mipro Barry Sanders Project

[budweiserdude23 80]

Lookin good baldy, nice work.

 

Hey wolverine, I need you to PM me whenever you get a chance. I've been working on getting pictures and I need some info...

[budweiserdude23 80]

Wolverine this is esp. for you but everyone can check it out. I know aerial photos of some of the landmarks are hard to come by but I have stumbled upon one with every major stadium and have gotten permission from Don at Great Lakes Aerial Photos to hyperlink to this page and this page only. We are not allowed to hyperlink to any single photo just the page itself. In addition the photos are not to be reproduced without his permission. Usually I wouldn't go to these lengths but when you see some of his photos hopefully you will be as impressed as I was. The link http://www.aerialpics.com/G/stadiums.html . We have permission to hyperlink to this page only from your webpage wolverine. I expressed that the only reason for use of this page was for a visual aid, which he had no problem with. That's it for now.

[Sabretooth78 808]

Looks like a pretty nice looking building in the works there!

 

Between you guys and myself, it looks like we may need to create a new subsection in the STEX - Buildings by City/Region.  Probably wouldn't be a bad idea, with the exchange becoming ever more skewed as a result of the NYC, Buffalo, Detroit, Portland, Seattle, Brazil, etc. projects.

 

As for aerials, I'm not totally up on this forum, but I assume you know about Globexplorer.com?  It's pretty decent, at least for the Buffalo area, with color photos and pretty good resolution.  The watermarks can be a problem, but they're easily avoided.  I wouldn't think Detroit should be worse, it's not exactly a skyscraper forest so there shouldn't be big problems with shadows screwing up the pics.

 

-Chris

[wolverine 12]

Frantic Wolverine
Hey guys, I haven't been around in a few days because I have been moving home from Ann Arbor and unpacking. I am still in the process of running a LAN cord up to my room so the website hasn't received any work. But it appears things have been busy. Great job on the building baldy and thanks for the pictures everyone.

For the website, the main page is done, but I haven't uploaded it yet. I am now working on the projects page and hope to get that done by next week. The graphics for the entire site are done so we are not too far off from the day where we make the official announcement.

EDIT: Thanks for the link to the stadiums webpage. This is absolutely essential to the project since it gives us photos of every side of the buildings and allows us to scale them properly.

[Skyscraper Designer 0]

I haven't been around much lately...I've been working on a massive project for my CAD class all week. I'm skipping 5 of my 6 classes each day this week so I can finish by the Tuesday deadline. I've been spending all day every day in the CAD room at school, and then trying to keep up on doing all my shoolwork at night. I've spent well over 30 hours on the project this week, and the week isn't even over! So I won't be around much until after Tuesday.

150 West Jefferson is really coming along! Great work!

[budweiserdude23 80]

Hey guys,

 

The Pistons game was great. That was the first time I have ever seen any playoff game of any sort in person and what a blast. The Wings played much better as well but the refs kept up their persecution of the Wings tonight by not calling a single penalty until the last 30 seconds of the game. What a bunch of crap.

 

Wolverine, I need to send you a whole bunch of pics but I am unable to since they are downloaded into my comp. and I have no way of PM'ing you with them. I have e-mailed your school account with a request. Basically as it stands I have pics and logos of many of the things on the list that may prove resourceful and I would like to e-mail them to you.

 

To Sargaent, if wolverine's efforts prove to be half as resourceful as we hope then everyone from ST may be in for one heckuva surprise. Wolverine, keep up the good work on the site, it is greatly appreciated by us all.

 

One more thing, keep up the good work baldy and Framinsim. My use of the BAT has improved some but nothing worth posting as of yet but hopefully by next week I will have something to show for my efforts...later all...

[sparkythepenguin 90]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/29/2004 7:49:11 PM[/quoteDATE]

sargeantcm[/quoteAUTHOR]

Looks like a pretty nice looking building in the works there!

Between you guys and myself, it looks like we may need to create a new subsection in the STEX - Buildings by City/Region. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea, with the exchange becoming ever more skewed as a result of the NYC, Buffalo, Detroit, Portland, Seattle, Brazil, etc. projects.

-Chris

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

That sounds like a cool idea. JT's in the BAT squad, we (SargentCM, Wolverine, Budweiser_dude, and myself) may be soon. I'll ask him to suggest that idea to the powers-that-be. It could help us find stuff to download easier, but may diminish projects as some people may want stuff from one region never looking at others that they may have discovered from just having stuff posted as it is released on the BAT exchange.

As with everything, drawbacks and benefits. Perhaps a seperate discussion thread about this is nessescary?

