Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

My god! That's beautiful!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys. In the next few days I'll put together an update.

 

For now though I'm bumping to let everyone know that SimCIty 2000 is for free right now on Origin.  https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house

[9gruntsand1hammer 3,194]

I made an origin account just to get SimCity 2000.

[Huston 5,796]

I'm pretty sure at one point, I found SC2K as abandonware and downloadable. I hadn't downloaded it myself then, but I should've

 

Btw, awesome building Jasoncw. I like the look of it so far -- will fit perfectly for my dystopian world

[Shy Dude 149]

I thought the brick gradient thing was a bit weird but the Larson Building in Yakima and the United Office Building in Niagara falls have the same thing going on, maybe it is more common than I thought.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Work on the department store and bank should be resuming soon! 

 

Btw, awesome building Jasoncw. I like the look of it so far -- will fit perfectly for my dystopian world 

 

You know sometimes I make what I think is a perfectly pleasant building, and people say things like "wow Jason, great BAT! It's so bland and generic, it will be great for my city!" "You've done such a great job at making such an ugly disgusting building, the kind that ruin our cities in real life." "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little, fantastic Jason!".  But this is the first time that someone has told me that my BAT would be great for their dystopian future cities!!

 

Next will be "I'm recreating Hell in SimCity for my next CJ and I thought your BAT would be a perfect fit. Thank you so much Jason!!"

 

I thought the brick gradient thing was a bit weird but the Larson Building in Yakima and the United Office Building in Niagara falls have the same thing going on, maybe it is more common than I thought.

 

Whenever I'm looking for reference materials I should just ask you. Thanks!

[TCD 123]

Great BAT, Jason! It will look perfect for recreating my squatter neighborhood in my dystopian world.

[Huston 5,796]

Work on the department store and bank should be resuming soon! 

 

 

Btw, awesome building Jasoncw. I like the look of it so far -- will fit perfectly for my dystopian world 

 

You know sometimes I make what I think is a perfectly pleasant building, and people say things like "wow Jason, great BAT! It's so bland and generic, it will be great for my city!" "You've done such a great job at making such an ugly disgusting building, the kind that ruin our cities in real life." "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little, fantastic Jason!".  But this is the first time that someone has told me that my BAT would be great for their dystopian future cities!!

 

Next will be "I'm recreating Hell in SimCity for my next CJ and I thought your BAT would be a perfect fit. Thank you so much Jason!!"

 

You and your BATs are still loved.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Nice to know we will see more files from you on STEx!

Btw, thank you very much for your amazing tutorials, without them I would never release Central Bank.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys

 

So I ended up working on some non-BAT projects instead but I do plan on doing a lot of BATing in the next few weeks, so I super super cross my heart will have updates coming.

 

And here is something which instead might be helpful. I've talked a lot about using grids in photoshop to measure things based on photos, and as far as I know it's the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way to get the dimensions of things. Here's a screenshot of the .psd for the Grand Haven Lighthouse which is mostly done. At the top you can see two layers named 1 and .1 which are grids of those dimensions, respectively. If I have a bunch of layers then I move the grid layers around in the layer stack so I don't have to do a lot of scrolling in the layers panel. Other layers there are other photographs, all scaled to the same scale, so the grids can measure all those photos. Sometimes I also copy and paste other photos without scaling them, instead of keeping them open in browser tabs or cluttering my computer with individual reference image files. If, for one project I have different reference images that would be easier to deal with with separately scaled grids, then I have multiple .psd files. In this case I have a separate .psd that has the front view of this building gridded out, as well as the lighthouse gridded out.

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, I finally signed up for twitter after I was following a few too many people by bookmarking their twitter feed. _B here happened to stumble across it so I thought:

 

Everyone follow me on twitter!!!!! https://twitter.com/Jasoncw87

 

And then tell me what I should tweet about because I have no idea!!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So I've worked on the brick texture, which is mostly done, except for finalizing the colors of the gradient. I've had a hard time with the colors, and they're definitely still in progress (hopefully I'll figure that out by the end of today), but the stepped gradient looks good imo. Normally simply sampling colors from clear photographs gives pretty good results but for this the colors are hyper saturated when I do that, but give the wrong impression when I reduce the saturation.

 

[SimCoug 5,972]

Oh yeah, I love how that gradient looks!  Well done... I know texturing can be a PITA, but you really nailed it.  

 

And speaking of light houses... any word on ?  I'd be happy to work on the modding/lotting if necessary 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks! That lighthouse, and also a second lighthouse, are both almost done and ready to upload. I'm not sure when exactly I'll finish it up and upload it though. The main thing is doing the mipro queries, and then updating mipro essentials, but there are some other things I want to include in mipro essentials in the next update at the same time.

 

So I've gotten some more work done on the department store. Next will probably be the limestone.

 

[Bastet69008 1,102]

The details on the entrance are grrrrreat!

[SimCoug 5,972]

I agree, the ground floor entrance and display windows are looking superb.  I can picture some great window shopping happening along the sidewalks.

[Harry's Place 918]

amazing

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Well, I could do my best and I'm sure I would find something that could have been done "better". But why should I, you can always find something if you want to.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Wonderful!

[IDS2 3,346]

Those bricks are gorgeous, and I'm a sucker for those windows. 

[Hotwheeler 409]

This is awesomeness in its purest form.The brick textures are superp and also the details are coming along great.I wonder if is already to late to consider a parking garage version...with the upper deck used as parking and the car elevator and a spiral ramp hidden in the elevated middle part....

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys!

 

Hotwheeler, I'd like to say that it's a possibility but in truth I don't think I'd ever get around to it. I would like to make parking garages someday though. 

 

 

A few new BATs to post about!

 

 

Design Research. It's hard to tell from the preview, but the ground floor is split level (the left side's ground floor is half underground). Most of the facade is modeled on this one, but it looks more done than it really is.

 

 

Porto Ponta Residence. Another brazillian residential tower. I've duplicated the one floor that I modeled to make it easier to understand. After I finish one floor, I'll duplicate it and make the floor variants. This one looks less far along than it really is. I'll also be able to reuse materials from the first two towers, because it's the same tiles material, just different colors.

[Finnbhennach 161]

Oh, yes, loving the clear glass reflections and the modeling is superb. Are you planning on doing the interiors? Would love to see the progress on this. Keep 'em coming.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Looks like a very beautiful building, looking forward to it!

[Charlie_Zane 963]

Looking good Jason!

[KonstantinII 1,106]

Do you know how to make furniture, inside of the building?

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Wonderful work on the new model. 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks everyone!

 

Finnbhennach & KonstantinII: Yeah I'll be modeling all the store goods for the interior of Design Research. Hopefully it won't be too much of a pain!

 

 

Here's progress on Porto Ponta Residence. There's still more work to be done on the top and the bottom of the tower, but the middle is more or less complete. And I forgot to mention last time, that because of how the building is oriented on its lot, what you see will be rotated 45 degrees.

 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Wow, looking really good, Jason!!

[Finnbhennach 161]

That's good to know. You could in fact import some already-made furniture as arch vizualists do to populate interiors.

That way you can focus more on the building itself while still achieving good results.

 

The residence is coming along nicely. I'm not sure if it's just me but the material seems a bit too "noisy" and the

reflection/glossy settings are slightly off. What is your glossy samples set to? Keep up the great work :kitty:

[Huston 5,796]

That's some beautiful work, although my personal input on the material's noise is more positive. Makes the building look better imo