Nofunk's BAT Thread

[nofunk 1,933]

Thanks everyone for your comments!

beutelschlurf: Thanks for the texture! I ended up using it on the water tower.

Jack_wilds: Are you from Milwaukee? It's my second home!

DragonAnime: Thanks, bud! I want to pick up Lee Plaza again soon, but I'm afraid that one needs a lot of work. The roof in particular is going to be a real challenge. I'll get it done though!

vlad755: Well, there certainly aren't two model files included, but I did notice that the .dat has two preview pngs. It's my mistake; when I merged files I forgot to delete them, but they won't cause any trouble in the game. Thanks for the heads up though! (EDIT: I see Jason has already answered your question!)

I worked some more on the factory tonight, and I think it's about done. I've made the bricks a tad lighter, changed the windows and roof pretty significantly, and scaled and re-textured the water tower.

Any last thoughts before I get to lighting it up and exporting it?

[nofunk 1,933]

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[Francis90b 748]

I have to correct myself about your brick texture.I have two pc, and on this one things looks far more darker than they should.On the other one it looked perfectly though.

But i'm concerned about the white line running between the tankless penthouse and the chimney...it seems to divide the roof into two sections, but from what i can see these parts should be located on the same height...and so, why there would be need of a wall dividing them?

As for Lee Plaza, i understand what do you mean.I'm very curious to see how will you solve the problem !

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work,looking very nice.great textures

[_Atticus 10]

Very nicely done, and a very useful addition to the game.

-Pingangster

[scotty222 549]

Looking sweet, definitley something i could use

[mosin33 5]

Hey this looks very good!!!

2 questions...Did u make the roof texture in photoshop or dd you just find a good texture?

-Is this a real building or did you make it up?

-and its done and ready to export but I think if you added some pipes or something on the roof you could really make it even better. but thats up too you

good job with this

-mosin33

[Jack_wilds 550]

Hello Nofunk, Jack wilds here...

Like the new brick look, and the rescaled water tower as helped it, however I still think that it could use some 'pop' as in a faded, weathered company logo/color... but whatever its your call

As for Milwaukee, I know it due to my moms side as it was her home town. I grew up in the tri-city area of the WI river, then went north for a time around the Glidden-Winter-Park Falls area; finally roosting in the Fox Valley. Milwaukee history and development and related stories were a part of growing up and frankly "schools out mom! enough with the history lessons..." was heard a lot.

Jack

[spa 968]

That looks a lot better! I think the texture tweaks were well worth it.

[nofunk 1,933]

Francis90b: I'll probably make the brick texture a little brighter still. Regarding the "white line," that is limestone capping off the brick. Yes, the roofs are at (roughly) the same height, but I imagined the half with the water tower was built first, and the other half was added on at a later date, as well as the short section in back.

jacquilna, pingangster & scotty222: Thank you!

mosin333: Every texture you see I made in photoshop, except for the texture on the sides of the water tower that beutelschlurf gave me, and a texture I incorporated into the roof that (I think) came from spa. The building is loosely based on a real factory.

Jack_wilds: All right, I'll see if I can't put a worn out logo on the water tower! As for me, I was born outside GB but spent my childhood on Milwaukee's west side.

spa: Thanks, Sam! You and SimFox were totally right about the windows.

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I had to send my laptop in for repair (the DVD drive BROKE OFF!) and intended on finishing the factory on my old computer, but of course I left all the textures on my laptop, so... I'll have to wait until it's returned.

But don't worry! I promise there will be lots of activity soon! Stay tuned...

[vlad755 0]

Glad to help!

And I learned something: those codes do not mean a model, but rather a .png -a picture. Thanks!

[Francis90b 748]

Oh well, as for the building structure, looking at the triangle-shaped gable on the back i've thought that the older section was the one tank-less...but it doesn't matter so much.I think you're ready to go .

I remember you had also an un-named warehouse too in your on-going projects...i hope to see more of it soon !

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Whoa, I haven't been in here for a while. Seems like I missed a lot of great stuff!

I hope I'm not too late to give suggestions for the last building, because this time I do in fact have one: I think that, especially for a factory, the white upper surface of the parapet wall looks too clean and uniform... I guess some paint peeling off, a crack or two, and some smudges or re-painted spots could do a bit to add to the overall impression of a building that has been built primarily to serve a purpose rather than for representation. That's especially valid for the top of the chimney - what about some soot up there? Another very clean spot is the top of the water tower... maybe some weathering could add more visual interest here? Just my 2 cents, of course. 

[art128 4,618]

The factory looks good so far my friend, I like the textures used on it.

[jacqulina 162]

looking out for more progress,sorry about your laptop

[Steamrobin 4]

Time is long for us ! Like Jacqulina I hope you ll have your laptop son. Too sad having to wait for more...

[nofunk 1,933]

Hey everyone. I'm back! (At least I think so.)

So here's what happened: In May, I graduated with my master's in urban planning; in June I had to send my laptop to Dell for repairs; and in July, I landed a job working in Detroit. I've been helping to manage a $10 million project to get about 450 blighted and dangerous structures in the city demolished, and it means I've been busy! busy! busy!