[baldy 0]

That sounds like a cool idea. JT's in the BAT squad, we (SargentCM, Wolverine, Budweiser_dude, and myself)

quote>

 

What am I, chopped liver?

Glad to see you back wolverine.  I haven't been able to get on the BSP site for a while.  index.html is the testing server page, and I thought main.html was the temp site, but there's nothing there.

Sparky,

I was reading your footer and the funny thing is that I was just in Portland on Monday and stayed right where you're describing for the Krispy Kreme!  Small world.

Edit:  I also recognized one of the buildings in the skyline thanks to your models!  Funny how how the BAT is introducing people to buildings and skylines they'd never seen before.  This should go in the you know you're addicted to the bat when.... forum

[budweiserdude23 80]

I'm flattered by the suggestion that some of us deserve to be in the BAT squad. However, elaborating on baldy's thought...I think this is a collective group effort, there are more than one or two people doing all the work. There are many who are working on projects and that post here that deserve recognition for their work as well. As for looking at other regional projects, well I hope I'm not the only one who checks out their progress as well as checks the exchange almost daily. By checking out other projects it gives me a chance to see what else is going on in ST. I don't think regional projects take away but rather add to the community of ST.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

When I have some time at my house that has cable internet, I'll go through this huge thread and look at what you may have posted and give nominations to individual BATers. I just nominated Bud_dude and Wolverine for organizing the project. There's room to also reward those modeling stuff too That's what I primarily do.

@Baldy: That's cool that you came up to Portland and recognized things we've made! We may not have the tallest buildings, but we have one of the best skylines in the world. In a way, this is helping me learn too, as I never really knew the name of the Commercia Tower until you guys started modeling it!

You're lucky because you have so many people doing stuff. The Portland Project is going to grow by 1 as Apathy_Ninja will be joining us on Union Station. We still need a name like you guys do. The Barry Sanders Project is a big inspiration to me, at least

[wolverine 12]

- sound of distant wind blowing in a desert -
Well, it's been mighty quiet around here. I know we are all pretty busy doing other stuff which is understandable since I haven't worked on the website in four days. But now I'm back at work. Thanks Budweiserdude for the photos. They are of great help. I put them in a private directroy on the website as I can't put them in a public one because they are copyrighted. But we are allowed to email images to people interested in the project so that is why I put them there.

I'm wondering if we should hold off a bit on Michigan stadium. It appears the entire lower bowl is slated for demolition and will be replaced by the next season. When I saw it last week, the North endzone sections were completely gone and all that was there was dirt. I'm not sure if any other work is to be done there which might change plans for modeling it.

Also, any updates on Rossetti? I hope they haven't forgotten about us

[budweiserdude23 80]

No problem with the pics. All they're meant for is to serve as visual aids and they will be useful when needed. Are you serious that they're going to demolish the lower bowl at Michigan Stadium? I had no idea such a project was in the works...shows you what I know. I know its customary for the University to tear up the field after every season or at least it seems like it. But the seats are gone, that's crazy....seems like they remodel there every year or two anymore.

[wolverine 12]

I just wanted to let everyone know on the project that I am taking Hudson's department store.  It will be my first model in Gmax.  It's pretty big for a first-timer, but it's boxy and doesn't seem too complicated, and thanks to budweiserdude's wonderful pictures of Hudsons, I should have no problems.  I also found a photo online of the roof junk.  Actually, it was a photo of the building while being imploded and they caught a good angle of the roof when it was leaning.

[baldy 0]

Wolverine, glad to hear you're ready to tackle the BAT!  Before you start, go through the tuturials and get a good understanding of the menu's and processes.  I will help the best I can, but I'm sure you'll progress just fine.  You'll find that once you get past the inital frustration part, you can easily lose hours, if not days, playing around with your building.  Kind of like the sim city addiction.... just a little more here, then a little more there ...

 

I never saw any pictures of the hudson's building until I went to the link budweiserdude posted.  That was definitely a large place.

 

How is the website coming?  Like I said earlier, the index.htm comes up with the testing the server comment, but the main.htm which was the one you showed pictures of, doesn't work.  What page should we go to, or is it down right now?  I'm anxious to see the updates.

 

Hopefully I will updates on Wednesday night.

 

Budweiserdude - Amen about the English 101.  This isn't instant messaging, so people can take the time to proof read and write out full words.

 

How about that Michigan weather ?

