NEBB BAT thread

[patriots_1228 51]

-----closed-------

thanks for the support, BATs, effort, etc.

special thanks to

Scotty222

Lrfox

Lamasse

Franky_83

Hydra

all who commented and helped

[jacqulina 162]

hey great start my friend looking good

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

thanks- im going into BAT right now

[SimFox 804]

Have you got Google Earth?

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

yea i do, im in it right now, your probably fussing over some detail i bet........

well your in luck cuz the mall part got some error and wont open, so i did the top part, and relized so things in *Gasp* google either. So anyway I've been studying the building and will post pics soon of what ive done.

[lrfox 2]

111 huntington is an awesome building. my girlfriend is coming down from maine on sunday and after we go see that body worlds thing at Museum of Science, i'm taking her to lunch at Top of the Hub then we're doing the skywalk there at the pru... i'll take some digitals of 111 huntington and post them for you... you get a great view of the "crown" on top from there. good luck w/ this.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

lrfox-thanx its one of my favorite buildings too! Saturday i ate in the prud, but not at top of the hub. I did the skywalk tho! It is amazing, my first time up that high that didnt include airplanes. Ive got some pictures of the roof on my cell and im done batting the roof, but do u know if it would be possible to get a pic of just the glass on the building which i could use to texture? Any pics would be fabulous, thanks for all the help your offering.

A question: On BAT, when I preview my model, some of the textures go gray. is there a way to fix this thats easier than retexturing every inch?

[SimFox 804]

Yep That's what I've meant...

Do you know how to use measurement tool in Google Earth?

It is invaluable source of data! And Boston has got very hight res images there! That should help you great deal!

Try to follow as close to the original as possible! Don't try to cut yourself a slack! Building isn't all that complex in terms of geometry. Major challenge would be materials and textures.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

SimFox-yes as i learned.....since you are a "BAT god" do u no if theres an easier solution to my problem?? Yes I recently did realize how great the Google image pictures of boston looks, it help me find a major problem with my design, and i never thought of how helpful it would be till you showed that picture. been using it as my main resource since. I think I pretty good on the design as far as rooftop details and tower shape go, but what you said, about the materials and textures, is causing me nightmares. Right now I've took a light blue window texture and put some black fog in the pic to make it darker, but I am constantlylooking for a better texture.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Just FYI, I deleted the other two threads.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

T Wrecks- Thanks alot, much apreciated.

anyway the problem fixed itself, so heres what i got. As i told you, if you could find better textures, please send, right now this is makeshift texturing. I did the crown and rooftop exactly like it looks in my picture i took from the top of the prud, and the layout i did as simfox said, checking each detail on google earth. hope you like it!

I think maybe the other roofs(the lower ones, need detail and the roof windows need a better texture.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

well ive finished the model....hopefully. I exported once and it was way to small now i exported agian, I hope its not too big took a while to export. anyway heres a pic of the first one.

the lighting is a bit different on the second one too, theres no blueish tint, some more things are lit up, and theres an omni that goes over the base and center to light it up at nite a bit.

[lrfox 2]

so it looks good. it's amazing that you're putting this type of effort into the BAT at such a young age... nice work. however, the model is not to scale w/ the rest of the mall. if long glass piece there is the mall (at the front of which is the Cheesecake Factory, and across from that the entrance to the Prudential Greenline station), then you're tower is too short and fat. it definately is the right shape, and has the right look, but it's not to scale. in anycase, your effort is greatly appreciated and you're certainly improving as you go. keep at it.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

lrfox-thanks. see this is funny becuase I went into lot editor with the one i showed up there and it was tiny! so I rescale every thing A bit, then i9 made the tower part a bit taller, and exported again. hopefully this will work out! Anway Im trying to do as little of the mall part for each tower, what im planning is to do 111 huntinton,101 huntington, the prud(which will go from the tower down to the cheescake factory) and than the end area with calafornia pizza kitchen and the middle which leads of into the different arcades.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

finished model with bigger tower, 161 meters tall, i think thats just about right. Im to lazy to check......Usually when i drag on trying to fix every detail I make a huge mistake and BAM, the models gone. going into LE now. Ill probably take a week break or somthing, than do 101.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

first off i owe some apologies for the little fight with glenni. sorry to simtropolis, for making you guys have to watch, and sorry to glenni, for the insults and the overreaction. I guess i kinda freaked out.

anway heres the projects I plan to do in this portion of the year. ( from now till april)

101 huntington ave- a pretty simple skyscraper, but will give me the oppurtinity to work on my roof junk.

prudential center- this time im gonna do it a right!

White steeple chruch- a new england classic, pretty simple, but again, gives me some practice on my weak spots.

