hkabat-forum-threads Amthaak BATS Thread

[simcity4fan12 13]

Whoooooooooa Absolutely amazing. I wish I could help with that Chinese letter. I don't have much to say, it's just too good. I hope you can figure out that Chinese letter!

[Francis90b 748]

Oh, if this is the final version you've done an amazing job !

I'm feeling strange about the grim on the basement and the weeds over the entrance though...i believe it would be great if you can make those two details less evident...but aside from this i do really think it's perfect, and i can't wait to see your nightlights !

I wish you best of luck with your internet connession, and with your chinese characters modelling !

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Wow, another marked improvement. Fantastic! It's really time for an in-game shot now, if possible next to some Maxis highrises.

[io_bg 249]

Looks fantastic! But can you please make a version without the Chinese letters? I think they'll look a bit odd in non-Chinese cities.

[Amthaak 1,501]

simcity4fan12: thanks for your nice comments!

Francis90b: Dear Francesco, next front pic will include changes according to your very pertinent remark. Hope you'll like it!

T Wrecks: Do you mean that I should export as a trial the Bat? Well,  I strongly believe that it is a very judicious idea, I can for instance check if my bat is well sized compare to Maxis' Bdgs.  . Unfortunatly I did'nt reach the export Bat lesson,as I don't know if I can export directly (like I use to do with Gmax), or if I have to export to Gmax etc...If somebody can teach me rapidly how to export like (1,2,3 ... etc...!) (all these things that I don't know yet!) I 'll be very grateful

io_bg: That's a very good idea! For sure, I'll make 2 versions! It is solving partially my chineese character pb!

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull work my friend

[Amthaak 1,501]

Hi Jackie: Thanks a lot for visiting and giving nice comments!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: Amthaak

T Wrecks: Do you mean that I should export as a trial the Bat? Well,  I strongly believe that it is a very judicious idea, I can for instance check if my bat is well sized compare to Maxis' Bdgs.  . Unfortunatly I did'nt reach the export Bat lesson,as I don't know if I can export directly (like I use to do with Gmax), or if I have to export to Gmax etc...If somebody can teach me rapidly how to export like (1,2,3 ... etc...!) (all these things that I don't know yet!) I 'll be very gratefulquote>

Unfortunately I won't be able to help you concerning the technical aspects of rendering/exporting. I'm sure that at leat one of your fellow BAT artists here will be able to give you some pointers.

Anyway, an export will probably take much time, depending on your computer... before you invest so much time in an export - possibly only to see that you will have to make changes and re.export! - it can be a good idea to take a screenshot of the BAT at zoom 5 and/or 4 and paste it into a screenshot from SimCity 4 that shows comparably sized / themed buildings.

 At the very least, this should give you a first idea about overall scale, colour and brightness/contrast. You will be able to anticipate whether your BAT will blend into the scene or stick out. This might save you one or two trial exports.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Hey amthaak - Those dirty like textures at the bottom, are those from the Material Editor? That's the kind I need Great work btw, You improve very fast

[Simbourgeois 139]

No, no, no!!! You've got it all wrong!!! This is not how it should look...  because now it looks much better than the original building!!!

I like the idea of releasing two versions, I would certainly opt for the one without hieroglyphs (but I have to say that they look fantastic!).

C'est vraiment magnifique!

Bien cordialement,

Simbourgeois

Maire de Belleville

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Really looks beautiful so far, excellent work! The only issue I have with it is the odd smears of the grime on the bottom, they look a little out of place there (what would make that kind of stain, water might, but it would have to be going up the wall ). Instead, I think it might be beneficial to make them large, vague blotches rather than obvious streaks or even go as far as to make it a uniform gradient.

I don't think it looks bad, but the wall texture still looks like a flat color to me. IRL, it looks pretty flat, but there still a subtle grain to it. This picture might show you what I mean, look above the entrance and at the right side and you can see tiny concrete seams and very subtle variation in color. Like I said, it looks pretty good as it is, I just think it could look more realistic.

Kellydale: you could achieve something like that by making an overlay layer in photoshop by either drawing it with a brush or taking a separate picture and placing it over the background layer (either way works). The process is the same for most other image processors as well, except you may have to draw directly on the background if you don't have layers.

As for exporting in MAX Follow the steps from the BAT4MAX thread.

[jacqulina 162]

your welcome my friend hows you doing

[madhatter106 3,903]

I'd agree with SimHoTToDDy about the wall streaks - their size/scale in comparison with the rest of the building looks a bit off. Look how high the tallest streak reaches, with respect to your floors and levels, and you'll see it seems a bit high...

[Amthaak 1,501]

"Batting is nothing compare texturing" (Louis XIII, approximative translation, but that's summarized quite well the actual situation!), I have to humbly admit that SimHoTToDDy and madhatter are right. Hereaftre are 2 sets of pics (a drawing is better than a long speech!)

Set one:

Set Two:

Simbourgeois: toi, t'es un vrai copain!

Special gift for kellydale, the 3 test textures I am using for the walls

[SimFox 802]

Few points if I may...

1. I think you've gone a bit overboard with the dirt/water damage thing... These should exist as hints not in-your-face shouts... Well at least in my perception of this particular building. But, admittedly, I haven't seen it in real life, so I don't feel like insisting on my opinion in this matter.

2.Water tanks on the roof... I personally would like to avoid such symmetry... it looks a bit... well either silly or pretensions... They are almost an architectural detail, while they are not. And their beauty - and these are beautiful feature of Asian "tech" found all across continent from Japan through China to Singapore.

