Harishna's BATs

[harishna 847]

Hi Jason I think the tiles are made of thin sections of rock that make it partly translucent

About the interiors I was thinking on maybe adding some simple shapes to give the appearance of furniture and use omnis, but I have also considered an approach similar to what you show in your blog (would you mind showing me an example of the textures you use to fake the night views?) that would be really appreciated..

[Jasoncw 11,841]

oh I see. You could either fiddle with the self illumination until it looks how you want it to look, or you could make the tiles material translucent. Near transparency there's an option for translucency. Using self illumination would probably be easier though.

Yeah, the interior there isn't very complicated, you could definitely model it. I modeled the interior of the Grosse Pointe Public Library which is similar.

There's a thread somewhere for posting night windows, and I posted mine there, and other people posted images as well. You can also search the internet for more images to edit together as well.

[harishna 847]

So here is a small update on both models, comments welcome!

Library: working on the nightlights

Rectoria tower: adding flora and detailing the lot

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

The night lights likes nice. Keep it up your doing a master job.

[Ferrt 102]

Harishna, excelentes aportaciones, estos edificios son una joya de nuestro país.

¡Muchas Gracias!

[harishna 847]

Thanks for stopping by Aaron, lovely work with your apartments!

Muchas gracias Roft, espero poder subir estos pronto al STEX, tengo un par de otros proyectos en mente de BATs mexicanos solo me falta el tiempo es una pena que ya casi no queda nadie más activo haciendo BAT's de latinoamerica (Heblem, Tcxalapa y Debussyman todavia estan activos pero menos y ya casi no producen BATs latinos...

Thank you very much I hope I can upload these soon to the STEX, I got another few projects of Mexican buildings in mind all I need is time. It is a pity that very few Latin-American BATer's remain active and the ones that do (like Heblem or Debussyman), haven't produce many Latin-American BAT's recently...I guess the only exception is Txcalapa but haven't seen him around that often.

[lucky7 73]

Great progress on your current projects, the facade is already looking spectacular! As for the second pic: it's an LE one, right? Yes, sure, it has to be, or did you model out the trees yourself?

However, superb work so far, congrats,

lucky7

[Vlasky 1,803]

I have to be party pooper now and say something I've seen SimFox saying so many many times - Your light beams on the facade are forming too sharp lines, you need to soften those.

Also that lamp post on first two pics is giving too much light, lightning even the wall with windows. And I don't think you need it.

For Second Bat/part stairs' texture might need to be re-adjusted or even changed, cuz right now it looks like cobblestone pool and not stair

Plese keep in mind I'm saying all this in good intention, and other than mentioned it looks lovely, I really like it

[harishna 847]

lucky7: thanks very much, no the whole lot its modeled in 3dsmax, I am just using the flora that comes with 3ds max all I did is modify the textures.

vlasky: don't worry I appreciate this kind of feedback the most, it is always good to receive good compliments to bust the moral but it is equally important to point out the weaknesses or mistakes. All that can help me improve is welcome!

The light cones, yes that bothers me a lot, I am using spotlights but I have seen people use simple omnis to illuminate facade, I just don't want to illuminate the whole building, just the facade, I am also trying to make it look like the real thing. Maybe playing withe the near attenuation or far attenuation could make the cone boundaries more subtle? About the lamp, do you suggest to take it out completely, including the prop? I wanted to illuminate that wall a little bit, so maybe I can use a couple of omnis instead reducing their intensity?

You are also right about the textures. The campus sits on what was a lava flow, so a lot of basalt rock was used for walls and floors. I was trying to recreate this by using a black rock texture, but it doesn't seem to do the trick, maybe a plain concrete texture will work better, or do you have a better suggestions? I also don't like the concrete floor in the L shape of the building, this has been pointed out before, but I haven't got the time to play with this. I am not very good at texturing I guess, I wish I was Simhottoddy, or at least had more time to tweak my textures properly...

[Heblem 600]

You can try using Photometric lights with any desire template, for realistic appearences... for example

Also use kelvin grades to set the light color temperate, using more kelvins grades, colors will be warm, the lesser kelvin grades cooler colors.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

For the lights, there is an option somewhere for making your spotlights like area lights (so that it will be like the light is coming from, a disc for example, rather than a single point, so the shadows won't be as hard edged).

Also, I would make the interior lights brighter.

edit: opps i posted a little late

[Vlasky 1,803]

Harishna, I wish I could be of more help, but I am not that good batter. I'm against idea to use omnies for facade, just use what you mentioned and what Heblem thankfully posted to soften edges.

As for Lamp, I'd like to see it go because I can see any other lamp on the lots, but if you are planning to include more of them, it can stay, you just need to reduce the amount of light emitted from it. But if you opt for removing it, a source of light will still be needed (again I remember hearing many time: where is the light coming from) so you might want to bat the some sort of reflectors.

