Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[st louis dude 6]

Oh yeah that's right! What was I thinking?

[josefmayor 8]

That looks amazing Jason!

I just got accepted to the University of Tampa!!!

They don't have architecture but I'm planning on getting my core classes there and transfering to USF or UF for architecture hellz ya!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks yourmomrulez, it looks like you posted as I was writing my old reply.

Congradulations JosefMayor, that sounds like it works out good.  University of Tampa is the one with the building that used to be a hotel, right?

Well, I've worked on The Stowell Foundation some more.  I textured the windows in the corner (those are bathrooms, although some of that walled up space would probably be closets and utility areas).  I modified some of the textures at the bottom, and I textured some things that were not textured before (the garage door, with its fancy caution bottom), and rescaled the doors, meters, and yellow anti-truck devices.

I also worked on the lobby, but that can't be seen in this picture.

[josefmayor 8]

Nice what size is this? 5x4?

Yup good memory lol!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

2x3

Close.... I guess, lol.

[Glenni 1,444]

mh yes vely crose jason mastah.No really it looked like 3x4 to me:S haha odd one.

[st louis dude 6]

Did you ever finish the model of the Penobscot building by any chance?

[josefmayor 8]

its hard to tell cuz it's so big on the picture rendering lol.

Oh well :-p

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks everyone.

Actually, it's very close to being zoom 5, so it's not really bigger than it should be. 

In real life this building would be a decent sized building in a city, although in the game it would be really small compared to everything else.  I'll interpret these comments as meaning that the building has a good sense of scale, lol.

St. Louis Dude, asking if things are done is another one of those things you do that people would rather you not.  Do you remember what just happened to Comerica Field?

[SimFox 801]

Jason, to get right (EXACT) Zoom5 size set you render output window width to 795 pixels. Height could be anything you want/need.

[Glenni 1,444]

well anyway,it is a pretty cool model,maybe it will even fit in my cities

[Sim shady 12]

lol looking at josefmayer's comments about the size, i had to laugh because i was shocked when i found out that your Vinton building was so small, the whole time i thought it was going to be a decent sized skyscraper. lol.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Simfox, how far must I be zoomed in?

When I use the zoom 5 camera, I'm super far away, and at that resolution, the building is only a few pixels.  What I do to manually zoom in isn't consistent, although every time I do a preview I zoom in to that closeness.

Being able to go to exactly zoom 5 would be a massive plus for me, since I compare my previews with the game A LOT (using screenshots and photoshop), and doing this has been less effective since I switched to 3ds max.

Yeah, that's what I thought of too Sim Shady.  To me it doesn't make any sense though, "wha?  The windows would be 5 stories high if the building was that high!!"  lol

Hopefully it will fit into your cities Glenni.  I think it will though.  It seems to be similair to some of the other buildings you use.  Hopefully it will find a place in everyone's city.

Well, not much progress.  I added some doors to the side of the building going out to the patio.  You might be able to spot where they went in an older screenshot, since I left a space for them.

I plan on adding some tables to the lower patio, but I don't know what to do with the roof.  The roof junk would be in the mechanical room, although I can still add some small vents, like I do on all of my buildigs.

I plan on finishing 751 Griswold over the next few days (I haven't forgotten it!) and I think it will be on the STEX before Christmas.  It seems Christmasy.  The Stowell Foundation is right after that, and that also might be released before Christmas.  It seems kinda Christmasy too.

Following that is 211 West Fort Street, which is more involved, and after that is One Woodward Avenue.  If I had to guess, I'd say that 211 West Fort would be done in January, and One Woodward in Febrauary.

The Penobscot Building is daunting.  I'd like to work on it, but because of the way I've been modeling it, I need to work on it in big chuncks of time, and I need to finish each peice every time, or else I'll forget what I was doing the next time I open it.  I haven't really had the time to sit down for that long at one time, but the next time I will is Christmas break, where I would like to finish the basic modeling (it seems like a lot, but there really isn't a whole ton of modeling left, relatively,  I just need to bite the bullet and do it).  It might be finished in the late spring.

I know I've been working on a lot of new stuff without finishing the old, but I think things will start wrapping up soon.

[SimFox 801]

Your models are tiny most probably because your MAX is set wrong.

You have to set it to use metric system. Not inches or generic units - which in your case, being in states, would automatically mean inches.

This is common problem people for some strange reason don't grasp the difference.

But difference it is - especially when you'll start doing GI. Key concept there is if you want to get right destitution of light make you model to be right size! if you skyscraper is 5m tall you'll not get right lighting. no matter how close you'll zoom. The way light envelopes 5m tall structure and the way it envelopes 200m tall structure just isn't same. That is one reason, another – even more important is that cameras are set for meter distance, so if you make all your models in inches no surprise they look tiny – camera is just too far away.

 

Setting output window width to 795 pixel will give you pixel precise size to the corresponding zoom level in game for all zoom levels when you use right unit system.

[jacqulina 162]

congrats on your trixie my friend

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks Jaqulina, congradulations on yours as well.

Simfox, you were right, my bulding was set to Generic Units (which I thought were the same as Meters).  I've fixed it all up and I checked it out, and it's spot on.

The uvw stuff got a little messed up, but that'll only take a little while to fix.

