AEX BATs

[simcity4fan12 13]

Here's the Rapides Parish Court House in gmax. I have to edit texutres, add window frames, add nightlighting, and add more roof junk and it should be done. Comments and suggestions welcome.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I've lately been talking to myself here, but I'm just showing ya'll I'm working.

Still a work in progress. I've been editing the textures and adding window frames. Comments, questions about my one-man AEX BAT Project, and suggestions are welcome.

[io_bg 249]

Great work, I like it! However, the roof is a bit empty :/

[gottago 25]

The bldg looks like Rockefeller Center shrunk for the hinterlands--what a huge, grandiose entrance for that box! But that's the original architect's problem, not yours.

Anyway, textures look good, but the roofs are bare and schematic. And the heights of the roofs look off--the side roofs look too high, and the upper one too low. Don't know what RL is like, but check it out with MS/Bing Virtual Earth, which usually has both satellite and perspective aerial views. It'll also help you to figure out how & where to add roofjunk.

Also, looks like some of the walls/parapets are wider than others, especially the one on right side of the first setback. The ones for the base look skimpy in comparison to the rest.

Hope this helps.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well...if ya'll actually read my post, I didn't say I was done with everything and the roof especially now, did I? Well, the post above the first one atleast.

@gottago- The roof is not finished and everything you mentioned are accurate. And I DO use google earth. I use sketchup, so how could I not import a google earth image to get the dimensions right? The other roofs on the lower parts are actually bare, except for the main top roof. I haven't added the antenae at the top yet. I've been using google earth with my sketchup models since the beginning, everything is mostly accurate. And I LIVE there in Alexandria too. I appreciate your help. I probably should have posted this RL pic first, before I started showing my progress.

[Spike345 20]

You may be talking to yourself, but I am lurking all the time - Excellent Job!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I really like this building, its a wonderful choice I think.

The parapet wall on the right does look exceptionally odd being so much wider then the others, if it is like that IRL I would love to know why but would still suggest changing it to match the rest. The textures don't look bad so far, but you should try to perfect them where you can. I would like to say that that thick tile line on the main wall map should be cropped out, it ruins the otherwise good effect you have going on there. I also think you should go with the brighter white texture you had applied on the first image, it looks much better then the miserable drab color on there now. You may want to keep a copy of this darker version so that you can apply it to the cap of your parapet walls (flashing) so they do not appear to be so bright.

Anyway, I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

-Todd

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, I can't remeber exactly about the parapet walls now since I got it out of the sketchup phase. I can't really do anything to the model now except add seperate details and textures. Well I tried cropping the wall texture and changes the color back a little. In RL it's actually a brownish color, I don't know why that pic has it like that color(similar thing to the Guaranty Bank Building I did, it was brown in some pics, while a grey in others).

Problem here... the zoom 5 changed to a more far out zoom, and it looks like all of the windows disappeared. I can't really tell for sure, so I'm doing a draft render in the game to check... I added it's antenae too.

Here's the old pics I was going to show before, but ST would let me Reply so I didn't worry about it-

The one in the smaller picture is the just about final one. Don't worry about these darker texture ones. I just showed them becuase tehy are in a closer view...

[simcity4fan12 13]

I have some in-game photos of the Rapides Parish Court House. I think it kinda looks bad...

At first, it was over re-scaled where it surpassed The Guaranty Bank Building, when it's 3 stories shorter than it. I scaled it back down a little and I think I got it right. Unfortunately, Emporis.com doesn't have the heights for any building in Alex except for the Guaranty Bank Building, which is about 141 feet if I recall correctly. So I made Alex Tower about 120 or around 115 feet tall and made the Courthouse about 90 or 100. It think it's at 90, becuase the 6 Story Two Centre Court building is about 81 feet tall acoording to Wikipedia.

EDIT: When I was refering to scale, I meant its height. The widith is right. Its a very wide building.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Now I'm thinking I should release it as is, but I really want an opinion, but no one ever replies here. So....is it good to release or should it be edited again?

