IDS's (mostly) Minnesota BATs

[unclesahm 32]

These will be fantastic for my rendering of Broadway in NY!

[Jack_wilds 550]

standing by for stex release, all looks promising...

[SimCoug 5,972]

I'm really looking forward to those theaters. Great work!

[Shy Dude 149]

That's pretty cool how you based them all off real theaters but the Watts and Paramount seem like the oddballs out if you decide to release them as a building family; the prevalent style of the theaters seems to be 30s/40s Streamline Moderne and the Watts seems too Googie and the Paramount seems too 1920s Art Deco.

[IDS2 3,346]

Schriefer: Thanks a bunch! I can promise that these are next in line for export.

 

T Wrecks: I think I agree with you 100% here I think the Paramount was sort of destined to stand out because it's the only "performance" theater while all the others are just movie houses, but I definitely have a thing for the Watts. I actually had the good fortune of seeing a movie at the Watts this past summer while on the way to visit relatives in the next state over. I'd been driving by it for well over a decade before I really noticed it and thought it would be fun to model

 

reddonquixote: Really glad to hear it! Thanks a lot

 

unclesahm: Ooh, I like the sound of that! I'll be on the lookout for what you come up with!

 

Jack: One down, only the theaters to go! And to think I've had these just sitting on my hard drive all this time...

 

Simcoug: Thank you! It really feels good to finish stuff for once. Sort of cathartic in a way. I'm inclined to do it more often.

 

Shy Dude: You know, I think you have a point there. These may be better off as just individual lots. Just thinking about the tilesets, for instance, the Paramount would easily fit in NY 1940, but the Watts certainly wouldn't. I suppose I don't need to bother with putting them in a family. 

 

First things first, guess what just hit the STEX?

 

The export was quite lengthy, but it gave me time to do the night scenes for the theaters in the meantime:

 

These were all done directly from reference images (with the exception of the Eureka) so I think the colors look fine, but the brightness may need to be adjusted. Any thoughts?

 

If you guys like these, I actually modeled some others that didn't make the cut. Perhaps I'll take another shot at them once I finish the houses. 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Yay! Hiawatha Bank Tower is awesome!! Great job!

The night versions of the theaters are looking nice!

[weixc812 509]

Great release of Hiawatha Bank Tower! Excellent modelling and nightlighting!

Will we have some modern buildings from Minnesota in the future?

[AndisArt 2,066]

Wonderful creations here! Love the variations on the theatre! These could be great for making a nightlife strip.

And I see you used displacement maps as nitewindows on your tower as well, I'm just experimenting with it myself, so far so good.

Wonderful tower btw! Looking forward to more

[Girafe 1,729]

Good job

[MTT9 187]

Looks great

[SimCoug 5,972]

Neon!

[Jack_wilds 550]

popping in to say how much I like the art deco Hiawatha Bank Tower... ... the 'green' panels are just the right look and touch and looks good in all angles...

[edwardjeria 503]

I love theatre

Good work

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The marquees look great!

[Vlasky 1,803]

I'm going to be an a-hole now. 

 

I love your theaters. They are gorgeous. But ... except for the second on the list, all of their roof textures are stretched too much. Paramount's looks great tho.

 

And Watts looks like there is a picture of the roof as a texture. Better take another approach with it.

 

Hiawatha Tower is gorgeous bt I will not forgive you for being too lazy to work more on the distribution of the lighted windows and not lighting up the lobby. You know I love your work, but it would be dishonest of me not to say what I think you can improve.

[PBGV103 729]

Adding a slight bump map may be all you need to solve the roof material issue.  To me it looks more like they're too flat , not that the bitmaps are stretched.  Just make sure that the features of the bump maps match the features of the bitmaps.  For instance, the seams in roof sections should align, etc.  Good luck!

[IDS2 3,346]

Schriefer: Thanks! 

 

weixc: Most definitely! While these theaters will be my first non-Minnesota release, it dawned on me that I haven't really done any major Minnesota landmarks. I have a couple buildings from downtown St. Paul that I'll probably get back to soon.

 

andisart: Thank you! I admittedly should have done some more tweaking on the displacement maps before releasing it, but I'll keep practicing. 

 

Girafe: Thank you!

 

MTT9: Thanks! I'm glad you like them!

 

SimCoug: The promise of doing neon lighting was my main incentive for doing these, to be honest

 

Jack: That green color was something that I've been trying to find an excuse to use for a long time. I don't know what it is about it, but I really hope I get to use it more at some point.

 

edward: I'm really into these old theaters as of late. I expect to do a few more soon.

 

Jason: They were definitely the fun part There's just something about theater marquees that I really like. 

 

Vlasky: I can't tell you how much I appreciate your honesty! It was very helpful to hear from you I was getting a little too excited to release them and it looks like I started to overlook the cosmetic details. I've redone all of the roofs, but if something still doesn't look right, please let me know. I'm happy to spend as much time on these as I need to make them look good. Also, regarding the Hiawatha tower, how would you suggest I change the window lighting? I plan on doing a version 2 soon and I would like to know what needs more attention. 

 

PBGV: I've added a bump map to all of the roofs. I'm not sure how noticeable it is, but I think (or at least I hope) it makes a difference. 

 

 

I recently took another look at everything I've been working on, and I was struck by how mediocre my materials tend to be. As recreations of what are some truly beautiful buildings in real life, I feel like I owe it to the originals to give them another shot. 

 

My first fix was to make sure that the models actually looked like their real world counterparts There were actually quite a few details I missed in this regard (other than small creative liberties, of course). I also determined that the color palette I was using was largely inappropriate for the game, so I did my best to add more warmth to the materials without making the effect too strong. I won't give a comprehensive list of all of the changes I made, but most of them should be pretty obvious. I will say that I've been focusing most of my energy on improving the roofing materials. Bump maps have been added to all of the roofs, and I've altered the materials so that they fit the roof better and look less stretched.

