Nycc06's BAT Workshop

[TowerDude 2,187]

Hey, and first off all great BAT, richard Rogers would be proud of you. Threre is one thing you maybe forgot look on the pic

there are some vertical lines on the top of the building on the losanges.

With or without them, needless to say that your BAT is AWESOME 

[Simcity player 13]

Originally posted by: TowerDude

Hey, and first off all great BAT, richard Rogers would be proud of you.

(Quote edited, picture removed)

quote>

I'm pretty sure Norman Foster was the architect

Please don't quote entire posts with pictures when you comment (or reply to) one particular statement in a post. Huge quotation blocks with a single line of new text under them are difficult to read and clutter up the forum - this counts double if pictures are quoted. Besides, it takes a while to find the statement you are referring to in your reply. So please quote just the statement that you comment to keep your reply focused and easy to read. Thank you!

[T Wrecks]

[nycc06 229]

Thanks for the comments everyone. TowerDude, if you're refering to the lines on the diamonds on the roof, just to say the BATs roof hasn't been modelled propoerly yet and it will look hopefully similar to the roof design in the render. Btw, it was Norman Foster that designed it. Hoepfully when i get some free time, i'll get some more work done on this project. With a bit of luck, i'm looking at a christmas release for this BAT, fingers crossed.

[nycc06 229]

Thanks for the comments everyone. TowerDude, if you're refering to the lines on the diamonds on the roof, just to say the BATs roof hasn't been modelled propoerly yet and it will look hopefully similar to the roof design in the render. Btw, it was Norman Foster that designed it. Hoepfully when i get some free time, i'll get some more work done on this project. With a bit of luck, i'm looking at a christmas release for this BAT, fingers crossed.

[TowerDude 2,187]

Aghh!! It was Foster I am anticipating this model a lot

[TowerDude 2,187]

Aghh!! It was Foster I am anticipating this model a lot

[nycc06 229]

Hey guys quick update, Two WTC is progressing nicely and i'll post some new images in the next few weeks. Apart from that, a bit of news for you all. A super secret super tall BAT is comming to the STEX very soon. All i'm going to tell you is its name for now: The Rialto Spire.

[Aemilius_sc4 18]

Oh no don't tell me you've done the Chicago Spire too!! That would be so awesome. (And lill' sneaky )

Good to hear from you again and nice progress it seems too, I'm eagerly awaiting your new bat(s).

[nycc06 229]

nah fraid its not the chicago spire, its a fictional building, but i can't give too much away yet. -

[nycc06 229]

Alright, I'll give you a quick teaser pic of the tower's base.

[nycc06 229]

Ok, just finished rendering the whole tower which unfortunately is in two halves. So here's the image i've come up with for the 570m Rialto Spire. Let me know your thoughts.

[TowerDude 2,187]

Blalalalallalaal!!!! I can See some HK ICC and some Dubai all in one !!!! This is very nice! Congrats I luv it! good luck on the continuation

[Evillions 552]

Now that's interesting! Great work!

[mightygoose 92]

big IS beautiful.... you just keep rocking that NDEX style....

[Roger51 381]

Great work!!!!! love it

[nycc06 229]

Thanks for all the replies. I have since changed a few things including the roof texture on the darker arched walls. The texture is a bit lighter now, thought it was a tad too dark. Also i've added a bit more detail on the roof as well. I've finished the nightlighting as well now and the top half of the tower has been exported, just gotta wait for the base section to finish now.

Hopefully looking to release later this week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, can't promise anything though.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Interesting model! Noty my style, but interesting and really NDEX-ish.

You may want to have another look at the flora... IMO, the grass looks radioactive (it could use less saturation, and probably also less brightness), and the trees are a tad too obviously repetitive - it appears to be one and the same model used all over. At least 2 or 3 slight variations, used in different rotations and maybe scaled a bit differently) should be enough to create the impression that there's a bunch of equally old trees of the same type, which grew slightly differently.

The concrete planters around the trees (and around the fountain) look pretty bleached and washed out, though - gmax is just horrible with horizontal surfaces; you need to darken them a lot to compensate for the bad lighting the software applies.

Finally, I think the stairs at the base are out of proportion, and I miss a defined entrance and lobby.

