nybt-forum-threads NYBT BAT Thread

[Jumpthefence 74]

Alright, let's bump this thread with a Photoshop á la Todd.

...Well, actually it was made with the Paint program, but whatever.

I dunno. Are they done? Or are they "done"?

The scale doesn't look far off, everything considered.

I know the parapets on three of the buildings look the same. I simply won't do it with the buildings furthest left (the actual buildings sure look to have a large outline on Google Maps), and that tall building sticking up above the others just adds variety. Honestly, I don't want the parapets to be repetitive. But, if I get enough complaints I'll change it.  I'm just sayin'.

The colors look pretty good. They're a little bit darker and more faded than the actual buildings, but heck, let's perpetuate that Chinatown is a fading neighborhood.

So, are they ready for upload, once they're rendered and on lots and modded and stuff?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

CHANGE IT!!!!!1!!1!!!one!!1!!1!!!11

 

Anyway, I don't think they look bad, but making the flashing darker would help significantly. You would still have some subtle variation, but they wouldn't stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. Also, I think your "white" one can go a little lighter. See the color of Smith tower to the left? I think you could safely make it something like that no problem. Same with the red brick one next to it, the brick bitmap looks much too dark (just try lightening the highlights with the dodge tool, which will add some noise to it too). I still say the roof on 129 looks bad in comparison with the other two, plus the stair towers look like they are made out of plastic. Make them appear as part of the building, not some gray box tacked to the top of the building.

Oh, and don't use paint, it sucks. Use GIMP, its a free Photoshop analog. (google it)

[Jumpthefence 74]

Err... how can I reply with this page flip bug in the way?!

Edit: There we go. And welcome to page 36!

I CHANGED IT!!1!!1!!!11!!!!one!!!!1!1!!!

I added contrast to both wall textures, so the flashing has extra viewable-ness. It's not especially visible on the front of the building though, so it might be hard to see right now. I could post a side view picture.

I also got around to lightening both textures, but I guess you can't tell. On the other hand, I think they're pretty darn close to the real thing. On the other other hand, I've said they're "pretty darn close" a number of times now, so who knows?

Oh, and I tried adding graffiti. You can see some there. Darn kids.

As for the roof stairs, I took an approach a friend at school suggested to me. I put a bunch of boxes around the stairs and covered them with a cloth/tarp. I also put on random pipes, electrical boxes, vents and soda cans scattered around. Unless you have any ideas to specifically make it more detailed, I think I've done all I can do.

So, what approval do I get?

 or ?

Oh, and why were you and Triforceseek posting at 2:28 and 3:22 in the morning?

BATing zombie much, Todd? Or are you just too sleep deprived to realize you need sleep?

Have a good weekend, y'all!

[madhatter106 3,903]

How about a night lighting shot of these?

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: madhatter106

How about a night lighting shot of these?quote>

I don't see why not.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Cool, you may indeed be just about done!

However, something that may help us poke at all the details is to examine the JPG options when saving the image grabs through your image editor.  Somehow, the lossy JPG compression when saving is overly muddying the details, so you may want to set the compression in the save options to the lowest setting possible.  I bring this up because I am looking at the exterior firestairs, but they are kinda hard to read here, and as I just did some similar stairs myself on one of my projects, I had hoped to compare.

In the slow work-in-progress above, the leftside was captured and saved through the image editor as a JPG with the minimal available compression, while the middle was saved using the default medium level of JPG compression, and the rightside was saved with the worst compression level.  There is still some minute compression on the leftmost side, as this is still overall a convenient JPG image rather than a lossless *.bmp or *.png file, but it is minimal enough as to be unimportant.  We can see the default compression makes fully evaluating my brick textures or firestairs almost impossible.

 

[Sgt Pepper 864]

JUMPTHEFENCE I WANT THOSE BATS IN MY CITY!!!! *all caps freak out*

 

SimHoTToDDY, your smiley face scared the crap out of me when I opened this forum...

 

Well I've been forgeting to post these pics for Parisian-

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=jjxxd0&s=6

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=15ps41s&s=6

Hope the links work...

