Justin Smith BAT Thread

[tchntm43 0]

Since everyone else is making threads in their name for their artwork, I thought I might as well show some screenshots. I have 4 completed and 1 that is still in progress. I say completed because they really should not be considered finished products. I'll post them in the order I made them in. I started doing BATs out of necessity. After I modded the game to redistribute all the growth stages and population levels, I realized there were a number of holes where there were no buildings. In fact, R$$ had no stage 3, 5, 6, or 8. So these are mainly to fill in gaps. Also, this means I will only eventually upload the models, not lots or descriptor files, because the population numbers for the buildings are much less than the default that SC4 uses, and that wouldn't be much use to the rest of you. :-)

The first building I have to show is based on the many towering projects that dot the landscape northeast of Manhattan. As such, I have called it New Rochelle Project. This building is pretty ugly, both in reality and in my interpretation. It's my first BAT, and it shows. Almost all the textures are default Maxis textures, and night lighting doesn't work very well at all. It fully occupies a 4x4 tile, not much room for lot development really.

I will probably not end up uploading this, unless there are requests for it, or unless I eventually get around to redoing 90% of the textures and some of the modelling.

[tchntm43 0]

The second building I did is not much of an improvement in quality. I'm only really posting the first couple because I like to see how other artists develop as they get experience, and maybe others feel the same way.

This is supposed to be another R$. I just call it Small Projects. There are a couple original textures, including the blue-painted concrete siding. I still had problems with night lighting on this one, and I had difficulty aligning a texture to the angle roof (which is why I abandoned the texturing of the roof entirely). The different panels of the roof are made with the line tool and face extrude. I have never used 3DS Max before or any renderer other than POV-Ray (completely different), so I'm still trying to get the hang of it.

As with the previous, I doubt this will be uploaded unless there is interest in it.

[tchntm43 0]

The third building is actually inspired by the apartment building I was in while I was living in Dorchester (a part of Boston) for a year. It is meant to be R$$ (which is why I can no longer afford to live there ;-) ). It is really a very typical kind of building for outskirts of large cities, where there are usually rows and rows of these triple or quadruple deckers with wooden siding.

The siding texture is mine, but the roof is the default roof texture included with BAT (and it got murdered by jpeg compression here). It will fit on a 1x2 lot.

I doubt I will upload this, but if anyone wants it, let me know and I may reconsider.

[tchntm43 0]

This next one came out a bit better than the previous ones. Almost all of the textures are my own, though I modified the Maxis bricks for the bricks here. I don't know how I forgot to texture the roof. *hits self*

This is actually based on a real building. It is the tallest building in my home city of Fitchburg, Massachusetts (pop. ~39,000). I didn't have pictures to work with, though, so I'm sure there are a few inaccuracies. It will fit on a 2x2 lot.

If I can get around to texturing the roof I will probably upload it.

[tchntm43 0]

My current project is almost finished. I feel it is a huge improved in texturing over my previous buildings. All of the textures are my own. I took advice from gascooker's tutorial (which I also used on the previous building), as well another poster who's name I will never remember (all numbers). I still have to finish adding roof objects and some objects to the porch balconies (bicycles, etc.). I need to add a few internal objects in the foyer, too, because the windows are so big there that it becomes noticeable that the room inside is empty. Also, I see that the railings for my porch balconies have disappeared. I guess .05 radius for cylinders is too small? The bright area on the roof was unintentional, but I kind of like how it looks.

This is not based on a real building, but there are probably hundreds of buildings that this could be. It's a very typical high-rise apartment complex for a large city. I decided to give silly name like many Maxis Buildings, so it is called Sunnyside Up Apartments. This will fit on a 2x3.

I will upload this when it is finished.

[The_New_Thing 34]

I like all of them
They're all very well made,but you should change a few textures,like the light part of the tower block (it should be a bit lighter at the bottom of the tower) and the roof of the blue thing (it should be a bit darker) and the siding on the apartment should be slightly less green.The yellow tower block is perfect.

[Woko 2]

WooW!! Beautiful!! Great job!!

[Hanson784 165]

Alright! Justin is back is business. I really loved your New York Tileset for SC2K.

