Southeast Asian Homes

[Sky Guy 163]

 Ok, I know Im doing this backward (opening a bat thread after uploading) but Im planing on making these houses a ton better and then replacing the old ones

I need all of your help as this is like my second time at the BAT

Here are the houses, there are two versions

gable:

Do you think that the windows should be there? Anything wrong with colors, etc (i know there is)

Now Hip roof:

Now how can I fix this weird roof problem? Please give me suggestions, like how to make the roof more realistic. 

Thanks

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

First of all, i would take a look at a similar neigborhood in real life. If you look at one you will never see "Rainbow Roofs"

Real Roofs are in brown earth tones or black

Make your roofs similar to what is in the picture and it will look alot nicer

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks, are those houses in Southeast asia? I thought that there were bright colored houses over there, but I might be wrong- I was just trying to recreate these that frogface made:

[MoBucks 1]

I like them but agree they should have more neutral colored roofs.

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks for the help. I have changed the textures to more neutral, and added a brown and maybe some others 

I have a new problem though, how do I get this roof texture to go straight instead of diagonal?

[thingfishs 416]

How I've been doing it is apllying a uvw map (via modifiers/uv coordinates) and then using the gizmo tool (click on modify/uvw mapping & then gizmo, then the rotate tool) Now you can rotate textures independent of the building.

(however I am new at this and there may be a better way)

However I assume you want it facing down on each side which I think means you may have to something else, sorry.

(possibly convert to editable mesh, choose face and then select each face and apply the textures separately?)

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks, Thingfish- I figured it out. I also added some more things, but how do I get rid of these weird shadows?

Also don't worry, I am still going to darken the textures and stuff, but for now the shadows:

 

[Sky Guy 163]

Okay I have made a lot of progress, but I still want you guys to voice your opinion on what else you want (ex: darker roof, more variety, different walls, etc) I have five different versions:

 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Well, I don't play with this kind and style of buildings, so I'm probably not the most qualified person to give feedback.

Anyway, first of all: congratulations! Looks like you have overcome a lot of problems, and you really did make considerable progress. 

Some things I'd look into would be the walls, which might benefit from at least a bit more variety, the windows, which at this point are simply black holes, and, most importantly, the rooftops. Currently they are not necessarily too bright, but definitely oversaturated, and not just a bit. The brown one is ok, but all the others could be desaturated considerably IMO.

[Sky Guy 163]

Hey thanks T Wrecks- I will work on those-

One question, how would I go about changing the windows? I mean, wouldn't they be black no matter what unless you zoomed in really close?

Thanks

[madhatter106 3,903]

I'm with T Wrecks - not the sort of building I download or use in my cities.  But the modelling looks pretty good.

The one thing that glaringly sticks out to me is the color of the roofs; I've mentioned it before, I believe in the comments page on Frogface's original upload.  For me, the colors are too vibrant and unrealistic - bright blue or green or turquoise roofs just kill it for me, especially when they're next to buildings with more subdued or realistic textures.  T Wrecks mentioned it was the saturation levels - for me it's that, as well as the general colors themselves.  Even if you were to desaturate that ultramarine blue texture in Photoshop, I suspect it would still be too blue and unrealistic; it would remind me of very weak toilet bowl water, like after you've put the little blue sanitizer in the tank and flushed it a hundred times.  Maybe it's a bad analogy, but that's what I'm getting from the color of that particular texture.  The others are just as vibrant and bright as that...

I must say your wall textures are really good - if every starting BATter had textures like that, they'd be on the road to making consistently well-textured BATs.  They have just enough variation and wear and interest, which may be why I am so fixated on the roof textures; it's almost like the walls don't match the roofs, as if there were two different styles going on here.  One style is very realistic (the walls) and one is almost cartoony (the roofs).

Window variety would also be good, as someone previously mentioned - shades or drapes or whatnot, to give them each a little bit of different interest.  Of course, the next huge hurdle is nightlighting, which you need to take into account with regard to your window treatments and design.  What's on the floor that we will see?  How are you going to light these?  What colors, how bright, and which windows will get light?  These are all questions you need to consider for the next big step, and ones which will need answers and solutions before you're ready to test and upload.