 

GO WINGS!!!!!  Why is Calgary giving them so much trouble?  I got to go to one game this year, it was against the Flames and the wings got their butts kicked (I was going to use the other work, but don't know if that's appropriate)

[budweiserdude23 80]

Man this weather does suck...It's crazy as hell. I have my heat on tonight as it may dip into the 20's and by this weekend were gonna have highs in the 80's. Like the old saying goes, if you don't like the weather in Michigan wait 5 minutes.

About English 101, enough is said there that I don't have to post anything else about it here but maybe a few should check it out...hint...hint...

To wolverine, that's cool that your doing the Hudson's building. I was over at my parents this weekend and while I was there I looked through all their old pictures. Unfortunately, what they had that could be used is either too grainy or too yellowed to serve any sort of purpose. They took many of their pics they have of downtown in the late 70's and early 80's and picture quality was nowhere as good as it is now. Besides one or more of my family members were in 95% of the pictures. Oh well....it was worth a shot.

One more thing, I'm curious on how the site is coming along as well...

[budweiserdude23 80]

I know several people, myself included, have checked out the new Detroit map on the MEX. I recommend of you haven't, go check it out now. It's a more faithful representation of the area, not perfect, but close. In addition read the comments there esp. the following---

Wow... welcome to Ghetto City everyone! lol... Slum Town! Nice map though. Simple, but nice.

That comment makes me want to cringe. I wonder if people understand that without the Motor City many of the luxuries people take forgranted would be missing, such as CARS!!!!!!!!! Think about this, the 3 predominate car manufacturers of the past 100 years or so are headquarted in or around Detroit. There may be larger, grander, and asthetically nicer looking cities around the U.S. or the world for that matter, but always remember the Motor City makes the world go. Detroit, and Michigan overall, are such an important hub in the world that without us the world economy would tumble. Comments such as that are a slap in the face to all the hard working citizens of this state and really piss me off!!!!!!!

Think about this for a minute, Michigan is one of top tourist destinations in the world, THE WHOLE FRIGGIN WORLD!!!!

They say ignorance is bliss, but in this case I say it shows lack of maturity, intelligence, and forward thinking. To the person who wrote it, next time before you post such an ignorant comment think first. Our ability to think and our creative abilities are what seperate us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Come and join us sometime....

P.S.---I had to do everything in my power not to swear in this post. I will now swear in the comfort of my office @#$@#$#%#$%@%#@@!$#%%!%

[wolverine 12]

Oooooh, nice sig. Budweiserdude. 

Yes, I'm sure you are all wondering about the progress of the website.  I have been doing all the work offline right now.  I do not post the pages in progress anymore because they are half done and any errors could cause your computer to lock up.  Some of the coding can conflict with each other and would cause your browser to crash which is why main.html no longer exists.  I have been doing a lot of work though.  Today at work I got a lot done since the store I work at has a computer at the back counter.  I was also suprised to find they had 3D flash animator on their computer.  So I made a cool intro movie while I passed the time!  It is all done, but I'm not showing it yet because that would ruin the surprise!  I first have to check it on different loading speeds since it took 7 seconds to load on a cable modem.  Don't want those 56Kers to be waiting years for it to load! 

 

Other than that, everything else is progressing.  Because I want to start working on Hudsons, I am trying to get the site done hopefully by next week.  Don't be discouraged by the just testing the server page.

[baldy 0]

Holy Crap wolverine, that intro for the website is sssswwwwweeeeeeeeeett!  Definitely worth the surprise.

 

Edit:  Site link removed until it is ready to be unveiled

 

This is why he should be on the BATT squad.

 

Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to updates in the near future.

 

Wolverine, as always, let me know what pictures or any other help you may and I will contribute what I can.

[JBSimio 152]

Hi all..

 

I've been ridiulously busy for the last little bit, but it looks like I'm not alone... so I don't feel too guilty.  Work... kicking the TV during Wings games... having to go buy a new TV... all these things take up time.

 

I finally got gmax and have been tinkering a little bit with it.  Probably by next week, I'll be ready to take on one of the projects.  I'm now going to go check out the new website since I haven't been to see the progress yet.  It sounds great from what I've read.

 

JB

[budweiserdude23 80]

Hey everyone,

 

Wolverine and I have been dropping hints across ST about the site but have not made any type of official announcement on it yet. Per his request, please try to keep it on the downlow until it is complete. Then a major announcement will be made. That being said I have been in steady contact with him and the site is progressing towards completion of sorts. His work has been incredible. I'll let him update you on the full status. However check back to the site periodically in the next few days as even more major changes are in store, esp. to the flash opening. You should all love it.

