Nofunk's BAT Thread

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Looking forward to seeing the new BSP BATs.

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

Awesome, we don't have enough department stores!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Woah, its been a while! Glad o see you came back with some serious goodies! Looking great, and I hope to get it in my cities ASAP!

By the way, I love the little flags on the side, nice touch.

-Todd

[CarmineHilton 6]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw Looking forward to seeing the new BSP BATs. quote>

Same here! Already have the perfect spot for the Elie Building.. =)

[nofunk 1,933]

Thank you everyone for your great feedback!

Update...

---

I have finished modding the Eile Department Store, so look for it on the STEX some time later this week!

I have a NEW BSP project to unveil tonight!

The Maccabees Building is a historic building located in midtown Detroit, on what is now the campus of Wayne State University. Construction began in 1926 and ended one year later. It was originally built for the fraternal organization the Knights of the Maccabees, but later was used as studio space for Detroit's budding media companies. It now holds administrative offices for the University.

The "Lone Ranger" radio show debuted and was broadcast from the Maccabees Building in 1933.

As you can see, there is still some work to do. I need to model the grand entrance and the 80 m antenna on the roof, as well as roof junk and some other small details. There are some rather strange shadows being generated in the deepest corners of the building, but I hope those will go away once the building is textured.

I have yet another BSP model I am working on, but I am going to wait to unveil that when I've gotten a little more work done.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The shadows are coming from co-planar objects. You can't have planes intersecting each other too close, because it will get confused about which one is in front, and sometimes during the same render it will think, for lighting, that it's in the back and should have shadows on it, but at the same time it thinks it's in the front, so it's displaying it on top of the other plane. You can avoid this by mitering your corners.

[spa 968]

Wow. This one is already looking like a beauty. Some very nice details.

[allez l'om 1]

It looks so great!! The details might be difficult to make!!!

[Odainsaker 2,134]

I'm already salivating, and it is still in white model stage!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

O_o

Madness, its not close to being done and it is beautiful!!! This is a real knockout!

-Todd

[Fledgeling 1]

Your new work looks awesome. I still stop by on occasion, but I almost never post anymore.

[nofunk 1,933]

Jasoncw: Hm. That's strange. Ever since I started using 3ds max, I've been careful to make sure my geometry doesn't overlap. I'll take another look at it. Could you explain for me (and for others reading) what you mean by "mitering" the corners?

spa, allez l'om, Odainsaker, SimHoTToDDy, Fledgeling: Thank you all! I'm glad you like it.

Update...

---

The Eile Department Store is now available on the STEX!

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=20668

Enjoy!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So, if you had two boxes, you might convert them into editable polys and change them so the corners are as follows:

As you can see, within the red circle it can't tell which is in front and which is in back.  Sometimes when rendering, it won't be able to tell which is in front or in back, both for the purposes of deciding which is covering the other, but also which is casting a shadow on the other.

If you have two co-planar objects that have the exact same color/material/texture, which is in the case of Nofunk's model, then it doesn't matter which one covers up the other since they look the same, however, it does matter for where shadows are being cast.  So if you look in the lower right corner of the picture on the left, you can see that it looks like there is some kind of shadow being cast on part of the object.

This problem can come up if you accidentally clone something and leave the copy in the same space as the original, or it can happen when two planes are just really close to each other (parallel).  The problem happens a lot at the corners of walls, when people extrude splines and then shove them against each other at the corner.  The solution is to convert it into an editible poly and change the corner to what's above, or alternatively you could just edit the editable spline, and make one wall less wide (so if the walls were .3 meters thick, you would take on the of walls, and in the edtiable spline, you'd move the edge over .3 meters).  This way they don't overlap in the first place.

This isn't necessarily Nofunk's problem, but if it were his problem that's what it would look like.

[nofunk 1,933]

Jasoncw: Great explanation! I've never mitered my corners like that--I usually just make sure my wall edges are perfectly flush--but this is a very clean way of doing it!

By the way, the weird dithering on the old preview render was in fact due to overlapping geometry. I had accidentally cloned a few pieces in the same space. (Stupid array!)

Update...

---

Well, every time I think I'm going to have time to BAT, something always comes up! I have spent the bulk of my holiday break working on my graduate capstone. It's essentially a senior project I am doing with a few of my classmates. We have developed a plan for residents and community organizations to address vacant houses and vacant lots on Detroit's northeast side. It'll be a very good plan when it's done, but it's taken a lot of my free time and meant I haven't been able to work on my BATs very much.

But I do have a small update tonight! I have put the radio tower on top of the Maccabee's Building. Take a look:

Now, I still have quite a bit of work left to do. I have to model the grand entrance, add some more roof junk, and remodel one of the elevator penthouses (it turns out they are not symmetrical as I've modeled them). I also need to add a few more elements to the radio tower. Then, of course, textures and night lights! It still has a long way to go, but it's getting closer.

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday!

[mcarch 15]

Geesh, that tower is as tall as the building itself. Looks Good!

[_Atticus 10]

Your project sounds interesting, I would've chosen it over BATing too . Your progress looks good, and I can't wait to see the next update.

-Pingangster

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Looking spectacular even half done. Didn't you learn that rectangles are unstable? Get some support in that tower quick!!! XD

-Todd

[art128 4,618]

Wow ! that's looking awesome, grea work.

Can't wait to see more...

Arthur.

[allez l'om 1]

It's great with the antenna!!!!

[Gn_leugim 853]

very niceeee

[spa 968]

This one is going to be great whenever you get it done. That is quite the radio tower on top. If I may make a request, when you're done could you render a version without the radio tower? The tower is great, but it would be nice to have a less in your face version to fill the more generic old office category.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: spa If I may make a request, when you're done could you render a version without the radio tower? The tower is great, but it would be nice to have a less in your face version to fill the more generic old office category.quote>

I second that.

[allez l'om 1]

I like the version with the antenna!! Two versions would be great: one without it and one with it!!

[kant01 5]

That building is really stunning! I really can't wait to see it textured.

[madhatter106 3,903]

The building is stunning - the texturing will really rocket this one into space. I agree on the antenna - though realistic, it begins to dominate things vertically.

That trick with the mitred corners which jasoncw posted earlier on this page is great - I've run across that problem from time to time, and it's great to have a quick and easy workaround...

[jacqulina 162]

awesome progress

happy new year

[nofunk 1,933]

Thanks for the great comments everyone! I'm glad you all like it.

And don't worry: I will release two versions of the building. I have to include in the antenna since it is a re-creation, but I realize that not everyone wants it.

Update...

---

Well, I wanted to release a bunch of buildings before the Trixies, in the hopes that I might actually end up in the running for one, but alas, it didn't work out.

So instead, I'll keep on keeping on. Here's a new update of the Maccabee's:

I've remodeled the antenna and the elevator penthouses, modeled the back of the building, and added some roof junk. I still need to model the grand entrance and some more roof junk, but this is almost ready for texturing!

EDIT: Do any of you think the antenna needs to be scaled vertically some?

[_Atticus 10]

Wow it really looks great, and don't worry, I'll nominate you for something

Can't wait to see the grand entrance!

-Pingangster

[kant01 5]

Gorgeous!!!!!! I love that building.

[jacqulina 162]

excellent progress here