simcity4fan12's BAT Thread

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well at first, I wanted to keep my progress on my BATs to myself, but I decided to open up my own BAT thread. Now, I use sketchup first, then export in BAT, so this one ight be a little interesting. Well first, I show ya'll one that is actually in BAT with a rendering preview.

                        

This is the 3rd version of Alexandria Tower.  I changed the length on the lowrise building part and added some bushes.

 Now to show you one of my BATs in the sketchup process. We'll just call them sketches.

                                                                   

This is the 130 Liberty Street bank in progress, I'm not sure exactly what I'll do for the lobby glass since I plan on making the above ground plaza with its narrow foot bridge.

[nihonkaranws 88]

Looking good, but the blue windows are a bit too saturated and bright. Do you know nightlights? I'm not sure that can be done in Sketchup... I suggest you follow Phillipbo's tutorial in the Omnibus (BAT - Essentials), since BAT can have more advantages than Sketchup.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well nihinkaranws, I know how to do nitghtlights, it CAN be done even with a sketchup model. For I have done it before. I have 2 uploads on the stex to prove it. I know its not alot though. Everything has worked out fine since then. I'm still using sketchup.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well here is some new progress on the texture for Alexandria Tower V3. This is a low quality render.

I think I'm going to leave the glass texture the way it is and move on to nightlighting.

[Francis90b 748]

I echo what nikonkarawans said, your glass textures are too saturated and you need to fix them.But the rest looks good at first.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Saturated hmm? I did't want the glass texture to be blury, I wonder if thats why it ended up saturated. Any tips on this? Soon I'll show a pic with night lights in progress. Thanks for stoping by.

[simcity4fan12 13]

OH... I think what causing this "saturated" glass texture appearance. I think It might be just how I edited the size of the pic by seperating the building from the screenshot. For, the glass texture doesn't look like that in my computer screen.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, here's a pic of my progress with the nitghtlighting.  I'm trying to add a variety where some are bright and some are more dim.

I haven't added lights like omni or target spot yet, I'll add those in close to the end. It helps to speed up the previews when you want a night pic too to not have the spotlights yet.  As for the texture, I'll try to get either a low, medium, or high quility of the model in the game to give it a test on how the glass textures will look.  If I like it, it will stay the way it is. If not, I'll try to fix it up. Also, when I get farther on the 130 liberty building, I'll show a preview of it, still in the sketch phase however.

[simcity4fan12 13]

For those who are viewing thanks for taking a look.  Here's a new glass texture I'm pretty satisfied with.

The pics are still looking more "pixel-y" I guess you can say. But it still is good. This render preview is in draft, I'm trying to get the bushes to slightly look more like that in a high quality preview. It looks to blury to me(in the high quality). I'll show a high quality pic later to show ya'll what I mean. Then I'll show another pic of the nightlinghting in progress.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well after a bit of work here's more on the nightlighting from another side.

Here's the Highquality rendering.  I'm not to pleased with the texture for the bushes looking blury, most of the textures I applied get blury when I get the high quality preview.

For some reason, the glass texture got brighter on this side(north view). Its darker and more better in the south view, but in the other views it gets brighter, especially on the north view.

Heres a close up on the bushes, it looks way to blury to me. Any ideas on other ways I could change this? I also want to change the brightness on the north view.

I don't think its close enough, for some reason, but you should be able to tell.

Here's a high quality preview of the South side. The darkness of the texture is perfect for the building, but its not like lat on the other sides, I think I know how to solve this, so the texture might change slightly the next time you see it.

As for the Deutsche Bank Building, I'm still working on its windows. I'll show more pics when I get done with Alexandria Tower V3.

[Pocksis 1]

where are windows and the triangle part looks not-balanced..

-pocksis-

[simcity4fan12 13]

I'm sorry, I didn't explain the lack of windows.  The lowrise part(I hope thats what your talking about) connects to more buildings on one city block in Alexandria. The back isn't really a triangle, it's slanted. There is 2 support columns that hold it up that cars and people can go under. One of its entrances is there to. But thanks to simcity's camera view, you can't really see.

Here is a pic of the made columns, I might space them out more so you can see them better in a rendering view, but that might make it less accurate than it already is.

