Psander5's BATs

[psander5 197]

I recently decided to finally learn how to BAT.  I first downladed all the programs about 2 years ago, but have only now begun to open the door to the batting world.  I have quite a lot of ideas for things I'd like to see in the game.  I've never requested a BAT, I always thought it would be more 'proper' to do it myself.  Now that time has come. 

I'll start by showing my first real project.... Skylon

Here's two preview renders: Day:

Night:

In the game: Day:

Night:

I know there are some issues.  I've read quite a bit of the forums and i've deduced that, in Gmax there's no way to alter the jagged edges - anti-aliasing.  Am I correct?

One thing I need to sort out is the shadow problem (visible above).  She shadow begins in the wrong place, and I can't figure out why.  It also appears in the night view.  Is it possible to stop that happening?

Overall i'm currently happy with the texturing.  I tried various metal maps on the losenge before settling on the satin look I have now.  I don't really want anything too shiny  as there's no raytracing in Gmax (and faking it is way above my current level)

The lit version above is only one of the nightlit versions I want to make.  I also want to make a version with coloured lights to make the monument more realistically versitile.  (RL buildings like this always have extravagant light shows)

Further reading... for more info on where SKYLON is from (this is a copy of a post in my CJ) [the image is an old version, but gives you an idea of the in-game scale]

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Skylon 2008:

As I mentioned in the last update, there will be a temporary monument in the lot for the forthcoming observation tower for the Gelderland Games event.  This is that:

The original Skylon was designed by Hidalgo Moya, Philip Powell and Felix Samuely, for the Festival of Britain 1951. 

The structure was an enormous success for the event, but was sadly  scrapped in 1952 on the orders of Winston Churchill, who saw it a symbol of the preceding Labour Government. 

This version of Skylon, designed by... ME! is different in several ways.  The original structure was clad in aluminium louvres and lit from within.  My version is clad in seamless satin aluminium and will be lit from the outside.  The original tower was suspended 15m from the ground and reached almost 90m in height.  Skylon 2008 is suspended 16m from the ground and reaches 110m in height.

Both the original and the new version are suspended using only nine suspension cables and three supporting 'legs'.

Skylon 2008 features a completely original plaza (not yet complete) at its base, where visitors can stand directly beneath the procarious point of the 16ton suspended 'lozenge'

Skylon will be opened officially during the opening ceremony of the Geldeland Games, where the lights will be switched on for the first time (i've not done the nightlights yet, nor do I know how... just yet!)

The long term future of Skylon 2008, like it's predecessor, is still uncertain.  The structure is designed to be fully dismantleable and can be moved to another location.  This new location is yet to be discussed, but will be decided before the end of it's 3 year stay in its current location.  Skylon could yet be shipped away to another New Gelderland city, or perhaps even to its ancestral home, London's South Bank.

facts taken from the wiki article

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Rugby League

I'm also working on this project:

Less of a BAT project at this stage, and more of a lot, props and textures project!  I intend to expand the theme to BATting the current and planned versions of the stadium of my hometown rugby league club, The Castleford Tigers (logo featured in the above images)

Other projects I have in mind are a 370m observation tower (again for my CJ), and a range of commercial, residential and industrial buildings (UK themed)  I still have a lot to learn before I can do buildings with windows, doors and lots more detail!  My next training project will probably be a modest clubhouse prop for the rugby league pitches above.  This I hope provide me with the basic practice needed to make something more ambitious. 

Note: I'm waiting for a texture range before I can make my first upload to the stex, a basic rugby leage pitch... otherwise I probably would be further ahead with that one.

I hope you like what i'm working on!  Remember when commenting: I'm a novice!!  So please forgive me if you get responses like "je ne comprends pas!"  (i'm not French, nor do I speak it unfortnately)

PS, sorry if this post was a bit too long!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Not bad for just starting off, after all, you have to start somewhere =P

Hope to see you improve as time passes, we all would love another STEX contributer!

Best of luck,

-Todd

[patriots_1228 51]

Great start, nightlights on the first thing look good.

[jacqulina 162]

great progress looking good

[jayo 44]

The textures on the skylon need to be improved(sharpened.etc)They look to blurry almost.

But apart from that,Good luck

Nice to see another Uk BATer around these forums

I'm off!

[Gn_leugim 858]

wow.. those are magnificent works..

[ngeeves 5]

Very very good for a first bat! I actually saw the Castleford Tigers about 3 weeks ago whilst i was at the airport: obviously they were off on tour! Completely irrelevant piece of info but i thought it was relevant somehow lol.

[bixel 1,224]

The rugby fields are amazing!!

