nybt-forum-threads NYBT BAT Thread

[sten1700 102]

I understand! =).

I don't really care for the roof myself though. I think it's good the way it is... But that's my opinion xD

I always think textures make the BAT pretty.

 =D

[Jumpthefence 74]

Okay... I'm back!

I bet you all thought I went belly-up or something (It's been 2 days! Where is he?!), but I've really been occupied with school and packing for camping in Vermont. But enough about me and the emoticons I obviously like. Onto the progress!

Seriously, you can see the advice and pictures from Francis90b and Kryptowhite... it sure helped. But seriously, it's like night and day, it looks super realistic (sorta) and it's now really obvious what building it is (not that the biplane gave it away). I'm not sure how I can thank you people, especially Kryptowhite, enough.

...But this is part of why I joined NYBT, I get to work with some really great (and smart) characters!

I'm not saying it's ready for upload, but I'm very pleased by it. Add any more suggestions if you have any. I'll take note of them.

PS. I have not scaled up the building 133% yet. Don't bug me about that!

Warning: I will be in Vermont this weekend until early Monday morning; BATing will slow down.

[Kryptowhite 9]

It does look better, however the one thing you forgot to fix which IMO was the biggest trouble spot was the height of the gray area in between floors of windows. Keep in mind that in RL that area is about 1/3 to a 1/2 the height of the windows. Anyways, I like what you did with the windows, that looks really good, however, I do have a few new suggestions:

1) The grays of the tower and the roof are very similar which can make the building perhaps a little too monotonous. I might darken the roof so that it stands out from the facade more.

2) I would definetely add some sort of desaturation/dirt/debree to that runway texture, right now with the default GMAX colors it looks cartoony and unfinished, which is sticking out like a sore thumb against an otherwise "finished" BAT.

3) what happened to the middle part? it's running diagonal right now? you definetely want to fix that, as well as the height of that section as I suggested previously

anyways, am I supposed to send you something?

Edit: ahh...looking at your post on the last page i see a bit of a misunderstanding. The issues with the gray areas between floors and the big gray part in the middle have to do with proportions, NOT scaling. Scaling up 133% will change the look of the overall tower, but not the individual features of the facade, which will stay in the same proportion to eachother unless they are uniquely changed.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I was wondering when I'll see some progress on this! Welcome back! I think it looks fine to upload, I don't really see much(just about nothing) wrong with it that would make it lower than great. I really like it! Can't wait for more!

I have finished the front facade for Original WTC7. Here's some pics:

A close view of the front base.

Here's a more distant shot.

Don't mind the way the mullions look, just the graphics of sketchup. And don't mid the white lines on the side either, same thing. It won't look like that in the game.

Also as for 130 Liberty StreetV2 I'm keeping the depth of the facade. The only other changes now might be more detail on the roof. I think I'll leave the mullions as is, since with the new glass texture, I think they will be more noticealbe. No pics of 130 Liberty StreetV2 yet right now, nothing much has changed.

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: Kryptowhite

It does look better, however the one thing you forgot to fix which IMO was the biggest trouble spot was the height of the gray area in between floors of windows. Keep in mind that in RL that area is about 1/3 to a 1/2 the height of the windows.

Edit: ahh...looking at your post on the last page i see a bit of a misunderstanding. The issues with the gray areas between floors and the big gray part in the middle have to do with proportions, NOT scaling. Scaling up 133% will change the look of the overall tower, but not the individual features of the facade, which will stay in the same proportion to eachother unless they are uniquely changed.

quote>

Eh... I'm happy enough with it. I didn't plan to follow every suggestion you give me. Plus... I just replaced those! Not again!

1) The grays of the tower and the roof are very similar which can make the building perhaps a little too monotonous. I might darken the roof so that it stands out from the facade more.

2) I would definetely add some sort of desaturation/dirt/debree to that runway texture, right now with the default GMAX colors it looks cartoony and unfinished, which is sticking out like a sore thumb against an otherwise "finished" BAT.

3) what happened to the middle part? it's running diagonal right now? you definetely want to fix that, as well as the height of that section as I suggested previously

Thank you for more suggestions! I had all three of these in the back of my mind, so I'm glad we're on the same mind track.

