nybt-forum-threads Vlasky's Hell's Kitchen

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Finally you have uploaded a NYBT bat.

[Darknono35 3,137]

And an nice warehouse

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Vlasky's Victory!

[gutterclub 2,729]

Wow, turned out great..awesome to see a release from you!

[Vlasky 1,803]

Thank you guys!

Now, how would you like to see something revived?

I'm cleaning up my plate and this model was a huge mess by my standards nowadays. First textures applied, a lot to be done, but still tell me what you guys think.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

About time, I see this again.

[Vlasky 1,803]

I'm realizing I'll have to render this in HD. HD Render:

[libellibicus 396]

Very nice indeed

[Hyronymus 56]

Yes, looks stunning. I think you also picked a nice coulour scheme, seems fitting for a roaring thirties theater!

[SimCoug 5,972]

That looks great! I'm probably in the minority, but I would love to see a period version without the big HVAC vents on the roof... When was it built?

[darn42 1,268]

It looks very nice.

You should definitely add some more character to the roof; both the main roof and the overhang, as well as the black on the front facade.

Also, while it does look nice, don't render in hd. It has very small upside while playing, and a lot of downside.

[Francis90b 748]

Yes, looks stunning. I think you also picked a nice coulour scheme, seems fitting for a roaring thirties theater!

It actually was a roaring thirties theatre :

Speaking of the roof, the RL building's roof seems to be way lighter, and parts of the HVAC ducts seem to be quite rusty (Google Earth, 3-11-12) - incorporating those features might perhaps fix the "roof character" issue (but, is it written in the golden books a building or it's recreation should have "character" on it's roof?).

Speaking of the building, i'd be against rendering it in HD - in game you'd probably use Z6 even less often than you'd use Z5.

If you thought that details, in the Z5 preview you shown, were quite blurred and confused, then by rendering in HD that problem would get even worse.

Try some subtle play with the smallest details to see if you can reduce their "blurryness" in Z5.

[gutterclub 2,729]

My thoughts, especially with Wall 2 wall..if you line it up alongside all SD bats, at zoom 5 the details will be even more lost..and most likely SC4 players will not remember it is rendered in HD. It's best to keep it in character with it's surroundings..

Plus we've always got HD renders here to gaze over

[darn42 1,268]

It actually was a roaring thirties theatre :

(but, is it written in the golden books a building or it's recreation should have "character" on it's roof?).

What I was saying is mostly just making sure all the pieces of the roof junk and textures fit together. Stains around and on the ducts and walls, as well as general wear and tear. Especially since this is, from what I could tell, and now what I assume, an old building (from the 30s ). For it to not have stains would be very out of the ordinary.

Also, character isn't just dirt. Everything should have character, unless it's something designed to be bland and boring, but even then, the "character" is bland and boring. It's more just incorporating what the building is and what the building has done into the BAT, textures, and modeling.

[serggio 12]

:) Very good! I like what you did here!

[Francis90b 748]

Also, character isn't just dirt. Everything should have character, unless it's something designed to be bland and boring, but even then, the "character" is bland and boring.

The point is that "character" is a subjective perception, like "bland", "boring", etc.

Saying that one building has stains on the roof is one thing, saying that it has "character" is another...BTW, what "character" exactly is?

From "every building should have "character", except "bland" and "boring" ones, it's quite easy to slip into the "you need more roof junk" mantra....those two statement are not too different between themselves, other than the first is more subtle and elaborate than the latter...

It's more just incorporating what the building is and what the building has done into the BAT, textures, and modeling.

Agreed on this one - as long as what we incorporate is what the building is, not our subjective notion of "character"...

[Hyronymus 56]

In the world of model trains "adding character" is called weathering. How far you go with weathering is as mentioned subjective but I think everyone understands that human-made objects aren't perfect - either by nature or through aging.

[Francis90b 748]

However, anyone would also understand that an infinite amount of different situation, each determined by countless specific factors, falls under the umbrella term of "weathering".

One could, from there, realize how "weathering" is not one specific way for things to be - and that the term weathering means everything and nothing.