Also I solved the problem with the glass texture being less dark on the other sides. Thanks for stopping by.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well I'm just about done with the nightlighting. All there is left to do is add an omni or some other type of light, and get a quick opinion on this. Here's a pic of the nightlighting on this side. I'm thinking about lighting up all those glass panels in the front, but I'm not sure.


Also, here's a quick preview of the basic wall texture I'm using for the Deutshe Bank Building. Its an old pic, however, with out the detials added yet.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Here's some more progress on the nightlighting.  I'm still wondering about lighting the windows in the view of it above.  If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment.  Here's some progress on the nightlighting.  As you can see, I need to fix up the spotlights underneath the tower.  Any suggestions?

[simcity4fan12 13]

I feel like I'm just talking to myself on here, but I'm still going to keep this thread going.

Here's some progress on the Deutshe Bank Building.

I started on its facade, and I think It looks good. I have it set to monochrome where you can't see the texture I applied to help prevent it from becoming slow. If I continue to work on it tonight, maybe I'll finish it, unless I export Alexandria Tower V3.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well I'll show 1 more building that I started on.  First up, I have one of the twin towers of the world trade center.

I might work on this some more after I finish the Deutshe Bank.

And just for fun, heres a diagonal view of Alexandria Tower.

[nihonkaranws 88]

The windows are still way too blue. Open you texture in Photoshop, Irfanview (free!), or whatever, and reduce saturation and brightness/contrast greatly. The bright blue will stand out negatively in people's cities... But it can be fixed! I hope you can figure it out, and if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.

[Jasoncw 11,839]

If you have something new to add you should edit your previous post. 12 updates in 8 hours is waaay too much. Honestly, 12 updates in 8 days is more normal.

[simcity4fan12 13]

nihonkaranws, Thanks for the tips, I belive I solved the problem in my favor. Its more of a dark green color now, though slightly blue, I would post an update to show, but I think 12, according to Jasoncw, is way to much in 8 hours. lol I'll try to show some updates tommorow. In the diagonal photo of it, That's when the textures are fixed actually. I like it. I'll try to get it rendred and try it out in the game.

I apopligize Jasoncw, I was alittle discouraged by the lack of replies. I might try to limit it to 1 or 2 a day, and keep working to have alot more in one update instead of paosting every small change every second. lol Those are it for a day.

If any one has any pics of the Deutsche Bank Building's Plaza and Footbridge to the WTC I would apreciate it if you could post them here to help with my Deutsche Bank Building Project.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well here's a new update on Alexandria Tower V3. The glass textures have changed and this is how it will look in the game.

Here's another.

And another. A more distant shot.

Here's one more.

Now here's the final lot. I'll try to get it to grow in the game to get pics of the actual lot. Last time I used pics of the test to see if the nightlighting worked.

Stay tuned for an update on the Deutsche Bank Building! I still need pics of its plaza if any one can help!

[Gn_leugim 853]

and he keeps double\triple\quadric post lol..

[simcity4fan12 13]

thanks.... its not like anyone reads this anyway I shouldn't have even started this if any one who comments just is going to complain about the multiple posts its not like it really matters.

[Gn_leugim 853]

people reads.. we are just warning you.. because you can't do that.. looking forward the next building

[nofunk 1,933]

Well, I think your BATs show a lot of promise! The modeling is really good, but the textures could use some work. The glass, for example, is a bit too vibrant, as some have already mentioned. All you have to do is open the texture in whatever editing program you use, and desaturate it some. What this does is add some gray to the color, so the blue isn't so loud. Take a look at JasonCW's texturing tutorial (it's linked in his signature) for more tips. And it looks like you're having no problems moving between sketchup and BAT.

As far as the frequency of your posts: it's generally considered poor forum etiquette to post multiple times in a row. As a general rule, if you have updated your thread, and you want to update again but nobody has posted a reply, you should EDIT your previous post. If someone has replied, then go ahead and make a new post. But posting consecutive updates to your own thread with no replies from others makes it look as though you are just bumping your thread to keep it at the top of the forum, or trying to increase your post count.

Hope this helps!

