UCC - Travis' Lot/Mod/BAT workshop

[Travis 5 11]

Hello all, welcome to my thread!  This is where you can see what I happen to be working on, and previews of items that are awaiting upload. This is also a good place to offer feedback- let me hear what you have to say!

For starters, I'll post some teaser pix:

and who knows, I may even release this someday.

thank you all for reading, and don't hesitate to comment if you like!

-Travis

[thingfishs 416]

nice work Travis. Love the house, the bank looks like it will be sweet (if the rest of the building lives up to that fragment) and the sub, with of limited appeal to me as a SC4 thing, is still a very nice creation. (and I'm sure PLENTY of folk would like to have it in-game). I'm still using the UCC residential pack beta from a while back, and now that I'm actually playing the game again (instead of just learning to BAT), I've come to better appreciate their impact. They, along with some BLS & SG stuff, and mattb325's stuff (and a few other bits & pieces) are my favourite residentials. They are designed and shaped in such a way as to draw attention, (often by the different shapes of the houses, often more rectangular than normal), while being subdued enough colour wise for it to not be a bad thing. As mentioned I am playing again, I am a grower (and demolisher;-) ), and take care selecting my residentials (because they're the most common objects in the game) I am happy to give you any feedback you might want; but thus far they've only been a positive addition to my arsenal.

(EDIT)  oops, so many acronyms... So it's the ITC pack... you were involved in that too right (or have I got my wires completely crossed)

(EDIT #2) oh yeah, and I meant RLS, not BLS - tonight's not my night. (still, I blame the acronyms)

[WillG_75 19]

What, no credit for the house?

Just bustin your chops lol

[Travis 5 11]

Well, tonight I've decided to work on the U-Boat Type IX-D.

The plane of water is there just to give you an idea of what parts of the boat will be submerged in-game. Thoughts

on this? 

@WIllG: lol will my bad, I'll be sure to give due credit next time. Next question: when are you reinstalling the BAT?

@thingfishs: thanks! indeed, its a UCC project now- but don't worry, we'll be getting back to work on it soon.

[617squad 52]

you messd up the rear bridge railings somewhat, missing the two extra 20mm cannon on the wings, and the 105mm deck gun.

[Travis 5 11]

@617squad: well, as pointed out and explained in chat...

The type IX-D2 variant had no forward 105mm gun, nor the flank guns (which I couldn't find on any IXD model, tbh). Although I admit, I should have been more specific as to the variant. But, thanks a lot for the advice and critiques in chat, made the model much better in the end.

Now, we'll cover the progression of a BAT...

Well, this is what I started off with:

After taking that original model from the google warehouse into GMAX, I rendered a test version and then kinda forgot about it.  But earlier last night, after posting this thread with that age-old image (seen above as well as in the first post) I decided to spend some time on it, perhaps enough to make it release-worthy.

After a few minutes texturing, I came up with this:

But then I thought, that it would be better from a viewer's perspective if there was a plane of water, to show what parts of the sub were above/under water. So I added one:

But once I stepped back and took a look- gah! needs more work. So then I swapped in some different textures, and voila!

But I still wasn't convinced, so I swapped in some more:

I probably would've been content to leave it there, but thankfully our friend 617squad noted some things to me in chat, so we continued...

It was about that time when I realized I was going to need to do some actual remodeling of the sub's deck in order to get the textures right, so I did. Then, after spending much of the night adding some little odds and ends, I got to this conclusion:

Enjoy everyone, and don't forget to comment!

[lightningrabbit010k 0]

great work on the U-BOAT i cant wait to see the finished product and cant wait to test it when its possible

[johannesut 1]

hey man, you did some really great work in the U-BOAT !!

keep this work up dude!

[BoxCarRacer 1]

The BATs are great, although I don't really like your "Union of Content Creators" logo. I'd change the colors around and get rid of that photoshop stock symbol [don't know what to call it]. Maybe you could just so a simple arrangement with the letters UCC?

Sorry...picky graphic design student here haha

Your U Boat looks cool though, I had no idea you could make boats for Sim City too.

[Travis 5 11]

The U-type IXD-2 is rendered and ingame!

Replies:

@rabbit & johannesut: thanks!