[psander5 197]

SimHoTToDDy: Thanks.  I'm not sure how things are going to turn out with all this.  I get frustrated quite easily so that's something I have to get over!  I'm also a little over-ambitious, which can lead to said frustration!

patriots_1228: Thanks.  That was my first ever attempt at nightlights! In Gmax anyway.  I did a bit of modelling in Rhinoceros during my degree.

jacqulina:  Thanks for the support

jayo: Thanks for the advice.  I see what you mean. This is the texture I used:

I'm making a 'clean' version in photoshop (the clone tool's almost worn out)  I haven't been able to find a better cylinder map.  I used to raytrace metals in Rhino, so i'm not used to using images instead.  I'll post an update later.

There's some excellent UK BATer's around that I can only dream of emulating one day!

Gn_leugim: Magnificent!? Maybe one day!  Thanks

ngeeves: It's not irrelevant... nothing about the tigers is!  They were probably going to Perpignon to play the Catalans Dragons.  It's midseason so there's no tour, and all the other clubs are about an hour down the motorway (apart from Harlequins RL, but Cas aren't rich enough to fly to London)

bixel: Thanks!  I've been craving some rugby league pitches for ages.  There's a couple of major stadiums kitted out for it but there's nowhere for sims to practice!

[psander5 197]

Ok, I changed the texture on the lozenge:

Better or worse?  I think better.

This is the new texture:

I got rid of all the marks, and altered the colour (made it more blue/grey)

Also, I need a little help.  Does anyone know what's causing this?

It happened after I preview rendered the above picture.  I haven't been able to figure out why!  Previously it had only affected one of the 3 'star pools', and any new objects.  I hope there;s a way to cure/prevent it.

[jayo 44]

Rotate it-Does it still do that?

If not-Then you've rendered it northwards and saved it and its altered the lighting.

[psander5 197]

Jayo: I rendered it in the south view, and rotating it did nothing. I've also tried saving (as a copy), closing and re-opening, but that didn't work. And i've tried switching to wireframe and back... no joy either. I have a backup saved (prior to changing the texture) so it doesn't matter too much if i've ruined it. The problem is this happened again after reverting to the backup and re-rendering.

Edit:  I just tried a couple of things:

I saved, then rendered in East view (day & night), and everything was fine.  Then I tried a day render only, and everything went dark again. 

[ngeeves 5]

Try exporting it and see what it looks like in the game. It might be that any light sources you have in the scene are affecting the scene only and not the actual model when you export it.

[Gn_leugim 858]

maybe are the lights.. do this: right click on the upper left conner of the screen (where you have the display options) and select configure.. there select "default lights" and " two lights".. check the apply to all viewports as well =) hope this helps

[psander5 197]

Gn_leugim: Awesome, thanks. Worked a treat!

ngeeves: The renders were always fine. It's impossible to model when everything appears black though!

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Thanks Gn_leugim as well...I too never could figure out how to fix the viewport back to normal after it goes dark to aid when working with lights. Always made adjusting the model after adding lighting difficult.

I can't wait to see this Skylon in my cities, as I am a sucker for monumental civic art.

[Gn_leugim 858]

no problem in helping.. we are here for that.. help each other

I'm looking forward too to have the Skylon

[mntoes 271]

Wonderfull rugby fields. Truly in the SC4 style.

[psander5 197]

Forum - Office & entertainment building

I eventually want to make this:

Criterion place - Leeds, England (approved building - CANCELLED)

and this:

La Lumiere - Leeds, England (approved building - ON HIATUS)

But they're a little ambitious for my current skill level so I devised a training project to teach myself some of the ways I might model the two impressive but unfortunately now cancelled (or on indefinate hold) buildings for my nearest city, Leeds.

This is that project in it's early stages:

As you can see there's no textures yet, but i've played around a bit with the windows in the material editor.

design:

The first 4 floors (plus ground floor) have an entertainment and cultural function, while the upper 11 floors are reserved for offices.  The fourth floor features an open balcony bar & restaraunt so there will be some related 'junk' on that level. 

I tried to keep this small, around 7 or 8 floors, but I got a bit carried away.  The current model would fit on a 2x2 lot.  This model isn't very efficient.  It's more of a 'sculpted', slapped together  thing than a well planned model.  I'm sure there are better ways to model than i've used

So what do you think?  am I on the right track?  REMEMBER:  novice here!!!

Odainsaker: I'm glad I was able to help you... indirectly!!  Skylon's nearly ready.  I think i'm happy with the BAT.  I just need to make the lot and coloured lighting version (maybe a seperate release) and figure out how to mod it properly!  I'll update with images before I go too far though!

Gn_leugim: I hope you like it when I get it out there! 

mntoes: thanks!  I was aiming for something that wouldn't look out of place in the game.  Good news!  I've got my texture range now so I can prepare a rugby lot for upload now.  I'm in the early stages of making a full stadium using the same textures, and with interchangeable team emblems (via the lot editor)!