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12 thanks.... its not like anyone reads this anyway I shouldn't have even started this if any one who comments just is going to complain about the multiple posts its not like it really matters.quote>

Just because we haven't posted or replied doesn't mean we haven't read it.

Okay, I'll have a go at your recent creation - like the others have said, the windows are way too blue, so much so that it stands out even in the distant shot of your building, surrounded by the other Maxis buildings.  Also, I think that the night texturing totally destroys the effectiveness of the modelling; since the windows are so large, you would see the contents of the room, the furnishings, etc., but the standard gMax night texture method is so deficient when compared to other ways of lighting (target spots, omnis, etc.)

Also, just like the forum posted, you can EDIT your STEX uploads.  Rather than posting three different versions of the same building in a row,  you can edit the first posting and include updated models, descriptions, lots, etc.

While I appreciate your enthusiasm, understand that others aren't checking these boards as frequently or thoroughly as you might be, hence your frustration with people not posting replies or critiques.  Give it time, keep consistently posting different works, SHOW IMPROVEMENTS, and be willing to accept and apply critiques that you may receive, and you'll get replies and comments.  But also question why you are doing this and what you hope to acheive by posting/sharing your work - if you're here to learn and get better, and to share in your techniques and learn from the techniques of others, then that's fine - but if you're here for asspats and personal validation or for us to fawn over everythinig you do and proclaim you the next BAT prodigy, that's the wrong reason for posting...

(Not intending the above to be snarky, just trying to steer you in a more positive direction.)

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well I just want to apologize if I sounded rude and for the annoying /double/tripple/quadruple/posts in a row. I pretty much screwed this up. I see no one really likes the glass texture. I already tried to make it less saturated, and what not, but I might need to go back and redo it. I thought it looked good to me. I do appreciate the fact that ya'll are tring to help me imprpove on my texturing, I really want to improve on that. I guess(if I can limit my posts and be more patient) I'll keep this going. At first I just thought no one likes BATs that were made in sketchup, but that really isn't it. So any way... I'm sorry.

[kant01 5]

Hey, simcity4fan12, I really like the design of your building. Its a nice mix of architectural shapes which makes it a rather interesting building. keep up the good work

[Gn_leugim 853]

about the glass texture, you could try 2 things: follow Jasoncw tutorial, which you can find in his signature, or do as I do, make the interior floors with something, usually making the base floor texture having multiple shapes and colours helps, and make the windows blue and transparent.. then you just have to adjust the colour and transparency

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: Gn_leugim about the glass texture, you could try 2 things: follow Jasoncw tutorial, which you can find in his signature, or do as I do, make the interior floors with something, usually making the base floor texture having multiple shapes and colours helps, and make the windows blue and transparent.. then you just have to adjust the colour and transparency quote>

 

This is an effective method.  Another way which I have used successfully in the past is to model the contents of the room (tables, chairs, counters, items for sale, etc.) in a roundabout basic way, then place two or three omnis with a multiplier of about .65 or so in the vicinity of where the overhead lighting of that room would be. With the transparent glass texture and a vague sense of items behind it, you can create the sense of "interest" behind the glass.  I've done it that way in my low wealth small commercial shops I posted recently in my BAT thread.

I believe in 3dMax you can use self-illuminating textures for the window nightlights...I think people like autovino even have shown their nighttime photo reference that they have used for their skyscrapers in their BAT threads.  The results are amazing, but I am not sure (if at all) you can get the same results with self illumination in gMax...perhaps someone more experienced could answer that....

[simcity4fan12 13]

Thanks for that tip madhatter106. I found another glass texture, but I think I going to start over on it and make it more accurate to the real one and make the interior visible at night. Though, the actual building's interior is not visible a day time, only at night but I think there's a way to fix it like that. Also, it might be a while before I can make an update on any progress with anything due to a problem where I had to uninstall everything with simcity. But, it will take even longer beccuase I lost disk one. So all I can do for now(to show progress of my BATs) is to show my BATs in the sketch up phase. Also as for my BAT based on Deutsche Bank, I gotten farther, all is left is its roof. Then I just got to put it in gmax, once I get every simcity thing back installed. Or, is there a way to still have the BAT, lot editor, and plug-in manager with out the game? I don't really think so, but maybe its possible. I'm not going to try it unless I know for sure though.