TS Dragon's BATchery

[Amthaak 1,501]

The point raised by T Wrecks is IMHO very important. I think you should avoid using a glass texture and prefer reflect a textured ground plane. You 'll get better "control" "playing" with reflection/transparancy and addind , as it was mentioned, some noise throw the special purpose map/bump (in this case, you'll have to check the "do not apply bumps to the diffuse shading" option) ! It will give a really more realistic aspect

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

Aaron Graham:! Thanks for you comment. You are right, unfortunately I don't really know how to add noise. Here is a Google Street View Link. Here is a Google Maps Link. What do you want a picture of? Of my glass settings or of the building itself.

on00122222222222222: Thank you!

TowerDude: Greg :rage: :rage: :rage: , thank you. Hope to see it in your cities as well.

SimCity4IE: Glad to hear that you love my buildings. That's what I'm making them for. It was the reflected plane texture that was so blurred.

T Wrecks:The glass isn't textured. It's the ground plane textured with a pic of a city taken from Google Earth.

Amthaak: Thanks for your tips. I'll try to do it next time.

It's a long time ago i've got so many replies. Thanks you so much!

Actually I wanted to use this update to answer your auestions. But I want to show you some changes. The pillar texture is a bit lighter. Also, I changed the texture of the ground plane. That's all I have done yet. The next update will be about the improved glass texture.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Ok, so you got the basic setup right (ground plane + refelections), all it takes is some tweaking of the parameters.

I don't know if the ground plane is so blurry or if the glass does that. In any case, the result doesn't look like glass, more like polished marble, so you'll have to work on it a bit.

The ground plane can be crisp, but the image shouldn't feature large coherent surfaces or distinctly recognisable objects. It can be vague and cluttered, and it shouldn't be fuzzy and blurry.

The glass itself will need more reflectivity and a bump map which distorts the reflections.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

T Wrecks: Thank you for your efforts. There was a simple reason why it looked like in the picture above. I forgot to apply the new texture with the new settings to the building. This was such an easy solution that I didn't thought that this was the reason. I hope you like the new version.

As alreasy written in T Wrecks reply I had just forgotten to apply the texture to the building.

I decided not to use Jasons tut although it is really great . The reason why I don't use his way is that the building you see is made out of one box. So I already use Material ID's to apply one texture to one particular polygon. Because it would be too much work to detach all the windows. I decided to use a RGB Multiply Map in the bump tab (I think it's called bump map)There, I added two different noise maps with different sizes. Also, I use a lower IOR index. I set 1.5 so I just have the shading of the ground plane.

I made two different versions: The first one is made with the RGB Multiply Map that effects that it seems that each window has some bumps. The second one is made out of one noise Map so that there are waves over the whole facade. I would prefer something between these two versions but I would like you to tell me which version you like more.

1.

2.

[gutterclub 2,729]

2 is better, the noise on the first one is too small. Good progress, keep going.

[harishna 847]

The problem with the second is that the noise flows from one window to another, this breaks the illusion that the windows are individual and makes it obvious that your window is a single giant panel, which doesn't look natural. Your options are to change the parameters of the bump map, re model the glass or you can search in the web for plugins that randomly assigns material to different polygons.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

OK, thanks harishna and gutterclub, I hope you like this one:

[IDS2 3,345]

Glass is getting better.

In case you ever need a random polygon ID script, try something like this (just create a new script and copy and paste the stuff below, taking care to modify the first field):

numberOfSubMaterials = 3 -- Set the number of sub-materials here!!

originalSelection = polyop.getFaceSelection $

countOriginalSelection = originalSelection.count

for i=1 to numberOfSubMaterials do

(

antiArray = #{1..countOriginalSelection}

for i=1 to antiArray.count do antiArray = (random 0 1) >= 1

mergedArray = originalSelection * antiArray

polyop.setFaceMatID $ mergedArray (random 1 numberOfSubMaterials)

)

[darn42 1,268]

That's a lot better! One thing I'm thinking about. This seems like a rather tall and wide building based on the mullions. From what I can tell, either the mullions are to frequent and undersized making the building look massive, or the ground plane image is much too big.

Gutterclub, there's a thing in graphite modeling tools that selects faces randomly already...