[nycc06 229]

Cheers T Wrecks for the critique. I've made some adjustments along the lines you pointed out and have come up with this below. In regards to the trees, i only have one tree model for gmax so i tend to use the same one over again, but i've changed some of the colours, sizes and positons to make them look more assorted. Let me know your thoughts.


 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Ok, let's see...

Planters: A lot better.

Trees: Nice variation, this is just what I meant. I only think you may have gone a tad too far when you started mixing different seasons. Some subtle variations in hue, rotation and size are enough to do the trick. For example, the four trees to the left, near that pavilion structure, look perfectly ok to me now.

Grass: It might be a bit too yellow now... you should think they'd water those grass areas thoroughly, it's just that the grass shouldn't be so saturated that it appears to shine and glow.

Stairs: Looks like you made the individual steps smaller, but now the stairs look like thick grey lines... guess gmax can't handle the detail properly. Maybe it would work if you made each step deeper. This way, there would be larger surfaces. This might help to make the individual steps discernible.

Fountain: (it is a fountian, right?) Somehow the texture appears to be too directional - it has a clear orienation.

[nycc06 229]

Thanks for the reply again T Wrecks, I've made some additional changes and come up with this new image. Let me know what you think.

[Aemilius_sc4 18]

wow a great improvement of a great bat Nycc06!

[nycc06 229]

hey guys, sorry for the delay with the Rialto Spire, got a few export issues, but i think i've fixed them now, so hopefully by next weekend it will be ready, fingers crossed. Btw, new logo yay!

[nycc06 229]

Ok just to let everyone know, i've had a lot of problems with exporting the Rialto Spire BAT so the release has now been delayed until later on this month. I'll keep everyone posted with any developments on this project.

[TowerDude 2,187]

ouch sad to hear that don't you hate it when it happens after all this work

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Love the new logo, I love the bat you have made it is wonderful. What export error you are having?? Have you tried merging your bat on to a new scene?? Have you merge any anything to your new bat that you have made from a pervious bat??

If I can't help you out someone surely can.

[nycc06 229]

Thanks for all the support with this one guys, i've managed to successfully export both halves of the BAT, but i'm having some issues still with the merging of the two sections. This is mainly down to an LOD and lighting rig problem with gmax. I've still got a few ideas yet so i'll keep at it and let you know more asap.

[mightygoose 92]

i assume you are rendering it in halves to avoid error code 6?

[nycc06 229]

Originally posted by: mightygoose

i assume you are rendering it in halves to avoid error code 6?quote>

Yep thats exactly right. That error code kept comming up even by doing the tower in 2 halves. Btw what causes that error?

[SimFox 802]

Error Code 6 is the most problematic because it has numerous causes. So it is never enough to say "I have error code 6" what is wrong?" It always necessary to give quite a detailed background to try to see what is really going on. I'm

In the case of big buildings, though; it is quite easy. And BIG is the key word here, not tall. The root of the problem (failure to export) is in the naming convention of FSH files. Game engine uses 2 Hex digits for labeling pieces of FSH texture. This results of ceiling of 32 256x256pix FSH tiles per zoom/view. If your model exceeds that limit export fails. When estimation the number you have to keep in mind that tiles are "cut" based on your LODs. So creating tight LODs that exclude all the "empty" space could help. I'm very confident that this model can be exported in one piece.

I'd also say you cold have exported Freedom Tower in one piece as well. The LODs on that one are very "sloppy" and cover tons of empty spaces eating away at your 32 allowed tiles. Be more precise and you'll be fine for most thing. To give you a hint what is possible - I did create custom LODs to export Burj Dubai/Burj Khalifa) in one piece... All 800 meters of it, as well as rather large base (excluding the plaza, of course)...

[nycc06 229]

Cheers for the feedback Simfox, your right with the Rialto Spire bat that there is a lot of empty space inside the LODs on the base half of the tower. My question is how do you create custom LODs and do they have to form a rectangular box each time, or is there a way of creating a shape that follows a near exact form of the building itself?

Also i know what you mean in regards to the Freedom Tower (1WTC), the code 6 error was part of the problem there as well. Also i'm aware that there were some issues with the zoom 1 and 2 views of the tower. Hoepfully if i can fix the issues with the LODs, i will be able to re-export the Freedom Tower as well ready for the full World Trade Centre site release next year. Another question, would an export containing towers 1, 2, 3, 4, transit hub and plaza of the new world trade centre be possible to export in gmax as a single model, or is it best to do them separately?