BATs Currently in Progress

[ianpaschal 77]

Which is better?

This is the effect I was trying to get with the 2nd one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skintype/342886103/

I don't know if i captured the effect right and I'm afraid #1 may fit in SC4 better. I'm curious to see what my fellow "gurus" think of the lighting. Can you guys offer any suggestions?

[SimFox 802]

Auto:

I'm not sure how to understand you... Group? Special mapping? Am I correct to assume you're meaning transparency mapping? If so - there is none of that there. It just doesn't work with GI. Honest geometry is FAR faster. Actual blinds are individual planes. there are 7370 blinds altogether in the tower - not much really.

About translucency - yep that is an idea. Not sure how slow the rendering would become and how to optimize it. on the other hand the trees in my mid rise project (of which i've totally forgotten till day before yesterday) had translucent material applied to leaves and there were FAR more of those then blinds - in excess of a million leaves. So it may work.

Scipio:

hm... well either of them is way to dark. And first one is just pitch dark. Although that is the effect you may see on the photo due to the low dynamic range of capture it isn't really practical from general presentational point of view. Games nights are quite light and rather tinted then simply darkened.

Speaking of game... when shall we see any of you work from game projection?

[ianpaschal 77]

Could you elaborate a bit farther? As for the darkness, that's just because I simulated night time as best I could. If you want to send me the camera and light scene I'll render a SC4 preview although every other time i've had problems with size (i'm working 1 max gu = 1 meter).

[SimFox 802]

well, night, the game one, is very simple... It is a day with ambient light set to RGB 128,128,191. that 's it.

I, though has been pushing (and am glad to see others taking fancy to it) so called truNite. The basic difference is that the Sun is also disabled during such a render.

Could you be a bit more specific exactly what do you want me to elaborate on?

As for the rig... don't you have one? What version of MAX do you run?

What sort of problem do you have with size? Is GU = generic Unit? Generally you should work with those. MR for the sake of GI (and generally lighting) is not comfortable with them and strongly prefer (just like V-Ray and other renderes) physical units. In previous versions (MAX9 for instance) it also had severe problems with any unit other then inch. GI/FG solutions calculated with system unit of say meter were significantly different (worse) then with inch as a system unit. There were also numerous artifact popping up with the orthographic projections. Luckily it seems that in MAX2008 those issues were ironed out.

BTW these little marvels of yours... are you doming them for school??

[BurroDiablo 222]

Part of the reactor i'm batting, still got some way to go -

[Yoman3 5]

Looks incredible, I'm really liking the rust on top.

[SimFox 802]

A bit of a mystery project:

haven't quite decided if I'll make it. The real building (just has been approved for Moscow) had impressed me quite a bit. This is just one of 5 "donuts" of the entire project albeit the biggest one.

The size is probably the biggest issue. It isn't tall - real thing is about 53m tall, but it is very wide. It would call for at least 18x11 lot. Would it be too much of a problem crime wise??

[nihonkaranws 88]

Nice job SimFox! I really like the circular design to it. I recommend some transparent textures.

[ianpaschal 77]

I think it will be fine. If you're thinking about assigning your own use to it, I'd suggest an airport terminal. It looks born to be one.

[outriderdriver 4]

Noooo Nooo, thats easily the first HSR Super Station!

[ianpaschal 77]

yeah but I read "thinking if I'll make it" as "thinking what I'll make it"

[SimFox 802]

he he

well, I know now that it is exportable...

[toxicpiano 125]

Airport? Spaceport?

[Silur 3,304]

Hi, SimFox ...

And what is this - new museum or skating ring ?

[SimFox 802]

Silur, toxicpiano:

in real life it gonna be office/hotel/shopping arcade combo and other 3 "sources" will be residential...

[Silur 3,304]

Hi, SimFox ...

Thank You - this is a simple "novodel" = "new building" only ...

Waiting Your new BAT on STEX ....

Best Regards ...   

[SimFox 802]

what do you actually mean by "novodel". I think you're missing the point of the word. There is NO way it could be applied to this structure....

[nycc06 229]

This is a screenshot of my currect BAT project- The riverside grand plaza building. The bat still is only in its initial stages, new textures have to be included and nitelites added. Hopefully it will be released in early April.

