Cockatoo's BAT Thread

[bixel 1,229]

T Wrecks I never keep incremental saves of anything man, I live on the EDGE!!, in fact while I am typing this I am precipitiously situated on a rock in the middle of a white rapids river! My computer tower is sitting on a makeshift raft I made with reeds!! I call it Moses, but enough of that. C0ckatoo-210893 you are doing great. Curious how this develops.

[Alien_397 8]

Ah, finding good source pics, always such a pleasure....

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Thanks for your support guys! Apart from some very small details that I want to add to the base roof and the pavement outside the main entrance, it's all done! Well all except the night lighting which I still need to learn and the lot... Like the roof junk and the extra sings? I think now it's got roof junk it resembles a Hong Kong style building alot better.

I was never going to release this on the STEX at first, but I think I've surprised myself with this BAT. Should I release this? Yes or no?

Anyways here are the progress pictures:

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Bixel, don't make me come over and take those Kung Fu movies and whatever drugs you take away from you...

c0ckatoo, I absolutely agree that this is has more than enough potential for a release. My only criticism is that the wall around the topmost roof looks far too thick, and the one around the lower roof is a bit lackluster in terms of texturing. Likewise, IMO the ground floor doesn't really go too well with the upper part. Modeling and texturing are nice in themselves, but the combination somehow doesn't work. The rest of the building has a warmer, yellowish tint on most parts, while the base is cold black/white. And those walls at the base stick out, they look as if someone had leaned parts for a totally different building against this BAT and forgotten to pick them up later. The roof texture looks nice and sun-bleached, although some '6459978-style' smudges and contours probably couldn't hurt. It's worth a shot!

However, in order to really judge it, we'd need an in-game shot against the backdrop of a normal in-game scene. I'll stick around and annoy you with my nit-picking comments!

[bixel 1,229]

well you know what, it looks pretty good. There are a couple of things tho, the tube on top very center, I just don't like the texture on it but thats just me. The 1st preview progress picture, the foundation wall has a very stretched texture on it. Go here and download the jpg pack.

http://www.openfootage.net/?cat=3

Also perhaps some very thin lattice/mullion work on the outside of the huge wrap-a-round window texture could make for a more realistic looking building, but who knows I haven't seen this is game.

Anyway keep it up your are progressing fast

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Here at C0ckatoo's BAT thread we take your suggestions very seriously...

T-Wrecks: Re-textured most of the base and made the roof boarder wall a lot thinner. Just a quick $%&^! question... what are 6459978-style' smudges? Never herd of them.

Bixel:  Wow, thanks a lot for the link to the texture download page! Really helped out a lot with the base textures. I've re-textured the wall with the stretched out texture and the funnel on the roof.

And now all that's left to do is the night lighting. For some reason the some of the texture on the roof didn't come out but it's only lost on zoom 5 and 6 facing toward the entrance. After this I made another render and it corrected it's self, strange?

How it looks in Hong Kong:

[autoVino 26]

Wow, that fits in really well with the other hk content!  Good job, you really deserve it!

[SimFox 804]

Love the signs, but the "glass" although quite plausible on the "sunny" side - fails to impress, or even convince in the shade by becoming virtually black. Not sure though that there si something that could be done in Gmax... may be some moderate self-illumination??

[bixel 1,229]

WHOA That looks really good!!! Still think the main glass part needs some sort of exterior skeleton to break up the wrap-around-texture. but boy does it look good with the HK style content!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Yup, I agree - in a bustling Asian scene, it looks spot on! Superb job!

c0ckatoo, what I meant with those smudges refers to a texturing method that was first described in detail by a member called 6459978 - check his 'Roy Thomson Hall' on the STEX to get an impression of his texturing skills. He basically takes a "photograph" of any surface in the BAT, then inserts it in photoshop, picks a suitable texture pattern and re-draws the edges with fuzzy, slightly darker (or brighter, depending on what's required) lines to enhance contours and shapes, and e.g. to 'anchor' HVACs and other roof junk on the roof. Go check out his 'Toronto BATs' thread on page 12, it should be buried here in this section. Since you are skilled at Photoshop yourself, the technical details won't be new to you, but maybe you'll find some methods of application that could be of interest to you.

Meanwhile, I think a new STEX star is born!

[HONG KONG 74]

Great progress  Why isn't your thread in the HK/Asia team room?

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Well you guys and a few people in my CJ seemed to think Yau Ma Tei Currency Exchange was worth uploading so I've put it on the STEX. It should be there in a few moments.

EDIT:  Well, looks like that stupid publishing cycle is broken again! We'll have to wait until it's fixed to see it up.

ANOTHER EDIT:  It's on the front page lol

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Just a quick note, I'll be starting work back on the Prince of Wales Building today. I'm probably going to re-work the entire tower and base sections using the method shown by Bixel on the last page (or something like that  ) Also thinking of doing a second version of the Yau Ma Tei... building, but only when I've mastered my night lighting skills a little better. I'll try and use the 6459978 smudges and maybe a little exterior skeleton too for V2, but for now it's back to work on our old friend. I think that’s something to do a little down the track but everyone in my CJ was so persistent that I release it in its current state.

HONG KONG:  What? I'm not part of the HKABT? Am I? I thought that team room was only for Team Members showcases.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Of course I cannot speak for the other HKABT members, but as far as I am concerned, you could be in that team anytime you wish. You are by far crazy enough.

