TS Dragon's BATchery

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Now available witha brand new, straight-forward thread title!

[madhatter106 3,931]

Hello everyone

This is skyscraper241.

Yeah, we know. Your avatar and handle are displayed to the left of this message.

This is going to be my neew thread for my new Bats made by using 3ds Max.

After many download attempts if finally got it and I'll soon start with making new Bats.

But first of all I need to learn to use this program, e.g. using the new tools.

I also decided to bat mainly buildings from NYC.

Sorry that there aren't buildings yet but there will come some

On that you can be sure

Why start a BAT thread if you have nothing to show???

[Jazzmaster 716]

Hello everyone

This is skyscraper241.

Yeah, we know. Your avatar and handle are displayed to the left of this message.

What's wrong with a little formal introduction?

Although, it would be great if we could see what you are actually working on. Hope to see some screen shots soon.

  Edited November 18, 2011 by Yoshiisland  

[Chris M 406]

Hello everyone

This is skyscraper241.

Yeah, we know. Your avatar and handle are displayed to the left of this message.

Was that really necessary?

Why start a BAT thread if you have nothing to show???

The point is, he will have something to show soon.

Anyway.

skyscraper221, I'm looking forward to your creations.

[harishna 847]

The point is how you know he will indeed have something to show soon...? After seeing a few threads that end up in endless discussions with little BATing I can understand Madhatters frustration...

[Ceafus 88 1,922]

Yeah, we know. Your avatar and handle are displayed to the left of this message.

Where is the Minus 1 Rep button :| ^Not Nessecary, you are suppossed to welcome new BATters, not tear them apart.

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Anyway, welcome Sky, I have been waiting to see you start, Glad you are here, and cant wait to see projects

[madhatter106 3,931]

Yeah, we know. Your avatar and handle are displayed to the left of this message.

Where is the Minus 1 Rep button :| ^Not Nessecary, you are suppossed to welcome new BATters, not tear them apart.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, welcome Sky, I have been waiting to see you start, Glad you are here, and cant wait to see projects

Indeed. Where IS the minus 1 rep button, so that I can press it every time I see a BAT thread that opens up with no BATs?

People may disagree with me all they want and say what I posted was "unnecessary," but what else is one supposed to comment on in a thread like this? No BATs to look at, so really the only thing "unnecessary" is posting something to the effect of "hey guys, I just got the program and am gonna make some BATs." One day, I swear I'm going to read War and Peace, but I wouldn't start a discussion in a book club with "hey, yeah, I just got a copy of this, I'm gonna read it someday."

As for the OP being a new BATter, that's hardly the case - he already has another four-page BAT thread in this very forum, linked in his signature, which spans this entire calendar year. He's not exactly "new in town," with over 1300 posts and a reputation of over 450...

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Yes. And could we now please leave it at that? The next post I wanna see here is one made by skyscraper241, and the next discussion I want to see here is about ways to improve whatever BAT he shows here or solve whatever problem he presents here.

This being said, the entire thread thus far has been the best possible proof for the "Start a BAT making thread with a BAT in the making" principle.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Yes, that is right guys.

[anotn 223]

As I said in chat going through tutorials is a good way to get started. The Autodesk 3ds Max Learning Channel on youtube has a good selection of tutorials look through it and you'll probably find a tutorial that fits your needs.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

OK, I wanna stop this converstion and going to chow you what I have so far

This is just a test preview, i'm going to delete the textures.

It's just a normal row house somewhere in New york

  Edited November 25, 2011 by skyscraper241  

[gutterclub 2,729]

Have you modelled the door and windows as it looks like it is just a texture on a wall? Maybe a SC4 preview would detirmine better?

[art128 4,622]

Windows are modeled, as for what I see.. but the door indeed look like a simple texture. otherwise, nice start.

[De Ja Vu 117]

Try using a bump map for the brick texture It looks good so far but try not to post perspective views...orthogonal view is the best one to use when you would like to show how something will look like in sc4. Hope to see more soon!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

This is an in-game-preview

I don't know why the preview isn't shown as big as I've have seen them in you Bat threads.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Sorry that I can't help you with the screenshot size problem. :|

Does the building you're making have a real-life counterpart? I'm wondering because the windows in all three floors look so different to me - a bit as if they belonged to three entirely different buildings.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Its a real row house. The windows arent finished yet im going to add some more details. I know that the windows look different. They are looking strange to me. I will finish this wall before starting off with the roof

[Jasoncw 11,968]

The preview is small because it's a small building.

