Thanksgiving Tower Dallas, Tx

[RQTect777 11]

I know they look the same from first appearance, but I darken it "a tad" you should be able to tell the difference.

If you want to make sure, just open both pics in two different tabs and go back and forth.

If you think it should be darker, I'll make it a little more darker. I haven't changed the bump or added/used the noise yet.

I think the bump is fine in my opinion. But I will add some noise. I made my own noise bitmaps in Photoshop, but only about 5 different

ones.

Art128: thanks for your support! Here's an update!

  Edited January 25, 2012 by RQTect777  

[Ceafus 88 1,906]

Wow! That looks, well stunning!

[harishna 847]

I think you should reduce the bump otherwise it looks more like water than glass.

The tone is better but a tad darker wouldn't hurt...You can also try reducing the reflections a little bit.

Just take the time to play with the settings until you are completely satisfied.

Keep it up!

[RQTect777 11]

yeah, you're right about the bump making it look like water, now I see.

I'll darken it a little bit more.

And what reflectivity level should I put it on 0.0-1.0, because right now it's at 1.0

[Ion_Cannon 677]

For a first BAT this is looking fantastic The roof needs some work though, the little details on the base are nice as well

[RQTect777 11]

Is the glass any better?

Ion_Cannon: I'll continue to work on the roof after I'm done straightening up the glass, Which I think is finished now.

  Edited January 26, 2012 by RQTect777  

[NBAFAN1 28]

Looks much better now. More like the real thing. Not bad for a first!

  Edited January 26, 2012 by NBAFAN1  

[RQTect777 11]

Do you guys think the glass finished?

[Andrey km 304]

It's better now, the glass finished!

[harishna 847]

Umn not sure if it is the noise map or the ground plane but I think it looks too noisy (as if the noise was too small). Try a different ground plane something closer to what you intent to use (the current one doesn't help to appreciate your model.

[RQTect777 11]

Harishna: I have a noise map for each individual window, and the noise is big, do you want me to make the whole wall one plane with one noise map?

  Edited January 27, 2012 by RQTect777  

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Harishna: I have a noise map for each individual window, and the noise is big, do you want me to make the whole wall one plane with one noise map?

There should be a way, like in gmax, that you can select each window and apply a similar noise map to each one at the same time like with UVW mapping. I'm not sure how it works in 3ds. max but I know its similar to gmax.

[gutterclub 2,729]

Try using something like this as the ground plane, then use the glass material to get your colour. Using the coloured ground plane isn't the best idea IMO

Simfox used the above to make this beauty below, which although is going to be extremely hard to replicate, should serve as a basis

Check out the thread here

My link

If you wanted, you could always use a photo editor to shift the ground plane colour to a bluier colour, whilst still keeping the makeup of the ground plane.

[RQTect777 11]

Ok I get what your saying, I was trying to go for a look of a sc4 building being reflected off my building.

like this tower, it has sc4 buildings in the reflection. I'll try it your way.

[gutterclub 2,729]

This issue with going down that route is that the building would have to be placed next to the building otherwise it would be refelcting a totally random buidling.

If you take a look at PaulvMontforts version of that building you'll see the reflections are chunky and disguised..it gives the illusion of reflection without being specific.

With all this said, it is great as it is especially for a first BAT and if you feel you've learnt from maming it and want to move on then I don't think anyone would mind at all

[RQTect777 11]

Gutterclub: On my next project I'll change the reflection to a more distorted image,

I'm just tired of working on the glass and want to move on.

I'm working on the roof and added some realism to the helipad. This is what I got so far.

Man roof junk is tedious!!

sorry if the image is a little blurry

Let me know what I can do different to make it look better.

[SimFox 804]

Hope I'm not barging too late into this discussion. Let me first congratulate you on a good work already done!

But there are couple of points I would like to stress.

First of all material setup is a very important issue in any model, but on a structure like this it's of paramount importance. Basically almost all you see is your glass material! As such, I believe, it is first and foremost thing you should get right. And I don't quite think you are there, or let's put it this way in right ball part yet. Main issue with your glass is that it's too reflective. Look here:

see how your reflections are brighter than the stuff they reflect! It is absolute physical impossibility! And little things like that really make or break illusion of reality. Our eye knows it, even if our brains don't have handy explanation.