About textures of stairs well I found this picture of them:

and maybe recreating what can be seen here will be of help: dark gray with added pink for the top of the stairs and than that darker gray for the vertical part of the stairs without pink will make stairs have some depth? I wish I could give some precise advices but I don't have knowledge for that.

So I summon gods of battting to come and help

[harishna 847]

thanks for that vlasky I saw that before (I have to say the main stairs are not like that) but mainly I was trying to avoid doing something like that with the stairs given my limited abilities but maybe I will venture and give it a go...

Question of the day: What is the "best" way to recreate a wall with ivy: model it, just fake it with a texture or other?

[Jasoncw 11,841]

There are plugins for creating automatic 3d ivy. I haven't used any myself, so I don't know if they're free or where in particular to get them.

If you can't find a plugin, I'd probably do a texture, and then I would model a bunch of little leaves to go on it to give it some depth.

[PBGV103 729]

You could try using the foliage feature that comes with max. Even from zoom5 there's never enough detail to tell if the leaf shapes are correct or anything. That is unless you're creating something like a palm. You can also pick the density of the leaves among other things with the built in foliage creator. You can find it under the "Create" tab. Then select "AEC Extended" from the drop menu. I'd go with the foliage option and make a material that correctly replicates the look of ivy leaves. Then it should look perfect.

  Edited April 21, 2011 by PBGV103  

[Vlasky 1,803]

I'm sure you've seen this, but I just noticed it so I wanted to share it with you if you haven't seen it yet:

Ivy Tutorial

[tcx 170]

Your models look really good but I think the lightning of Biblioteca should be changed, it's too direct. I used photometric when I used 3dsmax and they are way better than the normal lights.

[harishna 847]

Heblem: thanks very much you are a life savior...

jasoncw: its never late thanks it was really useful

vlasky: I gave it a look I haven't played with it yet

PBGV103: that is how I make my trees, maybe I will try it for the ivy too, thanks!

tcxalapa: hope they look better now!

So here is an update on my projects well there is one more model I am working in but to early to show anything yet...

I feel like calling the library finished (unless someone thinks different )

I have noticed that the lights look very different in the four monitors I have checked them (in terms of brightness) the one I use the most is where they look the brightest...

  Edited April 27, 2011 by harishna  

[tcx 170]

I think is perfect !!!

Great job.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

The nightlighting is beautifully subtle, I'd be perfectly happy with it if I were you

[Jasoncw 11,841]

It looks really nice! I still think the interior lights should be much stronger though.

[Heblem 600]

Everything looks great!

Just a quick note, avoid that cast made by the direct light, to look similar as like the other side of your building... unless if its intentional

[Ceafus 88 1,794]

Looks Great.

[ilhamdatha 0]

I hope you'll upload the BAT soonly , It seen great! -- I'm a new user of Simtropolis.com

[harishna 847]

Thanks and welcome Ilhamdatha the library is almost ready to be released (that is my opinion at least) I am just doing some minor light tweaking...but I work slowly...

The tower is also close from being finished I just need to check some textures but I still need to do all the night-lights

In the mean time I leave you with my third project a small restaurant from a franchise called VIPS I guess it is the Mexican equivalent of Deny's it is based on this restaurant found in Mexico City

I know I shouldn't show it yet as I still have to model a lot of the roof details (yes including the junk) and I have to tweak the textures, I still working on how to make the jagged effect on the roof more evident, I will exaggerate it a little bit more but I guess I will also have to add individual textures to each section?

anyhow here it is

  Edited April 30, 2011 by harishna  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

NIce looking round building. And plus I'm so happy your working on something new, that last project took billons of years to complete. Gieat Job!!!!!!

[Heblem 600]

Soo nice, love that restaurant, i go there for a least two or three times per month...

I did one long time ago if youre interested to see it...

http://descargas.capitalsim.net/?sitio=csc&descarga=715

One suggestion, the vips sign looks abit wide and low

  Edited May 1, 2011 by Heblem  

[Jasoncw 11,841]

Check and make sure that all of the smoothing groups are turned off for the roof. The smoothing groups could be making the edges soft.

You can exaggerate the roof but I think what you have now is too subtle even compared to real life. (I like that this area is covered by google street view, lol)

[Girafe 1,729]

Really good projects: the restaurant and the librairy

Concerning the librairy, I have always doubts on the trees (foliage + color do you have real pictures of them?)

  Edited May 1, 2011 by Girafe  

[gutterclub 2,729]

Ah, good old Vips..went quite a few times when visiting Mexico. The sign looks a little bulky and over powering compared to the rest of the model in my opinion, maybe make it all a little thinner, even if it's not in RL? Interesting design, keep it up mate.