[harishna 847]

you can try HD renders if you want to look at details...

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

Jasoncw: Ah, thanks.

Harishna: Cool idea, but I don't know, how to do that.

New update:

I really would be happy if there is an oppotunity to make my preview larger.

  Edited December 10, 2011 by skyscraper241  

[DCMetro34 577]

Yes, as Harishna said, you can render in HD. How, you ask? By installing this plugin (which is essential for exporting to SC4 anyway). The help thread will guide you through the installation process and give you an overview of the addon. I am almost positive that BAT4Max v5 is the latest version.

So far, it looks like a nice little BAT, too.

  Edited November 26, 2011 by DCMetro34  

[Jasoncw 11,968]

I don't think there's a reason to make the preview larger. What you see is what you will see in the game. So all that matters is how it looks at that small size.

This helps you know what details you have to model and which you can leave out or simplify.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

DCMetro34: Yeah, I got that plug-in. I need it for exporting.

Jasoncw: Yeah, you're right, but I wanna see how it looks.

Thanks for comments.

Got a HD render:

Comments are welcome.

  Edited November 27, 2011 by skyscraper241  

[T Wrecks 10,210]

This is an odd little building. Since it's a real-life structure you are recreating, would you mind showing a picture of the real building so we can compare?

So far things are looking good, and I think Jason is right about the small preview. The bigger pictures are good to detect modeling flaws, but the smaller ones are better to judge how the building will look in game and if some detail you added or left out even matters much for the final result. You may find that you'll have to exaggerate some parts of the building because they'd tend to become unnoticeable in the final result otherwise - questions like these are easier to answer if you have a 1:1 preview. However, I can understand that you feel a bit strange about posting screenshots the size of postage stamps.

[harishna 847]

I think you need to check your floor height...

[SimFox 804]

Jasoncw: Yeah, you're right, but I wanna see how it looks.

I really dread the day I've made HD script. I strongly feel that is it really get abused. You see "how it looks" in normal preview just fine - exactly how it would show up in game under normal circumstances! HD is nothing more than Zoom6 and as such it comes at the expense of Zoom5.

So I really strongly recommend to model for Zoom5. Zoom6/HD is meant for a very limited and specific situations and, imho, this isn't one of those.

As for where to learn how to use the tool (3ds Max)? At larger 3d community. There plenty sites and forums where people aren't locked into silly "how to BAT" box.

Plus there are numerous video tutorials. Yes, most of them cost some money, but it not that much actually. You can start with those offered by Lynda.com, or eat3D.com, or 3d-palace.com

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

T Wrecks: Here is the real building. I know it's odd especially because of the windows. This is just my first project. The building looks easy to bat to me so I

just bat it for the beginning.

Harishna: I know. The distance between the two top floors is a little bit too small. Also the building hasn't the right scale yet.

SimFox: You are right with the HD Preview. And thanks for the links, going to show it after doing some RL stuff.

Thanks for comments everyone.

This is just an update to show you the building i'm actually working on. LINK

Comments are welcome.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

What the... what an odd little structure! It looks like it leans on its neighbour. Thanks for posting the picture! This makes it a lot easier to comment. It's hard to point someone to the right direction if you don't know where he's going.

Looking at your BAT, it appears to be quite good overall, albeit a bit squashed. For example, if you compare the entrance door: In Google Street View the niche in which the door sits appears to be roughly 2.5 times as tall as it is wide. In your model, the ratio is 2:1 at best. Have you scaled your BAT to 133% on the Z axis yet?

[mntoes 271]

I think it looks a bit odd because as said the verical scaling needs adjusting. Also the distance between the top floor and the next one down needs to be more.

otherwise youv'e picked a good building to bat. Do you intend to bat the basement?

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

T Wrecks: Is now scaled my BAT to 133%. Also I fixed the distance between the two floors. And yeah, the building looks odd.

Mntoes: Fixed it and yes, of course I'm going to bat the basement but not now.

Thanks for comments

New update

I fixed the distance between the first and the second floor. Also I put on the textures but just for now.

Comments are welcome.