Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Jasoncw 11,840]

This is a picture someone took while movie crews were preparing for "The Island" which had a lot of Detroit scenes.  I'm pretty sure that thing in the front is for the movie.  The only other props will be some standing people, and the flagpoles.  I still need to add the little trees to the BATed fountains, but I've been having problems finding a premade tree of that style.

So far I'm thinking I'll include the shadows.

I haven't done a ton of BATing in the last few days, but I think I'll bite the bullet and finish somethings this week.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

ah, a page flip!

[Spike345 20]

That old looking building beside it looks amazing....(from what I can see)

[Jasoncw 11,840]

it's a good looking building.  I think that this building and the building next door are connected.  I don't remember the smaller building's name though.

I think I got the roof right this time.  I also started working on the cafe area.  I'm not sure if that area is textured well enough.  that area looks plasticy.  I had started working on the other area of the roof, but I couldn't find that file, so I think gmax might have kicked me out last time I worked on this... I don't remember.

[cowkilla 12]

that looks sweet!

[mightygoose 92]

duude that is awesome

[6459978. 106]

Nice! Everything looks great.

[topcliff 1]

All your new Detroit BAT's are really cool! I also like the idea of using the latest "Star Wars" for the marquee. Hey, I just noticed two ironic things: one of my friends from work went to camp with George Lucas when he was 12, and that I'm in Detroit right now for business! Coincedence, I think not! Good work here, looks like the real thing! TopCliff

[Spike345 20]

Gorgeous!

[ACEfanatic 7]

I'd tell you what I think...

...

But this is a family-friendly forum.

What kind of lot size are we looking at here? 2x3? 2x4?

-ACE

[Jasoncw 11,840]

thanks everyone.

The lot size is either 2x4, or 4x2 for the theater (which isn't from Detroit in case I caused any confusion).  A 3x4 or 4x3 is also possible, by extending the open space on the one side to make a little plaza or something.

211 West Fort street (the landmark version) is a 2x6 I think.  The buiding itself is a 2x4, so that lot size is also possible.  One Woodward Avenue is tricky to decide what it's lot size is, because it's front plaza doesn't face the street it's address says.  so it's either a 3x4 or a 4x3 (one or the other for this one) landmark, but the building itself is a 3x3, and it can fit on such a lot.

topcliff, make sure to visit downtown!  also check out the Barry Sanders Project thread to learn more about the Detroit Buildings.  the buildings I've done or are doing are circled in red below (the vinton building is sorta cut off), and buildings in that area that have been started by other people are circled in blue.  I started the Vinton Building a few months ago, but I haven't done much more work on it yet because it's going to be rennovated soon, and some details might change.

[topcliff 1]

Jasoncw: I know, I'm staying a few minutes from downtown. The firm I work for is actually at the Renaissance Center. I'll be sure to check out this area of town. Yeah, I'm just at a small Embassy Suites. The skyline is beautiful at sunset, let me tell you. Oh, for night lighting on your most recent Detroit building, fade it a little into the glass, it isn't really that bright. You really are the best, because when I log on here I feel like I'm looking out that 37th floor window again! Make me and the millions of Detroitites, Detroitians, Detroitires/ines proud! TopCliff

[SpartanBadger 4]

Jason you're my new hero; I was so worried that all of the BSP work was going to stop completely and now you've done some of my favorite buildings! How are you planning on doing the lighting for One Woodward? It has some pretty spectacular lighting schemes. I don't want to get greedy here, but please tell me you're planning on doing 150 West Jefferson in the future?

[wolverine 12]

150 West got lost in the abyss of the BSP thread.  I think I was given the file, but can't find it.  But yeah, it was completley modeled and needed textures.  Maybe it will have to be rebuilt.

I think the blow that ended it all was when I decided to not renew the websapce for the BSP as of a couple months ago.  Believe me, I'd love to see it revived.  I'm working for an architecture firm now and we are working on several projects that have many Detroit buildings modeled.  I'm allowed to use them or do whatever I want with them, so they could end up being available here!

