nybt-forum-threads NYBT BAT Thread

[SimFox 802]

SimCityFan412:

Self-Illumination is a tool and like any tool it's use has to be cautious and measured. First you should find a proper texture, one that would fake the reflections well. For that basic window texture that is supplied with GMAX BAT is a good choice. Of course it could be further fiddled with in say Photoshop.

After that the self-Illuminated material should also be built with at least some reference to the physics of the world we're living in. And although renderer used by BAT in GMAX is a simplicity (simple like in a bad way) itself still some of those rules (of the physical world that is) hold true here as well. For instance you cant cast shadow on a clean clear glass. same as you can't illuminate such an object. basically it has NO defuse properties. All light is either passed through (refracted) or reflected, none is defused (scatter-reflected). What it basically mean in terms of the material building is that you should have nothing in the defuse channel - eg keep it pure black. Instead put your texture (your image) into self-illumination channel and adjust it so that the brightness is just right. In this particular case it would mean that it look like normal reflection and not lit up at all.

The fact that you have pure black in defuse would mean that your windows will not receive any illumination from the lights, they wouldn't receive any shadow either - this way your windows brightness will be irrespective of the external illumination - just like in real world. Of course this covers just the glass itself and not something that could be seen through it. But all in all it is a best solution for faking realistic glass in GMAX. And if you look carefully you'll notice that this type of technique has been used by Maxis on may buildings in the game.

[ozdaniel 4]

can you do the 55 Water at an angle?

[simcity4fan12 13]

Here's some more work on the Textures of DAC-

More pics will be posted at TG Columbia in the NYBT Manufacturing Plant/NYBT simcity4fan12 Projects. I'll try to post some more progress here as soon as I can with the nightlighting and roof junk!

[simcity4fan12 13]

Page flip

EDIT: Didn't see those replies thanks to the pageflip bug.

@Simfox- I didn't see your recent suggestion till after I posted that pic. Based on that pic, am I closer to what your talking about?

@Ozdaniel- I'm not sure, maybe when Gwail mods it when it's done, I'll render a diagonal version that's ploppable, but I'm not sure.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

How is the wall and roof textures????

[simcity4fan12 13]

They look great! Fine, fine work Aaron! Can't wait to see the window textures.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Ok, im going to put the all textures on the building and export iy im not trying to rush, i just don't want to work on this building to long like my apartment building #1. Im going to see if i can make 120 wall street but its not a promise.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Just wanted to stop by again and say-

HAPPY NEW YEAR NYBT!!!!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

[Jumpthefence 74]

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAppY nEW yEar!

*spam* spam* etc

Cheers.

[Francis90b 748]

Happy new year, NYBT members !

[simcity4fan12 13]

Been getting some work done. Check it out-

Here's the flag in the works for the update for 130 Liberty Street V2.

It's kinda hard to tell, but there's a realistic texture there with wrinkles in it.

Here's some more progress on the Downtown Athletic Club-

Special thanks to psander5 for telling me a way to zoom in on a rendering preview with the mouse wheel. Thanks psander5!

And lastly, 55 Water Street-

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

both buildings are looking good.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Hey NYBT members, we can post our own BAT Threads in the NYBT Board Room(NYBT Manufacturing Plant) at TG Columbia. Mine is the only one there so far, so posst there when ya'll can! And we are still posting here too.

I didn't realize in that pic that the glass texture turned to a solid color. It's fixed now in BAT, more pics to come soon.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Did some work with DAC-

POSSIBLY...the final version.

Here's some nightlighting-

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Looks really good, you have your chairs,table and some small trees on the upper part of the building.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

You would benefit from a larger bitmap (more bricks in the picture) so you see less tiling, and also reduce the brick size. You should start by reducing the height and width of the UVW mapping by 1/2, and make sure you match up your sizes for the bricks in the bottom of that 2nd pic. You might have to find a texture with less prominent morter, I'll have to see how it looks smaller, but it may give you the wrong color for the building.

You are making decent progress with it however, this is probably one of your better models. If you need help working on the texture, feel free to PM me.

[SimFox 802]

As window texture goes it is still far to bland. It need more variation to fake the reflections. Those must be of greater dynamic range too (so both bright and dark). For the walls I would add to what SimHoTToDDy said that may be you could mute things down a bit. Such strong, pronounced brick pattern makes it look a bit toy like. There should be a hint of the brick, illusion of it, not every brick clearly seen.

Aaron Graham:

the roof texture looks fine, but the roof itself need some work, right now it way oversimplistic and small house like...

[simcity4fan12 13]

I'm just popping in to say that the Downtown Club is complete and waiting for lucky7 to lot it.

Hey Gwail- I don't think modding for a residential building is necessary is it?