3. vegetation on the terrce over the entrance.. Overall it's great! But you should try to move/scale/rotate the individual plants a bit, right now they look a bit too cloned...

Mind you all these points are there only because otherwise your model is just fantastic. I would never say these to vast majority of the creations, simply because they would have far graver issues to even think of such details!

[Amthaak 1,501]

Dear Simfox, it's always a pleasure to read yr comments:

1- as you know I am discovering max and it takes time for me to adjust or to get the right "balanced" for the texture in order to suggest and not as you said "in-your-face-shouts". So I hope that in the next pics I'll reach this stage.

2- Don't worry, it was just place there, waiting for final move. I still don't know if I am going to put only one tank (as it is in the real bdg)and then I have to choose one, or put  the both side by side...!

3- I already turn them, but obviously, it's not enough, you are right, I shoud rescale some of them to avoid this clonage aspect.

Next pics , maybe tonight!

PS: Thanks a lot for the "fantastic model"

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Aww Thankk You

Now I got a grasp on how to get these kind of textures!! THanks!!

[kellydale2003 2,276]

HEY!!

Where'd you get those bushes? Did you make-em? Lol - Those are quite lovely, Also - are you using ray traced shadows? I can't put on Shadow Maps for some odd reason :S but your model is looking great!

[Amthaak 1,501]

Hi kelly: Noooo! I didn't made these bushes, (they come as "foliage" in max9) the only thing I did was to resize them(a lot...!, to give you an idea I had to reduce by 200%!)

I don't use raytraced shadows ( a least deliberately...!). What, exactly in the pics make you think that II am using the raytraced shadow? I could tell you what I really did.

Well, I started now the details , , , In fact, if I want to be closer to the real bdg I should open doors to access to the front terrace, doors are not yet opened but I bat the 4 "old" red shades. So, my existential question is, do I open the door or not and just remove the shades? tahnks a lot for yr comments!

BTW, Cockatoo mentioned in his Bat thread that somebody should Bat the Peninsula ! He, He, why not...! I'll become expert in batting hotels...!

[Amthaak 1,501]

And for the W.E. and also T Wrecks an ingame pic at zoom 4

PS: don't comment the lot, it's just a testing lot!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I don't have anything new to say, the building is still coming along great!

For some reason though, the building seems small feeling in the game. I can see that it's actually on a large lot, and it is actually a big building. I think it might be because you used a road texture for the driveway while in real life it would probably be more narrow. I think the road driveway is changing the sense of scale. I know you said the lot is just for testing, but this might be helpful while making the final lot.

More hotels are always welcome!

[Francis90b 748]

The inner driveway is necessary for this building, although, as Jason pointed out, it changes the sense of scale.

Perhaps, if you still have the model, it would be a good idea to BAT the driveway yourself, so that you can have something that fit your needs exactly.

If you don't want to go this way, i'm sure that some LOTers may suggest you some good texture packs.

Can't wait for the next version of the lot !

[Amthaak 1,501]

Francesco & Jason: In fact it is not a lot at all , it is just as T Wrecks said:

"it can be a good idea to take a screenshot of the BAT at zoom 5 and/or 4 and paste it into a screenshot from SimCity 4 that shows comparably sized / themed buildings.

 At the very least, this should give you a first idea about overall scale, colour and brightness/contrast. You will be able to anticipate whether your BAT will blend into the scene or stick out. This might save you one or two trial exports."

  That' what I did with a zoom at 4,  and just checking the size/color/brightness/contrast etc... of the bdg. Anyway I agree with Francesco suggestion, i.e, I 'll bat intirely the inner driveway, and I think a lot of 3x5 or 6 should be enough.

[Amthaak 1,501]

Lot should more something like that! (3x6)

[Simbourgeois 139]

Yay, it looks just fantastic! Can't (and I mean "can't" - I want to see it in my city!!!) wait to see it on the STEX

C'est vraiment magnifique !

Bien cordialement,

Simbourgeois

Maire de Belleville

[jacqulina 162]

wow very nice my friend

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Umm. AWESOME!!

Nice size - I agree, I think this lot is better than the last Asian highrises are usually compact and don't have room to waste - So yeah, this lot looks a lot better!

[grbac80 5]

That's great Amthaak. Since it's going to be hotel see if you can squeeze a carpet of an appropriate color there at the entrance. Just an idea.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Excellent job on the model! I hope you can fix the problem with the nitelights! There should be a download on the STEX for the "Let there be Light" that might help you. I'm not sure if you have it or if I'm referring to the right thing. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to MAX. But you're doing great!

[autoVino 26]

Try deleting your lighting rig completely and then turn on let there be light, it seems as if you have a mix of both day and night on. Also make sure that your ambient light color in environment settings is set to black, this can also cause this odd glowing effect you see.

To make lights available in mi arch&design, (if version is prior to 2008) use a illumination shader (lume) in the self illumination slot in extra maps section (same place where bump, displacement, etc is located).

If your version is after max 2008, you can use the self illumination section in mi arch&design, where you can choose physically correct lights. I suggest you read the mental ray and 3ds max help files on this topic to understand more, they are very very helpful on illumination.

I think I have a basic tutorial posted in my thread as well on illumination for 3ds max 9 [linkie]. Don't be afraid to ask if anything doesn't make sense and good luck, night lighting is always fun!