mipro Barry Sanders Project

[nofunk 1,933]

See? No render issues! I'm a little surprised at how white the marble turned out, but it still looks great!

Can't wait to mod this puppy.

[SimFox 802]

looking goood!

Jason... is the night scene as dark as it is on you machine? Or has it been "darkened" in the post? Or, may be you have a darker nights mod??

[Andreas Roth 614]

I can't help but thinking that the (daylight shot) white looks a tad too pale, but maybe that's just because of the JPG image, watering down the overall contrast and details. The nightshot looks excellent, though, esp. if that's the normal in-game night color. Kudos!

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Luckily because of the way the .SC4Model files are made, I can re-render as many times as I want without needing to change anything (no relotting or remodding).

The front of the building is actually just fine (although I'll make it warmer), the problem is in the side of the building.  Since the building is so white, and because of the way that light acts, the shadow side does not get very dark, especially compared to the game's shadows.  The problem is even more noticible in the other rotations, because there is 6 tiles worth of really light shadows.  I don't know how to fix this though, does anyone know?

Some things I can do to make it look less washed out is making the bushes and the green overhangs darker, and the lobby more dark, but even if I did those things, it would help, but it wouldn't fix the entire problem.

Another problem in general is that the game's sun and the BAT sun are not at the same angle, so the shadows in the lobby area look funny, since they don't line up at all.  I'm pretty sure there is a modd somewhere that fixes the game's shadows, but I can't find it, does anyone know where it is?

Edit: and yeah, these are straight from the game.  I don't have any night mods or anything like that either.

[SimFox 802]

well there is , of course...

I mean the way to make shadows appear different.

THe light in the shadow comes from sky, right, so... just make sky

1. more blue (or slightly purple) and

2. darker.

Although I think it should be altered a bit in this example as the difference between sun and shade is too small I don't think one should go to the games extremes. It may look a bit strange now, but one should remember - there isn't much to compare as game buildings for greater part are design in such a way to minimize the effect. Most of them square and hence at the game viewing angles have shadow side much smaller and then the sunny one. I strongly believe that it is much better doing something new and different then the stuff already in game. Some degree of similarity should be maintained in principal things - like light directions and some such but some thing - like awfull lighting problems and resulting limitations in design of the models should be remedied now since we can!

So if you want strongger difference make you sun more yellow, and your sky purplish blue and reduce it's brightness. also you can play with settings in Enviroment roll-out - Logarithmit Exposure has settings for brightness, contrast, gamma and even white balance.

[Skyfire2275 23]

The building does indeed look awesome... except for the blinding white texture. The renders you posted before the ingame shot were much better.

[lrfox 2]

Looks good. i disagree about the texture, the white isn't too blinding in my opinion, but again, what do i know?

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Well, I should do an update on all of my BSP projects.

Chase Tower just needs me to tweak the colors and re-render.  I expect Chase Tower to be on the STEX sometime in April

211 West Fort Street needs the night lights, and for the kind I want I'll need to learn how to use a different kind of night lighting which will probably confuse me.  I don't know when this one will be done, but possibly in June.

One Woodward Avenue still needs more texturing tweaks.  I also want to tweak the modeling of the mechanical area to bring it up to my recent roof junk abilities.  I also need to model the entrance to the underground parking garage.  Last time I was at the building I made sure to get pictures of the garage entrance, so reference photos shouldn't be a problem.  Possibly on the STEX in May.

I've decided that I'll be restarting the Penobscot Building after all.  This time I'll be using snaps, keeping my scene more organized, and writing down important dimensions.  Right now, the scene is really messy and hard to work with.  However, I now have almost all of the proportions worked out, and I'm now a lot faster at modeling things, so I expect it to be faster once I start working on it again.  I'll start on it once I'm finished with all of my other projects, which I don't expect to be mega long.  I hope for it to be finished towards the end of the summer (about 6 months away).

I have 3 or 4 non-BSP projects going on right now which could be released in April if I can finish them.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Ok, I've tweaked this building!  Does it look good?

I can't believe that I actually rendered it the way it used to be, it was waaaay too bright.

Does anything at all look off?  I plan on doing the final render sometime within the next week, so let me know if you see somewhere to improve this.

[Andreas Roth 614]

It'll surely stand out among other buildings, but I'd say, it's perfect as it is. Maybe desaturate the top roof texture a tiny bit. Other than that, just go ahead with the rendering!

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

It looks just peachy jason! The texture and details are amazing as always! Looks great for the STEX, but I hope you make a nice lot and stick it to the ground

[Jasoncw 11,933]

How about darker too?  I think it might look washed again without the contrast between the walls and the roof.

pfft!  The ground is overrated.

[schm0 27]

Looks great man... I love anti-grav generators, don't you?