@Aaron Graham- Yea I added trees and all that stuff because, from what I could tell from photos, that there was stuff like that in those areas. Your making great progress on the Transportation Building. You gonna wait for Gwail to mod it, or are you going to release it first, then have Gwail mod later?(like most NYBT uploads, haha )

@SimHoTToDDy @ Simfox- Your suggestions are really appreciated.

I think now that the DAC is done, I'm going to focus on more projects. Currently, I'm contemplating quitting some right now until my interest in them comes back. Right now, I'm only interested in 55 Water Street, and my interest is in 2 other BATs other BATs, one was on my list and the other needs to be done. The Citibank Building in the Financial District(it's near the Continental Center, One Financial Square, and 77 Water Street), and the low-rise/triangular castle-like building next to One Brooklyn Bridge Plaza(it looks like it's part of it in photos). I'll post progress later.

Everybody still here?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12

@SimHoTToDDy @ Simfox- Your suggestions are really appreciated.

I think now that the DAC is done, I'm going to focus on more projects. quote>

I think we have a communication problem here. You post progress of a building, others give pointers and suggestions. You say that these are appreciated, only to continue by announcing that you regard the BAT as finished, thus disregarding all input. Now what?

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well........I all ready finished and rendered it before I saw those, and on this other site I was at, some other professional BATers told me the brick texture was fine, so I left it as is. Sorry guys....

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Im going to let Gwail modd my building as soon as I finish it.

[SimFox 802]

Professional BATers? I would love to see that :-)

[psander5 197]

professional BATersquote>

I hope you're not including me in that statement Any advice I give should be considered secondary to advice by the expert BATers! I still have masses to learn myself before I could consider myself anything more than a casual BATer

55 Water Street looks like an interesting, yet still generic building. I look forward to seeing it progress and then ultimately getting my hands on it

[Wrightguy0 40]

just picked up the downtown athletic club, it looks good, i must say, i had my doubts, particularly about it being a sketchup model, but it actullay looks good keep up the good work guys, your skills are improving quite nicely!

[Parisian 556]

Hello everybody. I m just wondering what's happened to the both buildings from Park Avenue? The creator decided to do not share them or what?

[Gwail 52]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

I think we have a communication problem here. You post progress of a building, others give pointers and suggestions. You say that these are appreciated, only to continue by announcing that you regard the BAT as finished, thus disregarding all input.

quote>

I'm pretty sure there is no creator that doesn't aprreciate help from such great BATers. Personally I'd love if they would give me so much suggestions and tips if I'd start batting. However I think that it isn't a "we're_the_best_and_you_have_to_follow_the_path_of_truth" festival. There is no need to release every work perfect. Brandon made a lot of progress, guiding much pointers and suggestions. He has stopped at the certain point and decided to release the building as it was, no reason why. Maybe he was fed up and didn't want to spend more time on it. Some other guys would proceed and work longer (including me), Brandon not. Maybe he will follow the suggestions next time, maybe he will release version two, it's up to him. He thanked for the tips and excused he didn't follow them. Am I wrong saying it was his right? Let him get a lesson with the lower STEX note he could expect, you don't need to perform a public ostracism because of that .

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Now what?

quote>

Nothing. The life goes on. I do hope our great BAT masters are great people too and they are able to accept Brandon's decision and won't stop helping in the future.

Brandon, I suggest at last to use the SC4 PIM tool - it gives reasonable property values. I think the flag for 130 Liberty St. should be more straight, hanging flat along the facade (some photoshop fx should be enough to fake the bending).

Aaron Graham, I do hope you won't regret it .

Parisian, there is no need to panic, be a little more patient, everything's under control, I suppose .

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12

Everybody still here?

quote>

As I've PMed you, I rather won't be too active for next couple of months. However, I'll always find some time to help with modding any NYBT member wants it.

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12

Everybody still here?quote>

Yep, that snowy bike ride didn't kill me. Oh, and speaking of that thread, yer huntin' payed off!

Some snow flurries have been seen in Alexandria, Pineville and elsewhere in Central Louisiana today, Jan. 4, and they signal frigid weather ahead.

Things aren't going great for me right now as far as BATing is concerned. My nitemaps have been broken for at least a week, so I'm not sure if I can BAT without breaking anything. I also need to find my Simcity 4 Disc 1 because Simcity was being whacky and I had to uninstall. I'll get that problem done soon. The disc is in my basement I believe. I do need help with the nitemaps issue, so if you have any ideas, Sky Guy and I are pondering over at the BAT Maintenence Thread.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I just want to say that...most NYBT members that weren't here will find out about the recent...incident....but it's not to be discuss anymore and we just continue with our projects.

Haven't got any updates yet, but I will tomorrow maybe, keep on the look out.

[Hanson784 165]

I think everyone will be happy to know that work has started on the Flatiron Building. My first BAT of the new decade!

Seraf, looking forward to your future projects. How's Bethseda Terrace coming along?