nybt-forum-threads PBGV's BAT Thread

[PBGV103 729]

Since I'm basically done with this one ^, I need some advice on 277 Park Avenue, which is next on the list. The ground drops 6-7 meters from front to back and theres a huge entrance at the back I don't want to lose; however, that means I'd have to add 6-7 meters of stairs to the front, around 10 meters to the length of the model and the model still has to fit in a 4x8 lot. Plus adding the height to the front of the building completely changes the look. The only other option I can think of is to move the rear entrance up one floor to maintain a constant grade. That might be the least damaging to the design of the building.

Any better ideas?

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I good I do see the changes that you have made by compairing the two last picture post you have made. Good progress.

Well you are on the track Paul, I think moving the entrance up one floor would be a great idea, but I also think it will still change a lot the way the building looks like in RL on the lower floors, but that seems to be the best bet because you really don't need stairs on the front of the 277 Park Avenue because the RL building does not have stairs in the front of it.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Bettar. Remember some things need to be exaggerated a bit in SC4 to appear better or appear more visible and such.

I don't have nothing to say about this situation about the 277 Park Avenue's meter drop. Could we see a RL photo? Maybe I can come up with something. Other than that, you're idea will most likely work.

[PBGV103 729]

Brandon, everything was modeled to RL scale and then vertically scaled by a factor of 4/3. Same as 270 Park Avenue.

Here's an in-game comparison.

[images need to be under 800px wide - Cockatoo.]

[Bastet69008 1,102]

Somebody please help that man buying a computer for exporting these works of art!

[nick13 194]

Any metropolis would be proud to have these buildings!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: PBGV103

Since I'm basically done with this one ^, I need some advice on 277 Park Avenue, which is next on the list. The ground drops 6-7 meters from front to back and theres a huge entrance at the back I don't want to lose; however, that means I'd have to add 6-7 meters of stairs to the front, around 10 meters to the length of the model and the model still has to fit in a 4x8 lot. Plus adding the height to the front of the building completely changes the look. The only other option I can think of is to move the rear entrance up one floor to maintain a constant grade. That might be the least damaging to the design of the building.

Any better ideas?quote>

Not really, especially since you want to keep the footprint at 4x8. Another option would be to use the higher entrance as ground level and model a sunken plaza around the lower entrance, but this would obviously require some space.

[PBGV103 729]

OK I'll probably just move the rear entrance up one floor then for 277, but I haven't even started on the model yet.

I think I'm done with 299 now.  I realized that I forgot to set the transparent windows to 'thin walled" and that's why it was flattening everything behind them.  I made the same mistake with 270 so I'll have to re-render that one at some point.  The bad thing with 270 is that with the correct setting for the windows you no longer see the chase sign in the lobby, which looked good at night, but at least the model will look more realistic.

Here's the night view of 299.

[Vlasky 1,803]

IMHO too much glare. Other than that, great.

[Hanson784 165]

Wonderful work as always Paul. Can't wait to plop it down among its neighbors.

Did you get my PM I sent a couple of days ago BTW?

[SimFox 804]

I think Glare is fine, you should remember that glare (just like any other stuff/effect that stretches beyond actual model will not be transfered in game.

What I would suggest is to try to up the color temperature for windows to something like 15000K. It may give more interesting/more varied effect.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I love the night lights. I hope I can get as good as you when if I ever use 3ds Max. Keep it up.

[PBGV103 729]

Thanks everyone. I'll play around with the light temp some more. The real Kelvin scale applied to the color of light is determined by what color a solid block of carbon glows as the temp rises. So 1000 is red/orange like a match flame, 5000-6000 is the "purest" white, above that is blue at 8000-10000, and then violet at 10000+. Knowing this I never played with the light temp much in max. I assumed something like 15000 K would give me purple lights.

[His Divine Hand 244]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Originally posted by: PBGV103

Since I'm basically done with this one ^, I need some advice on 277 Park Avenue, which is next on the list. The ground drops 6-7 meters from front to back and theres a huge entrance at the back I don't want to lose; however, that means I'd have to add 6-7 meters of stairs to the front, around 10 meters to the length of the model and the model still has to fit in a 4x8 lot. Plus adding the height to the front of the building completely changes the look. The only other option I can think of is to move the rear entrance up one floor to maintain a constant grade. That might be the least damaging to the design of the building.

Any better ideas?quote>

Not really, especially since you want to keep the footprint at 4x8. Another option would be to use the higher entrance as ground level and model a sunken plaza around the lower entrance, but this would obviously require some space.

quote>

Another option is to model the building with the back entrance below ground level, so as that with proper terraforming, it will show up; similar to Pacific Place by paulvmontfort.  

[PBGV103 729]

Ok.  Done.  Next?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Next: We see it on the STEX...?

