Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Afuegosky 5]

Wow, these projects are amazing, I will definitly use these in my Chicago cj, keep up the good work. I know i will keep up with your projects only a few handfull of people like to BAT old buildings and you do an exceptional job!

[sharkbait16 0]

Some great work so far.  I downloaded your latest creation just as soon as I saw it and can't wait to see it in game.

[jessyka who? 1]

The new hotel looks beautiful. I'm highly looking forward to your next release. Keep up the great work!

[Jasoncw 11,841]

Thanks

I've been busy lately, so I don't think I'll have time to do any BATing for about 2 weeks, but once I start working on them again I should be finishing things up quickly.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

ok, I lied, I've been working on things for a few days now.

The first is Pearl Tower or Pearl Something. It's supposed to be like a big version of Roberts Apartments. This will be an R$$ with 1,500-2,000 residents. It will either be a 3x2, or a 3x3, depending on how laggy my computer gets as I go along. I don't know what to do though. On the right you can see that an extra window and column were added, and not on the left. Which looks better? If the extra windows look better then it also means that I need to scale the building down to make it fit 3 tiles.



And then there's The White Building or something. It's a 1x2 corner CO$$$ Wall to wall. The back will just be the front, duplicated and then modified a bit for the elevators, and it might have some kind of truck loading area or something in the back. But right now the building looks too big and too small at the same time. I think it's only slightly larger than that annoying pink building.



The Detroit Free Press Building has been rendered, and the rest is being worked on.

The best news is that with my new classes this semester, I have a schedule with a few classes in a row. So on Monday, Wedsenday, and Friday, I have 3 hours for rendering things. So rendering things shouldn't be a problem anymore.

[Hanson784 165]

Pearl Tower and the White Building are coming along nicely. Can't wait.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

This is the progress so far. I've worked on it for most of today, which was fine, except for the last three hours, which was horrible . I've spent the last three hours doing nothing but centering the building in the scene! There are so many polygons that moving it gives my computer a heart attack. I also rescaled it a little bit to make it fit a 3x2 lot better, which surprisingly didn't take as long as just moving it. Whatever the case, by a few days I'll put some stuff on the roof and texture everything. I only need to make three textures for this building: a white stone texture, the window texture, and the roof texture. All of them should be easy to make. I'm happy that I'm done with that horrible lag! The rest of the modeling work can be done with most of the scene hidden, so that it won't lag.

Despite the massive amounts of lag, this is actually coming along pretty fast, with not-so-bad results.

The lower roof parts are going to be a patio and the top roof parts are not. I also have to remodel the corner column caps to make them square instead of rectangular (I don't think you can really see what I'm talking about by the picture though).

[Cjah 15]

Wow thats one amazing BAT.I like the shape and the color.A very nice job indeed.I feel sorry for your computer,but I bet it will look great in any city!

[jessyka who? 1]

Looking fantastic as usual. I'm glad you went with the extra little window on each side of the Pearl building. Adds a nice little touch to it's repetitiveness. Can't wait to see the next release up on the STEX!

[Kwakelaar 92]

Another excellent model.

[wolverine 12]

Looking great Jason.

Dude, I so dare you to do the Penobscot building next. That would sweet.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

I'll do it!

for those who don't know, my avatar is the top of the Penobscot building. http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=118560

What's really killing Pearl tower is the complex windows and the balconys. The Penobscot Building is alot more simple and modern. It's worth a shot trying anyway.

I've been contemplating doing Griswold. Cheesegrader wouldn't be hard to do (it's a 5x3, with all of it repeating itself). I think the Guardian is 6x2, but it's big and ornate, so that might not be doable. That white building by the world trade center guy doesn't look too hard either, I think that's a 3x4. I don't know much about Buhl, but it's alot like the top of the Detroit Free Press Building, and it might be too ornate. Comerica is almost done by someone, and I guess I could tweak some of the modeling and textures and scale, if it's needed. The vinton building is almost done. 500 Jefferson is almost done by someone too.

But for now I need to finish what's on my plate.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

This is the back of the building. The textures are being worked on, and right now there are no textures for the roof or anything on it. I haven't compared it to anything in the game yet either.

[Spike345 20]

I really hope that Fisk Insurance will be released and more 1 x 2 office towers will be created, we are deeply in need for them, you omg you make the most awesome old buildings. Love them!

[Jasoncw 11,841]

I'm so bad at finishing projects!!

It started as me experimenting making the tops of those columns. Then I said I wonder what this would look like and I made the windows. Then I make those details on the bottom. Then I stoped, went to these forums, and ran into a mini-tutorial on how to make partially transparent windows. Then I looked at the Library, saw the windows, and then made them at the bottom of the building. I still have a bit of texture work to do, the back of the building, and the bottom to do, but so far, this is pretty good for only 4 hours of on and off work.