[lrfox 2]

I think it will look good on it's own... much better than it does right now meshed with Odainsaker's tower acting as some sort of observatory. lol.

In all seriousness i don't thin it stands out that much. I know it's a Detroit building, but i will use it for it's ability to blend into a downtown as a mid-rise. it looks like a lot of the Pre-fab buildings we have here in Boston, but as with all of your buildings, Jason... i bet this one will blend in nicely to a dense downtown (which simcity4 standing alone lacked all together)

[Andreas Roth 614]

Hmm, actually, I liked the bright roof better. Making it darker will make the roof structure overpowering the building (that's what I meant with "standing out"). And even tar roofing will get a white-ish hue after some time in the sun. Anyway, this is a more than welcome midrise, and it certainly will fit in any CHI/NY downtown. And yes, those anti-grav generators are very convenient.

[nofunk 1,933]

Yeah, I agree with Andreas Roth. I think the lighter roof texture looks better.

[siso43 13]

Great job, looks super

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Lighter it will be!

After this I suppose I'll finish One Woodward Avenue, since it's the closest to being done.

[GangstadanDT 0]

hmm theres 2 forums?

[Jasoncw 11,933]

I update my BSP BATs here, and my personal ones in my thread, if that's what you were asking.

Anyway, I guess I should update.  Chase Tower is exported.  I've started the lot on it, but I didn't get very far. 

I guess I should ask my questions here.  The dirt circle props aren't cutting it for me, and I might need to make my own.

Ok, so I've noticed that the dirt circle prop lets shadows fall on it.  How do I do that?  Also, are ranges only for prop families, or for all props?

Or, are there already square dirt props that look just like the ones HERE.  They're a little bigger than the circle ones.  They also have a noticeable height (.4 meters maybe).

[Jasoncw 11,933]

I suppose I should update on Chase Tower.

It's still where it was last time I updated.  The dirt square thing is what is currently holding it up.

[Sim shady 12]

dont be a ***** and double post! just playing lol. Cant wait to see chase tower in one of my cities

[jacqulina 162]

looks great

[patriots_1228 51]

first of all, thanks for directing me to your first post, I used it as a resource when i redid NEBBs first post today.

second- I like the Chase Tower, I need more buildings like that in my downtowns. I also like flying buildings lol!

[Sim shady 12]

lol i had no idea it blocks that here, i said newbie spelled different lol...

[spa 970]

Sorry Jason I missed the debate! My vote is for the lighter texture. I think the darker one draws the eye up top too much. Makes it feel like they're too pieces mashed together instead of one building. Lighter is definitely the way to go. In any case, I second Andreas and Fox's comments, this is a nice generic midrise of the type we're really lacking for. It'll definitely find a home in my cities.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Sim Shady:  It was a week though! lol

Jaqulina:  Thanks

Patroits_1228:  No problem .  I looked at your first post and it looks 100 times better.  Next, I just have to say to proof read what you wrote, and make sure the right things are capitalized, and that there are spaces between your words and all of that kind of stuff.

Sim Shady:  lol, yeah.  "N 0 o b" is derogative, so one of the admins decided to block it after one of the "we should be nicer to new members" discussions came up.

spa:  lol, yeah, you missed it.  It was already rerendered with the lighter roof a while ago.

Right now, I'm waiting to learn more about the square dirt circle prop stuff that I talked about a few posts ago.  I was hoping someone like Andreas (cough wink cough) would know what to say.

After that's done, I'll finish up the lot, and then I'll send it to Nofunk and then JBSimio, and then it will be on the STEX.  I still think a May release is likely.  I know I've uploaded very little the last 10 months.

[Sim shady 12]

well the way i see it, the stuff you have released in the last 10 months has been of extremely high quality

[Andreas Roth 614]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw Right now, I'm waiting to learn more about the square dirt circle prop stuff that I talked about a few posts ago.  I was hoping someone like Andreas (cough wink cough) would know what to say. quote>

 

Uh, what exactly is your problem? Your dirt circle prop doesn't cast any shadows? That's easy to fix. Open the prop exemplar file (located in the SC4Desc file that was created) in the Reader or SC4Tool and search for "Is Ground Model". Set this property to "True" (0x01) and save the file. And about ID ranges: You only need them for making building or prop families and the like. If you make a single prop, the Plugin Manager will create a random ID.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Andreas:  I'm sorry, I mean I'd like to know how to make a prop that lets shadows fall on it.  You can see in this screenshot that the shadow from the tree can be seen on the dirt. 

For the second question, thanks.  I'm glad that's the answer since it makes things simpler.

Sim Shady:  Well, I released The Vinton building, which was a nearly finished old project, and the Olde Building, which was meant to be a quicky.  The Audubon Building was almost entirely Don Miguel's work.  I've almost made a ton of buildings (8, I think), that are pretty close to being done though, lol.