nybt-forum-threads Heblem's New York BATs

[ozdaniel 4]

I love it man !!!

[Paris 41]

great buildings!!!!!but where can i find them to download?

[AlexandrosB13 184]

It looks really nice Heblem. But 72 hours for a render? sounds too much, hope you can cut down some time. As other said, thry to get about 3-4 materials, 80 are tooo many.

Paris: why are you asking where to download them all the time and in other threads?? Do you see it exported?? to download it?? he says it took 72 hours for a render so...?? and where else can you download it when it is done???? let me think...STEX?? i dont want to sound like that but some questions really dont make sense, it is like people want to post all time without caring about what they write, just to get a better title like simtropolis geek or something..

[Heblem 600]

Fixed again some materials, and there a new render... exporting again to see some missing details... started last monday... one day left until exports done... (96 hours of exporting aproximate for day model)

  Edited May 14, 2011 by Heblem  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

96 hours is way to long I believe, but i can't say to much, you and PBGV103 are making some of NYBT tallest buildings, some of the tallest on the ST. I think I need to test my computer by making a really tall building. I wonder how long it takes cookatoo to render a day scene of the United Nation Building??

  Edited May 11, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[PBGV103 729]

WOW! As i said before, I thought my renders took a long time. You should probably add a bump map to the glass like the one in Jason's tutorial. It would make the glass look realistic and make each sheet of glass look seperate, rather than one large mirror. Also, your HVAC fans don't have fans and the roofs look way too clean, even for a new building. Little details like that really make BATs look professional. Concrete roofs are usually poured in sections, and since concrete is porous, they retain water around the edges of the roof which makes them darker. Stains also form around the edges where the water collects. The upper roof on your model looks more like tiles. If that is the case in RL, then I would just add a tiny difference in the brightness of the tiles. Raising or lowering the brightness of individual tiles by 2-3% should look good, and you should only have to use 5-6 different versions of the tiles. Hope all that helps!

[RGullett 3]

This is truely one of the best looking buildings in the game, can't wait to have it in my city. I would agree with PBGV103's suggestions in the previous post, because he is talented as will. I wouldn't know, I haven't tried to create a building before. I don't know how hard it would be to make slight adjustments before release. I really appriciate the hard work on this project Heblem. It is work like this that makes me continue to build cities and love this game.

[Heblem 600]

About the time it takes for exporting theres no problem for me, just to get it exported its alright... I cancelled it due i had to use computer for other important things in RL, also i can fix again the building as suggested adding some bump maps on it (from Jason tutorial), will take maybe a week until i export the model day, then another two weeks or so to fix night renders (dark night and maxis) and export, i hope to get everything done by June this year, talking about the new york times building...

After that, i consider the building done... for now i'm thinking in doing the Time Warner building located in the southwest corner of central park... should i do it? what do you think?... the building is huge, but I like! there a birdeye view of the building...

Some early thoughts how it will work in game...

Also will require to model the Columbus statue as a plus...

  Edited May 14, 2011 by Heblem  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Cool, I have to say, you may just need some extra hand to help you out sense this is a huge building, you can do like cookatoo and have some good are great baters to help you out, I will have to look on google maps and bing to see how things should look, I always wanted to do this building, but I mostly do apartment buildings, but I think that could not stop me.

[gutterclub 2,729]

I would BAT the roundabout, then if transit enabled it can just connect to a normal road and will look a little like the actual building. A tough BAT!

[Heblem 600]

Ok, New york times update...

However, i'm not totally sastified with the model, still i found some more issues... those are issue that i can't see in render previews..., just appears in game...

As like this case the black rectangle, i got the 3ds hotfixes installed, only appears that one at zoom 5

This issue, maybe an editable poly issue with the parking lot entrance, didn't saw that issue in the render preview...

Here, some texturing didn't make it, not sure what happened... also not sastified with those trees

And the edge, you know looks weird, i got that problem fixed before in another render...

For last comparing the height with Maxis Chrysler tower... somewhat it almost fits, but i dont know should i fix it or maxis has to fix their chrysler tower...

You might see some new details as like first floor inside stuff, some more roof junk, fixed glass and added bumps to the windows as like jasoncw tutorial, more dirty walls and roffing as like weathered roof and some smog, to prevent the building to look soo white and sterilized and of course fixed so many other issued i had before.

Exporting took 4 days due i have rendering configuration in high, what i could do for future projects to avoid loss of time in rendering i can make draft versions to check issues, but anyway... should I fix again and go over? honestly i'm tired of this building, it's a mess with materials, objects and so... and honestly i have learn alot working on this building, all thanks to all people who supported me.

