BATs Currently in Progress

[AsianEvolusioner 18]

this is my current project.... need a little more effort on the texture.

The details, i will put them after i finish with main texture

[Gogman 1]

Here some of my converted models from 3ds files from 3d warehouse. I already uploaded one the Russian Church so I show some pictures if other my creations are worth uploading.

First are Military Barracks based on GDI Barracks in Command&Conquer game

Second is Latvian Library a Library commonly found in Latvia.

Third is Jewish Synagogue

Then there is Riga TV tower, the largest TV tower in Europe. (368meters)

Then there is building based on Dome of Rock but it all got rendered in gold so its rather Dome of Gold. The lot size is too large.

Other than that I have three little Arab houses needed to be finished, two Arab universities and mosque.

None of these models are mine, I just integrated them in Sim City world. I lack skills in geometry and mathematics to make my own models ( I am more historian and writer than architect). If you want get some of these models I can upload them but wont guarantee 100% quality because I am amateur in this field.

[marcoheutink 70]

Gogman: those bats look very good actually! (maybe the dome is indeed a little too much ;-) )

I am no architect either, and as much an amateur as you.

My only experience was in cinema 4d before.

It took me some time to figure out the modelling in gmax, but it is something you can learn!

Too bad the judgements on the stex are so severe!

But don't let this scare you to give it a try

People are spoiled with uploads from guys that have years of experience in batting (no offense guys) ;-)

So all your creations are compared to that professional stuff

If you look at the models in the early days of simtropolis, it becomes clear the uploads were judged more mildly back then.

Please give it a try, once you learn the basics of gmax it becomes fun...

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: Gogman

Here some of my converted models from 3ds files from 3d warehouse....

snipped

None of these models are mine, I just integrated them in Sim City world. I lack skills in geometry and mathematics to make my own models ( I am more historian and writer than architect). If you want get some of these models I can upload them but wont guarantee 100% quality because I am amateur in this field. quote>

If you wanted to upload someone else's models to the STEX, I'd recommend getting yourself ready for a little bit of hazing and reactionary critiquing and criticism - that sort of stuff is frowned on, especially since after all these years so many great BATters have given us so many extraordinary BATs which were built from scratch.

I detest math, being more of a humanities and arts type of person, but once I got over the gmax learning curve, there's nothing there which precluded me from creating my own models.  And I seem to have fared well in the past year and a half, as my stuff has been generally well-received.

If you're going to take another's model, perhaps the one saving grace would be a phenomenal texturing job.  Textures, not simple gmax colors, but real textures, which usually involves a lot of work and tweaking and testing.  However, I would recommend creating your own models, rather than uploading stuff from another website, unless you're prepared to bear the wrath of some here on the STEX...

[Gogman 1]

I am not scared of criticism if its in correct basis. The years in academic field has made flexible to critics. But I think I will no more upload badly rendered bats. I will probably stick to map making or some lot making. I only wish those experienced BATers would more Eastern Eurasian bats like from Russia, Middle East. Simmotropolis is so western American I wish there would be more eastern stuff. That's why tried to make more Eastern bats, but because I obviously lack skill for now I will use them for my own purposes.

[ianpaschal 77]

Yep, using Warehouse models is generally not looked upon as very... well... legit. I too hate math and physics, but they're not that important for Gmax. That's right, you're wasting your time in math class.

Really all that's important to understand how 3d Modeling software works (on a basic level I mean) is basic geometry; how many points does it take to make a line a line, and how many to make a plane a plane, and understanding 3d coordinate systems. Once you see how that stuff is represented though, it's not hard since we live in a 3d world that you experience every second of your life.

I would just recommend learning to do it yourself. Those warehouse models aren't high enough quality that I'd use them anyway so it's not really like you're providing the game with much needed objects. (At least not for me. If the buildings aren't done really well, they might as well not have been done.)

Anyway, here's the latest from me. Not totally happy with the 2nd one, but the 3rd picture I'm pretty satisfied.

Now I'm actually going to BAT a building. I'm trying to decide between light modern industrial and 70s apartment block.

[autoVino 26]

Very nice!

Once again, I can't see the post unless you type startpage=52 in the browser :-)

edit: I know why the glass looks so odd, it's because the index of refraction between the glass and drink is incorrect.  It should be ~0.8 instead.

This article explains why: (see page 50 - 52)

http://www.mentalimages.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/arch_and_design.pdf

[ianpaschal 77]

Thank you my friend. I will check that tomorrow.

[marcoheutink 70]

ooh makes me want some juice

[kellydale2003 2,276]

haha Neato! Love the aperture effect!

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

Well, while I'm trying to get my props finished, I'd figured I'd get to work on my mansions and such. Here's one of my mansions that's finished.

I really wished I could get some help with making custom lighting props and try to figure out why my little house lots can't grow in the game, then people will be able to access these buildings.

[madhatter106 3,903]

BlackDragonAJ89 - the windows look like they are painted on the sides of the house - I think it's due to the fact that the colors are so distinct/bright, and the black outlines make them look cartoonish.  Are the mullions and casings actually sculpted?  They look as flat as the walls in which the windows should be cut.  All in all, I'd say the textures need some gradations and slight variations; there are a couple of tutorials in the omnibus which show that even the simplest variations or gradients do wonders for helping the shadows of the render look much better.

[tcx 170]

here's another unfinished model that I want to finish before this year ends.