1. Consider it done.

2. It is textured, but the texture was done in less than ten minutes. It's rather junky. I'll retexture it.

3. Naw, there are so many rows now it's causing problems. I'll probably decrease it to 8(?) slots. As for the height, I won't make a huge adjustment, but I'll change it.

anyways, am I supposed to send you something?

We were tossing around the idea of you sending me window textures or somethin'. I don't think it's too important.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I think with those changes it will look just fine. I figured the middle part had the diagonal look from the number of little lines there. I think changing it to what you said will make it look better. So will making the runway texture look older. The glass looks excellent too. Good job on it so far!

[bixel 1,228]

Brick texture needs to be better lined up - a trick I use is whatever the units if my floor height I make the size of the uvmap box. so if floor height is 4 my uvmp box = x4 y4 z4

[simcity4fan12 13]

I'll fix the brick texture. I was actually gonna change it once I get into gmax, but I'll change it in sketchup and just edit the color and such in gmax. Thanks for the tip!

[Francis90b 748]

Jumpthefence:

It seems like  you've done great progresses on it !

I think you should check the blind floor in the middle of the building.As usual, Gmax is a complete wreck in rendering those small details, so maybe you should increase the thickness of those lines and reduce their overall number (i believe that finding the best solution for both accuracy and BAT aspect could be quite difficult, but you've done a good job before, so maybe it could be a good idea to give it a try)

At which quality do you render?

Simcity4fan12:

That's very impressive  !

I have noticed that bricks are lining up pretty oddly in your texture.Any texture needs to be lined up more-or less correctly to give a realistic feel.I asked for a solution of this problem in my thread few days later, and this was Jason's response:

Originally posted by: Jasoncw

(...)

What you did is what I usually do, and is what works for most situations, since most of the time you only see the front of the wall. In situations like that where it's important that the top and sides of the box have well fitted textures, you can select those faces of the object, and "detach" them (it must be an editable polygon, and when you select the faces, scroll down the menu on the right and find the detach button). They will then be a new object, and you can make a new texture and UVW Map to fit it. If this doesn't make sense I can make a mini-tutorial about it.

The way you made your texture, you were thinking in terms of UVW Unwrap, where the individual faces of an object are "unwrapped" and flattened, and specific parts of the texture are directly assigned to specific polygons. UVW Unwrap can be found in the same menu as UVW Map, but I don't know how to use it. If you search google for "gmax UVW Unwrap" you might be able to find a tutorial. UVW Unwrap is how textures get mapped on video game characters or for graphics in movies. For buildings at the distance that BATs are, it's not necessary most of the time.quote>

So, using the "texturing by cropping" paragraph in Jason's texturing tutorial, and the post i've just quoted, you should be fine .

[Kryptowhite 9]

jumpthefence: Well the reason I think you both should take the proportions advice is that while it looks "BAT good" it doesn't look "recreation good" just yet. What I mean is, this is a good BAT, i would give it a 4/5 or a 5/5, and download it and maybe use it. However, while its a good BAT, its not a good recreation just yet, because the proportions are severely off. And unless someone knows this building by name [which i doubt] they will have to look up 77 water street and compare images to understand that this is a recreation. Right now, other than the runway on the rooftop, this building doesn't make someone say "Where have I seen this before". And thats because the proportions are way off. So, seeing as it has reached BAT good, i won't be crying out in pain if you release it now [in fact, i'll probably download] but i won't feel like you have reached the full potential of this BAT yet. I know your eager to get it out and i know redoing things is a pain in the butt, especially on your first major BAT, but it will pay off in the end, and believe me, when you remake something 2 or 3 times, you become so fast it won't be tedious anymore. I can make the prudential center facade in about 30 minutes now haha. So what im trying to say is that right now its good, but if you really want to go big and perfect this, i would take my advice.

anyways, i like your idea on #3. I figured that might be what is up with the diagonal slots, considering it would make no sense for you to have changed those haha. Don't you hate it when you do something well then it doesn't render good? Anyways, i like your solution. You might want to try and see if ambient occlusion can be done in GMAX for #2. There is a tutorial on it in Djoohals emergency room thread. Its a quick easy way to dirty up textures and only takes two or three clicks. probably even easier than using GIMP or photoshoop.

So I have some modified maxis window textures from friends that I can send you, the textures i was originally looking for i no longer have. These ones should be good to use as long as you UVW them properly. What would you prefer? Rapidshare? MSN transfer? Email attachment?

simcity4fan12: Did you at least try it? I honestly think it might take this building to the endzone [i made up a phrase on the spot? ]. I would at least give it a chance, and if it looks horrendously ugly, then we can always switch back.