[irishgrapes 1]

That is a great theater.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

thanks everyone, I'm glad my BATs are making people so happy! lol

topcliff, do you mean One Woodward Avenue (the square white one with the big mechanical roof) or 211 W Fort (the one with the fountains/shadows question)?  I'll keep that in mind though.

For One Woodward Avenue (all of these addresses!!) I was thinking of putting spot lights pointing up in the space behind the columns.  I'm having trouble getting the lights to look the way I want, since I don't know much about lights.  211 W Fort has the same sort of thing on top, and it will be similair.  1 Wood has red and green lights last time I checked, and 211 has yellow lights.  For all of these, the windows will be nitemaps.

Baldy also has 150 W Jefferson, and he said he'd send it to me (along with the plans he got from the architects), but it's been a few weeks since he said that, so I'm not sure what's up.  I'm not neccecarily going to finish it, but I'd have it if I wanted to.  I don't really know what I'm going to do after I finish my current projects.

I think that renewing the website didn't have anything to do with it, since for most of the time it wasn't done anyway, and most of the people interested in it can check here.  I think the problem was that people ran out of time before finishing their projects, so now there are a billion half done buildings laying around.  That's cool that you have access to those models.  Are they just really low detail, or are they really good?

[Jasoncw 11,840]

(Edit: Realized you guys haven't seen the theater at night yet)

Ok, I'm pretty much done with the theater.  I don't remember if I've asked for suggestions for which movie(s) get on the marquee, but so far I've been thinking...

Bladerunner (a lot of people on Simtropolis seem to like this movie)\

Star Wars: A New Hope (better than ep 3, lol)

Les Misérables

Phantom of the Opera

Bands

For bands, some bands that I like, like Weezer, Oasis, Foo Fighters, Beatles, The Pillows, Pixies, Radiohead, could be put there.  If anyone has any band suggestions, a band or two that most of us like could be put there.  They can be dead too, like Jimi Hendrix.

I think I might have already said this, but since the marquee parts are props, a bunch of them could be rendered with different attractions, and they could be put into a random prop family.  Is it worth doing, or is the attraction too small of a detail to put that much work into?  Changing the names is very easy, but it might take a while to render all of them.

[topcliff 1]

@ Jason: I'm talking about 211 W Fort. The lights are shaded into the windows, because they are interior lights about 5-6 feet from the windows. BTW, I'm home now. Caught a plane 5:20 this morning (3:20 Pacific). Like I said, these are extremely realistic. TopCliff

[ardecila 124]

I dunno about the whole two-marquee thing. I've never seen a theater with more than one, even if it's on a corner. But without a marquee, the side gets kinda boring.

[RadioheadFan 1]

Bladerunner would be cool...I'd also like Vanilla Sky (that movie is AWESONE). As for bands...I like all your choices, we have a lot of the same tastes...maybe Keane also?

Jamie

[spa 968]

Looks nice. The marquee turned out well and I really like the hanging strings of overhead lights across the roof patio. I'm not so wild about the beige/brown textured wall going up the side and I'm not sure about having two marquees. Very minor quibbles though and really more a question of style and taste then anything substantive. If you're looking for movies my vote would for The Big Lebowski. Best movie ever.

[lrfox 2]

Theater/ all the other buildings look great. As for the Marquee, i'd have to second the motion for The Big Lebowski. And Weezer is my favorite band if you're going that route (nothing like angry nerd rock). Keep it up El Duderino, can't wait to see this in game.

[baldy 0]

Yeah, 150 West Jefferson was me and when I find it I will send it you Jason to do with as you please. I haven't had much time to do much of anything. The main building is done, but the entrance and roof need some work along with the little details. I have more than enough pictures to not only finish the model but to use as textures.

