Show us your... roadsigns!!!

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Not bad sign there for a US styled one. Btw you can make signs in MS paint. just telling you .

[riiga 233]

@samness7: With that tone, I don't think he wants to answer, and he probably won't since his signature says "Offline between 26th and 31st December." I can offer my feedback though, and I must say it looks good, except I'd advise you to use another font. You'd probably want Clearview or some other FHWA font since you're making American signs.

[riiga 233]

Originally posted by: nathanthemayor

Not bad sign there for a US styled one. Btw you can make signs in MS paint. just telling you .quote>

Yeah, and MS Paint is superior to Inkscape or Photoshop in which respect?

[cacks 41]

I started to make a few VMS signs before and somehow on chat we were talking about the BAT so i showed these and people said "wow" which is like... good.

a rock slide ahead, lane closed sign: i play in a very mountainous region

slippery lanes: it rains a lot in my region too (thanks to photoshop)

and a RHW-6 version of the sign above ( i also made a RHW-8, but not 6c or 8c or 10)

 

wow almost 5500 polygons

[Samness 104]

Nice sign cacks, just curious: How do you import sign labels into gmax? Just wondering in case I ever decided to put my sings into the game.

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Originally posted by: samness7

Nice sign cacks, just curious: How do you import sign labels into gmax? Just wondering in case I ever decided to put my sings into the game.quote>

You put them into "Gmax-gamepacks-BAT-textures". Then find the model you want, paste the texture, export and there you go!

[fonzyfb73 39]

Originally posted by: samness7

Nice sign cacks, just curious: How do you import sign labels into gmax? Just wondering in case I ever decided to put my sings into the game.quote>

Use this tutorial here

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=111072

That's how I learned to make my own signs.

Here are some signs I made. The last two were done in paint

[Vahr 341]

Cacks: Excellent work! I 'll have to show mine sometime

Fonzy: Those are looking pretty good, and I can tell the difference

Anyways, first batch of Aydina's signs that I'm happy with.

Edited: Updated pic 1, added pic 2

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

@fonzyfb73: Are you a Californian? I am, i come from the Central Valley. That's why my only RL sign pack is Fresno signs(Here if you want it). Otherwise, my other signs are fictional.
 

[fonzyfb73 39]

Originally posted by: nathanthemayor

@fonzyfb73: Are you a Californian? I am, i come from the Central Valley. That's why my only RL sign pack is Fresno signs(Here if you want it). Otherwise, my other signs are fictional.

 quote>

Yes, also from the central valley, but I usually do bay area signs although I'm currently doing some LA signs.

[cacks 41]

wow Vince, those signs are... great. really unlike the stuff I can make

[fonzyfb73 39]

Here are some more signs I'm making

EDIT: Updated signs

[Vahr 341]

fonzy: The models are looking good! Though the signs seem a little stretched horizontally, maybe scale them up (Z), though I understand that CA has signage guidelines that may make that improper.

Cacks: Practice! 

Anyhoo, an update on the ones above

[fonzyfb73 39]

thanks, i'll be sure to fix that. Nice signs btw!

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Some signs from Primary Route 10 in Springfield, Virgin Shores.

All signs are textures ready for BATting, and all are for westbound and eastbound except the last two. Here is a map for reference.

  

 

     

[fonzyfb73 39]

those are some really nice signs!

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Awesome signs everyone!

Anyways, I am making a pack of signs for the Westpark Tollway in Capital District. Here it is, without exit numbers(Those are seperate):

WARNING: Large png file:

[MandelSoft 2,769]

@deathtopumpkins: Whatever you do, DON'T use black as a background colour of your signs. Some contrast is good, but this is too much. Use green or blue instead. And in Europe we don't use distances to an exit in kilometers, but in meters (not like 1 km or 1/4 km, but rather 1000m or 250m). Other than that they look good.

@NTM: Some things I would like to notice:

- The yellow signs have large empty spaces at the bottom. Try go get rid of them.

- "Warning: Tollway starts in 1/4 mile." I think you should place this sign before the last exit and change the text to: "Warning: Last Exit before Tollway."

- The route number for the airport parkway is waaaay to small. You can only read it from up close.

- Most signs are badly aligned, especially the Route 35 signs.

Some things are confusing or strange to me:

- "Warning: Bridge ahead; Reduce Speed. DO NOT PASS." Why? And to which speed do you need to slow down? It would be usefull to know that.

- "Last Exit before bridge". And why is this information usefull? I don't see the point.

- "1/4 mile after the bridge." Can't you place signs on a bridge (or imagine that they are placed there?)

- "Westpark Toll Ends" So... why are you pointing then to the TOLL Loop 20? Isn't that toll then?

Forgive me for being very critical. It's just that I'm a road geek and sign creation is one of my passions. If I see a bad sign, I try my best to think how it can be better.

Best,

Maarten

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Maarten, thanks for the feedback, but I am dead set for using black. First of all, it was the US standard for decades before we switched to green, and second, I really like the look of it. I don't see how you can possibly have too much contrast.

As for the distance legends, they are a compromise between American and International standards. Virgin Shores only recently made the transition to metric, and people are still accustomed to measuring in fractions. Thats my excuse anyway. The real reason is that I like the look of it, and prefer that to the 1000m, etc. signs used in Europe. That's probably just because I am American though.

In short, I appreciate the feedback, but am dead set that that is how I want to go. I've been messing around with this design for quite some time, trying it out with real life and fictional signs.

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

Those that I made is my V.1.0. Also, I haven't made the service signs and VMS.