John han***** tower-i dont know why, but this one i find intimidating. but ill try anyway.

Fenway- this one will only happen if i improve dirastically.

[lrfox 2]

Don't know about any fight, so i guess it's not something i'll concern myself with. I do know Glenni is an upstanding citizen here at simtrop and an excellent BATer, so it would be beneficial to have him on your good side, i'm sure he could help w/ your projects in the future (in terms of advice).

In anycase, again, i do appreciate your efforts to recreate Boston... BATing is not an easy job. as far as fenway goes, there's a project underway that someone's already doing. it looks good so far, maybe check it out. the Fenway Park thread is in the Simtropolis Exchange room in Custom Content Forum here... https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=82392&enterthread=y. check it out, good stuff. the rest of them are alll good. keep it up, no matter what don't get discouraged. 

Some people will be blatantly rude about your work, and others will offer constructive criticism. ignore the rude people who make comments like, "needs more work" and stuff like that... but when someone criticizes your work constructively, it's good to listen... they will make you better. it's clear from what you've done so far that you have a lot of potential w/ the BAT, so when people like Glenni offer criticism, then take it,  that's who you wanna hear it from.  nice job on 111 btw... it looks good.

[Schulmanator 5,812]

I am impressed with your initial efforts. BAT is not an easy thing to do. Got 2 thoughts for you:

1. Would you be interested in accepting a small commission for a lot for Schulmania?

2. If you still want some Schulman Day treats, lemme know. I will leave them on my CJ for you to pick up. Not having a CJ doesn't mean you have to starve!

Oh, if I was going to add some Boston landmarks to my wishlist for batting, it would be Quincy Market, Old State House, and flagship buildings from university campuses.

You're off to a good start! :-)

[MarcosMX 222]

Very nice work, you are off to a great start as they said.

Your latest BAT looks very nice, however the base looks out of place compared to the tower itself. I don't know if its oversize or something. The normal floor-roof height is about 4.5 GU(same as meters in Gmax) for hi rise, 5GU and 8GU for big boxes stores, Im not 100% sure though.

Take care

[DioAngel 1]

very nice! :-D Looking good so far. ;-)

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

wow seems the only time people come in is after a release.

lrfox-yea the needs more work comments dont really bug me, only comments i feel were unnessacary. Glenni said it looked weird with maxis buildings, but there were none in the pics, and I just flipped out. yes ive seen the fenway thread but he hasnt updated it in like three months. I was gonna pm him and ask if he wanted to join NEBB since i loved the fenway park.

Schulmanator-1) sure.....now im embarassed....whats a commision?

2) yea I'll take a look at the chocolates today.

quincy market will definetely be done sometime, I thought maxis did it but that was fanuil hall. old state will probably come when i start doing historic buildings. and I will probably do university buildings based on real ones. so maybe like havard themed or BC themed.

MarcosMx-thanks, my roof was definetely not 4.5. I'll make sure not to do that on this next one.

DioAngel-thanks.

[SimFox 804]

Hello there!

don't you take every fight too seriously, sometimes fights lead to good friendship later. That is if parties are capable of mature actions, hopefully everything will turn out alright!

I'm, as I'm sure many others, would be glad to help, but I would sincerely advise you to toughen up  your skin a bit, it will only benefit you great deal later in life!

Ok, about the subject at hand - measuring tool in Google Earth.

Here is a little illustration:

1 this is an icon for measurement tool on Google earth tool bar

2 this is tool window which will open once you select the tool, in this window you can chose various measurement units, both US and Metric.

3 to use just click at any point and then move mouse to another point and click again and you’ll see the distance between those two points in chosen units

 

1 this is an icon for measurement tool on Google earth tool bar

2 this is tool window which will open once you select the tool, in this window you can chose various measurement units, both US and Metric.

3 to use just click at any point and then move mouse to another point and click again and you’ll see the distance between those two points in chosen units

 

From what I can see at your render the size is very much off. Also the general form is very much off. I would suggest studying the photographs a bit more and remodeling it again more in accordance with the original. Don’t try to find excuse why the model is not like original. This is very slippery slope… in no time you can find the rational to simply make a box! Go for the ALL the details that are seen on pictures. It may be long at first but you’ll learn a lot – among other things if bating is really for you!

As things are now is just not right in my mind, things are simply NOT the way they are in real building. And in my opinion this has nothing to do with your level of bating, as such, but with attention you pay to your work. I think you should respect and value more your own work, time you spend on it!

Beware of honey bearers popping up in many threads and just living those sweet remarks like it is great and good progress etc.- sometimes I really start to doubt either sincerity or motive for those, and sometimes the eyesight or even sanity of people leaving those . Such comments are like real life sugar, nice at first, but ultimately - no more then empty calories fattening your ego – not good! NOT HEALTHY!