211 looks great. Sorry it took a while, but I sent you a link to pictures of the rear I took today.

1 Woodward looks great. I can give you a bunch of information on it. For one, the architect was Minoru Yamasaki, who altough lived in metro Detroit and did a lot of work around here was most famous for the designing the World Trade Center in NYC. You can see a lot of that design in this earlier work (1963). The Woodward entrance, which is now a flower garden, used to be a reflecting pool back in the days. There is a statue located in this area called "passo di Danza" or step of the dance which a scuplture buddy of his did of his wife, nude. What a good friend!

And I could go on.... If you're willing to continue to build these great models, there are quite a few of use around here that would be glad to help with pictures and information.

[shameless plug] and if anyone comes to visit Detroit, Preservation Wayne gives tours every Saturday morning @ 10:00 during the summer [/shameless plug]

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Cool!  But whenever I see this stuff I get all exited and I want to make everything in the city, so for now I'm not going to say anything about what I plan on doing after I finish my current stuff up.  I'm having trouble resisting a new project, lol.  Otherwise I'd say something like, "I'm going to do The Penobscot, Guardian, Buhl, Fisher (along with the never-built portions), and the Ren Cen"

I knew who the architect was, but that's an interesting story about the statue!  I'm sure everyone could learn a lot of things like that on preservation wayne's downtown tour!

And of course, thanks for the pictures.  it seems 211 W Fort needs to be reworked a little.

It seems like Weezer is also popular.  The 2nd marquee doesn't seem so popular.  There was a space that needed filling and I thought, "hey, one marquee is good, two is better!"  I still think so, so it's staying

spa:  The brown is the brick, and that area is the actual theater part (the rest is office space, as they used to do back then).  Is there anything specific that you don't like about it that I could change?

radioheadfan:  I've heard of Keane, but I don't know anything about them, and I haven't heard any of their music.  I might have to check them out though.

Anyway, I'm going to render the theater... maybe the day after tomorrow, so if anyone has anything to say, now's the time to say it.  I wouldn't mind spending some extra time if there's a reason for it.  After that, I'll start rendering the marquee props for the prop family, so keep ideas for those rolling.  Hopefully this can be wrapped up in not-too-long.

[ACEfanatic 7]

That night shot is beautiful. Personally, I like the two marquees. Sure, maybe not entirely realistic, but when you look at how some BAT's step over that line, it's really trivial.

This is going to sound like an odd request, but is there any chance we could see some detailed in-gmax shots? Particularly of the cornices there. I'm curious as to how you built them - how much is modeling and how much is just texturing. Could be instructive...

-ACE

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Here's a picture.  It's all extruded splines, except for the sphere toward the bottom of the picture.  Although you can't tell, I deleted the back half of the sphere to reduce the number of polygons (which is about 183,000 total right now).  When it comes down to it, everything is simply shapes.  The lightbulbs are small spheres with a low amount of faces.  The marquees are extruded splines.  Most of it is extruded splines.  Part of getting a good result is knowing what you want, and what will show up in the render.  As with a lot of things it's simpler than it seems.

I'll be giving the lessons from my BAT school to the omnibus when the class is over, so you can learn a bit more about my methods then (hopefully it won't be a lot longer untill I'm done with the class).  I think texturing is really important, and I'll try to be thourough with it in the class.

[spa 968]

It's not a big deal. My complaint with the brownish brick wall is that, I find it clashes with the rest of the building. If it were me I would make it a greyish colour to fit the other walls. This is probably just a matter of my taste though.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

ok, I'm about to start rendering the theater.

[Spike345 20]

can't wait!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The theater has been rendered as well as Blade Runner, and Weezer.  I tested them, and from what I can tell, they're working just as I thought they would.

I think I saw the big lebowski, and wasn't too crazy about it.

For other movies, maybe a James Bond one?  Star Wars seems like a good movie to have there.

But I need more musicals, but I don't know much about them, lol.