[Vlasky 1,803]

277 Looks amazing! New nitelites are way better than previous. So "next?" Yes, please.

As I recall it, you mentioned 270? Maybe 245 so you take a break from all black glass

****EDIT*****

299 Looks amazing! New nitelites are way better than previous. So "next?" Yes, please. 

As I recall it, you mentioned 277? Maybe 245 so you take a break from all black glass.

[PBGV103 729]

I think I'm going on to 277 after I make a few changes to 270. God save me from the 24 hour export... ughhh.... THIS IS THE LAST TIME I mess with 270PA.

So the order I'm planning should be something like this:

1. 270 Park Avenue: done

2. 299 Park Avenue: done

3. 277 Park Avenue

4. 245 Park Avenue

5. 280 Park Avenue

6. 300 Park Avenue

7. 250 Park Avenue

8. 383 Madison Avenue

9. 237 Park Avenue

10. 450 Lexington Avenue

...this all of course will take years, and somewhere in there I'll revisit 425 Lexington Avenue and fix it up.

btw, 245 also has dark/black glass

[Vlasky 1,803]

I AM SO SORRY! I messed up the numbers in my previous post. The correct post should be:

299 Looks amazing! New nitelites are way better than previous. So "next?" Yes, please.

As I recall it, you mentioned 277? Maybe 245 so you take a break from all black glass.

Sorry again. I will edit/delete my previous post.

[PBGV103 729]

Made a few changes to 270 today.  The lights are closer to the lights on 299 now.  I used the same bitmaps for the self-illumination on both models but the kelvin settings are slightly different between the two .  Hopefully the two being similar won't be an issue, but I already have 80 bitmaps for the windows, so I really didn't feel like making anymore. 

Here's a zoom4 preview.

I think I'll export this and move on to 277.  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I just love this building it is such a master piece.

[PBGV103 729]

After 24 hours of re-exporting 270 I had some of this going on:

...but luckily I was able to fix it in reader.  Gmax apparently made the zoom-1-east uv map twice the height it should have been and translated it down 50% of the height it should have been.  It's interesting how the uv map and the way the fsh files are applied have an inverse relationship.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

It seems that 270 is practicing witchcraft!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

So what are you going to do are you going to re-export it again????? I believe there's a way to fix that problem in the reader but I not so sure how it works.

[Seraf 1,239]

When have you learned to BAT like this? 299 looks like one of SimFox works, great!

[PBGV103 729]

Got started on 277 this past week and I realized the inaccuracy of google earth's measuring tool. Most of it I'd guess is caused by two things: first, the images you measure are pieced together out of multiple images taken at different angles, second, since the image is taken from above, the top of buildings look slightly larger than their bottoms because of the perspective. My initial measurements were the top of 277 should have been 42x53.5 meters and the over all dimensions should have been 110x62x209.4 meters. All the windows are the same size so if you get one plane of the building scaled perfectly, then the rest should fall into place; however, after I scaled the front to be 62x209.4 meters high, the length of the building ended up being 5 meters too short and the top of the tower part of the building was around 38x50 meters. I've triple checked everything and it was all scaled correctly and all the google measurements were correct. When you look at the building placed with others I've previously made, the scale looks right compared to RL photos, so at this point I'm blaming google, unless anyone has another explanation.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Well I'm not good at Math at all soooo....yea... But it sounds like you got it just fine. But we all would like to see a pic.

[PBGV103 729]

I've got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is I had a few problems with my computer and the guys at apple tested it and said that 3ds max is just burning it up. I usually just leave it plugged in 24/7, but you're supposed to let the battery go through cycles. If you leave it plugged in after it's fully charged it puts out more heat and damages itself. That combined with my using it for 24 hour exports has been damaging stuff like the memory, hard drive, etc too.

The good news is I found out that I get a $500 student discount on the computer I want, so It would cost $4500 instead of $5000. Plus I got $1000 for Christmas, so I'm slowly getting closer to a new computer.

Unfortunately, since I need my laptop to still work for classes I can't use if for those 24 hour exports or even the 2-3 hour previews at all now. So it looks like I won't be doing much with max for a while. It will most likely a year or two until you see anything from me since the donation thing hasn't worked at all. I've received a grand total of $10, all from my mom. lol

[Sgt Pepper 864]

One of us with Max could export your models for you. Wouldn't that work for you? You just gotta email it to one of us and will export it then send the exported model back to you.

[Vlasky 1,803]

Many people here offered themselves to export models to those who have slower computers. So if you decide to do so, you will get help. On the other hand if you decide to stick to your principles, and not export/upload anything until you get new pc/mac, that's ok to, unfortunate for us your fans, but ok.

If we had PayPal here, I'd donate for sure, but you should consider expanding your blog, and write something more about the process of modeling the buildings you do. In that way you'd get some regular followers, and maybe a chance to sell banner spaces. Also, some people from outside of this community could get familiar with your work and sympathize with your situation and donate. For starters, if you do decide to go this way, you should contact Hanson about some advices, knowing he runs his blog for quite some time now, and has a lot of experience in that area. Trough his blog I discovered Simtropolis.com.