All of your buildings look great. My favorite is New Rochelle Project. It reminds me of some of the developments on the West Side of Manhattan.

Keep up the good work!

[Lord_Bertrum 3]

How are you finding the transition to BATting for SC4?

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 8/29/2005 12:17:05 AM
Author: Lord_Bertrum
How are you finding the transition to BATting for SC4?

quote>
Hard to answer the question. SCURK was so long ago that I can't remember well what it was like SCURKing. I'm not new to 3D rendering as I've done some on another program, though that has a text-based editor whereas gmax has a visual modeller.

The best part is that I don't have to replace buildings, I can add new ones. BAT artists will defeat building repetition!

Or so I hope. ;-)

[T Wrecks 10,209]

'Wow' is the first word that came to my mind when I saw your first BAT experiments. And what's even better: You want to focus on R$$, which is really needed.

The improvements you showed were fantastic, if you continue to make progress at this pace, you will become a great BATter very soon! (Which is not to say that I don't like what you showed so far)

That first big residential tower looks great - if I imagine this baby with better textures and some more details, I can't help drooling over my keyboard. So for my part, I'd be very interested in seeing this building tweaked and completed!
Concerning lot design, it would easily be possible to offer two alternative versions: A 5x5 version (which would allow for at least some lot design around the building) and a 4x4 one (which would look similar to in-game buildings like Zaidi apartments).

The Fitchburg Building - the 2x2 one, also looks very nice, although I think the windows could be a tad more pronounced and need a better texture IMHO. The textures on those columns near the edges of the building maybe look a bit too smooth and light... all in all, it's a very promising building, though, and quite unique at that!

And your Sunnyside Up Tower - wow! There all the progress you made clearly shows. This one would be a great R$ tower that doesn't give you eye-cancer like those brown Lego default buildings. The reflections on the balcony railings are a bit too strong IMHO, however. And once again, a more varied win dwo texture would be great.

But I love what you did with the roof texture - it clearly shows that you took some inspiration and advice from that mysterious guy whose Nick is all numbers... Btw, I used to have the same problem, but now I can remember his name: It's 6459978. And you needn't have mentioned him, because the very moment I looked on that roof texture, I knew who was behind it. 6459978 is really one of the best when it comes to texturing, so looking over his shoulder (so to speak) was a smart move.

Well, thanks for your hard work and good luck with all your projects! I'm sure many people will appreciate your work and use your creations once they're finished.

[jacqulina 162]

looking good

[Bee21 2]

Please upload the multi stories!!!

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 8/29/2005 5:29:42 AM
Author: T Wrecks
Concerning lot design, it would easily be possible to offer two alternative versions: A 5x5 version (which would allow for at least some lot design around the building) and a 4x4 one (which would look similar to in-game buildings like Zaidi apartments).

quote>
Probably true, though as I had said, I will most likely only be releasing buildings as model files (because my building and lot files will be unbalanced in regular gameplay in term of population and growth stage). So you'll be free to create the lots yourself.

The 'Fitchburg Building' - the 2x2 one, also looks very nice, although I think the windows could be a tad more pronounced and need a better texture IMHO. The textures on those columns near the edges of the building maybe look a bit too smooth and light... all in all, it's a very promising building, though, and quite unique at that!

quote>
The columns are about that bright in reality, and the way I modelled them makes it difficult to texture them well. I'll see if there's anything I can do.

And your Sunnyside Up Tower - wow! There all the progress you made clearly shows. This one would be a great R$ tower that doesn't give you eye-cancer like those brown Lego default buildings. The reflections on the balcony railings are a bit too strong IMHO, however. And once again, a more varied win dwo texture would be great.

quote>
The glare is actually from the floor of the balconies. The railings, which are a solid dark grey color, were supposed to break up that glare a little, but as I said before, they disappeared due to the cylinder objects having too small a radius. I've since remodelled the railings differently, and the glare is now partially obscured. Furthermore, I plan to place several different kinds of objects on random balconies which will further help that problem.