Needless to say, I've got a lot of catching up to do here, and I hope I haven't lost everyone's interest. Over the past few days, I've picked up work on the factory again, and I also have big surprise in the works!

I have exported the day scene, and I'm currently working on night lights. I still haven't thought of a name for it yet.

I'm not sure I like having all the windows lit up, but I'm also not sure how they would have subdivided a factory like this. I just assumed the floors would be open. Any suggestions?

Right now I'm just looking to get some things finished, so I can get back into the swing of BATing, so please forgive me if I don't improve on this much more.

In my next post, I'll probably outline what projects I have going right now, as well as some things I'd like to tackle in the future.

Hope everyone is doing well! Stay tuned...

[JakeMD 107]

Perhaps the lower windows are brighter (From the floor) and the middle windows are a little more dim, and the top windows are the dimmest.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Congrats on the job Nolan!

I have run into the same lighting conundrum with the warehouses I have been working on. It is more than likely that the whole building is lit at night, this however looks rather odd compared with what we are used to seeing in SC4. The rather large glass face makes things even more aggravating (I still haven't finished the lighting on my warehouse for the same reason). I'd say it doesn't look bad, but I think a hint of the interior objects blocking off some of the light would brake up the monotony of the windows as they are.

I'll have to keep an eye on you, this is a rough issue to solve aesthetically (rather than realistically) so I need all the ideas I can get

[psander5 195]

Welcome back, and congratulations on the job!

I agree, this looks tricky to light. I'm not very experienced with lighting in general, let alone in industrial buildings so I can't really offer any useful advice. It's true that this sort of building would probably be open plan, with columns, machinery and sections of false wall dividing the space. In real life you would probably see hotspots of light on one area, bleeding and fading into adjacent areas with shadows cast by the internal objects, darkening some areas of the windows. This would be hard to imitate in SC4 without a full recreation of the interior architecture and real lights, so I agree with SimHoTToDDy's suggestion that hints might be created instead. Quite how this might be done though is beyond me at my current knowledge level.

The building looks great though, and I look forward to seeing what your other projects are.

[SimsPlanet2 7]

Welcome back, and congrats with your new job. The factory looks great, can't wait to download it.

[nofunk 1,933]

Thanks everyone! I'm really thrilled about the new job!

The factory isn't quite ready for the STEX yet, but it is in the game! Tonight I worked some on lotting it. Here's a preview:

It's not done yet. Oh! But it does have a name now: Chalmers Auto Supply. I'd like to keep a Detroit theme going (although this is NOT a BSP release.)

I hope to have this released by the weekend. (No guarantees though!)

Hope everyone is doing well! 

[wolverine 12]

The factory looks excellent and the window textures are great.

Chalmers was MY idea! Only because I glanced over that name while looking at Detroit's urban prairies on a map.

Next buildings better have my favorite Detroit street names. John R, Cadieux, Lonyo, Yolanda, Trumbull, Dequindre, Kercheval, Mack, John Kronk, Caniff and Chene.

[beutelschlurf 10]

moin nofunk,

looks great, so far, glad you changed the colour of the watertank (from that greenish to a more adequate colour) ... so i didn't have to point it out ...

... i'm sure it will be a great addition to the game ...

b_schlurf

[Amthaak 1,501]

Fantastic textures works! Congratulations! About nightlights, maybe some lights on the roof (at the 2 entrances level) will give a touch of realism (just an idea...!)

Anyway I like it very much .

[spa 968]

Hey nofunk. Congrads on the new job.It doesn't sound like you'll be out of work anytime soon and given, at least what the media has reported, it sounds like tearing down abandoned structures in Detroit is one of the growth industries in the Detroit/Windsor area. This factory turned out quite well. It has lot os great little details, the windows, loading bay, chimney, water tower and roof layout is ally really well done and feels very natural. Amthaak's suggestion of a roof above the penthouse doors makes sense, but at this point we're down to really small details I would say it's pretty much ready for the stex.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Wow that factory is spectacular!

[nofunk 1,933]

Hey everyone! The Chalmers Auto Supply is now available on the STEX!

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=22339

I'll admit it's a little sparser than what I usually offer (only two versions) but I really wanted to just get this done and released, to try and stoke my motivation!

Also, sorry I missed the suggestion about lights over the penthouse doors! That was a good idea; but I forgot to check my thread before uploading lol. Oops!

Spa: Unfortunately, you're absolutely right about Detroit. I will say that we're not actually in the business of demolishing houses (I work for the state land bank) but we are trying to improve people's quality of life. Derelict structures bring down neighboring property values and are dangerous to residents, so I think that getting them taken down is a really good thing. At this point for Detroit, I really think it's a matter of cleaning the slate, and removing all the junk that is standing in the way of progress. Burnt out houses would be one of those obstacles.

[JakeMD 107]

Congrats nofunk, it looks great!

[ardecila 124]

Looks fantastic! Glad to see the high quality has continued while I've been away.