 

[SimFox 801]

Odain:

well this is only a part of the story... Whatever compression is used on those preview there will be another one on actual FSHs... And although new conversion engine used in Bat4Max is offering some advantages the old one (FSHman) used in GMAX BAT is quite bad. Still I think disappearing fire escape structures on Jumpthefence's models are like that primarily due to the lacking anti-aliasing prowess of GMAX renderer. The look will unfortunately deteriorate quite a bit more during the export, as NO anti-aliasing is used then (unlike during GMAX preview) and then on top of that FSH conversion...

about LOGOs... first one is quite good, but second is not - lousy composition and generally it isn't a logo - just small pic of Lady Liberty and some odd text in odd place. Here also compression is a bit issue - it literally eats away at the detail...

[Triforceseek 2]

it was 3:00 am i made them, i have sleep issues, and i got pretty lazy with the second one, i'll try to make it better next time rofl

[PBGV103 729]

Parisian/Sgt (or whatever your name is now ) you should know that the west half of 30 rock is missing from your model, with the work you've obviously already put into it, it would be a shame to release it with half the building missing.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Parisian is working on it not me. And my old name was simcity4fan12, now it's Sgt Pepper. Clearing that up again...

[mightygoose 92]

 

Someone asked for a logo?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Looks like the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band letters. Awesomeness to the maximum.

EDIT: I like that new one of yours too Triforceseek!

Just letting ya'll know that I'm not really working on much NYBT if any at all. Like I'm still working on my stuff, just not as often as I used too. So my progress on my NYBT BATs will be very slow...

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

 

IT'S OK!!!!one!!1!!!!1!

Hope that makes things clear. Try to make your render look as close to that as you can get it.

I was curious what it would look like if it were just sharpened a little bit, so I put that on there too (although its impossible to make something like that happen in GMAX). I'm not an insomniac, I just don' get up untill 12pm

mightygoose: Groovy~!

[Jumpthefence 74]

 I'm very moderately pleased that you think it's OK!!1!!!!1!1!!1!!!one!!1!

I've run out of mildly witty things to say! Bring out the picture!

So, if you're okay with the roof junk, I'll leave it as it is. I couldn't add much large stuff, as it is a recreation and anything large or contrasting to the roof color would have shown up on the satellite images, right?

As for the roof textures, they look fine in the render, but they could use a little more contrast. So I'll go do that now. On the other hand, Nascar is on soon, so we'll see when that actually gets done. Of course, I added random grunge, just like you did in that Photoshop.

Finally, I brightened and desaturated the white brick texture.

 

So. What now?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Release it. Looks fine to me.

[Triforceseek 2]

Release it already !#@?$ i want it so bad !!

[PBGV103 729]

hahaha don't get angry!

[Jumpthefence 74]

 

 

Yeah, I want to upload these ASAP too. In fact, I wanted to upload them by today, or at least have them done by the weekend. But I do want Todd to "sign off" on them. Why? He lives in New Jersey, and that serves some importance, I guess because everyone hates New Jersey... or something. Or maybe it's because I suspect he's a Soviet who's logged into his Sputnik and is prepared to come my house with a hammer or sickle. Or it could just be that he's a good BATer.

The only problem seems to be that Todd is nocturnal and only replies after midnight. So I don't know when he'll reply. On the other hand, that's sorta what I'm expecting when I get into college. I could say something about how much he must be partying, but I'm starting to realize that's how people get banned from this website.

 

So I'll just say this: when essentially everyone involved is on board, I'll upload.

I'm OCD. It has to be perfect.

Perfect!!!1!1!!1!!!!1!one!!1!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Yes, I am a full time sleepwalking commie architectural student from NJ coming to destroy your capitalism! Fear my farming tools, sluggish movement, and unquenchable thirst for coffee!

Almost there. You need to take what you have already done further. Look at the first picture on the top of this page, the two other pairs of buildings have nice detailed roofs with cracks and dirt and all that fun. Make them match. Also, the flashing could be darker still. How did you model the stair tower? Can I go out on a limb and say it looks like this?


