BATs by Bipin

[Pobs 24]

This is an amazing piece. You are very talented.

[Darknono35 3,138]

Yep He's an artist beautiful work so far

[Delecto 941]

Great, Great, Great...  You prepare a complete set? That would be great!!!

[Bipin 3,403]

I am 50% done rendering the final model, having taken a "pitstop" after finishing the day render. I will be releasing this main BAT along with several complementary guardrail and landscaping pieces.

[Bipin 3,403]

Sorry for the messy screenshots, but I'm a bit strapped for time:

 

 

All that's left to do is add landscape and overlay pieces for the ramps, plus some modeled brick crosswalks, some guardrails, then try and fix those green streetlight props. Also, if you look carefully I added some humps of asphalt to mimic road deck joints and to also cover up some nasty untextured white spots.

 

 

Enjoy!

[aaaling 83]

Why is the roundabout white?

[PBGV103 729]

Looks good, but I have a couple questions: first, why are the bricks and concrete super reflective, like they're glazed? and second, how do people cross that busy roundabout to get to the pedestrian walkway?

[Bipin 3,403]

Why is the roundabout white?

 

It's concrete. Most bridges and overpasses in North America are built this way.

 

 

Note that even overpasses in use are still the concrete road deck:

 

 

I really do not understand why everyone is crapping themselves over this one. I figured if anything, you'd all expect to see concrete overpasses.

 

 

I may make a version with a darker concrete texture, but I have to put something over that road area, otherwise the model simply can't work.

[Bipin 3,403]

Looks good, but I have a couple questions: first, why are the bricks and concrete super reflective, like they're glazed? and second, how do people cross that busy roundabout to get to the pedestrian walkway?

 

I'll probably tone down the concrete reflection, there is a fine balance between what needs to be done to create a "new" finish in regards to bump and reflection. The annoying thing is that for whatever reason the reflections appear more blue/stronger int he .sc4model as opposed to .3ds file. As for the brick, I do find a somewhat glazed finish looks nice, I recall seeing that on some new brick crosswalks in either Ohio or Illinois despite not being wet. I'm not sure exactly what they used, but it was a dark reddish brown like I used and the tiles or bricks were laid like, well... bricks. Speaking of crosswalks, those dark red grip tiles seen at four edges of the roundabout will attach to crosswalk props like this:

 

 

To continue with the more modern theme, the pedestrian walkways will be signaled, so as not to interfere with cars on the ramps, but still allowing pedestrians to take the easier route across the middle of the roundabout. Signaling pedestrian paths at roundabouts is something I find to be increasingly common within current design practices.

[Darknono35 3,138]

Your model is awesome . I think you need to add some dirty create by wheels on the concrete, and maybe, several junction for concrete slabs.

The idea of the pedestrian way is interesting and maybe cool

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, I think the contrast between the white concrete and the tarmac looks so strong and unusual for many because Maxis made the normal roads unrealistically black, and you chose a very pristine-looking concrete texture to boot. This makes it look like a radical black/white difference, whereas IRL the look is much more subtle.

 

The example pictures you showed in post #518 all seem to depict newly constructed roads. In the first picture, you see that the guardrails are so brand spanking new that they really reflect the sunlight so brightly it's almost dazzling. You can also see traces of ground works all around. The second picture also shows a construction site. The dark asphalt on the highway is probably newly applied, as the other lanes look significantly more toned down. The overpass doesn't appear to be finished yet, so it also shows bare, freshly cast concrete.

 

I browsed around in Google Maps' satellite view around my home town, and I found an overpass where you can clearly see the difference in principle, but you can also see that the difference is much more subtle.

 

The problem is that Maxis roads are so far off the colour (and saturation!) of most real-world roads that are halfways "worn in" that your concrete doesn't even need to stray very far from real-world appearance to create a colour difference that looks overly accentuated to most - as evidenced by the reactions in this thread. Now the problem is that it would be a lot of work to adapt all Maxis roads to a more toned down look, plus most players have probably grown used to them. In contrast, making the concrete a bit less prominent would be perfectly feasible.

 

I am fully aware that this is your creation and that you have your reasons for doing what you did. That's fine. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents because I can understand both the people who complain about the concrete texture and you being bugged by these constant comments.

[MandelSoft 2,775]

You could use the standard roundabout texture and make it less saturated. Presto! Subtle concrete road texture with fitting markings!

[aaaling 83]

I really do not understand why everyone is crapping themselves over this one. I figured if anything, you'd all expect to see concrete overpasses.

 

Well, that might be because in Ontario, overpasses are usually asphalt.

[Bipin 3,403]

 

I really do not understand why everyone is crapping themselves over this one. I figured if anything, you'd all expect to see concrete overpasses.

 

Well, that might be because in Ontario, overpasses are usually asphalt.

 

Ontario is only a small part of North America, even then, we do have a fair number of concrete overpasses. It doesn't seem very logical to use a single, comparatively small region of North American to dictate whether or not I should use concrete.