O and I like that WTC 7 [?}. Thats a neat looking building. Shame it got destroyed. Do you have some sort of reference photo for the facade? I'm trying to find one but all i get is 9/11 conspiracy sites.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I would try www.emporis.com  Search World Trade Center Complex, click on it(make sure its the old one). You should see a list of the buildings in the complex and WTC7 is the 3rd I beleive. Click on it and there's some pics of it for you.

I'm gonna delete the enire spire and start from scratch and simply edit the parts below. But I want to finish other BATs first. Mainly 130 Liberty StreetV2 and World Trade Center 7, maybe some smaller and more modern buildings too.

It is World Trade Center Seven in those two pics BTW.

It seems I can't really line up the bricks in sketchup...no matter what I'm doing unless I'm doing something wrong. I'm supposed to get them to line up with the windows right? I've been trying to do that and it won't work. Maybe it will work in gmax.

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: Kryptowhite

when you remake something 2 or 3 times, you become so fast it won't be tedious anymore. I can make the prudential center facade in about 30 minutes now haha. So what im trying to say is that right now its good, but if you really want to go big and perfect this, i would take my advice.

quote>

I never looked at it that way...

and I am a perfectionist...

...

...

Alright, I can't ignore someone who's been BATing for 4 years.

You are pretty good.

So...Thanks for the advice!

Besides, it probably won't take as long as I think it will. Maybe 3 hours, tops.

But not tonight.

I have school tomorrow.

[Kryptowhite 9]

gaaah western mass E-mass has tomorrow off for no reason whatsoever.

I actually had a football camp in lenox last week...it was torture. pretty view out there though. Quirky town, i guess they salute school buses there?

Anyways, if you want to make it go even faster, maybe 30 minutes, you can keep your windows, make the grey part of the facade and then do an "Edit mesh" modifier. use "select by vertices" [its the first red button on the left in the far right toolbar] and then you can select groups of vertices that would represent one floor of windows and move it up to the proper spot. It's a little confusing to type up how to do that, its one of those few things in BATting that isn't straightfoward "click this" "click that". Still, I think you'll find it much easier and less time consuming than remaking everything by scratch.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Bit of an off topic for the NYBT, who makes New York buildings, but I felt like sharing that I'm making non-New York buildings. Just a few from my home town of Alexandria, Louisiana, and a couple from Memphis Tennesse. I plan on re-making the only Alexandria LA building that I made(and the only one from there on the STEX) Alexandria Tower. Just sharing.

I'll get some more progress and updates on my New York BATs soon. So stay tuned.

[mben92 9]

Just a quick question. Are you guys also going to focus on housing projects as well? I feel that SC4 has a rather meager distribution of housing projects and would add to the diversity of residential instead of just commercial high rises. But if I were to request some commercial skyscrapers, I'd ask for International and early modernism more than anything really, some other types of high rise architecture that is also lacking in sc4 as well. BTW, I can't wait to see the WTC complex, 77 Water Street and 130 Liberty Street V2 finished (especially 130 liberty Street V2). I guess that wasn't so short. lol

[simcity4fan12 13]

We're gonna BAT some apartment buildings too. I'm just getting buildings I wanna finish first out of the way. That's WTC7 that you've seen and must have assumed about the rest of the complex. WTC Complex...interesting....hintity hint hint...

I'm back with some pics on my BATs! They are still in the sketchup process though.

Here's the side of WTC7. I'm working on the wave pattern on it. The textures are set to shaded.

Here's the back. Not much has happened here yet.

And here's one project that I never showed but mentioned before. 22 Cortlandt Street. It's inbetween One Liberty Plaza and the Millenium Hilton Hotel.

[Don Miguel 564]

Here are some renders of a building I'm working on, which based on the Broadway Chambers building.  It's not an exact replica because the back of the building doesn't match (the front does however).  I started it a year ago, before this thread was created, and wanted it to be a generic mid rise SC4 commercial building.  So I hope you don't mind any differences between this and the real building.  Please note that textures are preliminary (or not there at all for now).

 

[simcity4fan12 13]

That looks good Don! Welcome back. Glad to see you showing your BATs here. It looks really good.

