Twinkle, twinkle, little BAT...

[Harry's Place 918]

neat i love it 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

The roof texture looks very good

[SimCoug 5,976]

The texturing looks perfect - it will fit right in with the maxis Chicago and NY sets.  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I love it madhatter106, and I happy to see you still batting.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Thanks, all.  Here's an old ghost haunting me; I had modeled this one three years ago, and it sat in my "to finish" folder until I realized that I had not even started the texturing.  So I am forcing myself to see it through.  I don't yet know about the roof...

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Strongly reminding me of a mix of SimGoober's Harrison Building and Iron Block Building.

[SimCoug 5,976]

Love it.  This type of building can be found in downtown's all across the US, but it will still add a bit of character and history to our sim city's.  The only change I would make would be to remove the table and chairs and replace them with a few generic benches and maybe some garbage cans/Ashtray's. Maybe even a potted plant or two.  I imagine  this is the smokers break spot.

EDIT:  sorry, looks like you got the shrubbery covered... I was viewing it on my phone

[madhatter106 3,931]

Yeah, I kind of hated the rooftop lounge area.  I wanted to do tables and chairs, but it didn't seem to click.  And there wasn't enough hedge and shrubbery details; I had to duplicate them and move them around a lot in order for them to even read.  Lots of tweaking and messing around with this small footprint, but overall it makes a big impression... the devil is in the details... plus you read my mind, as I had been leaning towards putting a trashcan up there by the doorway access...

The great difficulty is not loading in too many details - and then it becomes clutter, or so specific that when more than one grows in the city, they all stick out like a sore thumb.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Wow, another nice one! I like the changes you made to the roof; the old one was a bit half-baked somehow... not pleasant enough to be a ritzy roof deck, not gritty enough to pass for a simple place for a smoking break. The new version makes it much more credible, and IMO the building is good to go - except, maybe, for the top of the parapet. It's very white, and I think it may look better if you either tone it down or add metal flashing.

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

This model looks great! I hope you can continue it

[SimCoug 5,976]

Looking good now
Although I agree with TWrecks on the white... Other than that, I'd say it's d-u-n

[madhatter106 3,931]

Yeah, I do hate doing my texturing work on a laptop computer.  I am so used to old school, CRT monitors with desktops, that when I do any substantial texturing on a laptop, it skews my perspective on color and texture.  Sadly my desktop gave up the ghost some time ago, so I only have the old laptop at work and the new stupid lousy one at home.  Though usually basing my textures off original ones from a while back has helped a bit....

I couldn't see the white for what it was, so I did tweak it to a light gray - the tendency for gmax to really blast out and brighten surfaces that are completely flat is really pronounced in this BAT.  I'm always marveling at how dark some of my rooftop textures look in Photoshop, and then they look perfectly fine in the preview renders in gmax.

At any rate, here's another BAT that went lightning fast the first two hours...and then slowed to a glacial crawl afterwards.  This particular baby has been difficult in the birthing...it still needs roof access details and I haven't even done the back wall and windows and details yet (not pictured)...

[Harry's Place 918]

OMG love it

[simlink 1,098]

Both buildings are looking good, nice additions for sure.  I really like the texture you have on this one.

  Edited September 10, 2015 by simlink  

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

This one looks like a star and, therefore, perfectly fits your thread's name

[SimCoug 5,976]

I love the masonry textures!  This is another one that will fit right in alongside the maxis Chicago and NY sets.  

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Looks beautiful

[madhatter106 3,931]

Thanks.  I think this one turned out rather well; I don't have an available snap of it with the remaining detail and roof access, but it finally ended up being pretty good.

Here's an earlier one started that's a little bit further along; it ended up resembling a façade in my swipe file, so I worked up some details inspired by that pic.  I wish I hadn't done an "inset" front on the model, as it would probably be better as just a rectangle, but it was too far along to change.  Ah well, I think it will be okay...

Needs some final modeling details, like side doors and front lobby windows, but I couldn't help doing the roof.  Sometimes these BATs are dead and lifeless until I start in on the roof detailing and texturing, and that can really breathe some life into the rest of the process.  When I used to do costume sketches, I would always have to start with painting in the face and flesh tones, because the sketch wouldn't have any spark until I did that...so I just started doing it in the beginning...

 

[T Wrecks 10,210]

This should be another great addition to the Chicago tileset! I agree that a "C" shape would have been pretty cool, but let's just pretend they had to maximise value and get as much out of their lot as possible. In any case, it's good that there's at least a slight recess to make the front look more interesting.

Looks like you're slowly crawling towards one of those humongous all-inclusive packs, eh?

[SimCoug 5,976]

Another great looking building!  With this older style, it makes me think a water tower would look good on one of the roofs. 