I hope so. Right now it looks like the walls are made of the same boring gray material as the roof of the "tower", which doesn't seem to have any kind of overhang. As simple as it is, it should have these few basic parts and details to make it look real in SC4. Took me about 5 mins to model this, so nothing complicated

Really though, I respect your perseverance, it is the path to BAT greatness. I don't have a lot of technical skill behind my work, I just spend the extra time perfecting what I can do until it is perfect. Doing that is the hardest part!

Pardon me while I go hibernate like Russian bear... Sleepy...

[Gwail 52]

Hahaha, JTF, don't give up, resist the pressure .

Brandon, your moddings are done, as I remember correctly. Sorry, but I haven't launched the game for last two months, except the quick episode with R-160 subway car. I'll try to spare some time to check them out and send if they're ready.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Im having a problem with 120 Wall Street, I have tried to reopend the file and this is what is says (File Open Failed). One thing I don't have to restart the whole buildong over agian because I usally copy and paste the files the scenes just in case somthing bad happens, you can see it say NYBT 120 Wall Street -Copy(3). This means I have to strat at the last place I was at, so it will take a lot longer to finish this building.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Try your autoback files. It will be there most likely with the latest work done on the building.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Umm, and were is this autoback files located at???

[Sgt Pepper 864]

The pictures should be self-explanatory, but if I need to explain more let me know. Make sure when you get there you have all files in that box. Click on one of the autoback files, they will have pictures of what ever building is on there. Some will have less progress done on them then the others so look carefully. This is like autosaving kinda, and it saves here incase there's a sudden error that says the program has to close.

[Jumpthefence 74]

EDIT: Oh, this is one interesting post. It's post #333 for me and I now have 1,234 points.

 

Gwail: What pressure? What year is it? Who said I was going to give up? Was it Todd!? Todd...

Besides, I'm OCD, so if I'm still getting suggestions, that means the buildings are not yet perfect, and they have to perfect, or they're not perfect! And not perfect isn't perfect, so it doesn't meet my standards (which are perfect). So when everyone's happy, I'll upload them.

Todd: Yeah, I was never good with roof accesses. Here in Cold Spring all our commercial roofs have trapdoors or ladders. There is, literally not a single real roof access for me to look at. Then again, we only have a few non-gabled roofs, so people don't go on the roof of most buildings (cause the'd probably slip). I re-detailed the roof access, yet it still looks a little messed up, but that's probably just the colors.

So I don't know quite what to do with the roof access, but you might. And probably do.

I also added random dirt and cracks to the roof texture. It's getting pretty easy now; I can add various defect effects in under 10 minutes! Now that's something I can brag about to my friends.

 

Yes, I am a full time sleepwalking commie architectural student from NJ coming to destroy your capitalism! Fear my farming tools, sluggish movement, and unquenchable thirst for coffee! quote>

I am so going to quote you on that! Hell, I should print it out and carry it around! ...You don't mind, I assume? No copyright issues? This was the last time in a while that I actually fell out of my chair laughing. (Seriously, I did.)

 

Y'all have a good day! And in the case of Todd, who probably won't read this until late at night, sleep tight! I got the day off for helluva lotta snow. Let's see what gets done.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The roof tops have definitely improved (I'll leave the details to Todd, lest he directs one of those "Todd no like" smileys at me) , but I see some rather obvious tiling on the red brick texture, both at the back and at the side. You may want to fix that before he wakes up.

Then again, I suppose the backs and sides aren't finished anyway, because you wouldn't want to leave them without any window, door or whatnot, now, would you?

Anyway, it's good to see your dedication - I'm sure these BATs will be a hit once they are done.

[Jumpthefence 74]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

The roof tops have definitely improved (I'll leave the details to Todd, lest he directs one of those "Todd no like" smileys at me) , but I see some rather obvious tiling on the red brick texture, both at the back and at the side. You may want to fix that before he wakes up.

Then again, I suppose the backs and sides aren't finished anyway, because you wouldn't want to leave them without any window, door or whatnot, now, would you?

Anyway, it's good to see your dedication - I'm sure these BATs will be a hit once they are done.quote>

 

Oh yeah... Todd was the guy who wrote the tutorial on anti-tiling with bricks, wasn't he? That's convenient. Or inconvenient? I dunno. Well, I figure I got 12 hours or so to go fix it. As for whether or not to add anything to the sides, I wasn't planning to. It's a W2W building, so I don't know what the procedure is for hidden walls. Do I add stuff? Do I keep it as is? Does it vary among certain people? And for the back, again, I'm clueless. I can't see it with any satellite images, and since the back would just lead into an alley surrounded on four sides, I don't know what good a door would do.

