Project Thread: The Toronto-Dominion Centre

[urielgarcia 344]

This is amazing stuff - awesome! I admire your dedication, effort and resources you offer to batting stuff for the SC4 community - A class projects. Apparently, I should have studied architecture or engineering as this fascinates me. Excellent guys - Thanks Cockatoo, Kellydale and Jasoncw for these amazing gems.

[6459978. 106]

Wow! I haven't been around in... a long while... but I stumbled across this while looking at the SimCity 5 posts. This is incredible. Nice to see so many Toronto BATs still under production!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

It's equally nice to see you again! Feel like joining in?

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Thanks everyone for the comments and opinions for options! (:

A bit of an update...

Since being poly cheap with my laptop, I tend to take shortcuts and what not that I can't stress enough. Since I've had my new computer, I've made major improvements (even if they are little things). Here is one of them that will affect 5/7 skyscrapers in the complex.

Notice the mullions are a T or I flange shape?

Well, here's the improvement. The previous modelling were just boxes, but seeing this progress coming along nicely.. Detail is definitely an aspect in the project. I would love to get some perspective renders once this complex is finished.

^Canadian Pacific Place

Of course this would bring up a little bit rendering issues that I had expected, but nothing a little sampling per pixel can't solve...

Textures, reflections, diffusion, etc are all affected with sampling per pixel (SPP) is increased. Notice the differences between the coinciding colors. I know I probably increased it as more than I should. It's feasible that the SPP could've been minimum 16 or something. Nothing is changed in the textures between two renders with the exception of SPP. In the end Cockatoo will do the rendering, and Jasoncw will do the texturing. So I think with more accurate geometry in place... slight tweaking to render parameters means a slight means in textures. Which is both up to Cockatoo and Jasoncw to reconcile on of course. (:

Also, Here's the start on Ernst & Young Tower at a self-conscious zoom 5 :b

I'm still figuring out the height of the floors at the base of the tower. As soon as I get it right, I will add the other complex geometry. More than half the week I'm off the internet, so I have limited photos to work from. So I do my best from those, then tweak and break down the geometry more accurate. An example of this would be the base pillars of the tower.

As for the random wall on the side view of the tower... It's generic, and it's to accommodate the separate rendering of the tower. These are the first preview renders of the tower... I've only viewed these a couple hours ago myself, so nit pick all you want :b

The proportions are still in it's infant stages

Here's the over all complex itself...

RED: Don't mind the Red buildings... they've always been drafts as an outline, but the heights are what they'll be in the game. The buildings in red will be the last towers to be completed simply because those seem to be the less complicated and the easiest (in my opinion).

Me and Cockatoo will send each other a relatively progressive model now and then... but he hasn't sent me anything yet. So the base, complex plaza, trees, furniture, etc is all in Cockatoo's computer. Sometimes it will look like a tennis match where we have an outdated render or something like that. We could only keep up with our own responsibilities for now. But perhaps next week we will merge scenes and give you a nice zoom 5 with the latest buildings + complex plaza update all in one.

RED: Don't mind the Red buildings... they've always been drafts as an outline, but the heights are what they'll be in the game. The buildings in red will be the last towers to be completed simply because those seem to be the less complicated and the easiest (in my opinion).

Improvements are...

Accurate geometry! When I first created the buildings, I had been poly cheap. The TSX Facade where the Ernst & Young Tower is built over has 220,000+ polys itself.

When I had created the width between the mullions, I had used Google Earth and guesstimates to concur on measurements made on the towers... not only till I found a document on the Canadian Pacific Place that the window widths were 1.5m... My measurement had been 1.48m... I was off about the width of a thumb... which is good! I didn't expect that. So measurements are taken highly into consideration, and for those of you who think that all the window widths are the same... think again! These buildings had been built over two decades... and architecture changes every year. All these towers nearly have same differences. Some glass is double glazed, some single... Frame widths, window widths, mullion heights, maintenance floors, etc. etc.

Progress on the left towers... The gold one (99 King as we call it, but we finally figured out the correct name) is pretty difficult. but proportions are about correct. Using average human head width and comparing it really helps! (no lie ahaha).

