nybt-forum-threads PBGV's BAT Thread

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Originally posted by: PBGV103

I'm using GIMP, since I don't have photoshop, and the only desaturation option is 100%, which just turns everything to 8 bit grey scale. I'll see if a friend of mine who has photoshop can do it but no promises on that one. As far as the HVAC stuff goes, the sides are too reflective now so I'll tone that down, but I think I'll leave the tops the as is because in RL the tops of the units are a different material that's much more reflective than the sides.quote>

In GIMP, go to Colors> Hue-Saturation> for the tools you need.

For the HVACs, I think the reflections are great and look fine, but you have mirrored reflections on boxes that look rusty and incapable of reflecting light so well. You have the material correct, but you do not have the texture correct. Right now, your HVACs give conflicting visual information, it is as if a pile of brown dirt had the same reflectivity of a freshly chromed bumper. Just change the bitmap for the HVAC's material to something less weathered and it should look correct.

For your black box error, try remaking the geometry for that object or hide it with a plane or some other geometry. I have had these pop up, and that is the only real solution I have found other than removing objects from the scene.

[gutterclub 2,729]

Looking good and goes well in game. Quick off topic question, what is the building in the last large photo in the bottom left corner?

[PBGV103 729]

I fixed the black rectangle by making the wall about 30% thicker and making sure no other objects intersect or even touch it.

@gutter - That building is the former bear stearns hq. Personally, I think the model could have used more detail and better materials. To me it looks almost like a single textured poly. Here's the link if you'd like to download it: https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=18768#

[Parisian 556]

Don't worry PBGV103... The rendering is the worst thing ever!!! especially when something goes wrong... I ve rendered my Bank Of America tuesday. It has taken 27 hours... I needed to work in a same time on my computer, it was just horrible/.. The result is not the one I hope..

Anyway, Your model is just amazing. Textures, everything is perfect and so realistic. I love it. I cross fingers for you and the rendering

[cmdp123789 710]

wow... I cant wait for you to upload that beauty... ITS AWESOME

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Are these areas the same way in renders as they are in game? I'm not sure whether to blame compression or MR, but it is worth looking into none the less.

[PBGV103 729]

It's not as bad in renders as it is in the game. It goes away when I decrease reflectivity, but then the material ends up looking more like plastic than metal. I think it's happening because the objects are too thin for MR, but if I make them thicker then they're out of the RL proportion. It's actually the same material as the chrome pipes, so I'm not sure why MR treats the objects so differently.

So after I fixed a couple errors form the first export I did a second export, but this one revealed totally different rendering errors. So, I didn't want to sit through another 12 hour render, so I used gimp to fix the bmp files and it seemed as though everything was fine until I opened it in the lot editor. I'm really getting sick of this...

[PBGV103 729]

Tried using gimp to edit the major errors out of the renders and this time it worked! You can't even tell where the errors were.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Good!

Now it's time for a smaller project, eh? lol

[PBGV103 729]

Hey Todd, Jason, is this any better?

I'm not sure why, but one or two of the the noise maps on the windows appears to be much smaller than the others.  I'll have to go back and check it.  The really weird part is that it only happens on this side of the building.  I've also desaturated the dirt/mulch texture by 25% since this render.  I'm hoping it will look a little better now.  Also, about 5% of the ground tiles don't render so I had to fix that in Gimp.

[PBGV103 729]

The noise map was off on those because some of the windows were referencing a material that I had deleted a while ago. I guess even though I deleted the material, max remembered it because I forgot to assign a new material.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Looking good and I'm glad you fixed the issues you had earlier.

[PBGV103 729]

I guess I'm done with the day scene now, unless anyone has any ideas.

For anyone asking how big the building is here are so in game size comparisons.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I'm SimHoTToDDy and I approve this BAT.

[psander5 198]

Wow!  This is pretty special.  I also approve

I love the roof.  it looks well detailed.  The paving looks pretty nice too.  All in all I think this is a pretty smart looking BAT.   I look forward to seeing the night version. 

[ozdaniel 4]

why don't you upload them to the stex just the way they are? they are beautiful (you can send them to me ? they will fit to my manhattan racrietion, plase!!) by the way love yor work !!!