And, from there, one could realize that, in order to get a more precise grasp on the situation, for his own sake, not even in order to provide any constructive advice for anyone else, he/she should look past the idea of "weathering"...

[Seraf 1,238]

Nice to see this one again, hope it will hit the STEX soon

[Francis90b 748]

Just out of curiosity, was it called "midtown" or "metro"?

From the pics i recall, i never saw it being called "midtown" - i might be wrong tho - off course, that would not matter for the game, just my curiosity.

EDIT:

Nevermind

[Vlasky 1,803]

libellibicus, Hyronymus, serggio, Seraf: Thanks guys, Hopefully it will be up soon.

SimCoug: It was build in 1933 and to be honest, I am rethinking the whole HVAC thing. I'm afraid it is taking over the entire building and how recognizable it will be if many of them grow up in a city. We'll see. If nothing 2 version may be up.

darn42, Fran, gutterclub: I did increase the weathering stains, also changed base roof texture (about 20 times in a row). I am also still thinking about that SD to HD rendering. If it is only affecting Z5, than what would be the downside of it in game? Somehow I'd hate to get it all just blurry. Metal parts on the canopy are one of my biggest concerns in this. Here, compare to yourselves (also this is a test to see how'd it look without HVAC)

Slight alterations on the facade. Bricks changed. Roof changed. No work was done on HVAC pipes. A bit on HVAC which will be changed if it stays on. Oh and Fran, I prefer pics of Midtown Theater before it became XXX Theater in the 60s or 70s, like this one:

[gutterclub 2,729]

Cons:

Looks terrible at Zoom 5, the most common zoom when looking at details of buildings

Larger file size so slower load times

Building is Wall to Wall, so lined up against SD builidngs will look even weirder at Zoom 5

People don't really ever play at Zoom 6

People don't really recall what buildings are HD, hard to keep track of what was rendered in what.

Pros:

Can see details in a zoom that not many people play at, a zoom the game (for some reason) wasn't designed to be played at.

The fact that the maker of the HD script regrets making it speaks volumes in my opinion. I don't mind if people want to make HD buildings, but I think the render of it should be an afterthought after doing a SD version. Same way we hacve versions for Darknite and Maxisnite...

Just my view on the matter...your building looks great at Zoom 5, the game is designed to run at Zoom 5 so IMO buildings should be made to look good at this zoom

[Francis90b 748]

Closed before renovation, in the process of becoming an XXX theatre .

Getting serious:

I can understand how you feel about those details - and i mean this really, as i've faced similar problems countless times.

However, i think that GC have really put it into the most effective and coincise form.

I think you'd be better at trying to make sure that what you have doesn't get too blurry into Z5...darn 42 has posted something about using materials to avoid that, you might re-make certain details through trials and errors with their dephts to get things to improve somehow, and you might,for example, recreate one situation of the building where there were less metallic stripes on the marquee than those that currently are in your model (see the last photo you posted, and the one i posted) - marquee looks slightly different, with somewhat less stripes.

Perhaps a combination of all those three might offer an improvement than any of those, alone, couldn't offer...

[Jasoncw 11,840]

yeah I agree, it would be best to just focus on making zoom 5 look good. Even if you make it look good for zoom 6, it still won't solve zoom 5's problems, and plus people will almost never look at it at zoom 6.

[pineapple132 35]

Looking good! Love theaters!

[PBGV103 729]

Zoom 5 doesn't look bad by any means. You just can't read the lettering which is simply because it's too far away. Increasing the sampling per pixel may help to make it look "cleaner" but it will also increase your render times.

[Amthaak 1,501]

Dear Vlad, you did a very good job on this theater! An easy way to increase details visibility, despite using AO is to "slightly" exagerate them , but I am sure you are already know that! Personally, I'll keep HVAC on the roof !

[Darknono35 3,137]

lovely theater

[Parisian 549]

ahaha, this is what was missing in my city : a porn cinema ^^ahaha . That is a good building you have here. Last days I was wondering what happened with your model which was a social project in the Bronx if my memory is good?

[T Wrecks 10,209]

You could have downloaded some of madhatter's NIMBY packs, there were quite some cinemas and other... um... "offerings" with partly colourful names.