First BAT

[dafiden 11]

So, I've decided to do my own house as my first BAT.  I am at a point where I need some help with textures.  Where can I get textures to help me with the roof, siding, and that scalloping around the windows?

Thank you.

BAT so far:

Real-life model:

[kellydale2003 2,276]

http://cgtextures.com/

[simcity4fan12 13]

Wow, you have done a good job so far for a first BAT! Well, there are some defualt textures that came with the BAT that you can use for it. You will have to edit them to your liking though. There's a website called CG Textures that you can browse for textures. That might help you out some. Good luck!

[dafiden 11]

Aha. Thank you both.

[Kryptowhite 9]

Yea your definetely going to have to modify the textures on CGI in photoshop or [program of choice] but they work good as a base image to make your textures out of. Anyway, thats a great start! looking forward to watching your BATs progress!

[madhatter106 3,903]

From looking at the photograph and your model pic, I think you're going to need to stretch this a little vertically - can you show us a preview render in gmax? I think it's going to squish the window on the right so far down and so close to the foundation that it will look a bit strange. Personally, I would also make the width of the bay windows just a little smaller - even with the casings, there isn't much between them in "real life," but it's something that I would do to tweak things (personal preference).

Before you start going hog-wild with the textures, you should get your chimney and doors and mullions and casings and all the other details worked out in the modelling. I find that sometimes when I BAT and I do the textures as I go along with the modelling, I end up wasting more time re-doing the textures in the end of it all. My suggestion is to focus on form and shape and the 3-D of it all, before you go in with the "paint job" of the textures...

Looks good so far - it will be a great first BAT when it's all done...just keep finessing and lovin' it to the finish line

[dafiden 11]

OK.  I'm lost now.  I got the roofs on without much problem.  However, how can I make the texture match the color of my house?  Or, can I just select a solid color and add lines to simulate the vinyl siding?

The roofs look pretty good, but should probably be a little darker or have less white speckles in them.

Also, Kryptowhite, could you expand on what you mean?

[dafiden 11]

How can I do a "preview render?"

[Kryptowhite 9]

go to the right toolbar, click on the hammer, then the preview rollout.

What i mean is, many of the textures you find on websites online aren't going to look good on a bat right away, they may need some tweaking. For example you may have to crop, rotate, color, desaturate, brighten, burn/dodge, etc. in some kind of photoediting program. The texture you used on the roof appears to be good as is, although we won't know for sure until we see the preview

[dafiden 11]

Is this correct?  It's very small.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Is that zoom 5? If so i THINK it's about right - I've never made a house before... So I dont know.

[Kryptowhite 9]

yep thats correct. As for your roof texture, do a UVW modifier [modifiers>UVW coordinates>UVW Mapping] and adjust it so that the individual shingles are a bit larger. Other than that it looks nice!

[dafiden 11]

OK.  I took the texture for the siding from an actual photo and it looks pretty good close up.  Here is the preview.  Any comments?

What do you think about the window glass?  Too blue.  I'm not sure how to do the window glass.

Also, Kryptowhite, I counted the number of shingles on my roof and how I have it now matches pretty well.  So, as far as realism, I should keep the shingles this size.  However, are you saying that the shingles would look better in the game if they are larger?

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

For your windows, i would use the color of the curtians you have in your house, take a picture of your shutters and use that as the window color.  (as that is what your house actully looks like) you could also take a picture of the window from outside and use that.

Whenever in doubt, always use the real thing if its avalible to you.

[Kryptowhite 9]

yea, occasionally batters will scale up textures so that the details are larger and more noticable in game. You can go either way, you can keep what you have and play the realism card or change it and play the asthetics card, both will look good and make sense. So do what you feel like. As for the siding, it needs to be wood, not a solid color. I can send you a good texture for that if you'd like.

[dafiden 11]

Xyloxadoria. OK. Good tips. Thank you.

Kryptowhite, it actually is siding texture and not a solid color at this point; I know you can't tell from the preview. I used the actual siding texture from a picture. Let me ask you this: if you send me a wood texture, will it look enough like the vinyl siding on the house? Also, will I be able to make it blue? If so, I'd like to try your texture, please.

P.S. The bricks actually look pretty good on the BAT, although you can't tell from the preview.

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: dafiden

P.S. The bricks actually look pretty good on the BAT, although you can't tell from the preview.quote>

The preview is what matters.  Since it's what is used for the model file and what will be seen in game, you want it to look good for the preview, not in the model in the perspective window of the BAT program.

[dafiden 11]

Originally posted by: madhatter106

Originally posted by: dafiden

P.S. The bricks actually look pretty good on the BAT, although you can't tell from the preview.quote>

The preview is what matters.  Since it's what is used for the model file and what will be seen in game, you want it to look good for the preview, not in the model in the perspective window of the BAT program.

quote>

Seriously?  The high quality preview is as detailed as the building will be in the game?  So, nobody will be able to see the detail on the brick foundation?

If this is true, I may have to rethink BATting my own house.  I may not lend itself well to the game as it's rather small.  It seems it will look "untextured" even though there are some nice textures in gmax.

Also, Madhatter, you have a Victorian-looking house in your occult pack, which is somewhat similar to my BAT.  What type of texture did you use there?  I can't make out any type of slat siding, but you've clearly got some texture there.

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: dafiden

Seriously?  The high quality preview is as detailed as the building will be in the game?  So, nobody will be able to see the detail on the brick foundation?

If this is true, I may have to rethink BATting my own house.  I may not lend itself well to the game as it's rather small.  It seems it will look "untextured" even though there are some nice textures in gmax.quote>

Do what one of the earlier posters suggested - scale your textures up to "cheat" them larger, so the detail can be seen.

Also, Madhatter, you have a Victorian-looking house in your occult pack, which is somewhat similar to my BAT.  What type of texture did you use there?  I can't make out any type of slat siding, but you've clearly got some texture there.quote>

You can't really make out the slatting in the pictures on the STEX because the upload engine shrinks the photos slightly during the process.  So the in-game zoom 5 is a tad larger than what you see on screen on the STEX. 

Here's Wanda's Wiccan Wonders, which you were asking about.  Notice that the slats are small, but they're there in the texture...

And here's an early in the process shot of Captain Sid's Bait and Tackle, which shows the perspective screen in gmax as well as the preview renders from all four sides...

Notice in that one how wide the slats are.  And also see the size of the bricks in the chimney?  In reality, they would almost be cinderblock sized.  But you need to scale them up to something near that size, or they won't read as more than a blob or splash of color.  Sometimes you want that - if you want a sort of mottled, varied surface with a little bit of difference in tone or value or color here or there. 

But I find that in most cases, you're going to have to overstate it and  SHOUT your textures rather than talk your textures.  It's like going to a rock concert or a play or an opera - if the auditorium or the venue is 1000 seats, and you want everyone as far back as the last row to see the buttons on the star's jacket, you're going to have to do something in terms of scale or color or whatever to make them see them from so far away.

[Francis90b 748]

I agree with what was said above.

Thinking about your house, i remember that Spa was BATing some wooden buildings recently, and you might take a look about one way to making your textures look right in game.

This said, you have a very nice BAT there, and a wonderful start for sure !

[Kryptowhite 9]

here is the texture, credit to glenni who gave this to me.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I like the house for your first BAT it llooks good I also like the shop that you are making Good job.