[PBGV103 729]

@ozdaniel - because they're textured boxes

Here's the beginnings of the night scene.  I think I got the ground plane right so far.  Sorry it's only zoom3, I didn't want to wait 2 hours for zoom5.

[SimFox 804]

I must say you've done a spectacular job with this model! I absolutely love the roof "junk" of the lower-rise part of the building.

As for some "critique" well, the only thing that comes to mind is over-saturation of most things on the roof of the tower itself, as well as the paving... the later is particularly look well below the level of the model itself... The former makes the model look more like a toy, as for something big one would expect to see it from the distance , distance that always mutes the colors...

That said I still want to reiterate my statement - I'm speechless! you've progressed beyond my wildest hopes from the level of your previous BAT

[PBGV103 729]

Thanks SimFox!  I'm glad you're back, I was worried there for a while.  Here's what I've done with the base and the roof.  Now I just have to wait 2 hours for a full preview.  Is this any better?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

The ground plane plaza's texture looks much better like that.

[PBGV103 729]

Glad you like it Brandon.  Here's the whole thing.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

To me it look perfect, everyone agee with me on that. I know I don't see any thing wrong with your model.

[SimFox 804]

Roof looks better. What I would do more is to make the "gravel" on it a bit less uniformed.

But the plaza is still no good - it doesn't look at all any plaza paving. The contrast between individual tiles are way to great given that this is a one space and particularly the "distance" of view. plus each tile look absolutely flat in itself.

[PBGV103 729]

Well the plaza isn't uniform at all

[AlexandrosB13 184]

To me it looks perfect. Great job

[Amthaak 1,501]

What SimFox, maybe, want to say is,that the colour difference between the tales is not so important! Maybe , a little bit too much saturation...!But, IMHO,  you are not too far to perfection...!

[psander5 198]

I think that photograph proves SimFox's point

Your light and dark tiles do have a lot more contrast between them than the ones in the real world photograph.  I said before that I kind of like the tiles how you have them, but I can see how they'd be more realistic if you adjusted them according to SimFox's advice. 

In fact, that small area on the right edge of the plaza where you have a lighter section might look good across the whole plaza.  

[gutterclub 2,729]

For me the plaza is too dark, and looks a little "pixelated" and looks more like a ground plane than a plaza, from that pic there is more light tiles together with the odd dark tile thrown in? Other than that it is absolutely spectacular

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Wow, you can really pat yourself on the shoulder - you have made spectacular progress and produced a spectacular BAT! It's absolutely amazing to see just how much you have improved in so little time. So much has happened since the earlier years, when all those NDEX towers were pretty much the best there was. Now, with better tools and increased knowledge, we have not only seen great BATs, but also a move towards much higher standards. Your BAT certainly belongs to those that show how much has changed over the years!

Some finishing touches, and we'll have another worthy candidate for the BAT Hall of Fame 2010. As has been said, the saturation of the tiles could be decreased a bit, this should make the contrast more subtle. That photograph you showed is a good reference - I think it's worth trying to get the base to look more similar to that photograph.

Another aspect I'm wondering about is the texture/material on those white pipes and on the corrugated metal parts, both on the topmost roof and on that large shed on the roof of the base. I think you could tone them down somewhat, too - somehow they just look unfinished the way they are, at least to me. Maybe it's just me, I dunno... I still thought it couldn't hurt mentioning it.

Keep up the great work!

[PBGV103 729]

Thanks guys    I worked on the base a little more yesterday.

As you can see there's much less contrast between the tiles.  I also added a slight bump map and increased the roughness.  If theres not anything else, I'll move on to the roof.  I think the gravel and toning down anything that's bright white are the biggest issues.  I know I can handle the pipes and stuff, but I'm not really sure of the best way to go about making a 1:1 map for the gravel and make it look realistic.  The gravel should have more variation than it does but I'm not sure if gravel would be stained from rain and dirt like concrete.  I assume that most of that would drain under the gravel, making the gravels appearance change less over time. Yes? No?  idk, I've never really studied gravel.  lol