[mben92 9]

have to agree, it looks really nice.

[simcity4fan12 13]

@Don Miguel: BTW We don't really mind for accuracy in BATs. As long as they look strikingly close I guess. Some of the New York BATs I made aren't 100% accurate to the real ones.

[Kryptowhite 9]

@Don Miguel: Lovely. Wish I could have a city with a million of that style building.

simcity4fan12: Rubik3 already made a beautiful WTC complex, I wouldn't bother doing it because its going to be nearly impossible to top his version Your WTC7 is going to be epic next to his WTC complex. I think I wet myself just thinking about it

Anyways, I like what your doing, WTC7 is a neat tower.

[_Atticus 10]

Wonderful work Don Miguel!! It really captures the beaux-arts style that is so prevalent in NYC. The w2w aspect makes even more interesting. Can't wait to get this one in my city!

-Pingangster

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well now that someone knows my "surprise project": The WTC Complex, I guess I'll sort of talk about it.

Well its not exactly supposed to be the originals...it's mainly based on them, and redoing them in my own style. I know I won't be able to top master BATer Rubrik3 with his. I might just keep it to myself as an accomplishment. I might show pics of it when it's done, and get some opinions on it. Honestly, the towers will be about the same, just slightly different. The Complex is going to change, not the buildings, just how it's layed out. It's basicly what I just want to do. The buildings won't be accurate, nothing really is going to be 100% accurate. I really like the WTC, and I always wanted to BAT them even though Rubrik3 made his wonderful and accurate version. I'm still going to BAT it, just not spend so much time with it, due to my other New York BATs.

Glad you like how Original WTC7 is coming out. I'm having a problem with modeling the wave pattern on the side of the building. It's complicated, it's like basic lines, squares,and circles...to the extreme...lol... But I should be able to make that part, It will just be difficult and will take some time, longer than I expected.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Great Projects Guys!!

I reccommend 3DS MAX for further projects - You won't regret. This Team will take off as soon as the uploads are glowing.

When you use 3DS max people will like the reflections - Download - Review Read Me or Download Page - See your link to this forum - and attract a lot of people.

But Keep up the great Work! I hope you guys keep uploading.

*Me and Nycc06 are creating the new World Trade Centre Complex here.

, Kelly Edwards

[sten1700 102]

Wow Don Miguel that building looks amazing! So detailed!

Btw, have we already found somebody that want to make the roof of the 40 wall street?

Cause I really like to start texturing the building. xD

Sorry if I bother you guys, but I really want the 40 wall street in the game. =)

[Kryptowhite 9]

Kellydale, there are more important things in a BAT than reflections....

[simcity4fan12 13]

I don't really think that switching to 3DSMAX will make alot of people visit this thread. Many people already come by and I use sketchup then gmax....

[_Atticus 10]

Though the stuff you are making is great as it is, Kellydale does have a point. Switching to 3dsmax will allow you to make even better BATs, and better recreate NYC.

-Pingangster

[simcity4fan12 13]

This is about to venture on to a discussion about 3DSMAX...so here's some BAT pics I have to share with everyone.

First off, here's Hanson's beautiful Millenium Hilton Hotel that will be released on the stex soon. Here's a pic of it peeking out behind the WTC in my New York recreation.

The WTC here will be replaced with my own versoin of the Twin Towers soon. It will look exactly like the Twin Towers, just not as accurate.
Here's some of the HSBC Bank in Lower Manhattan.

And here's some of WTC7. Some of the layers are hidden again to prevent major lagging.

And here's a non-New York BAT I'm making. The Capital One Bank Building in Alexandria Louisiana. It's an old, W2W building and is the tallest building in Alexandria. When I release it, It won't be labeled with NYBT, I only do that for my New York BATs only.

That will be the second BAT of an Alexandria LA building on the STEX, the first and only so far was made by me. It was Alexandria Tower. I plan on starting on a new one, since my skills are much better since I made it and will delete the old one off the stex. If you want to see some pics of it, try www.emporis.com and look up the city of Alexandria Louisianna, you will find a list of the builidings in the city from there.

Comments and advice would be appreciated. But please, no more comments about switching to 3DSMAX. I've been told that alot already...

[kellydale2003 2,276]

I do love your modelling - You can become a great BATter using 3DS Max - Just give it a try, PM me if your interested in trying

Quality is great.