This building is another 2x1, and it's a corner lot, except it faces south and west instead of all my other ones which are south and east. It looks like a CO$$$. It could also be a 2x1 corner lot. It might be Wagner & Associates (my Sim City architecture firm).

I'm not sure if it matters too much that the buildings aren't getting finished right away, since if I finished them, I'd probably just flood T Wrecks modding queue, or at least make him very busy.

[thatmonkeysim 8]

hey it still looks nice but you may have to get rid of that BAT ADD

[T Wrecks 10,209]

*turns pale* Please don't finish these all in a row, puh-lease not!

It's not that I wouldn't like to see them in game, but one at a time on my modding desk is actually enough.

Yesterday, when I was talking to some other guys on the German SimForum, I said that I really wished for some killer computer to fall from a truck without anybody noticing, right in front of your house...

EDIT
@ TMS: Well, I prefer a BAT ADD(iction) over a BAD ATT(itude) anyway...

[wolverine 12]

Jason, these are incredible. I just love this kind of architecture.

[Glenni 1,444]

You have some really kickass bats jasoncw.they are awesome!

[Jasoncw 11,841]

heheh, thanks everyone

A new computer would be nice, but the one I'm using isn't actually that bad. Yea, some other members can make tall buildings, but do they have window frames? Mine have window frames!



I worked on the bottom, and I made some babe warrior statues for the columns next to the door. They're hard to see and I'm not sure if it would look better with or without them, or with something different in their place. Any opinions?

[Spike345 20]

I like it, it has a classical touch! I say leave it.

[ardecila 124]

Keep the statues. I like 'em. Oh, and I'm loving the Roman Bath windows (after all, the prototype for them was the Baths of Caracalla/Diocletian).
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[Glenni 1,444]

man this sucks!looks like sc.com quality hehe lol just kidding.thats loooks sweet man!

[Jasoncw 11,841]

ardecila: Yea, I like that style of window. I think they're on most of my BATs. Albert Kahn used them alot too.

Glenni: I was just thinking, maybe I should add some maxis buildings into it. Maybe the base could be the nuclear power plant. Or I could put the church on the top of the building so people could pray up high. Whatever buildings I use, I don't think they should line up at all. I'm not sure if they should look good next to eachother either.

Anyway, I textured things. I think Pearl Place sounds better than Pearl Tower

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Yay! Looking good as always when you BAT something.

Umm, my last PM to you got sent to my inbox instead (beats me), so here again: Due to a very smart move of my flat mates, who wanted to change to a different internet provider and cancelled the entire phone connection instead, I'm without internet for the time being and can't d/l DFP. If I'm lucky, we will have internet access again by the end of next week. Meanwhile I'm busy fighting down that strange urge to kill...

EDIT
In case anybody wonders: I'm writing this from my old, utterly SC4-less Pentium II/266 internet box at my parents' place, where I spend this weekend. At least I can have a look at the forums...

[Jasoncw 11,841]

That sucks T Wrecks, I'd be really upset too. You should install all the sim city stuff on your parents computer, lol, it seems like you've been getting stuck with it alot lately.

But it's one of those strange feelings when you loose something you're used to. One time, my computer was broken or something, and I was deciding what to do...

I think I'll go online! no computer...
I'll just do some BATing no comptuer...
Well, I'll play sim city then! no computer...

Eventually I just went and watched a movie, but what I wanted was my computer!

By the time you get your internet back I'll probably have Pearl Place rendered. Maybe one or two of the three 1x2 buildings I'll have too. It would be fun to upload like Simgoober for a month sometime .

[AddisonWesley 2]

Judging by the style of building, I think that The Pearl Building would work better.  Just an idea though, awesome work.

[Jasoncw 11,841]

When I designed the front at first, it was going to be a normal 1x2 (not a corner), so the wall streched an entire 16 meters (1 tile). The main part of the wall is set back 1 meter from the edge of the lot. So what happened is I couldn't get the walls to fit inside a 1x2 without overlapping funny in the corner. But to fix this problem I could make it a 2x2 corner lot, so that's what I did.

I also noticed when comparing my building to maxis' buildings that my windows were too big. So I had to squash the windows down. It still looks fine I guess, but I think it looked better before.

But here's what I'm going for with the wall to wall stuff. The buildings have been photoshoped together, they're not actually done or rendered.



The Pearl Building sounds good too. So everyone, Pearl Place or The Pearl Building? Either one is fine with me.

[SimGoober 2,351]

Nice looking stuff...

How abotu Pearly Heights? 

[wolverine 12]

Finally, a downtown block of buildings that's has some real density. And a chunk of the Detroit Citay.