Ernst & Young Tower... Just started, it's just a baby so far! :b

, Kellydale2003

ps; hopefully updates every week! Just waiting for my passport to return, then I'm moving back to Toronto.

  Edited March 3, 2012 by kellydale2003  

[Jasoncw 12,012]

oh dear god, using 64 and 256 is insane please turn it back right away.

There's really no reason to change the rendering settings, what ltbl sets up is fine. Now go back to working on the model, lol

[Cockatoo 2,262]

Yeah the default values set by LtbL (1/16) are usually more than enough. It's better to achieve your intended results through manipulating other options. 64/256 will just cause render times to enter the months!

Anyway, looks like we're really starting to get somewhere. Earnest Young is looking great. Are all the towers at 100%?

[kellydale2003 2,276]

The render times are influential, but I tried at 16 and they haven't increased exponentially.

2 min 12 secs @ Min: 1

2 min 50 secs @ Min: 16

I seriously think it's beneficial though! Unless you want me to go back to making boxes :S

, kellydale2003

edit: towers are at 133%.

I did a little study, and well...

If you count the pixel at the corner (the one that seems to be a bit of both) as the 13th pixel... Well, I think 133% is orthographically correct.

  Edited March 3, 2012 by kellydale2003  

[PBGV103 729]

OMG PLEASE don't bring up the scaling conversation AGAIN. hahaha Other than that everything looks great so far. Also, even at zoom 5 you won't notice if your mullions are 2cm too wide, don't stress over the small stuff.

[simlink 1,098]

Wow, everything is looking really good! I like the attention to detail, and that the buildings aren't just textures boxes.

[Jasoncw 12,012]

Well, first, about the scaling, your box is so small that the antialiasing is making it hard for you to get a real measurement of how big the cube is. The diagram that I made that's floating around pretty clearly shows what scaling by 133% will do.

For the sampling settings, maybe they'll need to be increased for this project, but still what you had it at was super huge. When the time comes to export it we can decide if it needs to be increased.

Also, a good way of comparing really subtle differences, like this, or like jpg compression, etc., is to layer the two images on top of each other in photoshop and set the top layer to the Difference blending mode.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I had no idea one of the towers was built on top of a smaller and older building. Despite some people's architecture tastes, I find that incredible!

[Andrey km 304]

Where are you guys?? The project is over?

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I do not think this project is over it's just not showing updates so often. I'm sure the project will be finished when Trixies come out, so we do have a while to wait.

[Sgt Pepper 864]

^ You mean the next Trixies, of course. xD

[Andrey km 304]

I hope you're right, Aaron!!

[Cockatoo 2,262]

This project will get finished when...

A. I have some free time that lasts longer than a few minutes.

B. Kelly returns from the wilderness.

C. When you least expect it.

D. All of the above.

I'd be leaning towards D. So please, no more bumps until then!

I still want to have it done by mid-year. And with a week off from uni it'd be possible to have my part done, but Kelly's part is much bigger so it all depends on what his situation is like.

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Still in the wilderness yup! LOL

Unfortunately my passport hasnt arrived yet... as soon as it does I move into my apartment in Toronto!

I tried using the local library as my internet source,,, but it doesnt load Simtropolis

Thankfully my sister in law just bought a massively expensive high speed connection here,,, so every now and then Ill pop in to update!

The reason why I dont buy my internet here is because I could leave anytime and internet in this region of Manitoba are all contract oriented!

Expect an update within the next week or so (and some uploads), My personal thread will have some updates today as well! (:

Thanks!

kellydale2003

ps; The project is coming along well, I think photos will speak more than words when I update it next (:

[Xander Dax 310]

Wow this project looks Amazing cant wait to use it in my cities!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

So please, no more bumps until then!

[Darknono35 3,138]

Wow your project is AWESOME , congrats for your work, it's outstanding !!

[jd211 0]

Has this project died or did I miss the opportunity to download it? It was looking and advancing so well!

[Jasoncw 12,012]

Yep, totally dead!