@BoxCarRacer: thanks, but that's not my logo design (it's riiga's). Although I'm quite content with it, especially the fleur de lis.

Next project is a German Type VII u-boat:

That's the GW model I'm starting off with- it leaves much to be desired, but its a good starting point.

Comments welcome!

[Jazzmaster 716]

looking good sire

hope it all comes out alright, keep up the great work

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Models are looking OK. Is the smooth option enabled fur your hull? It looks very odd being so angular and ridged, not to mention that the shape of the hull itself seems a little disproportioned and generally the wrong shape for a Uboat. (the sudden bottle necks for example). The rest just needs more details. The railing on the conning tower, details on the deck, decals, hatches etc. etc.

The textures could also use some work, the deck, the tower, and the hull all contrast with each other and do not look like part of one unified machine.

Take some more time to look at your reference pictures and really focus on the little things (or big things in the case of the hull). Its the little details that make or brake a model.

[SimFox 800]

I'd say only one thing - you need to put it into(under) water. Right now it floats well above it. I would just decide on certain waterline and then deleted all below it.

[Travis 5 11]

@Todd: all very valid points. I'll be revisiting the U-Boat shortly.

@SimFox: ah yes- I had half the model rendered below the Z-axis in BAT, which I thought would give the effect of partial submergence, but in fact I need to tighten the LODs for this to happen. Will do so when I revisit the model.

Now, the next project, while I take a quick break from u-boats:

It's about 60% complete right now- the model I based it off of I had to export without textures from sketchup (they were THAT bad ) but the model itself once I loaded it up was amazing. Lots of little details left to come on this yet- but I'm especially proud of my work on the flight deck texture.

[DCMetro34 576]

Wow, extraordinary detail on that! It looks very realistic as well, amazing start!

[b22rian 153]

amazing work and detail on these boats,, we will have to figure out how this all works

with the automa , when you are ready with this Travis,,

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Well, it was an honest attempt at the clone tool in PS, however the outcome was rather obvious. If I were in your shoes I would make the flight deck look like an actual flight deck, then use that technical drawing you had (which is the current texture, I can tell) as an overlay and then "paint" new markings on the deck (on a separate, new layer of course).

Also, what does a zoom 5 look like? Hard to judge the scale otherwise.

Bug me if you need a hand with photoshop.

[jacqulina 162]

very nice work here,great looking house

[Travis 5 11]

Thanks to Patrick, Brian and Jacqulina; and even more thanks to Todd for his suggestions here (as well as from earlier).

Now...at this stage, the Graf Zeppelin is about 85% complete- just some small detail modeling and last tweaking of the textures, plus custom LODs, and this one will be ready to go. In the meantime, I figured I should give you guys something to gaze (drool? ) over... (click for full resolution- beware, over 2,300p wide and 800p high )

Ah, and some details on where all these WWII ships will be going....next post.  

Comments appreciated!

[Jazzmaster 716]

404 image not found

I might be able to judge it a bit better if I could see it up closer lol, so would you mind checkin that out? Doesn't look bad from up here, even though I've never researched/modeled naval craft , only buildings, so hard to give an expert opinion

[Paulobergonci 673]

for me its all good, i couldn't make better

good job

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

85% is really overzealous in my opinion. The mapping on the hull and the tower are really horrifying (I couldn't tell until I saw the z5). It is jagged and uncoordinated and really ruins any nice effect you had going. You also need to add some basic but essential details, like portholes, doors, railings, and other infrastructure. None of the materials actually speak "German Steel" like they should, all still look like abstract concrete or grainy, streaky quasi-metal.

In due time. You don't have to rush this you know

[Vahr 341]

Curse me for forgetting to comment here.

Anyways, dude, Travis, looks pretty good model wise. I do agree with points that Todd pointed out, but good things take time. That's all I can really say for now.

[Travis 5 11]

Thanks for the replies. long time no update, eh? Been doing plenty of behind the scenes work on the Suburban Set though.

Hot off the presses...

More is already on the way.  Thoughts so far, anyone?

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Excellent work! I love buildings like that one that fit into the game so easily.

[Travis 5 11]

thanks.

Hmm...what's this?



where did THAT come from?

Bonus shot:




Rendering as we speak.  Comments welcome!