted by: Shoji_sim

I got my cube house structure thing almost finished (*ahem* almost finished).

I have a problem with nightlights. Spotlights and omnis work perfectly, but windows can't do anything good. You'll see why...

quote>

Thats caued by a limitation in the BAT that annoys me too. You can only have lights or the nightwindows. If you use lights, it will turn off nightwindows, in order for that not to happen, you have to make the nightwindows be a seprate object and add the word nite to the front of the name (I think)

[Evillions 552]

How do you get green nightlites for windows? I was always wondering how the NDEX team and some other well known BATs do it.

[Shoji_sim 9]

Maybe, until I get some sort of windows working.

Tim: BTW: If I download the NDEX nightmaps and install them, does it count as a dependency?

[timcravey 168]

Shoji - No. It is not a dependency.

Andisart - I'm trying for a Bladerunner feel. Only not so dark. I saw a tutorial on making neon like signs - you've got to admit that the mid- and lo-rise downtown needs some nighttime glitz. And that was Japanese btw - I try to give all cultures equal opportunity to inspire me. Which ones would you ask me to refuse a place in my imagination? How could my creations then be true expressions of free thought? Utilitarian is not Totalitarian!

Unless, of course, you say it is.

[Shoji_sim 9]

tim: Thanks, and I don't even need to download the NDEX nightmaps. I made myself a "mars" nightmap! Should be done by tonight (tonight to me means the night of 26 March. Sounds military-ish).

Evillions (with the name I'm still wondering about): It's easy. What you do is that you got into the gmax folder in your install directory and find the maps/nightmaps folder (or something like that). Then you should find three folders: 'beige', 'blue' and 'green'. These contain textures.

To make a new texture, make a new folder with the name of your texture name. Then create 5 pics so that the names end with "-z1", "-z2", etc. to "-z5". You should then find them in your perimeters rollout.

[Shoji_sim 9]

Ah, shucks. The nightwindows are off the list again! Guess someone has to nightlight them for me. If you can, please nightlight the windows and send me the SC4 model file (after exporting). The file is a gmax scene.

[timcravey 168]

Hey, Shoji. I worked your cubehouse over and found some problems. I'm not sure why your lights don't work but if I were you I would reinstall GMAX or reset all the default settings in the preferences. It's not a big deal; you wont loose any files but it might fix some of your problems. The main issue seemed to be with your material editor - remember to always apply UVW mapping to all objects and use simple materials instead of multiple until you figure it out. I uploaded your file to the SMEX ( http://www.simmarsdevex.net63.net//index.php? ). Included are two different lots (requires SimMars and needs my props to show properly but not necessary). You might want to take a look at the GMAX scene and see how I changed it. Both lots grow in-game if they have water but you might want to reshoot the whole scene with better textures and replace the models on the lots. Let me know if you have any difficulties.

For those of you who are interested I have made a short tutorial on sharing -

Create a folder on your desktop first; then run the Resource Collector in GMAX, browse to the folder you created,check Include gmax File and Copy, then Begin. Wait a minute or two then check the folder to verify that all the bitmaps and files have been copied. I like to include any finished models, desc and lots in seperate subfolder. You might include pictures and readme documents before Zipping and posting to the web.

[Evillions 552]

Shoji. Did you upload a GMAX file? If you did I might be able to edit it like doors and windows if needed. But for now I'm on break.

[Shoji_sim 9]

Evillions: Yep, It's gmax. On the SMEX.

Tim: Aw, come on! (Translation: Reinstalled gmax, and look what happens. I hate this PC)

[timcravey 168]

When you reinstall you need to be sure any file with the extension .ini is removed from the GMAX folder before reinstalling - this contains your custom settings. The problem is not your PC - its your custom settings. If you have to, remove all your models and the file modelnames.ms (I think) that corrects the texture conflict problem, then Uninstall the whole thing and make sure there is nothing left in the folder before reinstalling.

[Evillions 552]

That BAT if yours NEEDS work on your cube house. If I were you try going around Sc4devotion and check some BAT tips. It can help you and all of us here.

[Shoji_sim 9]

Tim: Got it up and working with beige windows. But probably I can't show it to you in SimMars as it keeps crashing whenever I open up a city square.