[Sky Guy 163]

Hey thanks for all the help guys. I have desaturated a ton, and made three different wall types for more variety.

One thing first, I still want to keep the colors, as thats what they look like in southeast asia

Take a look at the rooftops from this pic of Bandar Seri Begawan:

Ok now heres the houses- oh and I also changed the windows tell me what you think

And Im not sure about this one: do you think I should make it solid orange instead every other tile white?

Now, nightlighting: When I got these models from Frogface, they were already night-lit, so I haven't messed with them, but tell me what you think:

 

[madhatter106 3,903]

Re: the roofs - well, if that's what you're going for, then you've achieved it. Again, not something I would download, but don't let that deter you.

Re: the nightlights - ugh, nightmaps. The "Bob Goulet" of SC4 nightlighting. Nightmaps are barely okay on Maxis buildings, I'd suggest doing real nightlighting with spots and omnis in gmax, rather than relying on the "nitelite" nightmap prefix to the window textures.

I would also suggest adding some sculpted props to the backyards - since the yards are within the LODs, you wouldn't be able to put props in them in the Lot Editor, so you must include them in the BAT itself. It's not too hard, just takes a little patience and trial and error when it comes to get scale right. Even if it's just a hedge or small tree or something, to add variety to them, I think it would definitely bring them to life.

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks madhatter, As I am very new to this, is there a tutorial on doing that kind of nightlighting?

Also, Im not sure what you mean when I cant put props in, because in my first release, the trees,, pools, etc were all props I added later, but maybe Im just not understanding you....

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: Sky Guy

Thanks madhatter, As I am very new to this, is there a tutorial on doing that kind of nightlighting?

Also, Im not sure what you mean when I cant put props in, because in my first release, the trees,, pools, etc were all props I added later, but maybe Im just not understanding you....quote>

If you wanted to put props within the fenced backyard area of your BAT, you wouldn't be able to in the Lot Editor.  The LODs of the building would prevent this - in the Lot Editor, if you took a prop with the intention of placing it into that backyard, it would disappear because the prop would fall within the boundary of the building - since the fence/walls are included in your BAT in gmax, they are rendered as part of the building itself. 

So when you see a small building with a large rectangular fence or fence around it, the computer/processor/game sees just a "big rectangle" which is the LODs; you can put stuff outside this "big rectangle" in the Lot Editor, but not within it.  So if you wanted to put a hedge or a BBQ or a kids' swingset in the yard, you would have to make it part of the BAT and model it in gmax and make it a part of the export.

Hope that makes sense.  Or I hope someone could explain it better than I could...

[Ke|is 3,333]

nice my friend !

[Sky Guy 163]

Thank you Kelistmac!

@madhatter- Ok, I understand now, and I am totally willing to bat some detail in the yard, but does it make a difference if the building is a prop or something, because like I said- in my old version, I had palm props, pools, etc in the back and they worked fine. Here's a picture:

P.S. sorry for being so dumb, if I still don't get it....

Oh and I am working on night-lights, so...yeah

 

[madhatter106 3,903]

If the building was indeed a prop, then it could be done in the Lot Editor. But personally I find that things never look quite as good when done this way - scales don't quite align (the building prop may be right, but the lot's props may be slightly too large to match it), shadows aren't cast properly, etc. It's one of the reasons why you can't effectively place props on top of buildings, especially with regards to shadows not being cast...

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks madhatter, I am working on the lighting, and I have a question: How do you get rid of the nightmaps?

Also, in order to make the windows see through, is it just the texture, or do you have to make the actual box see through- if so how?

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: Sky Guy

Thanks madhatter, I am working on the lighting, and I have a question: How do you get rid of the nightmaps?quote>

Just remove the text "nite" or "nitelite" from the name(s) of the object(s) which would be lit (in this case, the textured splines or boxes that make up the windows.)