I believe any comment should preferably be followed by at least couple of words of explanation, unless people really know each other well. And then value of such a comment could and should be judged on merit of those explanations.

Well, back to BATing. Another point I would like to make is importance of getting basic proportions and rhythm before you start making any particular building, as there always be specific one for any building, understanding it will help you to recreate rather accurately (or at least believably) even those parts that aren’t seen on photographs. In this case, for instance I can se .75 rhythm going on. Good practice of modeling in light of this would be moving from big to small. Create first general shape, one that would follow correct size and/or proportions and only then start to chisel off or add, if needed, bits and pieces. Unfortunately, reverse seem to be more common on Simtropolis, people start from say window or one wall and keep adding things up. More often then not this leads to things getting out of hand.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

simfox- thanks, i think my reaction to comments is just the fact that ive spent six months living in the city journal forum, where everything is "honeybear". the BAT feild is alot more negitive and tough.i think the glenni fight kinda helpped me adjust, now i feel pretty embarassed and i cant help but laugh about what i did. but even with you, at first i didnt really like you, but now I think of you as the jacky of the BAT forums. I also feel bad about making you write all that on measurement, i found out how to do that this morning, and have been using it non stop. hmm i cant tell if im following your suggestions on this one i started by making the base of the tower, which is pretty simple. next im doing the roof, and then the base.

thanks

alfred

heres a shot of the five minutes of BAT time i had before church. I did the front wall, no windows, yet(doing that now) just the front. no textures. however everything was done using the mesurement tool, so i think its pretty accurate.(the distance bewteen the pillars was done by eye so some pillars are bigger than others.

[SimFox 804]

So not to be all words here is my sketch of the tower. Hope it will help you with figuring out things:

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

wow...was that a BAT??

ok so here is the 101 first work.  the rooftops pretty much the key with this baby, so heres a pic of it so far.(ive only done the outside, doing the junks probably gonna take some time).

 tried to make it small. as you can see.

heres the overview.

maybe some texturing work should be done, but i think it looks pretty good for day 1.

[bixel 1,228]

NewEnglandGangsta511 You are improving! And to your question...no that was Simfox showing off in 3DS Max. Keep up the work..it seems you are alot like me and you really want to get stuff out there. Like me I sometimes release BATs when they are questionable or faulty...which is why I am always updating them. ...though I would hold off on the uploading so much...uploading buildings that are just soso or ok will only get you some mixed ratings.

Keep this thread alive instead and post updates. You will find most people who post will support you in your work-in-progress rather than what you upload, so its important to stay motivated and keep working on making better stuff. When you feel it is worthy of the almight STEX then upload it..hard work and meticulous detail pays off. Did you go through Philipobo's tutorial? He has some useful things about umv mapping and textures. Check the Omnibus.

[SimFox 804]

Bixel, oh, no... what do you mean showing off in 3ds MAX?!?!?!?

Yes it was modeled and rendered in 3ds MAX, but and this is a huge BUT, ALL the modleing technique and tools used, cameras were just same as in BAT. Plus apart from per vertex editing all the techniques used were same as NewEngladGangsta511 (quite a mouthful) has used by himself already. The point of showing it was ONLY to show how attention to the sizes and proportions and generally to your source material could benefit any model.

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

bixel- thanks, yes i no i do rush, once I start to make progress i find it very hard to stop, thankfully this roofjunk for 101 was pretty tough(for me) and really taught me how good it looks when you spend hours on tiny details. yes i went through the essentials a while ago, I only did the basic parts that taught you how to make the model, i guess i should go back and check out the rest. Thanks!

Sim Fox- wow what a show off........jk to shorten the name you can just say Ne-G or alfred(real name).o and i have done some things with vertex editing before, but only delete and moving or rearranging i guess you could say. thanks and your model looked great.

so here are some pics from my two hours of roof junk work, I learned a whole lot last night about batting. Its not great, but for my first time attempting roof junk thats not just a textured box, i think its pretty good.

so tell me what you think and give me some tips, thanks!

[SimFox 804]

well it is a bit messy, you should really be more tidy in your 3d. This mess will be great detriment to you further on.

I've pointed problem areas with red

You should learn about and use snapping!!!

Also you shouldn't really texture you models till they are in the last stages of development. Any modifications applied to geometry will automatically ruing any UWV map that was there, either by default or placed by you and in the end you'll have to re-texture everything all over!

[NewEnglandGangsta511 1]

wow thanks i can see what i did wrong every part except the one with the arrow. well for a couple days i wont do much major batting, ill probably fix the things you showed and start the base, but I am going to be doing a lot of work getting the old Cj back up and running, and going through the BAT essentials again.