Nofunk's BAT Thread

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Looking good!

[jacqulina 162]

excellent news i will be looking out for the water tower my friend,is this latest building industry i am interested to see how this turns out as i would like to add it in my cj,very nice work and details so far

[josefmayor 8]

Very nice NoFunk, I like this building!

[nofunk 1,933]

wolverine: Do you have any idea what it's called? Also, I assume they've been converted to lofts? I need to go get some reference photos of the south and west walls, so maybe I'll poke around then, but if you have any idea...

Fledgeling: Ha! What a crazy coincidence. Well I'm glad you like it! We definitely need more of these types of buildings.

Jasoncw: Thanks!

jacqulina: Thanks! Regarding the newest building, I believe it originally was industry, so I will probably offer it as an industrial lot, but it is now apartments lofts, and I will offer that, too. Heck, maybe I'll offer all three!

josefmayor: Thank you!

QUICK UPDATE

In a nutshell: scaled up, accentuated arches in windows, tweaked and textured roof junk, window textures not necessarily final, need reference shots for the sides you can't see.

[Spike345 20]

this is stunning!

[wolverine 12]

It was a seed company I think. I'm going to have to dig around for those photos.

[spa 968]

I like your new project! You've really gotten good at this I think changing the scale for the arched windows was the right call. The roof junk on this one is especially good. Looking forward to more and seeing what details you go with on the back of the building.

[parisinflames08 0]

Hey NoFunk, I found something that might interest you. Here is the original fascade of the sanders building before motown took over. The sanders Fascade remained until Motown took over both buildings and put those terrible blue things all over. I hope you consider using the original. Also Ive included some photos of bits of the building as it was being taken down. You can see the original sanders sign was still intact. I believe the building was expanded up a few floors at one point also. I unfortunately have no photos of the donovan's orginal exterior.

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend sounds great all three,excellent progress i love it when all the little details get added,they sure make a lot of difference

[nofunk 1,933]

Hi all,

Spike345: Thank you!

wolverine: Jason was telling me that there used to be many seed companies in SE Michigan. I had no idea. I actually don't need any photos of this -- walked by it on Sunday and got plenty of reference photos, but if you know any history on the building at all, that'd be cool.

spa: Thanks bud! I'm glad you like the roof junk -- it took me a while before I could get downtown to get reference photos of the side and back, so I had plenty of time to concentrate on the roof. It's good to know it paid off!

parisinflames08: Thanks for the photos! They're going to come in handy. I fully intend to model both Donovan and Sanders after the orginals. (Well, the original plus the expansion -- in the end Sanders was six stories.) No garage doors on Donovan, and no terrible blue things on Sanders. Of course, someone might object to that, but I wanted to make it a *true* recreation, I wouldn't be modeling them at all, since they no longer exist.

jacqulina: Thanks, Jacky! Yes, I think I'll offer all three zone types. And yes, lots of details on this one!

UPDATE

I feel like I haven't accomplished much since my last update, but I suppose I have. Maybe it's because I have too many projects going right now?

I made it downtown this weekend to get some more reference photos of what I am tentatively calling the Ann Arbor Seed Co. I think we have established that it was originally a seed company, but other than that I know nothing. I'm honestly not even 100% sure that it's been converted to lofts, although I suspect that to be the case.

Anyway, I drove down there, and walked around the building, braving the wind, snow and sub-zero temperatures (about -15 C, by the way) and got some photos. The back of the building is far more complicated than I had expected. It isn't really complicated to BAT, there are just a lot of details. For example, a pieced together pano of the back:

Here's the progress I've made so far. Some of the textures are NOT final, and as you can it's only about 35-40% modeled:

Also, I ran into a complication that is insurmountable. The building is actually on an incline, and the back of the building is five floors tall while the front is only four. Can't really do anything about that, so I'm killing a row of windows along the back.

In other news, I'm having some frustrations with the night lights on the McNamara Federal Building, and will be exporting it again, but it's coming soon! Here's a teaser in-game:

And last but not least, the Ypsilanti Water Tower has come back from JBSimio and is almost ready to go! It will be released... tomorrow? (No guarantees though!)

nofunk.

[wolverine 12]

Looks excellent!

There were many seed companies and mills around SE Michigan prior to the massive industrialization that took over. Ann Arbor was a booming agricultural center back in the day. Most of the original buildings in the city center remain, but have been converted into lofts, office, or entertainment space. I noticed the Millenium club recently repainted/restored the flour sign on the side of the building. That wall has now kept the same painted logos for almost 100 years! I'm glad it hasn't changed since.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

100 years is a real record!  It should be put on some kind of historical protection list.  It must be maintained!

Everything's looking good Nofunk.  Looking forward to the next BSP upload!

[jacqulina 162]

hi my friend as allways excellent progress and i also cant wait for you to upload

[ILL Tonkso 1,236]

Looks great although i do have one gripe, i dont know if its the college monitors but the brick texture seems a little oversaturated, even for painted bricks. Although you did say they are not the final textures a slight desaturation can go a long way. The model itself is fantastic, the piping and roof junk is particularly realistic.

McNamara looks great too!