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, I'd like to see it next to some similarly styled (and sized) Maxis buildings to check whether it will fit in. It's certainly not bad, but somehow I have the impression that everything looks rather cloudy and undefined. On the other hand, maybe I'm just spoiled by all these high-definition 3ds BATs.  

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, here's a comparison to some Maxis Art-Deco Buildings since this one si Art-Deco.

I hope it looks ok...

[Francis90b 748]

I believe you have a small jewel there.Just some tweakings and it will shine into SC4 universe !

Some advices:

It could be a good idea to make the window frames thicker, and to use a more varied window texture.This might help in making windows look more defined, and better overall.

Try to exagerate a bit the recession on the windows and the extruding on the grand entrance.As for the brown panels on the windows, try to de-saturate them, and then add a shade of blue to them.Look at the color they have in the photo.

I really love the junk you've put on the roof, but it might be a good idea to add some rust on it, as well as some more grime on the roof itself.

Walls might need a subtle shade of blue, and a smaller tiling.

May I ask for the adress of the existing building?

I'd like to see it on Bing Maps.

[simcity4fan12 13]

701 Murray Street I believe. I can't really extrude this model in anyway now unless I start over in the Sketchup phase.... I'll try adding more blue to the windows I guess.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I'm 100% sure you can move things around given the right circumstances. Try adding an edit mesh modifier, click on verticies, select the ones in question, and simply move where you please. If you have a proper UVW map then your bitmaps should still line up the same way they did. If that doesn't work, send me something you exported from sketchup and I'll find out how you can change it in gmax.

I also have to agree with Francis on most of his points. I think you should aim for a wall texture that mimics the large square building you used in your screen shots (the left on in the top image) ie, something whiter with a hint of blue. Your window frames need much more contrast with the glass itself (which really needs some variation), so try making them close to white and then adjust from there.

Remember, your objective is to get something that looks like it belongs in the game, so certain artistic liberties need to be taken to keep it from looking foreign. That being said, it is looking good so far. I won't let you upload it until its looking perfect though

-Todd

Edit: for all those interested, I found it in Bing maps. I think the roof details could be expanded a bit and the windows on the "wings" of the top floor added, but otherwise it seems relitively faithful.

[simcity4fan12 13]

All I did in this pic was brighten the window frames and made the windows bluer. I'm going to edit the wall textures to match the RL photo. 

@Francis90b- Thanks, I'll try to do what I can with what you told me.

@Todd- Hmm I never noticed windows on the top up there before. Could you post a pic?

[Vlasky 1,803]

I dunno 'bout ya'all but I like it as it is 8D

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Just look at the view in Bing maps I linked in my previous post, or look at the north view (north pointing up) for an even better shot.

Personally I would aim for something like this:

I darkened your windows slightly.

Used dodge on the highlights and burned the shadows of your wall texture (contrast) added purple/pink, desaturated slightly, made the highlights much brighter.

Added flashing to the tops of your parapet walls (you an use the same map as your roof texture so they look about the same).

Darkened the roof texture slightly and added subtle amounts of purple/pink (to get rid of that yellow tinge). 

Tried to make your mullions a little more prominent, but the darker window map should help with this.

[jacqulina 162]

wow nice work here

[simcity4fan12 13]

Ok, I understand what to do, but I can't really make like that on that building's walls... I can make them blue though. And maybe put grime on the roof parts of the parapet walls.

What do you mean by added dodge and that other stuff? The best I can do with textures is re-size, desaturate or increase it, increase or decrease the contrast on the texture image, and change it's colors. That's all I know how to do with it....

EDIT: I just saw Alex in bingmaps and now I'm just about depressed with my recent Alexandria work...it makes me wanna go back and start over on everything I did...

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Yes you can! To make flashing in a nice easy fashion, simply draw a rectangle (spline) that is the same size as the top of your walls so that it outlines the outside of the walls from the top view, add an "edit spline" modifier, click the little + and select "spline" then scroll down on the various settings until you see "outline" then enter the thickness of your wall in the box, then add an extrude modifier and make it about 0.1m tall. Then move it so it rests on top of your wall. Of course you could always just make a few .1m tall boxes to fit exactly over the sides of your walls. No one said you could not add any more geometry !