1)I'll fix that

2)Actually, the tollway starts right before exit 0.

3)Click the link and you should see it in larger size

4)I'll fix that

1)You said speed limit goes on a seperate sign. I'll fix that'

2)I've seen it in the US. It's useful because that way drivers know the bridge is ahead

3)No, that's not possible. It goes right before the bridge

4)You'd have to go to my CJ to understand it(Last page).

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Originally posted by: nathanthemayor

2)Actually, the tollway starts right before exit 0.quote>

The point is that you should place such signs before the decision point whether you want to take the tollway or not.

3)Click the link and you should see it in larger sizequote>

You don't seem to get the real point here. All important info, like place names and route numbers should be clearly readable, even from a distance. By making the route number so tiny you can only read it from up close, like 30m/100 feet or so.

2)I've seen it in the US. It's useful because that way drivers know the bridge is aheadquote>

Again, why is this usefull information? You can see there's a bridge ahead without the sign, don't you?

4)You'd have to go to my CJ to understand it(Last page).quote>

Again, you don't seem to get my point. Why would you say that the tollway ends, while directing you to another tollway? It - doesn't - make - SENSE! Even shown in context...

Now I show some of mine:

Hard to read? Well here is what it really sais:

Dutch Redesign and NBA (Nieuwe Bewegwijzering Autosnelwegen) mash-up

Old School Dutch motorway signs approaching Eindhoven (in RL these are now replaced by NBA-styled signs)

(Since the N2 is not officially a freeway, it gets Redesign signs. If it looks good and if it's good for the signage system is another question)

This sign looks really REALLY bad! But ironically it's my very first design of the Imaginian signage set:

I also had this system for a while (generation 2)...

And this one, over a year (generation 3). (this sign was done in Paint. The other two mostly with models, although what you see here are the Inkskape remakes)

Before changeing it into this (generation 4):

And then this (generation 5):

Then I wasn't satisfied and got this (generation 6)

And now I have this (generation 7):

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

@mrtnrln: It took you 3 generations to realise that red is an eyesore?!?

Fantastic looking signs, no wonder you know what you're talking about.

[Pipcard 20]

Originally posted by: mrtnrln

Now I show some of mine:

quote>

Whoa, nice Klingon signs!

[newcrusader92 0]

Originally posted by: deathtopumpkins

As for the distance legends, they are a compromise between American and International standards. Virgin Shores only recently made the transition to metric, and people are still accustomed to measuring in fractions. Thats my excuse anyway. The real reason is that I like the look of it, and prefer that to the 1000m, etc. signs used in Europe. That's probably just because I am American though.

quote>

You should see one of a few metric I-19 signs.  There's also more information on the I-19 signage here.

It sounds like we in the U.S. sometimes like to adopt the European way of doing things.

[deathtopumpkins 43]

Yeah I've heard about the I-19 metric signs. Sucks that AZDOT is replacing them. They were part of a past attempt in I believe the 1970s to convert the US to metric - we expected to convert completely within a few years but never did.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

 Maarten goes French 

On another note, some other members from Wegenforum.nl can also re-create signs very precisely. Compare the following (although I find them awfull) Austrian sign and its re-creation by Snelwegfreak:

Looks pretty convinceing, eh? But it's still a bad sign. Why:

• Changeing font sizes. Looks ugly and distracts too much.
• The route shields are squashed at the top of the signs, right above the arrows. Most other European countries place their route shields inbetween the arrows at the bottom, or reserve some space at the top (often in combination with down pointing arrows).
• All targets of Innsbruck are squashed at the side of the sign.
• The arrows... They are just disgusting! They take up loads of space.
• Overall, this sign is hard to read, since information is scattered all over the sign. Try to read this sign when passing it at 120 km/h or 75 mph!

And there are more of these kind of signs in Austria. This is why I don't like Austrian signage. But that's my opinion.

Best,

Maarten

[MandelSoft 2,769]

For those who are wondering how I design my sign systems, here's my Imaginian freeway signage system explained

Before I design a sign system, I first try to figure out how many signs are required  for just a regular exit. As you can see, the Imaginian sign system uses five, but in RL this often consists out of 3 or 4. After that the real designing. I look at function, layout, and choice of destinations (which I catagorise (from most to least important) as main targets, network targets, local targets, other targets), arrows, sign colors, routeshields and font. Also I expand my system with more advanced setups, like cloverleafs, tapers, Collector/Distributor systems and such. Then you can see more and more aspects of your signage system take shape. So that's how I do it.

One tip: test your sign systems! A way to test your sign system is testing it on a complex RL setup. The Randweg Eindhoven was last year's challenge of  Wegenforum's Signage Design competition. The RL signs were a mess and the area has some interchanges coming right after each other, plus a complex C/D system. In short: perfect to test your signage system. In such tests you can see your system's flaws and strong points. You can try to improve your design afterwards.

Best,

Maarten

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Just a couple from an old CJ...

An AD sign used for a rural country road intersection.

Tourist information signage. This sign is for a caravan park.

Fingerboard signage. This is used in rural areas, again.

Another sign, but with a coverplate.

Yes, my signs are done for rural areas, haven't created any for urban areas... but the quality of signage is probably about right for a rural area, especially if it's done by local government (they tend to not follow the signage rules to the letter)

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

@Mrtnrln: Do you place the 'Sign 5' immediately after the exit (ie. before the over/underpass) or after the onramp?

@Shadow Assasin: Gotta be Aussie?

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

@Shadow_Assassin Tchita Uplands- a Final fantasy reference?