 

Those damn Wings I swear....If you haven't read the Detroit News Sports section today, read it. Looks like the Wings may be in for a major overhaul this off season. With the Wings early playoff exit, it's time to focus on those Pistons

 

I've restarted my work on my projects just today, hopefully I will have something to show of the Uniroyal Tire by the end of the week. I'm starting from scratch again but I seem to be getting a handle on the modeling process. My biggest problem will be getting the hubcap right. That's it for now...

[budweiserdude23 80]

Hmmmm...where has everyone gone off to....

 

Hey everyone reading this, I've got some news. It appears that SimGoober has taken up modeling some retail stores, most noteably Kroger is now on the STEX. It will be dually noted on the list. I believe both him and hillbillytycoon have taken to modeling some of the retail stores from across the nation so you may want to check in on their threads to see what they're working on next. I know SimGoober stated that Best Buy is on his project to do list. I don't know if they have even seen the list on page 1 of this thread, so I'll check in on their threads every now and again to update. I just thought I'd let everyone know...

[wolverine 12]

Yay some projects are being done!

 

Well, I know several people major to this project are really busy right now, so we may not here much around here until we officially launch the project website.

[ert90 8]

Amazing site Wolverine! Looking forward to its completion. Yeah, I saw SimGoober's Kroger in the STEX. I have to say though, it doesn't look anything like my local Kroger. Although it is still a great design.

-ert90

[budweiserdude23 80]

You know ert90, the Kroger may not look like your local one but Kroger has a tendency to look different almost anywhere you go. It's not like Mickey D's, where they almost all look the same or similar. The Kroger in say Canton looks way different from the one in Birmingham which looks different from the one in Plymouth whick looks different than the one..........you see my point. I applaud the originality of the design. I'm not harping on you, I just thought I'd share that with you.

 

The reason retail stores look different community to community is due to local zoning and building codes. Every community is different, and the architects must adhere to that. For example, when Home Depot wanted to put a second store in Canton, they wanted its look to mimic the look of its first store in Canton, that is the cream stucco type building facing with the orange halo around it. The township planning commission told them no. They had to adhere to the updated building policy, which meant no large signs, massive landscaping, dual road accessibility, and a classical look building theme. Home Depot changed their plans to adhere to these demands and now there are 2 distinctly different looking Home Depot's only 3 miles apart. The oher limitation to building design is the land/site the building is to be built upon.

[baldy 0]

Budweiserdude and wolverine, congrats on the batt squad!  The website is coming along very well.  Sorry about jumping the gun, I just saw it out there and was so excited I had to say something.  According to the homepage, there are some really great features that will eventually be added!  I can't wait. 

 

If it makes things easier, I can ftp images of the city and buildings to the host server, which would be easier than e-mailing them.  I can shrink them up to the right size too.

 

I haven't posted anything in a while because I don't have any updates with 150 west jefferson due to working on wedding and landscaping projects.  Also, if we want to be technically correct, the building is one of the few class A office buildings in downtown (I don't know of the other off hand), which would classify it as a CO$$$ in the game.  Personally, I don't really care, it's having the building that matters. 

 

By the way, Buddude, when are we going to see pictures of the tire!

 

[budweiserdude23 80]

Thanks for the congrats baldy, I appreciate it. I'm sure wolverine does as well...

 

Wow, the site is looking nice...very well organized...I can see it becoming  a nice hub for all of us.

 

As for the tire.....geez....sorry but I have had a busy week. I've been checking in here now and again and then returning to everyday life in between. I've had to watch my niece 3 times this week plus the job I was doing had me working some odd hours. I'd work on it from 5am-10am then 4pm-8pm so it messed me up a bit. So those two things contributed to me not working on the tire too much this week. To top it all off I went to the Pistons game tonight. By the way, the halftime show was William Hung singing if you haven't heard by now. I don't think I've heard a chorus of Boos that loud in my life. Man, he has less talent in singing than anyone I can ever remember, and that's putting it kindly. I'm trying to keep this PG rated but lets just say I thought as much of his performance as I do of the things I flush down my toilet. Sorry got off track there....anyways I hope to spend a good chunk of my day with it tomorrow since I won't have any time on Sunday because I love my mom Hopefully I'll have an update for you if not tomorrow then Monday....later all....and the game rocked!!!!!!!!

[JBSimio 152]

Good Lord! I was watching the game last night, and that was the most pathetic excuse for halftime entertainment I have ever witnessed! I've decided that I'm going to humiliate myself on a reality show so I can get my 15 minutes of fame, which will be based soley on media blitzes and not dependant on my having one ounce of talent whatsoever.