[nofunk 1,933]

Hello!

wolverine: I just noticed the sign on Millennium, too. I think that's really cool. Sometimes I find Ann Arbor's protection of historical buildings tedious (I'm thinking of Glen-Ann Pl. project  you've been discussing on UrbanPlanet), but in many cases it's very beneficial. If only Detroit paid such close attention to its historical gems.

Jasoncw: Thank you! You've got an upload pending too!

jacqulina: Thanks, Jacky. Check the STEX!

ILL Tonkso: No, I don't like the brick texture either. I will probably remake it from scratch. It's too saturated and doesn't match the brick on the actual building. I started with the wrong palette.

I'm glad you like the details! I've really been trying to focus more on these things, since they really make all the difference.

Guess what...

The Ypsilanti Water Tower has been released!

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=17749

[Goin2Chicago 4]

great release. havn't seen it in game yet but once i get the time i'll deffinetly check it out. as for your new project, it's awesome, i like the shape of the building and i know the finished product from you will be top notch. lookin forward to more previews and releases!

[jacqulina 162]

i have it my friend thankyou i will be putting it in my cj very soon

[bixel 1,223]

Beautiful.. Man I have been a simtropolis member for 3 years..and I have to say all of us has really really improved to such an extent...really even when you look at the early NDEX works the stuff coming out now is really top-notch. I have to say this is top quality material...if I knew anyway of getting Will Wright's attention I would you guys, NoFunk, Jasoncw, Dmscopio, and that guy 6991283 (I forgot) you know my god the quality is astounding!! Is there anyway we can set up some sort of mutual promotion to ea.games? I mean I would love to work on SC5 I have scanned through the ea.games.job junk but it has been made to be incredibly convoluted and confusing. ok enough I may not be making sense...do we know if they are watching and posting on these forums?

[gerAndi 29]

looks very good!

weed urgently need more wall-to-wall stuff for blue zones ;D

[nofunk 1,933]

Hi everyone,

Goin2Chicago: Thank you! Yeah, I liked this building because it's an L-shaped, corner lot.

jacqulina: As always, I'll be keeping an eye on Paradise Falls!

bixel: I've always wondered if EA keeps an eye on this stuff, but I'm also skeptical that they'd be receptive to our ideas and projects. Of course, I could be wrong about that. But I think you're right: everyone you've mentioned, PLUS you guys on the HKABT have come up with such top-notch stuff, it'd be a shame if EA didn't take notice.

gerAndi: Thank you! Yes, we definitely need more wall-to-wall commercial, and I hope to fill that need with a few of my upcoming projects!

UPDATE

Real quick, here is the (almost finished!) Ann Arbor Seed Co.:

I remade the brick textures, and I think they look a lot better. The actual brick on the building is light red-orange, but I find that color looks sort of cartoonish when I put it in the BAT, so I'm sticking with the red-brown for now.

Also, tonight will be the second export of the McNamara Federal Building. If all goes well and I'm happy with the new lighting, then you might see this on the STEX soon too!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The brick seems too dark.

The edging around the edge of the roofline on the roof texture is too strong.  Lower it to 5-15%  Probably closer to the lower side of that.

I think some orange would look good.  Try using the thing I showed you today to change the brown colors to be more orangey.  You'll have to do this once you're done with everything else.  One thing you can do, is you can flatten everything (it only affects one layer), and then duplicate it.  You'll make all of the changes to the top layer, and the bottom will be the same if you need it again.  Also, keep a backup of the unflattened texture.

[ardecila 124]

Yeah, that, or you can use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

[nofunk 1,933]

OK, I guess I slept in too late today... I'm still up! I tweaked the brick and roof textures. What do you guys think?

Funny thing is, now that I look at the preview renders I posted above, yeah, the bricks were WAY too dark!

[Fledgeling 1]

LOL i think the brick is too light. You cant please them all so you've got to please yourself, i guess

[jacqulina 162]

i like the textures dark or light both would be very good,excellent work my friend,and thankyou for popping to paradise falls,im glad you are enjoying my cj

[SimFox 801]

Well, never judge anything against black that will not be placed against black - GOLDEN Rule! I think this is definite improvement over the last one. Another quick way to judge brightness is to make sure that the color on the "shadow" side is clearly distinguishable. Best way to lighten texture is to reduce it's saturation - in effect to add white/neutral grey - this way you'll allow it better interact with the light and it's hue.

Actually you can quickly remove background in Photoshop and paste remaining building into any screen grab from the game...

PS

One small thing about the model itself... That sort of Chicken house on the roof. it looks way to big, all that group should be uniformly scaled down 30-40%

[homeandaway 1]

Hiya Nofunk! - i cant to put the McNamara Federal Builing in my cities!.

~Alex~

[Jasoncw 11,840]

He hasn't released it. 

The brick is looking much better.  I'd lower the opacity of the blobs though.  Looks like it could be less saturated as well.

[mightygoose 92]

i prefer the darker brick personally...

[lrfox 2]

Personally, i don't like either brick texture... i'd much rather see pink or neon green. so can you do that please?


lol no, the differing opinions are funny (and perfectly respectable btw)... guess you can't please everyone. 

I like the lighter one personally, but the dark one would be fine as well. in anycase, it looks awesome and i can't wait to use it in game. keep it up.