[Mr Saturn64 742]

Damn. I saw that you posted and thought that meant a glimmer of hope. Oh well.n

[Kingofsimcity4 50]

On 2012-03-03 at 5:30 AM, kellydale2003 said:

Thanks everyone for the comments and opinions for options! (:

 

A bit of an update...

 

Since being poly cheap with my laptop, I tend to take shortcuts and what not that I can't stress enough. Since I've had my new computer, I've made major improvements (even if they are little things). Here is one of them that will affect 5/7 skyscrapers in the complex.

 

Notice the mullions are a T or I flange shape?

 

Well, here's the improvement. The previous modelling were just boxes, but seeing this progress coming along nicely.. Detail is definitely an aspect in the project. I would love to get some perspective renders once this complex is finished.

^Canadian Pacific Place

 

Of course this would bring up a little bit rendering issues that I had expected, but nothing a little sampling per pixel can't solve...

 

Textures, reflections, diffusion, etc are all affected with sampling per pixel (SPP) is increased. Notice the differences between the coinciding colors. I know I probably increased it as more than I should. It's feasible that the SPP could've been minimum 16 or something. Nothing is changed in the textures between two renders with the exception of SPP. In the end Cockatoo will do the rendering, and Jasoncw will do the texturing. So I think with more accurate geometry in place... slight tweaking to render parameters means a slight means in textures. Which is both up to Cockatoo and Jasoncw to reconcile on of course. (:

 

Also, Here's the start on Ernst & Young Tower at a self-conscious zoom 5 :b

 

I'm still figuring out the height of the floors at the base of the tower. As soon as I get it right, I will add the other complex geometry. More than half the week I'm off the internet, so I have limited photos to work from. So I do my best from those, then tweak and break down the geometry more accurate. An example of this would be the base pillars of the tower.

 

As for the random wall on the side view of the tower... It's generic, and it's to accommodate the separate rendering of the tower. These are the first preview renders of the tower... I've only viewed these a couple hours ago myself, so nit pick all you want :b

The proportions are still in it's infant stages

 

Here's the over all complex itself...

RED: Don't mind the Red buildings... they've always been drafts as an outline, but the heights are what they'll be in the game. The buildings in red will be the last towers to be completed simply because those seem to be the less complicated and the easiest (in my opinion).

 

Me and Cockatoo will send each other a relatively progressive model now and then... but he hasn't sent me anything yet. So the base, complex plaza, trees, furniture, etc is all in Cockatoo's computer. Sometimes it will look like a tennis match where we have an outdated render or something like that. We could only keep up with our own responsibilities for now. But perhaps next week we will merge scenes and give you a nice zoom 5 with the latest buildings + complex plaza update all in one.

 

RED: Don't mind the Red buildings... they've always been drafts as an outline, but the heights are what they'll be in the game. The buildings in red will be the last towers to be completed simply because those seem to be the less complicated and the easiest (in my opinion).

 

 

Improvements are...

 

Accurate geometry! When I first created the buildings, I had been poly cheap. The TSX Facade where the Ernst & Young Tower is built over has 220,000+ polys itself.

When I had created the width between the mullions, I had used Google Earth and guesstimates to concur on measurements made on the towers... not only till I found a document on the Canadian Pacific Place that the window widths were 1.5m... My measurement had been 1.48m... I was off about the width of a thumb... which is good! I didn't expect that. So measurements are taken highly into consideration, and for those of you who think that all the window widths are the same... think again! These buildings had been built over two decades... and architecture changes every year. All these towers nearly have same differences. Some glass is double glazed, some single... Frame widths, window widths, mullion heights, maintenance floors, etc. etc.

 

Progress on the left towers... The gold one (99 King as we call it, but we finally figured out the correct name) is pretty difficult. but proportions are about correct. Using average human head width and comparing it really helps! (no lie ahaha).

 

Ernst & Young Tower... Just started, it's just a baby so far! :b

 

, Kellydale2003

 

ps; hopefully updates every week! Just waiting for my passport to return, then I'm moving back to Toronto.

Please finish this bat!

[Ling Ziming 14]

I went to Toronto for vacation this summer. I was surprised by what I saw that several towers of Toronto Dominion Center was still being under refreshing construction!  While this project has also been taken out for 5 years......