  Edited June 23, 2012 by darn42  

[IL. 1,043]

The modeling is very good, but this BAT needs better textures (the glass texture is ok) but that yellowish texture look very clean, or like plastic, and the roof texture is not very obvious, maybe you should try to make it more clear with photoshop, or maybe try to use a gravel texture for the roof

What about a roof garden? or at least a green grass on a part of the roof and a door to show that people can get there, maybe a small walled garden on a part of the rood, it should make your BAT special, there's not much BATs with roof top gardens

[harishna 847]

IL I agree that the textures need work, the glass is starting to look better you may want to try a different ground plane texture, but about the garden remember that this is supposed to be a recreation...so in my own and very personal opinion it would be better to stick to the real thing as close as possible.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Replies:

IDS2:Thanks for the script. There's just one thing. Since I asked Chris (Xyloxadoria) in the chat I use a Random Selection Script instead of a Random Material Script. This is working as well.

darn42: I'm going to try out how it'll look with a smaller map, a bigger map and another texture. And thanks for the tip about the Graphitt Modelling.

IL.: Yes, I know about the textures. I think they are my main problem. The textures make a building look good. And except for the glass texture I'm not satisfied with the textures. This update is going to be about textures and my problem with them.

harishna: Yes, you are right. This is supposed to be a RL building which is located in the middle of New York City. In my opinion, it is important that it looks as exact as it can be.

So about the textures:

First of all you should know that I poly modell my building. For those who don't know what it is, that means that I'm making my buildings out of one object(e.g. a box) and modify it by using different tools.

And I think that is the main problem. So that I can apply texture to particular part of the building I need to assign a Material ID to each part and need to make a Multi/ Sub Material to assign a material to a polygon.

My problem is that either the texture is strechted or you can see the edges of the texture and you can see the repetitions.

Here's an example (saranac Apartments):

[darn42 1,268]

For the stretching, use a uvw map and select "bitmap fit" not sure what that would be in german, then select the image you are using for your texture. Your texture will now have no stretching on it.

[harishna 847]

You have to apply the proper uvw map, in the cases you need different uvw maps, well you can detach those elements and apply the uvw map individually. I don't know is there is another solution but at least that is what I do. You also have to eddit your textures so that you avoid the repetition effect, this is when photoshop or gimp come into action.

[Susaji 523]

Nice!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Was this really necessary. I'm glad to hear you like this building but it has been cancelled and this thread wasn't active for about two months. If there is something I want to show and something that isn't a Chicago BAT, then you can be sure I'm going to show you. But please don't bump this thread without any reason, just if you have a very important question. also, I'm still active although I'm getting tired of my current project. So maybe someone is going to close this thread.

Thanks

  Edited September 11, 2012 by skyscraper241  

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

So, after a long break I'm back with my personal BAT thread  as me and also darn have taken a small "hiatus".

 

Inspired by darknono, I decided to start a journey through the USA and will do as much american stuff as possible. 

 

For, I will give you 10 random-chosen buildings from 10 different cities and you will decide what I'm going to do

 

1.

 

Center Tower, Costa Mesa, CA

 

 

2.

 

Comerica Bank Building, Lansing, MI

 

 

3.

 

Hyatt Regency Hotel, Austin, TX

 

 

4.

 

Lighton Plaza, Overland Park, KS

 

 

5.

 

225 South Lake , Pasadena, CA

 

 

6.

 

75 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA

 

 

7.

 

Bechtel Building, San Francisco, CA

 

 

8.

 

Crowne Plaza Springfield, Springfield, IL

 

 

9.

 

Sterchi Lofts, Knoxville, TN

 

 

10.

 

Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, Reno, NV

 

[edwardjeria 503]

I like the casino, are enlightened and adorned

I like las vegas

[Darknono35 3,137]

I'm glad to see this topic Sky, and this last update inspired  by my thread  , maybe we can work together

 

Maybe the Comerica Bank Building from Lansing or the Hyatt Regency, I can't choose, sorry, they are all to be done

[Darknono35 3,137]

Sorry for double post...

 

I choose the Comerica Bank

[weixc812 509]

I love Center Tower...

BTW, I don't know how to vote since it always says something is wrong when I press the "vote" button

[shinkansen1 84]

#3, Hyatt Regency Hotel, is my absolute favorite!

[Susaji 523]

I Vote Center Tower

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED: Please vote again, there were some problems with the poll!

[Darknono35 3,137]

It's okay for me

[KonstantinII 1,106]

center tower

[Terring 6,473]

My vote goes to 75 Cambridge Parkway

[GeometryMath Algebra 614]

I'd go for Betchel Building. But wait...

 

This is my real answer:

 

 

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

News to all, the new building will be from St. Paul!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

The new building is 

 

the First National Bank Building

 

 

Pictures and thoughts are appreciated!