nybt-forum-threads Aaron Graham's NYBT Residential Thread

[lucky7 73]

This is coming along very nicely, IMHO.

lucky7

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

T Wrecks- I know what you talkig about you are so right, I'm going to try to fix the walls.

bixel- I going to make the a little larger when I show a render with textures.

lucky7- Thank you!!! I hope well on your Bat.

Here's a Image of the apartments that I'm working on, it's not much and I'm sorry for that, I'm also sorry for no textures, but I have added the ac units that in the windows. I want this building to work well in a hilly area and I have been working on another way on night lighten the building.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

T Wrecks- I know what you talkig about you are so right, I'm going to try to fix the walls.

bixel- I going to make the a little larger when I show a render with textures.

lucky7- Thank you!!! I hope well on your Bat.

Here's a Image of the apartments that I'm working on, it's not much and I'm sorry for that, I'm also sorry for no textures, but I have added the ac units that in the windows. I want this building to work well in a hilly area and I have been working on another way on night lighten the building.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The model is looking great so far! I'm also glad to hear that you're trying to make it slope-friendly. That should be especially useful for a corner building.

I'm eager to see what you are up to with the night lights, too. Are you going to light the building from the inside with Omnis instead of night texture maps?

And a last question: Will there be windows at the end of the light well in the front, or is the wall going to stay blank?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

The model is looking great so far! I'm also glad to hear that you're trying to make it slope-friendly. That should be especially useful for a corner building.

I'm eager to see what you are up to with the night lights, too. Are you going to light the building from the inside with Omnis instead of night texture maps?

And a last question: Will there be windows at the end of the light well in the front, or is the wall going to stay blank?

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I'd stay away from omnis if I had any choice in the matter. Folks have had a hard time with them in gmax. Using spot lights on either opaque window textures or on a "floor" plane is a good way to go about it. Spa uses this method if I am not mistaken. In order to get the lights not to shine on anything other than the window or floor, simply use the include/exclude lists on the lights.

Otherwise, these are coming along quite nicely. Really lovely work and great improvement Aaron.

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

I'd stay away from omnis if I had any choice in the matter. Folks have had a hard time with them in gmax. Using spot lights on either opaque window textures or on a "floor" plane is a good way to go about it. Spa uses this method if I am not mistaken. In order to get the lights not to shine on anything other than the window or floor, simply use the include/exclude lists on the lights.

Otherwise, these are coming along quite nicely. Really lovely work and great improvement Aaron.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

It's looking good, it reminds me of Don Miguel's apartments.

I agree with Tood about omnis. Most of the time you don't actually need light to shine in all directions. The light that is getting shot in some directions is just going where you can't see it (the ceiling for example), but gmax still needs to think about it, and it slows the renders down. Spotlights are best for most situations, so if you're working on improving your nitelites I'd focus on learning the different settings for the spotlights. I think people tend to use omnis by default and spotlights for special cases, but really people should use spotlights by default and omnis for special cases.

[Jasoncw 11,933]

It's looking good, it reminds me of Don Miguel's apartments.

I agree with Tood about omnis. Most of the time you don't actually need light to shine in all directions. The light that is getting shot in some directions is just going where you can't see it (the ceiling for example), but gmax still needs to think about it, and it slows the renders down. Spotlights are best for most situations, so if you're working on improving your nitelites I'd focus on learning the different settings for the spotlights. I think people tend to use omnis by default and spotlights for special cases, but really people should use spotlights by default and omnis for special cases.

[madhatter106 3,905]

I haven't had too much trouble with omnis; they just need a little trial and error. Though the slowing down the render time usually doesn't apply to the stuff I create, since it's mostly pretty small - the longest render I think I've ever sat through was about five minutes...

[madhatter106 3,905]

I haven't had too much trouble with omnis; they just need a little trial and error. Though the slowing down the render time usually doesn't apply to the stuff I create, since it's mostly pretty small - the longest render I think I've ever sat through was about five minutes...

[pepsi38 46]

Originally posted by: Aaron Graham

Sgt Pepper- Heres the Night Lights I use for the Graham Apartments and the Timpson PL Row. You will have to put the Real_Lights01 in the   C:\gmax\gamepacks\Maps\NightWindows  and you should see it in GMAX Night Windows in the Parameters rowouts. I hope this works for you, and if it does not then please post back of course. There has to be another way to make night lights like this because this way is not the perfect way, but to me it beats having those default night lights.quote>

I tried it and it doesn't seem to want to work for me.  I'll screw with it some more and see if I can't get it to love me and work...