As for the windows, I am currently in the middle of adding randomly placed curtains behind some of them. I might also open some (They are modelled so that the bottom part can be slid up realistically very easily.), which should also help.

Thank you for your comments.

-Justin Smith

[S.A.C 20]

It's soo great to see some former SCURKers devoting time to the third sequel and it's architect tools!    And I especially enjoy the fact that youve focused on residential buildings - which to say the least - has become a somewhat forgotten or overlooked part of the overall BAT productions!

Very good job Justin!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Wow, sounds like you've been busy in the meantime... I reckon that's very good news!

I'm glad to hear about the progress you made with Sunnyside Up Tower (gotta love that name!). Speaking of glare, maybe the light reflection on the roof is a tad too strong as well, but that might be another issue you already sorted out meanwhile. I can't wait to see the next preview pics.

Concerning the columns of your Fitchburg Building, well... I just feared that it might end up too bright because after you export buildings and pu them into the game, they tend to become a bit brighter anyway. It probably takes an in-game picture to really judge this properly.

Finally, if you release your buildings as models only, I won't be affected personally, since I'm very active when it comes to modding buildings, tweaking stats and whipping up new lots anyway. I have spent the last months tweaking all my downloaded plugins (~ 1 Gig)...
However, other people may not download your buildings because they don't know how to use Plugin Manager and Lot Editor. This would be a shame, because I think once they're finished, your creations will deserve being downloaded by many people.

If you don't mind, I would gladly volunteer to adjust the stats and make lots for your buildings. I know how to make growables, landmarks and ploppables with jobs as well as custom icons for the latter two types. And from my tweaking work, I have an extensive building stats database, so I'm quite confident I could do a pretty good job if you're interested.

If you want to check out some stuff, just download justanothersim86's One London Place and lambsquirter's Central Plaza - I did the modding stuff for both.

EDIT

@ S.A.C.: I second your posting from the first letter to the last - couldn't agree more. It's about time for some normal residentials.

[ExiL3 10]

I agree, looks very good, All of them are nice!

take care

[brtim2 11]

Date: 8/28/2005 2:56:42 PM
Author: tchntm43
The third building is actually inspired by the apartment building I was in while I was living in Dorchester (a part of Boston) for a year. It is meant to be R$$ (which is why I can no longer afford to live there ;-) ). It is really a very typical kind of building for outskirts of large cities, where there are usually rows and rows of these triple or quadruple deckers with wooden siding.


The siding texture is mine, but the roof is the default roof texture included with BAT (and it got murdered by jpeg compression here). It will fit on a 1x2 lot.

[image snipped]

I doubt I will upload this, but if anyone wants it, let me know and I may reconsider.

quote>

I would really liket to see this released. Either as an in-game residential, or even as part of a prop pack. Heck, if you just released the model file on the stex that would fit in excellently. I'm trying to create a New England style harbor town and that does look very 'New England-ish'.

I beg you to consider releasing it.

[Glenni 1,444]

looks quite good.i like how they are boxy.i like boxy buildings.

[M-SIL 2]

I really like all the building you made so far, they look pretty good.

[tchntm43 0]

Well, here is an update. I have finally managed to somewhat tame the disappearing texture problem that was plaguing me. It still pops up, but not all the time, as it was before.

What's different:
-Better distribution of the brick texture on the walls.
-Much better window texture. It is a gradient with a gradient opacity map.
-I changed my mind and decided that this will be a building with minimal roof junk. I think it is best if some buildings aren't overly burdened with that.
-Added bicycles, open windows, small potted plants.
-Began night-lighting.

*In the pictures below, there is a door for the rooftop structure, it's just on the other side of the building.


As you can see, I am having some problems with the night-lighting. I don't like the default nightlighting that is built into BAT; it is too flat and pixelated. So I want to use interior lighting using omni lights. The problem is that they don't seem to light up very much. I have all brightness multipliers at 2. You can see a few edges that are lit, but the interior walls of the room are not. I don't know why, because there are no obstructing objects within the rooms. Also, it appears that light sources treat partially transparent objects as opaque when it comes to passing light through them. I could definitely use advice on creating realistic interior night-lighting.

[6459978. 106]

Hey there, looking good!