Also, in order to make the windows see through, is it just the texture, or do you have to make the actual box see through- if so how?quote>

It's an adjustment to opacity in the texture itself.  In the middle section of the Material Editor, located underneath the Self Illumination option, you will see a box for Opacity - it's a matter of lowering the opacity from the standard 100% to something more workable.  In most cases for my BATs, I use the recommended 40% which phillipbo has in his tutorial in the omnibus, though it depends on what end result I may want for the nightlights.  I then use omnis and target spots for the actual lights inside the building; sometimes omnis can be unpredictable, but you just have to keep messing around with them to get them to do what you want them to do...

FAIR WARNING - this method of nightlighing in gmax takes a lot of patience and trial-and-error.  Very seldom do you get it right in the first five minutes of lighting a BAT.  There's a lot of tweaking and lowering and raising and moving and redoing things, and many, many, many test renders.  The results are usually worth it, but it's rarely a quick and easy process.  I've often said in others' BAT threads that texturing can take far longer than the actual modelling of a BAT - sometimes, depending on what you're trying to achieve, the lighting can take just as long as the texturing...

[Sky Guy 163]

Hey thanks, ok now I have been working on the lighting, and heres how it looks so far:

How do I make it brighter and more visible?- would I use spots?

Also, what about the floor texture should I get a new one?

Any other suggestions would be great!

Thanks 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

If I were you I would just use nitemaps, instead of trying to light up the rooms with nitelites, but I'm lazy. Like madhatter said, that method takes more trial and error. All of the settings are described in the BAT Essentials tutorial in the Omnibus that madhatter mentioned.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Spots would make the floors more brighter and visible. I like it so far, but I don't think every room has to be lit up at night though. You made some great progress on the roofs, good job!

[Evillions 552]

Don't overdo nightmaps, unless if you make your own and through trail and error. But, you could dirty up the building because in life, not everything is clean even if Southeastern Asia. But overall, you're making progress!

[Sky Guy 163]

Thanks for all the support- I am getting several different opinions here:

Should I use maxis nitemaps, or still try to model the nightlights?

[madhatter106 3,903]

Ultimately, like a great British occultist once said, "do what thou wilt, for that is the whole of the law." In other words, do what's best for you when it comes to nightlighting. My own preference (prejudice?) is against nightmaps - I feel it's the cheap and cheerful way of Maxis to solve the lighting problem for BAT, and unless all the windows are frosted/clouded glass, there's no way that a lit room will show as a general, flat color in the window.

You could lighten the floor texture a little, as well as use a spotlight pointing down on the floor. I usually don't use spots, as I tend to rely on omnis of various strength and position, but like I said, it's a trial and error procedure. Often, it can involve changing the floor texture and lightening it, or even redo-ing it, but the results are usually worth it.

For me, if the window is small, or frosted glass like I mentioned earlier, I would use a nightmap. But I much prefer seeing a bit of furniture and floor detail when I do my BATs, so I do take the time (and often the trouble) to light them using omnis and spots...but, like I said, ultimately it's your BAT, and do what you feel comfortable with and capable of, and (more importantly) will get you the result that you want...

[Sky Guy 163]

Okay, thanks. I think I will just use nitemaps- I finally got the problem fixed by reinstalling everything including simcity 4.

To make the windows more interesting though, I will add a divider, etc instead of only nitemaps.

I will post some pictures soon, but in the meantime, I have been drawing some designs for different versions of the house.

Tell me which ones you like best!

[Sky Guy 163]

Okay everyone, I still want to hear your opinion on the above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I did a test export and lotting. Tell me what you think

The roof colors almost seem too drab now, what do you think- should I make them brighter?

Any other constructive critisism welcomed! 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Too drab? Either we have a totally different perception of colour and saturation, or you should check if your monitor calibration might be slightly off. Either way, I think they look fine now!

As for the gables, I can imagine the result: Ask peope whether they prefer A or B, and they will probably say "both". In other words:

Which shape do you prefer?

[_] A

[_] B

[_] C

[_] D

[X] All of the above

[_] don't know

[Sky Guy 163]

lol, thanks Twrecks.

I have started working on something a little different. Opinions?

I am planning on making this style of house with slightly different colors for more variety.