I took the idea from a building located in Santiago de Chile, it's not an exact replica of that building and I started this thinking of making an US Embassy,

[Delecto 941]

Good work tcxalapa ...

maybe the top windows are slightly smaller (in height) and it still needs a good job on the textures. Otherwise, the model is really nice.

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

I took the advice and began experimenting around with my two mansions I've built up so far...

Anyway, I've been studying my textures and some houses and buildings around here after reading the gradient tutorial on the Omnibus. Anyway, since my textures were built to be tiled both horizontally and vertically, and since most of the color gradients of darker and lighter go from bottom to top, I realized that if I "stack" the set of the same textures on top of each other and use gradients as an overlaying layer on the stack of textures, I could create of a variety of horizontally tile-able texture sets that I can use to help make the buildings look a little more realities (as well as to keep desaturating colors, not to the point though that they look drab and follow the "real is brown" principle and destroy the character that the buildings are supposed to have, considering they're supposed to be fantasy buildings).

I'll probably be working with creating the texture stacks and redoing some things to see if I can strike a little more realism here.

[tcx 170]

Working on the roof, still lots to do.

[Heblem 600]

Excelente!

[blade2k5 1,523]

Originally posted by: Scipio

Yep, using Warehouse models is generally not looked upon as very... well... legit. I too hate math and physics, but they're not that important for Gmax. That's right, you're wasting your time in math class.

Really all that's important to understand how 3d Modeling software works (on a basic level I mean) is basic geometry; how many points does it take to make a line a line, and how many to make a plane a plane, and understanding 3d coordinate systems. Once you see how that stuff is represented though, it's not hard since we live in a 3d world that you experience every second of your life.

I would just recommend learning to do it yourself. Those warehouse models aren't high enough quality that I'd use them anyway so it's not really like you're providing the game with much needed objects. (At least not for me. If the buildings aren't done really well, they might as well not have been done.)

Anyway, here's the latest from me. Not totally happy with the 2nd one, but the 3rd picture I'm pretty satisfied.

Now I'm actually going to BAT a building. I'm trying to decide between light modern industrial and 70s apartment block.quote>

Now here is something that is not only original [at least I haven't seen anything like this before], but also very unique.  I look forward to seeing how you turn this into a building.

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

Good work everyone...

Anyway, here's just a big glomping look at I what I did with the textures after reworking (and rebuilding them entirely) to be more suited for the game's lighting style:

These are all the old little ones from beforehand, with a bit of tweaking:

As you can see I went and tried to repair the textures of the buildings. I don't think I'm going to try to go much further with the houses now. Anyway, I went and tested them in the game on their lots without props (since I'm making my own) to see if they could grow. Here is the result in two snap shots:

Anyway, I'm going to give these props (all which are done, but I'm having trouble with them getting messed up by Reader's conversions, so I am trying to fix that). I also will have to update the lot base/overlay textures because of a programing glitch (fixed it) that occurred with the base textures.

Oh yeah, I also made my own bus stop, needs improvements on the lot though.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Great Job! haha. They'll look much better with those props you mentioned!

[tcx 170]

Great models BlackDragon, those houses look good in game.

I

[Blazerhawk 162]

Nice work tcxalapa!

Here's what I've been working on.

[madhatter106 3,903]

BlackDragon - the houses may be a good start, but they still have a long way to go - these look very basic, and their color schemes are very saturated compared to a lot of stuff out there on the STEX or the stuff which Maxis/EA made. The gradients are too severe and short, making the roofs look like they have gray stripes on the top where the two planes meet...plus there's more to texturing that just adding the gradient - there's painting and other detailing and irregularities that occur where water stains happen, shingles get worn or damaged, etc. I'm not saying they should be utterly grimey slums, but a little variation can go a long way.

The windows don't appear to be translucent - they look like aqua squares painted on the sides of the house.

On the whole, as far as color, the saturation levels are much too high for my taste. The zoomed out shot of a city where you've grown a number of them looks like someone dropped a ton of Skittles on the landscape - they're that saturated and bright, they call attention to themselves for the wrong reasons. And the color combinations and schemes seem odd - I don't think of anyone, short of Anton LaVey, who would paint his house black with crimson red edgings and a burgundy roof.

A lot of this sounds picky, but I'm sure there are others who would echo my statements. I'm fussy about what I put in my plugins folder, perhaps more so than others, and the stuff I do download I make sure is top quality. Hence my hyper-critical approach to a lot of stuff posted on the STEX. As I said before, these are a good start - but they're a long way from being completely perfect.

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

I understand those things, so don't worry all that much. At least it's something that's easy to fix since it's more about just experimenting and trying to figure out what actually can work, but without destroying what I was trying to originally intend. I can go back and fix up and update things, since at least they're houses at the moment.

[Larks2242 251]

Love the ship crushed car

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

I just uploaded those houses today mostly because I got kind of tired of working with them. I decided to just move on see what I could fix that wasn't so far along.

So far, I need some suggestions for this building:

It's that greasy spoon I brought up some time ago, I tried some new things on it to see if I could fix up, but it don't know what else it could use.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

@BlackDragonAJ89 - Would've been WAY more convenient if they were in a pack; not everyone is going to download one house at a time

[BlackDragonAJ89 21]

Didn't I break them into packs as based on style? Or do you mean all of them in one big fat package?

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Oh okay - I didn't see those were packs

All I saw was "Single Home"; but yeah, it would be nice for one big pack - Just because Dirk does pay for bandwidth and storage. But it's up to you - I think it's just as great that way too

Great Job!!

[paulvmontfort 616]