 

This is what I've come up with after giving a second look at each of the models:

 

I've been looking at these for far too long to have a decent, objective opinion of any of them, so please don't hesitate to let me know what I can fix, even if - nay, ESPECIALLY if - it's rather nitpicky. The details are what makes a good model become a great model, after all.  

 

I didn't really take this into account when I was making it, but the Paramount is quite different from the other four in many regards. For this reason, I'll be releasing the first four together without the Paramount, and I'll release the Paramount later on with a couple other similar theaters I've done but aren't in any condition to be seen yet. It seems to me that the Paramount needs much more attention that just a few material replacements.

 

Also, I've decided that I'm going to do a version 2 of Hiawatha Bank Tower - preferably one that I actually feel is finished this time Looking back at the version I released a few months ago, I'm almost embarrassed that I let something so woefully incomplete get to the finish line. Additionally, since the "1st" sign on the real building is the only reason I didn't do an exact recreation last time (as if it would have taken me very long to add  ), I'll be doing one this time. I'm satisfied with the modeling otherwise, but the materials are really rather sad looking. The displacement lighting I used for the light scene also needs quite a bit more tweaking, so I'll probably just do self-illumination for this one (unless I figure something out in the meantime). 

 

As usual, I apologize for being so wordy. That's all for now. I've been working on other stuff, but I'd like to try to stick to one thing at a time

[SimCoug 5,972]

I'm just glad to see you are still popping in every so often. Can't wait for the theater releases. (any word on that house pack?)

[IDS2 3,346]

I have good news for you, Simcoug: I promise that my next post here will be all about the house pack  

 

The theaters have been exported! They will all sit on 1x3 lots, but I need some advice regarding how to mod them. I was initially thinking CS$$, but I'm open to suggestions. Also, I plan to release both static landmark and functional commercial versions, so what sort of job count would you all like to see? I'd like to make them competitive with the existing Maxis commercials, but I'd hate for them to become a weed. I'm running some tests right now, but hopefully someone with a bit more experience can steer me in the right direction

 

That's all for now! My next project will be the house pack, followed by a 2x2 R$$ highrise for which I've only completed the day scene. 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

They are looking really nice! (I'm almost a month later  )  

Will be nice to have them in my cities! 

[Darknono35 3,137]

Gorgeous details on your small Theaters. And your roof textures are perfect in my opinion.

About the modding, I think they can be set as CS$$ like you said in your post.

 

Now I'm looking forward for your next projects, keep it up this impressive work

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Good news indeed! Your intention to make these CS§§ sounds fine to me. That's where I would put them, too. madhatter106 has made some more seedy and run-down theatres, and CS§ was appropriate for those. Yours look a lot less crumby in comparison, so CS§§ is the best way to go. CS§§§ would be exaggerated IMO.

 

Job count is a harder question, especially without knowing the exact dimensions. I'd plop these BATs next to similar Maxis buildings from the same category. Then I'd check how many jobs the Maxis buildings offer, and adjust the job numbers for the BATs accordingly.

 

However, you also mention that you don't want to have these BATs grow like weed. After checking with Maxis buildings, you may find that your BATs are slightly bigger and occupy more of the 1x3 lot they're sitting on, so you'll be likely to go for a higher job number. This, in turn, might cause the simulator to prefer your BATs over similar Maxis CS§§ buildings because more demand can be filled with less space occupied. If you find this to be the case, you can either bump up the growth stage of your BATs, or you could purposefully select a lower occupant number and simply replicate the exact values of those Maxis counterparts you want your theatres to compete with.

[scotty222 549]

Looking forward to getting the theaters

also another vote for CS$$

[Harry's Place 918]

Love those theaters <3 can't wait o dload them

[SimCoug 5,972]

Great! Looking forward to the houses and regarding the theaters, I agree with everything T Wrecks said.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Your skill is fantastic and envying. xD

 

Seriously though, I love these theaters. Small buildings are necessary for any city to look realistic. Except for Hong Kong. Hong Kong doesn't give a crap.

 

Anyway, I was thinking maybe you could take a request? It's a pretty simple design that I believe falls in line well with the rest of your BATs. It's the Smurfit-Stone building of Chicago. It might be difficult to find pictures of it taken from anywhere that's not Millenium park, but I'd be very thankful if you gave it a try. Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work! 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Anyway, I was thinking maybe you could take a request? It's a pretty simple design that I believe falls in line well with the rest of your BATs. It's the Smurfit-Stone building of Chicago

That one has already been done - by ardecila, if I'm not much mistaken. Wait... yes.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Your skill is fantastic and envying. xD

 

Seriously though, I love these theaters. Small buildings are necessary for any city to look realistic. Except for Hong Kong. Hong Kong doesn't give a crap.

 

Anyway, I was thinking maybe you could take a request? It's a pretty simple design that I believe falls in line well with the rest of your BATs. It's the Smurfit-Stone building of Chicago. It might be difficult to find pictures of it taken from anywhere that's not Millenium park, but I'd be very thankful if you gave it a try. Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work! 

 

If IDS2 don't accept the request (maybe he's working in another projects, no time etc) maybe you should ask it for Darknono or Darn42, as far as I know they like to do Chicago's buildings to SC4

[SimCoug 5,972]

Thanks for uploading the theaters!  They look awesome

[JakeMD 107]

These look amazing! Glad to see Minnesota stuff, lots of neat buildings If you want my unfinished "Skyscape Condo's" model, you can sure have it.