 

[pepsi38 46]

Originally posted by: Aaron Graham

Sgt Pepper- Heres the Night Lights I use for the Graham Apartments and the Timpson PL Row. You will have to put the Real_Lights01 in the   C:\gmax\gamepacks\Maps\NightWindows  and you should see it in GMAX Night Windows in the Parameters rowouts. I hope this works for you, and if it does not then please post back of course. There has to be another way to make night lights like this because this way is not the perfect way, but to me it beats having those default night lights.quote>

I tried it and it doesn't seem to want to work for me.  I'll screw with it some more and see if I can't get it to love me and work...

 

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

T Wrecks- Thank you!!! I'm might not make the building were they can be on a really steep hill sense it's suppost to be in a urban area, but trying to make them slope friendly could be a little hard sense I have never tryed it. I hope you can be the noe to help me on that. On the night lights I want to continue working on night maps sense there are sort of easy to me.

SimHoTToDDy- Thank you!!! I do have some problems with the omnis when I use them with the Transportation the model turned black I hate that, unless I was doing something wrong. I will love to try to use them once again for stores if I make some in the future. About the spotlights I never knew anything about using the spotlights in the model I need to try that and thak you for that tip on night lights.

Jasoncw- Thank you for saying that, looks like I'm the next Don Miguel. lol!! Yes you are right I do need to know more on the settings on the spotlights.

Have you heard of using the self-illumination to light up the windows in GMAX, I have tried it over the weekend and it works good for me, but I will have to export the model two times, one day model and the other a my night model then go in the reader and remove all the night fsh files from the day model and replace them with all the night fsh ing the night model. Next, you will have to change the group in the reader by clicking on the files info on the top left hand of the reader and press edit. All the group numbers need to be the same number. I did export a samll model and it work for me I did not see any crashes so I thing I'm doing something good.

madhatter106- I'm gald to see you posting here. Yes you render time should never be slow do to the size of your BATs. lol!!!

pepsi38- Thanks for saying something about this. I had this same problem GMAX will not read the folder, what you will have to do is rename the Real _Lights01 folder in the   C:\gmax\gamepacks\Maps\NightWindows   path to Beige Backup, this is were you will have to move all the night light images from the Beige folder to the renamed Beige Backup folder. Once you have done that go in the Begie Backup folder and cut the Real_Light images and paste them in the Beige folder and that should work. Exporting is still the same as before just one export.

WOW!! this could a been a book, I never ever wanted to type this much!!!!!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

T Wrecks- Thank you!!! I'm might not make the building were they can be on a really steep hill sense it's suppost to be in a urban area, but trying to make them slope friendly could be a little hard sense I have never tryed it. I hope you can be the noe to help me on that. On the night lights I want to continue working on night maps sense there are sort of easy to me.

SimHoTToDDy- Thank you!!! I do have some problems with the omnis when I use them with the Transportation the model turned black I hate that, unless I was doing something wrong. I will love to try to use them once again for stores if I make some in the future. About the spotlights I never knew anything about using the spotlights in the model I need to try that and thak you for that tip on night lights.

Jasoncw- Thank you for saying that, looks like I'm the next Don Miguel. lol!! Yes you are right I do need to know more on the settings on the spotlights.

Have you heard of using the self-illumination to light up the windows in GMAX, I have tried it over the weekend and it works good for me, but I will have to export the model two times, one day model and the other a my night model then go in the reader and remove all the night fsh files from the day model and replace them with all the night fsh ing the night model. Next, you will have to change the group in the reader by clicking on the files info on the top left hand of the reader and press edit. All the group numbers need to be the same number. I did export a samll model and it work for me I did not see any crashes so I thing I'm doing something good.

madhatter106- I'm gald to see you posting here. Yes you render time should never be slow do to the size of your BATs. lol!!!

pepsi38- Thanks for saying something about this. I had this same problem GMAX will not read the folder, what you will have to do is rename the Real _Lights01 folder in the   C:\gmax\gamepacks\Maps\NightWindows   path to Beige Backup, this is were you will have to move all the night light images from the Beige folder to the renamed Beige Backup folder. Once you have done that go in the Begie Backup folder and cut the Real_Light images and paste them in the Beige folder and that should work. Exporting is still the same as before just one export.