[madhatter106 3,931]

TWrecks - yeah, something has been bugging me about this BAT.  After reading your post, I thought to give it a try and see what it might look like as one of those C-shaped floorplans.  (There's an architectural term for it, I am sure, but I couldn't figure out what it might be.)  So I took the model and pushed the front inset pieces in exactly three meters, and added some narrow windows along the newly formed inset "sides."  The result is not too shabby, and looks more deliberate and believable...

I like both variations, but I'm leaning towards this newer one.  Though if I do go with it, I think I need to extend the length between the ground floor lobby level and the floor above it; in effect, giving it a taller mezzanine style height.  Right now it looks a bit squat and squished.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Oh yes, this actually worked out very well! I agree that making the ground floor stand out a bit more would benefit this building, too. Maybe a little ornamentation on the cornice above the front/lobby entrance would work as well.

[Hotwheeler 409]

MadHatter: Your newest three BAT`s are amazing.The third Building looks much better now with the Setback.The Color is a little bit distracting but i guess this won`t be the final Texture,right?

I wonder if it would be possible to make several Versions of each BAT with different Textures for more diversity.Commercial W2W`s (or almost W2W`s) in this Size are a rare sight on the Exchange and it wouldn`t hurt having more of them

Is there any Chance you would stick with this Style a little longer?:D

However,keep up your amazing Work.

[Jack_wilds 550]

luving the progress... well done so far...

[madhatter106 3,931]

T Wrecks - by the time you posted this, I had already done the ornamentation - it made total sense once the setback was done, and looking at my reference pics in the swipe file, it fits perfectly.  We are in tune and on the same wavelength!

Hotwheeler - thanks. I am rather getting a kick out of doing these.  Indeed, they aren't the final colors, I just haven't gotten to them yet; I usually start at the roof and work downwards.  As far as several versions, I'm more inclined to just do lots of different outright variations on these, plus setting up the building families are something that (while interesting) I don't have the time to commit to learning and experimenting with.  I am probably going to do a whole slew more of these, and have rather enjoyed doing a more "antiquated" set of BATs, which would make it easier to sort into the Chicago and New York building tilesets for those inclined modders.  There will be tons more office buildings coming up; if I can find the time to sit down and pull them out of me...

Jack_wilds - thanks!

 

[rsc204 21,866]

I'm more inclined to just do lots of different outright variations on these, plus setting up the building families are something that (while interesting) I don't have the time to commit to learning and experimenting with.

Building families are real easy, especially if you use PIM-X, but if you are good with the reader they aren't time consuming either. The real beauty though, you don't need to make new lots for each building variation, one lot (or however many variations you'd like) can use all the similar buildings, picking one randomly when it's selected to grow. I appreciate the time element, but if you'd like to do something like this, I'd be more than willing to make the families for you.

I enjoy your BATs and have (I believe) every one, they fit really well in a number of different settings and always look great -  glad to see you are still making more :).

 

[T Wrecks 10,210]

You need to have an IID range reserved in order to make building families, though, in order to prevent IID conflicts. I think catty-cb is the go to person for this here on Simtrop now.

Once that is done, the steps in the reader are as follows for every .sc4desc that belongs to a building of the family-to-be:

• Right-click, select "Add property" and choose "Building/prop family" from the list.
• Overwrite the "0x00000000" with the family's actual IID.
• Make sure to change REPs from 0 to 1!

Actually, once that is done for one .sc4desc, you can simply copy the line into the other descriptors.

As rsc204 said, you'll only need one lot (assuming the building footprints are identical), and the buildings of the family will still be bound to tileset restrictions and everything.

[madhatter106 3,931]

Building families would work for my stuff, if I were to do different color variants.  However, each of these little guys is a different size, shape, and has a different LOD footprint.  So unless I were to reign things in and design them all of the same size, the lotting wouldn't be as efficient.  It's something that I might have implemented a while back, but at present I think I'm painted into my proverbial corner.  It's fine, and may be something I revisit in the future. But usually when I sit down to do these, there's not as much forethought and planning for the modding end of it.  I just do 'em and then mod 'em.  

Here's the slightly more textured and detailed version of the latest.  I still haven't done the back window details or the lobby interior, which will be shown when it gets nightlights.  I think I need to darken the mullions and casings on all the lobby windows and doors...they're getting lost next to the glass...

[raynev1 1,887]

I must say , I love your work . And I believe , I also have DL'd all your uploads . I am very happy to see you are still adding more content to the community . 

Long live Simcity .

[SimCoug 5,976]

I love the decorative cornice on this one (if that is the correct architectural term).  Wonderful texturing so far