OK... this concludes my rant for the day. At least the game was great! I am officially asking for a project off the list. I have one in mind, but I'll take suggestions first. I'm still new, so it can't be too complex. I considered doing Bronner's, but the amount of props needed is way beyond me right now. The only building I refuse to do is Domino's Farms. Any suggestions or requests?

BTW... the Madden Building looks great so far (I meant to say that a while ago, sorry for the delay) How are the others coming? I know we're all busy, but if this thread doesn't pick up soon, I will threaten more useless highway trivia about Detroit!
JB

[JBSimio 152]

Nevermind the wait... here's some a little bit more transportation based trivia for you.

The Davidson Freeway was the first urban depressed (below grade) freeway in Michigan, if not the nation. There is some debate that a thruway in Queens may have come first, but I forget which one that was. Either way... it's first or second overall.

The first concrete paved highway was a stretch of Woodward in Detroit.

The big capacity upgrade problem of I-94 west of downtown (aka the Detroit Industrial Freeway) has spawned some very interesting and sometimes comical ideas. Among these: A double decker system beginning somewhere around Schaefer through to the I-96 interchange; Massive widening to include express lanes much like I-96; a light rail line similar to Chicago. None of these ideas will ever happen... the current plan is one additional lane in each direction with improved feeder roads on the surface.

There you have it... more useless stuff from the master of useless stuff-
JB

[budweiserdude23 80]

Hey JB, why don't you just edit the post to say oops double posted the same message or maybe use is to throw something fun in there...not a big deal.

 

You know, I agree, Bronners may be a little nuts...I remember a while back shooting down an idea to model one of the malls located in metro Detroit since they all look the same. The way Bronners is set up it too would look like a mall from an aerial view with the parking lots and building having props galore. Hmmmm.....maybe this idea should be put on the back burner for now....

 

The thing was so many ideas were being floated around when this thread first took off it was hard to tell what would/ should be on the list and I felt compelled to list nearly everything that had been suggested. That being said, if there is anything you think should be taken away from the list or added now would be a good time to give your opinion. I know wolverine would appreciate it as the site nears completion.

 

As for what building you should start with, well I thought about it and I have 2 suggestions...

1. Borders Book Store---It's a locally based company and from what I've seen they're based in simple square building when they're not located in strip malls.

2. Borders World HQ---Once again locally based in Ann Arbor, this building is three stories tall and has a slight curvature to it, for the most part though it would be fairly easy to model.

 

Okay----here are my thoughts on the list....

 

1. I believe that the Sleeping Bear Dunes should be eliminated since this could be accomplished with a mod. In addition that lot would have to be gigantic, I mean that state park is huge and I don't think anyone would want to download that monstrosity of a lot.

2. As I stated before, Bronners is put on the back burner...

3. Dominos World HQ consist of only the HQ itself, the farm would be nice but the lot would be gigantic with it.

4. Cass Tech High School should be eliminated...If someone wants to make it thats fine by me but there are a ton of schools on the stex and many may want to see their high school modeled. The list could become a personal stomping ground for high schools and that's not the point of the list.

5. Additions to be added---

I) Yazaki World HQ located in Canton---Wow this is a nice building

II) Consumers Building in Jackson---Forgot it...duh....

III) Stadiums for some of the minor league teams throughout the state.

IV) Hungry Howies

V) Covered driving range (Golf dome)

VI) Bowling alley---Man they're everywhere you go in this state and I know there's one on the stex but why not another one.

VII) Any of the bavarian style architecture located in Frankenmuth, esp. Bavarian Inn or Zhenders.

VIII) Tony's Restaurant in Birch Run---Hell why not.

IX) Hooters---Man I love the wings there.

X) Papa Johns Pizza

 

That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure more ideas will come....

[JBSimio 152]

Good idea, Budwieser... I changed the double post to something more interesting.

I would agree with the points you make. The Dunes really aren't feasible for this project, we definately don't want to start a High School war, and the farm part of Domino's would be too much. I actually just used that as the name, but it's a good point to clear up. I still think Bronner's is worth doing, but it needs to wait until we can get the props necessary to make it Bronner's... otherwise it's just a huge building with some parking lots.

I think Bavarian Inn is a great idea! That should definately go on the list. So should Tony's... it's huge in the Saginaw area. (Was Birch Run the original? I can't remember) How about the Castle Museum in Saginaw? It was the original post office on the east side... very distinctive looking. I haven't seen Border's HQ or Yazaki. Do you have any pics or can you direct me to where I might find some?

JB