I can give you a few pointers on nitelites that work for me.

-For starters, I usually have to have intensities of upwards of 10 before I get any significant light showing through.

-Do you have floor surfaces for each of the stories of the building? If there's no floors then you won't see the light lighting up much of anything at all--- For interior niteliting what you are seeing lit up is generally the floor.

-Lights in GMax do treat transparent objects correctly, but their behaviour might not be exactly what you expect. The light source itself is not visible in GMax renders, since really, it's not a thing persay but rather just a light source. What is visible in renders is the light that it casts on other objects (ie the floors, as noted above). So don't just expect to see your omni light sources shining like light bulbs--- they just cast light on other objects.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 9/10/2005 6:33:34 PM
Author: 6459978.

-For starters, I usually have to have intensities of upwards of 10 before I get any significant light showing through.

-Do you have floor surfaces for each of the stories of the building? If there's no floors then you won't see the light lighting up much of anything at all--- For interior niteliting what you are seeing lit up is generally the floor.

quote>
I will try raising the intensity. Also, I do have floors and wall surfaces, but the texture is very dark. Could that be part of the problem? I chose a dark texture because I didn't want a bright color bleeding through for the daytime shot. Man, what I wouldn't give for the ability to be able to change textures for day/night... ;-)

Thanks for the help.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Glad to see you are getting some help with the night lights.
So you will even make interior night lighting; that's very good news!

The balcony railings have improved a lot, and I like the added detail. However, with those bycicles on the balconies, it's the usual scale problem: The bycicles are scaled to Sims, and Sims are too tall in comparison with the buildings. Thus, the bikes end up lookin huge... this is not a biggie, though.

Some aspects where I see room for further improvement are:

- The roof. I think the roof texture is overcontrasted (very bright and shiny in places, whereas the smudges around the edges are too dark and pronounced).
- The roof again: While I'm not generally against your approach to have minimal roof junk on this one, I think especially for R$ buildings it's very realistic to add some mobile communication antennas on the roof.
- The window texture: So far, there's a clean gradient in every column of windows, i.e. from the bottom to the top or vice versa. Have you thought about randomizing window textures a bit? In RL, there would be darker or lighter apartments behind these windows, and some windows would have curtains, some wouldn't. This would result in a rather scattered snd less uniform look.
- The wall texture: Are you planning to add some '6459978-style' smudges around window and door openings?

[tchntm43 0]

I would agree that those are all areas for improvement.

With regards to the roof texture... the original image is not as contrasted. I think that BAT exaggerates contrast a little bit in some instances. This is something I will consider fixing.

This is actually a R$$ building. It is loosely inspired (The inspiration is only similar in that it is also made of tan bricks, about the same height, and has all right angles. I couldn't remember the rest of the details.) on a building which is actually a R$$$, but since it looks more like a R$, I decided it would be averaged. :-) In reality, the interior of a residential building seems to determine it's wealth much more than the exterior, and there are some rather externally uninteresting high wealth buildings.

There actually are curtains behind some of the windows, but it's kind of pointless because the windows are too opaque to show it. I also opened some of the windows for variety.

I was originally going to go about adding those smudges, but I couldn't get it to look right on this building.

Here's the newly rendered night lights:

I added over 180 internal omni lights. I figured that the interior hallways would always be lit, and those are represented by the narrower windows. I also increased all brightness modifiers to 10. Why are they green? Because the floors are green. One thing I have learned here is, if I want a certain color of light for night lights, it is better to color the internal objects that color and probably just use a white light. I'll remember that for future projects.

There are still a few things that are imperfect. Because the windows use a gradient opacity map, the light in the upper windows doesn't show through as well as towards the bottom (the extreme example on the first floor is actually due to the floor being a different color from other floors). There is a strange vertical line of lit area in the corner above the entrance. I'm not sure why this is there, as the two walls meeting there actually overlap by quite a bit. There's no seam gap whatsoever.

I would consider one more render, but other than that, I think I am done here. This building has been giving me rendering nightmares for quite a while, and I am eager to start something new. I still need a solution for the rendering problem I mention in the rendering help thread.