[patriots_1228 51]

Novice??! 75% of Batters couldn't do that squiggly crap on top of the 3rd floor. You've got lots of talent Psanders, I'll be watching this thread.

[mntoes 271]

It's a real shame about La Lumiere it would have looked great. I could have looked up in amazement at it every day on the way to work. (BTW where are you from if Leeds is your nearest City?) Oh well maybe one day they will build it. The site looks bare just a waste land waiting for better economic times. All the machinery has been removed but they have driven piles into the ground for any furure development.

[Gn_leugim 858]

I could not agree more with patriots.. you got it

[jacqulina 162]

great looking buildings here

[psander5 197]

I did a test export to show you the scale of this thing.  I've done a little bit more modelling on the 4th floor area too.

I forgot to put an edit mesh modifier on the 'zig-zag' facade.  It would otherwise look like the windows above (with a white lattice).  I haven't done much more because I had a major system error and lost about 2 hours work!!! - Idiot am I - Must save often!

Here's something else I began too (actually prior to the forum building).  It's very crude and in it's early stages.  It's a stadium based on my local rugby league club's, named 'The Jungle'.

What do you think about the use of a texture rather than modelling the 'steps'?  Is it obvious?  This stadium is mostly standing room.  The only seated section is the area currently not modelled.

Don't worry about the textures.  I've learned many techniques while making the fourum building that'll make that more realistic when I get round to it!

patriots_1228:   Cheers!  That means a lot!  If you saw a closeup though you'd see that the 'squiggly crap' (I love that name by the way) is really crude.

mntoes: I'm from Castleford!  D'you know it?  It's rubbish.  There's a tv programme on channel 4 next monday about the regeneration of Castleford, with Kevin Mcleod!  All they seem to have done is build a bridge over the river aire that leads to nowhere but a few houses.   It's a very nice bridge though... it would just do better in a nicer town.  My favourite saying is... "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it will still be a pig" (no offence to pigs)

It is a shame about the Leeds buildings, that's why I want to make them.  They would have looked amazing.

Gn_leugim: Cheers!  I'll reserve the right to remain self deprocating for the moment though!

jacqulina: Thanks very much, i'm glad you like them.

[Jasoncw 11,934]

I'm not sure about the squigly part. The rest of the building is very rigid and logical, and the squigly part doesn't really fit with the rest of the building. I think for it to work, you'd need to incorporate more squigly into the rest of the design.

It's definitely coming along well though.

I wouldn't use BATer's buildings to judge scale with, they don't necessarily know more than you do about scale. The floors for that building should be about 4 meters tall.

[Ferrariguy1000 43]

how are you a novice Psande5? you look like you've had 3 years of experience. It looks great, both the stadium and the building look great! but it might look better without the squiggly part. I'd love to see you attempt the Criterion place and the La Lumiere.

[bixel 1,224]

I think the building is pretty sweet, but I agree with Jason CW there is too much geometry in that one spot, dmscopio did a number of buildings with odd geometry but he kept it a little cleaner and pleasing to the eye, this one is a little too muddled.

[mntoes 271]

I should have guessed at Castleford. I used to visit many years ago(about 16) when I went to a mates. Lost contact though and I didn't see any other reason to go there ..lol. No offence.

Great work here btw your'e a natural. Have you downloaded Bridgewater place? I beleive that is on the Stex. I'll follow your thread closley especially if you intend to do some Leeds buildings.

Regards

Mntoes

[psander5 197]

A few changes:

I've been playing aroung a bit, following the suggestions by Jasoncw and bixel which I wholeheartedly agree with on reflection (thanks).  I discovered the geosphere primitive, which I could use to make much cleaner lattices.  I've also been trying to carry the form down to ground level by adding 'glass tree' stuctures to the landscape and a similar entrance canopy.  I don't think it's quite right yet though, I just wanted to show that i'm taking things on board.

You can see that i've begun thinking about decoration of the open air bar area of the 4th floor.  The red dots are 2 different chair models I was trying out.

Closeup of the glass-tree canopies:

View without the canopies:

If I fail to make the 'squiggly bits' look right, i'll revert to something more conventional... but i'll have to close up that wide entrance more though.

I also ammended the window colours a bit (made them darker and grey-er).  Still no textures yet.

Ferrariguy1000: I'm a novice with the BAT.  I've had a bit of experience with other CAD software, and I have a degree in furniture design.  It's the texturing where my novice status will show the most I think.  I've always used materials and raytracing in Rhinoceros 3D prior to this.

mntoes: I have Bridgewater.  It's a great version.  I also plan to make a couple of Castleford buildings!  There's a Burberry factory that looks quite nice... and I think it stands as a fitting symbol of my town lol!

[patriots_1228 51]

Very nice work. I like the first version best.