nybt-forum-threads PBGV's BAT Thread

[PBGV103 729]

Ok! Well for a quick change of subject, my computer MAY be working now! I'll be doing some further testing, but with a little luck I've fixed all of the issues.

[Francis90b 748]

[PBGV103 729]

It's still crashing, twice in the past 24 hours and when it crashes with max open it corrupts whichever file I'm working on. It's either bad drivers, the motherboard, or the processor that is at fault at this point.

The good news is I got to play around with the Citigroup Center again between crashes. What do you all think about the aluminum material? Please ignore all of the base/plaza materials. Most of them need replacing.

[Za 164]

I like it a lot; works particularly well with the glass on the shaded side.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Paul what ever happen to the back side of the building, did you just hide it to save render time or what?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=40.757633,-73.969168&spn=0.000671,0.001635&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.757633,-73.969424&panoid=1PVHSTmqucUHGfW2Ol37uQ&cbp=12,339.13,,0,-33.36

[PBGV103 729]

The small building in the back corner hasn't been modeled yet. I will probably make that one separate and merge it with the Citigroup file before exporting. That way I will have a smaller individual file to work with, and it could be exported separately for those who want it.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I understand. I would love to see the Citigroup with this corn building and plus the left side of it is part of the Citigroup Building, I think they will work great together.

[darn42 1,268]

I didn't even know it was supposed to be metal tbh... So I'd say it needs some work

Increase the reflectivity and lower the antisotropy value. It might be worth working off the satined metal preset.

Looks really good overall though.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Paul, I actually prefer a little more reflection! But the overall structure and BATTING is magnificent! Still gotta work on those pools though huh :b

[PBGV103 729]

Darn - I need to play with the reflection angles and curve. I've never messed with anisotropy to be honest but I'll look into it. I had the reflection turned up higher before and in some places it looked good but in others it was too reflective. I can't just use the satin metal material either because then every pane would look exactly the same.

Kelly - still working on the material, and I haven't played with the fountain at all. I haven't had much luck with particle systems before, I'm not about to try to model flowing water manually, and I don't have several thousand dollars to spend on Krakatoa.

[PBGV103 729]

Darn here's what I mean. I've done about as much with it as I can think of, but the reflections on the edges of the walls and between the columns are much too strong and non existent on the rest of the building. I honestly can't figure out what is wrong with the material settings.

[darn42 1,268]

Eek! What's happening with that? You are reflecting all of the whites like 500% more than anything else. The closer it is to the bottom on the right side the better it is though. I honestly have no idea why it would be reflecting those whites so hard. Maybe something to do with some sort of reflection curve editor that got edited somehow...

And I didn't say to use the satin preset, just start with it. It sets a lot of things necessary for metal materials that you and I wouldn't out of ignorance. Then you can work from there adding variation and tiles and other stuff to the diffuse and reflection maps.

Antisotropy is how much it stretches the reflections in a certain direction based on the metal material. A lot of metals have grooves and stuff that do that.

My best advice to fix what's happening would be to just start over on the material. Maybe ask jason what he did for the inland steel building metal tower, that might help.

[libellibicus 396]

Aside from the reflection issue, the model is looking really good

[PBGV103 729]

I reworked the material to be almost identical to Jason's and here's what it looks like now.

I actually do like it more overall. I know some of you are expecting a more reflective top half, but I promise every metal panel is the same material. It just doesn't seem to reflect the ground plane much if at all, but looking at this picture maybe it's more accurate than you would think. Here's a few more reference images: http://www.emporis.com/images/list/building/citigroupcenter-newyorkcity-ny-usa

[MTT9 187]

It looks amazing. The textures are now much better

[darn42 1,268]

Looks really nice. Good job, this is gonna be an awesome BAT.

[Jasoncw 11,953]

Yeah it looks much better now.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Perfect! Looks like you hit the sweet spot with your latest attempt.

[Darknono35 3,138]

Perfect work so far, It's the BEST who you've done . I would like see him in my game soon

[PBGV103 729]

Thanks Darknono but there's a lot left to do before this will make it into the game. Here's another small update. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the wall around the base which will be below ground in the game. I'll probably just use some generic concrete material. Next I'll be working from the ground floor up on all of the little details. The last things on the list are the inside of the church, the fountain, and the small building in the back corner.

[Vlasky 1,803]

I love it as I loved it from the first time you showed it. But also, a small derail Paul, you have shown some pics of your recreation of Manhattan. If you don't mind sharing some more, I'd love to see them. I really enjoy that and yours with all the buildings that you're doing looked amazing.

[Seraf 1,239]

I really like it much better without that turquoise tint

[libellibicus 396]

I really like the base of this BAT. Fantastic work

[MTT9 187]

Keeps getting better! Can't wait till its done

[Jasoncw 11,953]

Is this building on a slope? I don't think you need to model the wall around the base? You should avoid it at all costs because it creates the dreadful inverse shadows problem in the game.

If you want to hide what's underground but shouldn't be seen, there's a tutorial about masking underground objects in my thread.

[PBGV103 729]

Vlasky, not much has changed with my recreation in about a year. There haven't been too many new buildings released and I haven't had the time to work any more on the roads. Right now it's mostly full of Maxis buildings, very old low quality recreations, Google place holder buildings, and all of my half finished models. There are a few exceptions, but not a whole lot of Manhattan has been made as you can see below.

Seraf, I thought maybe a little more color would look good especially since that's about the same color as 599 Lexington right next door, but I can always change it back.

Jason, there is a slight slope but if you have a way of masking the bottom section then maybe I can just mask everything below the slope line, as long as I don't lose part of the plaza/subway entrance.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Wow! That's amazing! Definitely a lot of work went into this! Keep it up paul!

[weixc812 509]

Several years ago I saw your blog not updating any more, I thought the projects are dead...
You know it's not easy for me to see these pics here since they are blocked by our firewalls. But it's woth all the effort. Thank you so much. You give me hope, Paul.
Please keep up great work. It really means a lot, to the game lovers and your supporters, like me.

[PBGV103 729]

Definitely not gone weixc812!

 

What do you all think about this for the Citigroup water feature?  I ended up modeling it instead of using a particle system.

 

[darn42 1,268]

It looks a bit metallic atm.

 

How did you model it/what does the model look like. 

         Is it double sided water or just one side?