WOW!! this could a been a book, I never ever wanted to type this much!!!!!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I agree that the building should not appear on really steep slopes. However, you often have the following configuration:

______________

 ^^^^^^^^^^||^^^^^^^^

where the horizontal line is a road running along a hillside or a terrace in one level, and the vertical lines are a street that leads up to that terrace. The main road and the buildings lining it are on one level, but the side road has a slope. So at the corners where the side road meets the main road, a slope-friendly corner building would be highly useful.

The key about making a building slope-friendly is not only that the building continues below ground level. If you have a door that ends 3 metres above ground, it will still look ridiculous. It's important that there are stairs under all entrances. Depending on the ground, less or more of these stairs will be visible.

Since I don't BAT, I really don't have much experience with making a building slope-friendly. I think there are two possibilities: Either you model an underground foundation and define it as a prop. Then you can add the prop in the LE.  Or you model the foundation, write down its IID, and adjust the building exemplar (normally inside the .sc4desc file) to point to the IID of that custom foundation.

Should you run into problems, try contacting JBSimio or Cycledogg in SC4D, both have released lots of slope-friendly buildings with custom foundations. You can also look at some of their recent uploads (e.g. JBSimio's buildings for which I made new lots) to see for yourself what I meant with the stairs.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I agree that the building should not appear on really steep slopes. However, you often have the following configuration:

______________

 ^^^^^^^^^^||^^^^^^^^

where the horizontal line is a road running along a hillside or a terrace in one level, and the vertical lines are a street that leads up to that terrace. The main road and the buildings lining it are on one level, but the side road has a slope. So at the corners where the side road meets the main road, a slope-friendly corner building would be highly useful.

The key about making a building slope-friendly is not only that the building continues below ground level. If you have a door that ends 3 metres above ground, it will still look ridiculous. It's important that there are stairs under all entrances. Depending on the ground, less or more of these stairs will be visible.

Since I don't BAT, I really don't have much experience with making a building slope-friendly. I think there are two possibilities: Either you model an underground foundation and define it as a prop. Then you can add the prop in the LE.  Or you model the foundation, write down its IID, and adjust the building exemplar (normally inside the .sc4desc file) to point to the IID of that custom foundation.

Should you run into problems, try contacting JBSimio or Cycledogg in SC4D, both have released lots of slope-friendly buildings with custom foundations. You can also look at some of their recent uploads (e.g. JBSimio's buildings for which I made new lots) to see for yourself what I meant with the stairs.

[madhatter106 3,905]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Since I don't BAT, I really don't have much experience with making a building slope-friendly. I think there are two possibilities: Either you model an underground foundation and define it as a prop. Then you can add the prop in the LE.  Or you model the foundation, write down its IID, and adjust the building exemplar (normally inside the .sc4desc file) to point to the IID of that custom foundation.

Should you run into problems, try contacting JBSimio or Cycledogg in SC4D, both have released lots of slope-friendly buildings with custom foundations. You can also look at some of their recent uploads (e.g. JBSimio's buildings for which I made new lots) to see for yourself what I meant with the stairs.quote>

If I recall correctly, jmyers2043 has a mini tutorial on exposed custom foundations in his BAT thread at SC4D.  He goes through the whole process with pics and explanation, if I'm not mistaken...

[madhatter106 3,905]

Originally posted by: T Wrecks

Since I don't BAT, I really don't have much experience with making a building slope-friendly. I think there are two possibilities: Either you model an underground foundation and define it as a prop. Then you can add the prop in the LE.  Or you model the foundation, write down its IID, and adjust the building exemplar (normally inside the .sc4desc file) to point to the IID of that custom foundation.

Should you run into problems, try contacting JBSimio or Cycledogg in SC4D, both have released lots of slope-friendly buildings with custom foundations. You can also look at some of their recent uploads (e.g. JBSimio's buildings for which I made new lots) to see for yourself what I meant with the stairs.quote>

If I recall correctly, jmyers2043 has a mini tutorial on exposed custom foundations in his BAT thread at SC4D.  He goes through the whole process with pics and explanation, if I'm not mistaken...

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Thanks guys for helping out.

I had a problem a few minues ago, I try to start up my computer and it did not start, what happan senes my destop does not have internet I left the destop on and I use my HP netbook to get on the internet and when I decided to get off the ST to start on some bating and other stuff it did not startup I had remove the power cord and plug it in straght to the wall and it still did not startup. What you you suppost happen? I did manage to get it to startup and it was ok now, do you think it had something to do with leaving to computer on for a long time?