Then there is a matter of roof. Here as well there are major inconsistencies. I_ personally, don't really believe one should stick to reality no matter what. I recognize the fact that sometimes in adopting some RL buildings to game one can make some adjustments in order to either fit model better in to game grid, or simplify something, etc. But than again recreating things faithfully, especially when you accompany this process with some thought helps getting some internal logic of the structure in question and more generally... In my mind one of the most common mistakes some BATers do is attempt of "beautifying" their roofs with excessive roof junk. Result, almost inevitably, very bad.

It is especially odd when you in fact skip on the details that are in fact there. For instance your roof top structures are mere boxes. Virtually never in RL those are like that!

Also structurally your recreation is flawed. The central "island" isn't really raised. Take a look at this picture and the shadows I've pointed that are indicative of the relative hight of the various elements:

Compare the hight of outer "parapet" wall and that of the "island" or to be precise it's enclosure (1). Also take a look at the depth of the AC pits (2)and diameter and how much is the air pipe is raised (3). hight of the fencing around helipad could serve as a good measuring stick here (4). Also I strongly feel that there is no need what-so ever to populate that area (5).

I'd say that all roof is at the same level (with few elements like helipad) rising above it. The "island" perimeter "wall" is raised slightly and used, I'd suspect, as a mere guidance system for track based windows cleaning lift.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I can understand the fruststration of working on something for too long just to get it right but from what I see it's still not ready for release.

SimFox and others have made very valid points about your model, that need to be taken into consideration. I won't repeat what they have said, but just know that its needed.

Also, I'd like to point out how saturated the textures are...mainly the glass, the plaza and the plants. As in they are too colorful. Lowering the saturation a tad in an image editing program can help there.

[RQTect777 11]

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for being gone so long, my computer started having problems,

so I saved my project onto a flash drive before I had to wipe out everything in my computer. By the time I got my computer up and running again,

school and other stuff got in the way and I ended up not coming back to finish it. I had saved the model but forgot about the

textures/pictures. I still have the noisy bump material for the windows but that's it.

Anyways, I'm going to start working on it again! Here's what I have and I will get to all the errors Simfox and Sgt Pepper pointed out soon.

I gave the building something to reflect in case you're wondering what it is.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Make the noise map bigger, and then reduce the strength of the bump map (by default the bump map strength is 0.3, try 0.03).

[paulvmontfort 617]

glad to see this revived. I agree with Jasoncw but I also hope you're going to put some more detail into the roof. Especially on the edge of that big diamond shaped slab

[RQTect777 11]

Jasoncw: I'll follow your advice and post a result soon

paulvmontfort: yes, I will be adding more (necessary) detail to the roof, Simfox gave me a lot to look at

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Hey, welcome back! And what a nice present you brought, too. Looks like you're perfectly on the right track! Jason and Paul already said all there was to say, really, so I'll just sit back and follow your further progress on this building - keep it up!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Paul is right. Maybe some more details. Take a look at the picture SimFox posted. And maybe take a look at Bing.com! Because right now it seems to be more a roof based on the original than a recreation.

[RQTect777 11]

Hey guys, I've got a little problem. 3ds max renders darker images of the building, but when I save the pic into my pictures and preview the pic from there, it's lighter.

Don't worry about the rest of the building, it's hidden for a faster render. Also a sneak peek at the roof progress So does anyone know how to fix this?

[weixc812 509]

It seems that you have to make the original one darker since the render process will make it lighter

[RQTect777 11]

But isnt there a setting I can change to make it normal again? Like the original bat4max

[paulvmontfort 617]

your gamma correction settings are wrong. Did you put them to 2.2 instead of 1? Also some image formats don't display the right gamma correction in the windows image viewer. To resolve this, you can open them with an advanced image editor like Photoshop and then save them again

[RQTect777 11]

Can I change the gamma right now? Or would I have to reinstall bat4max?

[paulvmontfort 617]

no you don't . You can find the gamma settings in the preferences in the customize menu. you have to set them to the values shown in this picture: