AEX BATs

[Nomadic 23]

simcity4fan12: The options are right in front of you. Look under the "Coordinates" tab.

A UVW map works better, but I see your problem. Its too much work to select every single piece and apply the UVW map.

One thing you can do next time is to color the pieces in a code (like red for bricks, blue for windows and whatnot) or name each piece.

[spa 970]

Originally posted by: SimHoTToDDy

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 !

quote>

Oh my goodness! I never knew about this way of doing things. Every building I have made has involved little boxes. This would be a huge time saver! Guess there is always something to learn

As to the courthouse, I have a few ideas. I think Simhottoddy's new texture is a step in the right direction. I think the problem with the old texture is it blended into the maxis sidewalks too much giving the whole thing a strange feel. The new texture is great, but I would turn down the contrast on it just a little. The whiter brick pieces stick out a little too much for my taste. I wouldn't worry about it being oversized either. Unfortunately, we have to deviate from real life when it comes to bricks because at a realistic scale they end up looking likejust a smear of colour in game. If you look at maxis's brick buildings, like the high school, you'll notice that the bricks are actually massive compared to what they would be in real life. Just one of those compromises you have to make in translating real life into the virtual world.

Other things I would look at would be darkening the window textures just a touch. The blue is nice, but it's just a small shade too bright, especially on the upper floor windows to the left and right of the centre section. I like the roof, but I would raise the level in the centre to be more in line with the side sections. I would also consider using some other brick texture for the roof penthouse. Often roof penthouses are built with different materials than the facade because no one sees the penthouse. Why use expensive stone tiles for something that no one ever sees? I would be very surprised to find that this building, in real life, has a nice stone penthouse. More than likely, any penthouse would be built with regular bricks or would have cheap corrugated metal siding.

Anyway, it's a great little bat. I look forward to seeing the final version.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Well I'm back after my shorter than expected break!

I did some stuff today with Rapides Parish Court House.

I saw it recently, the color of it during the day looked more like that, so I changed it to that. Since it's the holidays, they put these big red letters that say "Merry Christmas" on the side at the top. It's not illuminated at night though. The Capital One Bank(Guaranty Bank Building) has Christmas lights highlighting the top of the building's parapet walls. These tall lights near the highway in this park like place have Christmas lights making them look like Christmas Trees at night. One of Alex's(Alex short for Alexandria pronounced Ellic for those who don't remember) major Water Towers is decorated with Christmas lights that make it look like a Christmas tree, it even has a big ilumniated Christmas lights Star on top.

Anyway, how's it looking guys? I also got some NYBT stuff cookin'....

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Looks good!!! Good that you are back for a while.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Nice progress and good to see you back!

In fact, there are only a few details I'd address:

- Look at the upper left part of the centre section - the front wall in that area "bleeds" into the side wings and the penthouses on top of them. It's hard to see that there's a recession there. In order to make the shape clearer, you could try outlining each individual wall with a slightly darkened edge. This effect shouldn't be overdone in order to prevent the result from looking cartoonish, but I think a subtle touch could go a long way in making the building appear more plastic and threedimensional.

- The darker smudges on the roofs appear rather random. I think it might look better if you made sure the darker areas of the textures are alongside the parapet walls and around everything that's on the roof, i.e. the roof access or the HVACs.

- The wall texture on the roof access doesn't really work, but that's probably a temporary placeholder anyway.

I'm really looking forward to seeing more from this BAT.

[simcity4fan12 13]

I'm definately changing the roof acess's texture. I'll get most of those details you mentioned re-worked.

I'm gonna do the extension building behind the Courthouse-

Just that building you see connected behind the Courthouse, not the parking garage behind the extension building. The walls look kinda like the original texture I had on the Courthouse, I could apply it and edit it on there. I think the color should be slightly different than the courthouse though.

[simcity4fan12 13]

A quick update-


I started on basic shapes for the extension building. Most of what you see is seperate parts I just put against the back of the Courthouse, which serves a purpose. There will be two versions- 1 With the extension, 1 without the extension. With the extension, the lot is about 3x5 or 3x6. I'm thinking about later on doing the large parking garage on the seperate city block that connects to the extension building with a pedestrian bridge.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Still no replies eh? Well maybe this update will get some-

I have to add the base details to the extension building, which won't be too hard actually, since it appears to be blank in most places. I also have to give the extension night lighting, then I gotta change the Roof Acess's texture, which by the way thanks to Bing Maps I figured out that what I thought was roof acess was actually a giant HVAC Unit. It will stay the same though. This recreation of the Courthouse isn't the most accurate, but it's still close. How's it looking so far?

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

WOW!!!! theres more to the building.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I can't believe the last time I updated this I was still simcity4fan12!

Well I want to try and revive this old project I had to recreate buildings from my hometown. I did a few, some were found(thanks to friends) and some are still lost(which means I have to re-BAT them! ). I may end up redoing old ones, and of course I'll be starting plenty of new ones from Alexandria.

First, I got one pic of progress that may not be that great, but it's something!

The Water Tower in Downtown-

Some details still need to be added and the current actually textured areas are not final...so no one panic.

I also took some pics of some areas downtown if some of ya'll would be interested in seeing them(sorry they are kinda blurry...cell phone pics).

I had to resize this one a bit...here's a link to the full resolution.

I had a pic of the Hotel Bentley...but I forgot to put it on my computer... I'll get it up on my next post...but in the mean time anyone interested can find some pretty good pics of it on www.emporis.com.

[tagtag 12]

You have made some substantial steps in the right direction and things are looking great, but I wouldn't call the textures done just yet.

What is the building on the far right here?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

That would be the Chrysler building, by Maxis. You can find it in the landmarks menu.