[Silur 3,304]

Hi, SimFox

"Novodel" - means new building in my country - no more .....

Spell:

"novo" - = new,

"del" = consruction 

Good Luck ....

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: SimFox It would call for at least 18x11 lot. Would it be too much of a problem crime wise??quote>

Not if you mod your police station. RippleJet has found out that large part of the problem is due to the small radius of police dispatches. When a crime occurs, the game simulates a police car that drives there, and police officers that pursue the criminal and attempt to get him. The nearer they come to their maximum dispatch radius, the more the probability to catch the criminal decreases... and their max dispatch radius is 2 tiles = 32 metres. For comparison, a fire truck has a dispatch radous of 8 tiles = 128 metres. Yes, that's correct: It means that the fire brigade can spray water further than a policeman can run. Must be all the doughnuts, I guess.

Anyway, what happens when a crime occurs in a big lot is that the police officers have reached the end of their dispatch radius several tiles before they approach the criminal, hence the chance to catch the criminal drops to nearly zero. And a criminal that remains free is very likely to commit further crimes. That's the reason why you often get that "crime den" message, which almost always refers to places on a bigger lot.

Setting the max dispatch radius to a higher value improves the situation considerably. I haven't started my new region yet, but all police departments that go into my cities (both default and downloads) will have an extended dispatch radius. I could release a patch for the default stations, but it is RippleJet who dicovered all this, not me. Hence the credit is all his, and the honour of publishing a patch and enjoying the praise and the downloads is also his. I'd feel like a thief otherwise. It just wouldn't be right.

I merely wanted to spread the news that we might very well be at the point of seeing another barrier crumble... (and I hope I managed to summarise halfways correctly so that RJ isn't banging his head on the desk now.)

[SimFox 802]

T-Rex!

That's a very good news!!! One that can really make huge difference in the game play. PLZ, PLZ make such a mod, or urge RippleJet to make it...

Silur, you shouldn't really give me lessons of Russian, as it is my mother tongue. Besides you either completely missing on the meaning of the word, or think that those reading wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Novodel, (newly made) first of all not really limited to the buildings or constructions (check your dictionary); it is a general colloquial (jargon) term referring to anything newly made in the image/imitation of the original/old. It could be coin (that is where the term had originated), print, painting, building etc. The crucial part though it has to be REPLICA, not the original. Hence this building in NO WAY could be novodel.

[Silur 3,304]

Hi, SimFox ...

...

I live in this Moscow city and see every day a new ugly buildings by Tzeretely, Luzkov and another

[Cockatoo 2,256]

Here's something I've been working on for the last two weeks...

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Always great to see stuff here, though the rust accruing on El Burro's reactor makes me fear for the radioactive safety of Sakhaliya.

When my my various projects get too meaty and slow the computer too much, it is nice to take a breather and work on something smaller and less involving  Well, it was smaller...

This is the Broadway Mansions Hotel along the old waterfront of Shanghai.  Today it is rather hulking and eclipsed by the newer glass pleasure palaces, but on its completion in 1934 this was a stylishly moderne Art Deco landmark.  In this case, cubist Art Deco of colonial British influence with mountainous massing and castle turrets.  The brusque physical profile of this bourgeois fortress predates the Ryugyong Hotel as one of the most intimidating skyscrapers in the Far East.

Here is the real building, weathered with time:

Cubist Art Deco...I should have seen all the angled facets and stepback bends coming.  The next building will be square...entirely square and rigidly rectilinear.  It can be tiring lining up and making hypotenuse adjustments.  Lots of work to do still.

If you manage to haggle the right rooms with balconies on the south and southest wings, you can get what is probably among the best panoramic views in Shanghai, spanning across Puxi, Waitan, and across the river to Pudong.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Not only are your BATs great, but they are of such great buildings that I've never seen before.

[patriots_1228 51]

Agreed^

thats one beautiful building, suprising to see art deco in shanghai.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Those Chinese sure have style!

[ianpaschal 77]

It's a good BAT, but I can't help but think the building is quite ugly.. :/

Here's the latest from me:

[Yoman3 5]

This one is being rendered as I type this.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Amazing work Yoman