BAT Windows: Realism or resemblance? Take your pick...

[CDI_spy 5]

I was just curious, because

1. I model real-life buildings, some of which have blue glass,

and

2. Some STEX downloaders have given BATters grief for not being realistic: "the glass shouldn't be reflecting the blue sky, it should reflect the street!"

What do you prefer?  Realism (in which case, all the glass windows would be greyish reflections of the street or ground)?  Or resemblance (you like your BATs looking like the building from its street-level view, in which case, blue glass is predominant)?

Err... by the way, there is an actual poll for people to vote in... it's up top.  Post your comments too, to justify your decision and keep the thread current!

[autoVino 26]

Street and ground all the way!  First off it's more realistic, and second it fits more with the game.  And If done with 3ds max, it's even easier and a good idea to take advantage of this option (I mean you paid a ton of money, why not go ahead and use 3ds max to it's greatest capabilities?).

[CDI_spy 5]

Autovino: Really?  Even for a building like this one (CanWest Global Place, Winnipeg)?  I dunno... I would be tempted to model it with blue glass... maybe no clouds, but sky-blue glass.

EDIT: I was doing more research, and came across this building (Canterra Tower, Calgary) with an awesome overhead shot that's almost-perfect Simcity angle, and despite the fact that the building has lost it's sky-blue glass, it looks still really cool.  Still... I want to know what other people think, and I might still go with a blueish glass on the first (CanWest) building.

[Gridlock 9]

I think its real hard to reflect the street , as all cities are differant , you goto be careful imho reflecting the street as the building could look completely out of place , ive had a lot of problems , learning how to make glass in gmax and im still not happy , but when i thought about reflecting the street other buildings , exactly which ones would you use , ive been looking closely at maxis window textures , they appear to be a mish mash of colours that dont look realistic once you get close up but look ok at farther zooms , Hurt enterprises has amazing glass from a few zooms out , zoom in and it looks like the reflection of someones rest room , kind of, anyway i think the answer is do what makes you happy ,no one forces anyone to dl anything they dont like , and you can never please all of the people all of the time , so dont even worry about trying.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Yes, a good window texture should be vague enough that it could be reflecting anything.

I voted for ground, mostly because sometimes people use sky photos as window textures and it usually looks awkward.