Next I hope... is work again in night lights.

Thanks!

  Edited May 27, 2011 by Heblem  

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

However, i'm not totally sastified with the model, still i found some more issues... those are issue that i can't see in render previews..., just appears in game...

As like this case the black rectangle, i got the 3ds hotfixes installed, only appears that one at zoom 5

I have some of the same problems with that too, I did not worry to much about it, the problem comes from the LOD box is cut up into sections sometimes so that's why it shows a little line. The shadows can also do that to, it just be a tiny area that will not have a shadow.

This issue, maybe an editable poly issue with the parking lot entrance, didn't saw that issue in the render preview...

I can't say to much on that does the shadow show up in the render?? Is your LOD's Tight on the edge of the floor part of the building and is the floor about 0.01 to 0.02 meters off the ground? If not you need to make the LOD's really tight, hopefully that sovles the problem and fix the hight of the floor.

About the glass problem try to go to editable poly or edit poly in the modifier list and click on that poly your having probelms with and press flip, if you can't find it just keep looking for it it's there.

Here, some texturing didn't make it, not sure what happened... also not sastified with those trees

Have you added a uvw Maps for the textures if if not try it or play around with it?? Yes, you need to make some better trees, those foliage are not good enougth. Someone can help you get some trees made.

  Edited May 27, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[harishna 847]

I downloaded some trees from xfrog they are way nicer than the AEC but I think they quite heavy(around 50k polys. I left my computer rendering a preview image for my library using those trees but I am sure it will crash (I was already getting warning messages when I left the house) Have you tried making your own? you can use particle arrays I haven't tried myself (haven't got the time).

I feel your frustration is the same for me with my BATs it takes so long to render that finding a small detail and having to go over the whole process is painstaking ( I hope to buy a new computer in 3 months )...

[sten1700 102]

What are you talking about!? :|

It looks soooo amazingg!! If you didn't mentioned it, who would see it? Not me, that's for sure. I freaking love this model!

[Girafe 1,729]

Looks really nice Heblem, Amazing job,

Indeed the foliage of the trees could be denser. Be careful with Xfrog trees, they are often with alpha maps and leaves are not batted it's really paintful to render and increase considerably the rendering time.

What settings did you use for you glass?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Personally, for me, the tower's roof is far too clean. The building may be new in real life, maybe about 3 or 2 years old now, but even in that time and with wheather, the roof should not look even close to that clean. Even in construction or right after they finished it would be dirty from previous tinkering and the equipment. So I'm just going to suggest some more darker contrast and dirtier gradients for the tower's roof.

Of course, the little details you pointed out need to be looked into as well.

[Heblem 600]

Made some more changes....

-Some more "dirt" on top roof, including antenna

-New foliage... better than 3ds AEC foliage

-Fixed the antenna

-Removed the base panel

-Applied different textures on base roof

-And night lights..... DARK version

real life picture for comparing, based on

what do you think?

Will export in low quality for tests if everything goes well, I can say, soon for download...

[harishna 847]

so much better I noticed that you even based the lighting pattern from the RL picture you got. Have you thought about adding glare? and may I ask what trees you using now?

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Yes, I think you need to add some glare to you lights. I think the trees look better, I may need a closer look at them. Keep it up.

[Vlasky 1,803]

I think that nitelites are spectacular, but ... add glare as ppl mentioned before and please PLEASE please work more on day textures of building. You have extraordinary model, please don't rush it. Take your time,l work on improving texture quality, and texturing other things, and use real life pictures not renders of projects; create bump maps for glass (check out JasonCW's tutorial in his thread on glass-making).

In order to illustrate my what I believe needs to be improved, I'll show you pictures for every thing I believe you can improve:

1. your model appears to be monochromatic and that it uses a color rather than textures for it's elements. Even so There are more colors on building which appears completely gray, but its not:

Here's quick example I made

2. Middle decorative sections of building's facade are made of series of tubes and are transparent, whereas yours appear as solid curtain walls. I'm aware that such tubes would be a nightmare to render and a would not looks as realistic but something can be done about them, like modeling fewer of them and larger so that they'll give same impression. Here's what I'm talking about That transparency is obvious also on the very top/crown of the building, and your model even there appears solid. Here are few more examples that illustrate both transparency and color issue: example1 example2 example3(the one I used for colors)

3. The tubes I mentioned and how they influence the general appearance of the building and their size compared to human: example1 example2 example3 example4 example5 example6 example7

transparency of the crown transparent crown2(also good example of colors) transparent crown3

4. Work on those roof junk textures, you could do so much more with them.

And again, Your model is amazing, but if textures were improved, it would be a super-BAT. Take what I said as a friendly advice.