[HONG KONG 74]

Originally posted by: *****atoo-210893

HONG KONG:  What? I'm not part of the HKABT? Am I? I thought that team room was only for Team Members showcases.quote>

 

You name your thread C0ckatoo's Hong Kong BAT Thread.

You make asian style BAT(s) and also realistic Hong Kong buildings.

Your City Journals are also asiatic stuff....so you are crazy enough  and welcome from my side.

[bixel 1,229]

Yeh he should move this over the HKABT thread PRONTO! Chop Chop! lets do some more HK stuff!!! XD

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Wow guys! I'm flattered . I'd love to be a new member of the HKABT if that’s okay with the other members.

T Wrecks, you're a moderator- Can you move this to the HKABT team room? If you can then I would be very grateful! If not will I have to start this thread over?

Anyways, the Prince of Wales building is under-going heavy renovations (I got the wrecking ball in, there's little bits of smashed up pixels everywhere! ) So no screen shot today however I've started another project. The Hong Kong Streets Pack. Basically my goal is a SimCity version of this.

At the moment It's just an idea but this is kinda what I wanna make-

* 3 Medium/Low Rise low wealth street buildings- Like the ones in the above picture. They will probably be wall to wall and have many overhanging street sings.

* 3-2 Medium Rise low wealth HK style Apartments- Like these ones. Probably built in the 60s or 70's they will be close to Wall to Wall and a generally dirty appearance.

* And 2-1 Tsim Sha Tsui style High Rise Hotels- Probably the Majestic Hotel (Medium Wealth) and the Peninsular Hotel (High Wealth).

And I'll release it all in one big pack similar to the way the Asian City block pack was released.

I've started work on the first medium rise low wealth street building.

(Named- Lucky Dragon Chinese Medicinal Herbs ) lol...

[Jasoncw 12,060]

The building turned out really well!  The only thing I'd watch out for is to make sure your sign textures and the signs themselves are the same proportions, so that the signs don't look stretched out.

Also, the SC4 view squashes things down.  To fix this, scale everything vertically by 130%.  Especially for things like text and signs, but really for everything.

Also, I think you should reregister with a new screen name, lol.  The numbers and the filtered word aren't that great.  I also had about 400 posts and one upload, and I reregistered as a new name, and it's not as bad as it seems.  The longer you go on, the more you'll wish you had re-registered.

(And I also moved this to the HK room)

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Hey thanks for moving this Jasoncw!

BTW, about the name thing, I've trained most people that know me to write it as C0ckatoo-210893 and with the numbers, well most of the time people just leave them out anyway. I've got 2 CJ's and this thread so I don't really want a new account under a different name. (I didn't know ST had a censor when I joined up and I've used this username sucessfully on many other sites.)

Oh yea, just about to do the sinage and I've re-done some textures:

[SimFox 804]

Welcome to the stable :-)!

[paulvmontfort 617]

Welcome*****atoo-210893. I like your work, it's very good considering the time you've been batting

I thought you might want to know some things about our team:

First of all unlike many other teams, we do not have a specific leader of some sort. We're just a couple of people helping eachother out and give feedback. This IMHO creates very relaxed conditions. A great 'working enviroment' were you learn new things very quick and keeps the interest in batting up.

Our team was founded (as you might or might not know) 2 years ago by bixel and myself. Ever since T Wrecks has been our modder, but recently some of the members like to mod things themselves like bixel. We also now embrace HONG KONG as a modder. HONG KONG also is our king of references. He comes up with pics and such of buildings we're working on.

That's all for know

[bixel 1,229]

Awesome!! I am glad you are now officially in the team! Next time you load stuff be sure to use this icon now.

HKBadge.zip

[patriots_1228 51]

congrats on getting into HKBAT. btw, i should sign up as ******* and people will always think theres a bad word behind it and kill themselves trying to find it The building looks great, nice name.

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Hey thanks guys! I'm really grateful to be a part of the HKABT now!

Paulvmontfort:  Thanks for the background info, I've already commissioned HONG KONG as my modder.

Bixel:  Cool, I've changed my STEX avatar already.

Anyway this would be ready for modding now- finished the night lighting so that's 1/3 for the street buildings. HONG KONG, I'll send it to you for moding when I've finished all 3.

Day Render:

Night Render:

[bixel 1,229]

too bad you are not using 3ds max. you could finish up my Mong Kok block sets for me

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Yea, when are you going to finish those? Pitty I don't have 3DS max but I just can't afford it

Some in game shots. Just on a temp lot. I'll do the real one after the proper modding stage.

[skyliner22 16]

Wow interesting looking building..i think a screen shot in a better atmosphere would do it justice. Why is there a giant sign on the side that says Japan though, been curious....

[TheSixCents 0]

Those would really go good in my new cj!

good job!

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Haha, dose it say Japan dose it?  I can't read in Japanese of Cantonese. Because I'm just making these textures from random photo's on the net I don't know what they say- Kinda stupid really... lucky it doesn’t say adult store or something worse...

Because in Hong Kong everything is named Lucky Dragon- Here are Lucky Dragon Lofts (The first Mid Rise Residential for the HK street pack) - Based loosely on the apartments shown in the picture above. Still working on the front wall.

[SimFox 804]

It seem s you have an issue with smoothing groups on this later one ( and might be on previous as well) Generally it isn't such a good idea to use them for non organic modeling and in organic it also should be done very cautiously. Just select ALL polygons and click on clear all button