Y'know we've been focusing so much on 129 Mott St that I forgot to ask: What are the opinions of 109 Mott St? The one where the building on the right is taller than the others? Can I render that one? Or are there suggestions?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Well the side walls probably would not, upon inspection of the local style it seems that they were never intentionally exposed so windows would have never been installed (except in a light well). Depending on when the building was built with respect to its next door buildings, sometimes the hidden walls will have windows, or at least bricked up ones. The backs, however, are a different story. Have you ever used Bing maps? I suggest you do so, here is your area in question looking at the back side of the buildings. They are essentially blocked off on all sides, but there is always a small alley leading from the back ends of the building to a main street (I can spot 2 or 3 leading on to Mulberry st.).

As for the roof, it looks alright. I do have some requests though. Add a little dark dirt around the edges of the walls, look at the Chrysler building's roof and Miller St. Manufacturing to see what I mean.

You could also add more of the subtle, abstract blotches (dark spots, subtle color variation, etc.) Also, could you add some flashing to the tops of the cornices? They look unnaturally bright and really ruin the effect of the roof, IMO. Try adding a UVW map to the roof of the stair tower so that it looks more like the main roof texture (its too "flat" as it is).

Ugh, the bricks, I didn't say much about them before because I really couldn't see them! Besides the obvious tiling, they are too small. You can look at the tutorial that you already mentioned, but you will need to adjust your UVW mapping so that the bricks are a little bigger (maybe 50-100% larger, hard to tell without playing with them). You will need to adjust your bitmaps, so might I ask what you use to edit them? If you are using layers, you could just make the bricks bigger and not worry about re-scaling your other details (if you play your cards right, you might not even have to to adjust UVWs).

Oh, and 109 looked pretty good, as long as you fixed the bright flashing( on both buildings). I think the stair towers on 109 could use the same treatment as you are giving to 129, they look too much like black boxes.

I hope that covers everything, I'd hate to get up for nothing

-Todd

[Jumpthefence 74]

 Hey, Todd does wake up during the day! I thought he drank coffee, went to class, slept while they the teacher talked about why windows are made of glass and not concrete like the rest of the building, woke up for lunch, ate, drank coffee, did something else for the rest of the day, drank coffee, ranted with some random guy on the street about Soviet Russia (while still in a sleep mode), drank coffee, and then, finally, replied to my posts. That would be a good day for me, at least. I would just drink twice as much coffee.

And in such a good day I might also post a picture of a building.

So, I started from scratch with the brick texture, as you can pretty well see. Nothing really special, each brick is just a block of color, and I prevented the tiling problem. And yes: I did make it in GIMP! For the most part. Aren't ya proud? It came out pretty nice, even if it does look like a pizza topping, but it is Little Italy!

In the back I prettymuch copied the spline from the front of the building, except I filled in the hole that the facade occupies. 'Cept now my problem is that there's a giant 5 meter empty space where the facade used to be. I tested it with a sign or advertisement, and graffiti could be another option. I could also leave it blank. Ideas? Anyone?

Also, what is the approval of painting the back wall green, white and red like the Italian flag? It's like this on a number of buildings in the area, and is painted in this scheme on the white brick building. I just don't want to overdo it. After all, people without a lot of money can't afford paint. Ideas?

Todd/any architect, what's a cornice? And you also seem to keep changing the definition of flashing...

Also, could you add some flashing to the tops of the cornices?

I thought flashing went under the tops of the walls for waterproofing. Or does it go on the tops of parapets? I'm all confused.

And finally, I darkened the edges of the roof texture. The roof looks pretty darn close to done. Though I can't seem to hit the nail on the head as far as the roof access goes, but I think I'm close on that.

Thoughts?

 

Alright, I have school tomorrow assuming we don't get much snow. Y'all have a good night/Thursday.

 

Postscript: What's up with the new post format and smilies? I'm voting against it.