  Edited May 29, 2011 by Vlasky  

[sten1700 102]

Wow! Looks amazing! can't wait for it to be on the stex!

[rjamesp 138]

observing the progress of this building and... wow.. i fainted when i see the almost finished building

you are amazing!

[Heblem 600]

There a render with glare as suggested... low quality render...

The trees are from a software (Onyx) which makes trees and exports them in .3ds file, I imported them and made my own textures for it. Ive used same software for my tropical mod. Closer look to the trees...

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7669/ren2l.jpg

Vlasky, thank you for your time in pointing out how to improve my texturing... i did used jasoncw tutorial for making better glass textures, not sure if i got it right but there I show you the detail with a closer max render... (low quality render, sorry)

(Yes, there are some issues in white panels)

1. Youre right, my model are using simple colors i took from photoshop, then made a large plain texture from it, at this case im not sure how to work on, what i did last december when making the building was to use different textures as like youre doing with the example, here i show...

The first texture, its an arch and design default material, which was suggested in jasoncw tutorial, see the color i tried to match with window color, but sometimes depends on the time of the day and light intensity.

The second one, you point it as the small wires, which i'll give you more details about that in point 2. I've used an alpha texture to simulate the tubes, it has only 90% of transparency. The wires are an edited texture from the metal texture (last one)

The third texture, depends on light hows supoosed to look, i decided to have a white texture here, i might fix this texture with a bump as jasoncw tutorial and some more "dirt"...

And last texture its a simple metal texture, closest possible to what it is. It might look like a simple texture, probably i have to look at uvw mapping to see if its working right.

I recognice i have a mess of materials, which i have to be careful next time when modeling.

2. I know of that issue, its frustating, if you go back right in this forum like 3 or 2 pages, you see i explain about this problem i had, as you said, it takes lots of problems and memory issues to my computer which i cant afford, believe me, i tried looking for solutions over 1 month, i tried using less tubes and wider but didnt looked right, what im using now (alphas) looks closer but not exactly like the real building, but i like and im sastified how it looks. I'm sorry...

3. There I give you an old render how it looked with the tubes... (again low quality render..)

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5402/vlk3.jpg

The modeling looks incredible, all the details with the tubes, but unfortunately due memory issues i can't do that...

4. Yes, I will work more on roof junk textures, even im thinking in making some more small details in roofs.

Thank you!

I have tested everything, i'm sastified, but before making an general exporting i will fix some more things as Vlasky suggested.

  Edited May 29, 2011 by Heblem  

[Girafe 1,729]

Onyx is good,

just select your leaves click right,object properties, return black option on. It will increase your contrast.

Glare is good on the top of the tower but a little bit too high at the base

anyway the project is coming really nice

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I use Onyx to for my trees too, I will post an update on thet soon, your doing a great job.

[Seraf 1,239]

Your model is so great... you did marvelous job on your bat

[Vlasky 1,803]

Well glass looks great on that close render, I really don't know why its appearance changes on other zooms. So if someone can help on this, please do. Maybe it's the problem in what your glass reflects? I see it's some bats but maybe it'd be better to make one of those pixelated satellite images reflections? just an idea

For the wires, I understand completely if this is the only way to go.

Nothing can be completely white, no matter what elements are. So I really look forward to seeing it changed and how it would affect the model itself and diversity of "colors".

Fourth texture - metal beams - is the one I expect the tweaking of it to mostly affect how the whole model appears.

I see how tubes looked and I understand why you opted for current solution as it looks better than wires one. Only one thing I'd like to stress out is the crown itself. If you cant make it look transparent due to what has been said, at least try to get rid of reflections of other elements on it so that it doesn't give impression that its glass coated. Thank you for listening and I can't wait to see how modifications look like.

And for that nite renders you have showed - it looks spectacular. I love it. Great job!

[harishna 847]

for the semi-transparent panels I see you using a cut-off map, have you tried making the bars a bit bigger?

  Edited May 31, 2011 by harishna  

[Chris M 406]

Any progress on this baby? It looks fantastic.

[Liberater444 11]

WOW! I really want this! Even the low render looks fantastic! Any timetable for this?