 

Besides, one of the largest construction projects ever in US history and probably the largest highway-related one, the Big Dig infrastructure uses concrete overpasses almost exclusively:

 

 

To expand on that, virtually all the new highway infrastructure around the Bunker Hill Bridge

 

 

@ Maarten and T Wrecks: I agree with both of your points. I am certainly looking for a compromise here and, unless I'm doing a distinctly Euro version, I will not do asphalt. However, as I said, I'm looking for compromises. I agree with just using a lightened version of the normal texture, that will probably work the best. I was never happy with the current texture to begin with, but I couldn't do much about it due to the nature of Google Sketchup textures in 3dsMax. However, I have discovered a work-around. As for the other glitches (e.g. white spots) I've successfully dealt with that.

 

EDIT: I have created a texture taking in both Maarten and T Wreck's constructive advice that will replace the current concrete one. P.S. Thanks for the kind words Aaron!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Your doing a wonderful job, keep it up buddy!!!!

[Bipin 3,403]

The concrete area has been fixed.

 

 

However, I have noticed some gaps at the road and overpass joint.

 

 

The question is, should I do a whole other render (3 hours) to fix this, or is it ok as is? In my opinion it could pass as an actual bridge joint.

[MandelSoft 2,775]

Well, I think errors are quite unavoidable in this case. It looks OK as it is; the concrete is much better now!

As for the Euro version, you only need to remove the yellow circle line, the sign at the tunnel and use the Euro RHW texture instead. Not that much of a change modeling wise...

[blaqsk8 45]

Bipin, your models are AMAZING! Keep up the good work. Looking forward to see more of your models! Keep up the awesome work!

[shinkansen1 84]

Never had an issue with the concrete textures in the first place, but I still find it amazing that you made it look even better than previous!

[Darknono35 3,138]

Good job Bipin, your concrete texture is better now. Keep it up

[darn42 1,268]

The bricks and overpass metal are still looking much to glossy. Bricks especially. It is a very rare occasion that you see any kind of clay or concrete make any sort of discernible reflections. Same with that kind of metal. Put the glossiness for the metal down to like .3 and the glossiness for the brick down to like .05, if anything.

 

Looks great otherwise though.

[Bipin 3,403]

The bricks and overpass metal are still looking much to glossy. Bricks especially. It is a very rare occasion that you see any kind of clay or concrete make any sort of discernible reflections. Same with that kind of metal. Put the glossiness for the metal down to like .3 and the glossiness for the brick down to like .05, if anything.

 

Looks great otherwise though.

 

It seems the texture itself has the glossy appearance. Despite lowering the gloss to almost zero, the bricks still appear to have a shiny coat on them (minus the raytraced reflections of the actual gloss map). I experimented with removing gloss, but it just looks weird; slight reflections baked into the texture itself, but no reflections from the sky. Unfortunately, this is the only high-quality texture I could find of curved brick that matched the curve of the roundabout well. As for the overpass metal, I'm still working on diminishing that gloss. 

[KonstantinII 1,106]

It is good. I think you should just upload it and ignore the complaints of the critics.

[Bipin 3,403]

It is good. I think you should just upload it and ignore the complaints of the critics.

 

On that note...

 

Click the reputation  button to vote for releasing this BAT now (optional traffic control devices/islands/crosswalks included).

 

If you vote no, or even if you vote yes, please tell me why in the comments! It is assumed that without voting, you view the project as incomplete and it needs more work.

[His Divine Hand 244]

How do you determine if the yes votes are a majority of opinions when there is only a yes option?

[Bipin 3,403]

How do you determine if the yes votes are a majority of opinions when there is only a yes option?

 

If enough people (5+) want me to release it, the no votes become largely irrelevant. It also depends on who voted yes. I know who visits this thread routinely   and keeps things in check in regards to knowing what I'm working on. If only a fraction of those people vote yes, I have a good idea of who didn't, as it's just a matter of cancelling out the individuals who did from the total of people who are genuinely interested in my work.

 

Furthermore, if you have something to say, you can always post your comments as to why you voted yes/no, this is a forum after all. I'd rather do a poll, but I'm left with the reputation system as one cannot create a poll at this stage in the thread (as far as I know). If no one gives reputation to the post, then it can be assumed no one is interested in the model at this stage.

[MandelSoft 2,775]

I'd say no and render an Euro version too and then take an in-game pic of the full thing

[Bipin 3,403]

I'd say no and render an Euro version too and then take an in-game pic of the full thing

 

I will include the Euro version in a separate download, as there's a lot in the North American one already. I'm booting up the game now to get a pic of the overall structure.

[pineapple132 35]

I'd say no because of the bridge joints. 

 

They look kinda awkward and would look much better if you fixed them.

[Bipin 3,403]

I'm surprised no one else noticed the lack of yellow markings along the overpass section. Either way, I'll be fixing that and the bridge joints. I fixed them last night to some success, but I haven't tested them in-game, that's what I'm doing now. Here's a teaser from LE:

 

 

All medians/crosswalks/thermoplastic are removable, additional props.