The problems you are having are ones I frequently run into, and therefore solve regularly so... never say never!!!

Just use GIMP, simple to use (pretty good Photoshop analog actually) and do the things I did. Speaking of which, haven't I told you to try out the different tools already? (looks at page 2)

Burn and dodge are tools that lighten (dodge) and darken (burn) specific areas of an image like you would with a paint brush. The way I did it, its basically the same as adding contrast (as I said).

Really, just drop me a PM if you ever have questions about image editing or modeling. You have a lot of potential but seem to be getting hung up on the least of things (which is good considering).

[Nomadic 23]

The wall textures are very simplistic. Although it looks great as it is, a nice retouching would make it look even better.

There is a free image editor similar to photoshop that may help you. Its called GIMP.

And these walls look very thick or is it that the height is a bit low?

Either way, try to look at some real life pictures or use Google maps.

[simcity4fan12 13]

@SimHoTToDDy- Thanks- I'll try GIMP one more time.

@Nomadic- I've explained this before but it wouldn't hurt to say it agian- I do use real life pics and use Google Earh to get the proportions right. I just didn't know about Bingmaps.... Thanks for stopping by! I have GIMP, I tried it, but had trouble doing things right, but I'll try again. Oh and Welcome to Simtropolis! I say that becuase your "Joined" says 9 days ago there. Is that right?

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, I definately did something in GIMP-

I think I need to make the contrast on the walls darker. I really don't want to make them blue becuase that's not how the building is in RL(even though this isn't the most accurate creation- I excluded the extended back and the overpass to the parking gargage, well at least it looks like one). So this one is kinda the 1940 version. It was built in 1940.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

No one changes the colors of their recreations to match the building in real life, they do it to make it look like it belongs in game. I have said it many times, maxis designed SC4 as a very red/ blue oriented game when it comes to white-like buildings. There really isn't anything that would match the color scheme of your building, and that's why I suggest changing it.

The modifications that you did to the wall's texture is a good start, but your UVW map looks like it got messed up in the process. Your tiles got squished vertically pretty bad, you might want to fix that.

I still stand by all the suggestions I made in my previous posts, and would restate them but I'm not feeling particularly verbose. If you re having problems executing said suggestions, I would be glad to help.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Oh I know what you said, but all I did that day was just that. I changed the vertical mapping on the texture becuase in some pics I've seen the bricks aren't that tall...and looked shorter than what I had. Maybe I should change it back... But I am having a problem changing the color to that particular blue. When I change it in gmax, it has more of a purple look even though I didn't have alot of red. I must be doing something wrong. Or should I just make that color with GIMP or something?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I was thinking about your wall texture dilemma and I took another look at the RL picture of the building. your blocks are not bad, but they don't really match what is there either.

So I made a little something for you, Apply in place of your current wall texture, set UVW map to about 30m width & depth and 25m height. You can adjust as you see fit but it looks good at a 5 : 6 height : width ratio. I already worked out the colors and contrast so it should look right when you apply it.

(click)

[simcity4fan12 13]

@SimHoTToDDY- Thanks! I don't know what my BATs would be like without you. I'll post another picture after changing the texture and maybe doing other things to it.

EDIT: Well, I applied it(well replaced the same image without applying since the entire model would be that texture) and I don't think it went on correctly. I tried going to that maps UVW thing, but that would effect the whole model since the parts are all attached and it would be a pain to click and edit all those individual parts...Now what?

I think one problem is(well, to me) is that the bricks are huge... I can edit it, but not sure about getting it right with what you meant Todd. What exactly am I supposed to do right here-

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well, no replies yet. Any opinions on that new texture?

I really appreciate it Todd, but I think it applied wrong. And to me, it just doesn't look like the actuall building's texture at all. It might be becuase of the size that the bricks ended up once I switched the old texture with this one. It just looks odd to me, and being blue, when the building is a dark brown(in depends on the sunlight) or a light brown in real life, makes it not look right...

[crazyarchitect 7]

That new texture actually looks nice on there, almost looks like the real thing