 

I don't see why this happen beacause I had reat my desktop back to factory settings before I have decided to make this new bat of mine. This makes me want to back up my files, I have back up a few but theres a lot more to back up.

Guys I was so so so scared, I thought the world was going to End.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Thanks guys for helping out.

I had a problem a few minues ago, I try to start up my computer and it did not start, what happan senes my destop does not have internet I left the destop on and I use my HP netbook to get on the internet and when I decided to get off the ST to start on some bating and other stuff it did not startup I had remove the power cord and plug it in straght to the wall and it still did not startup. What you you suppost happen? I did manage to get it to startup and it was ok now, do you think it had something to do with leaving to computer on for a long time?

 

I don't see why this happen beacause I had reat my desktop back to factory settings before I have decided to make this new bat of mine. This makes me want to back up my files, I have back up a few but theres a lot more to back up.

Guys I was so so so scared, I thought the world was going to End.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Here's an update of my building.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Looking very nice my friend.

[gio10469 24]

This is coming along great! We could use more buildings like this in-game.

Edit: I was just wondering if you plan on releasing this as just one building because you could also do a version with two buildings to add a little more variety when they grow in game which would allow players to create a whole block of these buildings.

[Amthaak 1,501]

Hi my friend! very good bat indeed! can't wait for texturing job!

I'm sure you know this program but in case of! Very useful

http://www.acmebrick.com/md/index.htm

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Sgt Pepper- thank you!! sir.

gio10469- I fell that my job it to make as many of these type of apartments a possible, because there are so little of the types of building on any Sim City 4 web site exchange.

If I'm reading you correct, I am releasing both models in one zip but the models will be separate to make it more flex able in the game, there will be one model on each lot. The corner lot will be 2x3 R$,R$$ and the lot beside it will be 2x2 R$, R$$, do to the sizes of the corner model I have no choice but to make it a 2x3 lot size, so I am sorry I fail to make it a 2x3 lot size.

Amthaak- Thank you!! And thank you for that link I have downloaded it, and I'm going to try it out.

Upadate:

Here another updated on my apartments. I wanted to know about the image with the apartments that textured, does the wall that suppose to touch another wall does the textures looks ok?

As I said before, I will need some help on Naming these apartments. Who ever come up with a good name, I will put your name it the credits of the read me.

East

South

West

North

East

Here's a tease Image of what most of the area looks like. I'm only making two buildings not all of those now.

[gio10469 24]

Yes you read me correctly and thats  exactly what I wanted to know.  Now I feel like I'm asking too many questions but are you going to make a corner building for the right side? 

As for name suggestions...how about Bainbridge Row, Melrose Place, or Kingsbridge Apartments. These are just some names inspired by Bronx neighborhood names.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

gio10469- Your are not asking to many questions, I'm glad to know you are really interested in my work.

Making another corner model for the right side or the opposite side of the road, I have not decided if I want to do that. Maybe if I'm not lazy, what you think I should do?? to me that's alot of models to work on. lol

Thank you, for naming the apartments for me, I seem to have a hard time naming them. For the apartments I'm working on will be the Bainbridge Row. Thanks again for the name.

Update

Well, guys another update. I have made another building I made this one I have made back in May, I only did was the front of the building, then I stop because I was lazy. May was a long time ago. lol, What made me decide to go back to this apartment I realized that a lot of the peices are mosty the same on these type of apartments so just add the back side of the building and edited alot of stuff to look like ot suppose to look. That really saved me a lot of time like a week, thats really good so I'm recycling pices of the apartments, now that should speed up things a lot.

Sense I do not have a name for this bat I will use another name that gio1049 gave me, Kingsbridge Apartments.

Kingsbridge Apartments

[lucky7 73]

These are coming along greatly and a good idea of recycling parts, therefore saving time... Oh, and gio did a good job on the names...

As for the textures: I like them, but this doesn't mean anything lol

Very good work, and the buildings already look pretty cool when placed in a row...

Looking forward to more and take care,

lucky7

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

lucky7- I'm glad you like the textures. Looks like I don't need to fix any of the textures, because so one thats great at bating would let me know about what wrong I think, but theres a few things that I have to fix because may have miss up on some small things.

Bainbridge Row

Here's another update on my apartments I need to work a little more on the Windows and the chimmies I think. After that I can do the night lights on the corner model and export it then, work on the other Brainbridge model.

East

South

North

West