This helps out a ton, thank you.

[atomik 0]

Hey- congrats!

I'm saving a spot for the Penobscot in my old CBD area of my city. It's gonna be the apex bldg so I'm trying to buildout from where it will be. Any idea what the lot size is going to be? This IS the one bat that I've been the most excited to see be released ever on the STEX honestly. I can see the top of the Penobscot from my window and I can't wait to have a form of it in my city. Late spring, huh? Well..... my birthday is 4/20 if you're into b-day gifting

Curious where in metro detroit do you live Jason? I've seen you a few times on detroityes! so was wondering if you were a fellow downtowner.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

oh cool!  I didn't know you lived in Detroit.  You shouldn't have said anything because now you have to learn how to BAT!!

Not really, lol, but if you do, I'm always around and would love for there to be another BSPer.

I live in Saint Clair Shores.  The only places that I'm actually personally familiar with in Detroit is the North East side, since that's where we used to live before we moved, and we still have friends and connections in that area.  I know downtown well, but not in a personal way, like someone who lives there might.

Downtown is one of the places that I would consider living in, but right now i'm a 19 year old college student, so that's for the future.  Unfortunatly it seems like downtown is either too expensive, or too cheap.  But at the rate things are going, I think there'll be more housing options by the time I'm ready to move there.  I'm going into architecture, so living downtown could be very practical if I work at one of those firms.  SmithGroup would be cool.  (not going to happen though, lol)

I'll try to keep an eye open for you at DetroitYes!.  I've been meaning to post an update about my stuff there, but haven't gotten around to it.

I might be able to render 751 Griswold tonight.   Modding is for the future though.  I'll make a CO$$$ 1x1 corner growable.  A CO$$$ plop, and a landmark.  I could make a CS$$$ growable, since I guess it could be converted into a club or a restaraunt or something, but that will depend on how much time I have over christmas break (when I plan on modding it, unless I finish some other things I have going on first).

[Jasoncw 11,840]

oh yeah, the Penobscot Building is a 3x3 corner lot.

I've been trying to render 175 Griswold, but I'm having problems.  It'll get sorted out eventually.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Well, after a few problems 751 has been rendered!!

It didn't render perfectly though.  There's some problems around the edges.  I'm not really sure if I'm going to re-render it though, since it took a long time to do.  I don't know that I want to spend more time on rendering stuff with this one because it's a pain, lol.

211 West Fort and the Stowell Foundation are at the same point (each just needs night lights and rendering), so which would y'all like me to finish next?

[Fledgeling 1]

Yess! Glad you got that somewhat fixed. Personally i would like to see 211 West Fort released first, and sometime later wolverine's Bostwick-Braun Company Hardware Warehouse, because i am currently doing cities in the early 1900's, and it would fit very well there. When you get the chance

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Wolverine hasn't given me the warehouse yet, so that's not a possibilitiy right now.

I was sorta thinking 211 too.  I'll see how far I can get on that tonight.

[st louis dude 6]

looking good,Jason

[marc 13]

Even with the problems around the edges, the render of 751 came out great!

I don't think you should re-render it either, but you should know that a tiny voice in the back of your head will keep on saying... Psst... It's almost perfect, one more render and it will be perfect. That's worth another render, isn't it? I shouldn't let laziness get in the way!

[nofunk 1,933]

That's right, Jason, you better render something! Because I've now got one more BSP submission up on the STEX than you do! 

Nah, you know I'm kidding. Seriously, 751 Griswold looks just great. I love that little guy! I wonder what caused the edge problems. It's not due to the way the game pieces together the LODs is it?

I don't care which you work on next, because I like both 211 West Fort and Stowell, but I guess West Fort probably has the higher demand.

[SimFox 801]

hm... Sorry to ask, but what exactly do you mean problems around the edges?? That dark band running along the bottom of the model? and what other problems did you have with rendering?

[josefmayor 8]

that looks awesome Jason! Btw thanks for the help again, I'm going downtown today to get some pictures of the buildings I'm bating!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I've worked on 211 some more, and I've been tweaking the textures more, as well as some of the modeling.  It just wasn't looking all that great before, and I want to make sure to do a good job with this.  It's already looking much better than before imo.

SimFox:  Yeah, there's the bottom (which looks like the shadow isn't 100% aligned with the building). 

Then along one of the edges there's a line of black pixels.  I set it to not antialias against the edges, but that's what it looked like happened. You can see the black edge between the two buildings (in the cluster of 4) on the right.  From the way that they're put next to each other, the black line looks like a shadow on the one next to it, but it's not.

And also, come to think of it, I didn't make my LODs flush against the area that is supposed to be wall to wall.

::sigh::  I guess I'll probably end up re-rendering it after all, lol.  Just not right now.  But it really will be just one more render!  I promise.

Josefmayor:  No problem!   Just send me another pm when you want me to be online again.

Nofunk:  lol, but soon I'll have more though!  But by then you'll also probably have more uploaded...  I still have more downloads than you though!  

St. Louis Dude and Marcszar:  Thanks!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

hi everyone, how's my new avatar?  I decided to go for a widescreen look.  Also, I added in that green line to help coordinate it with my Trixies.  The blue sky is supposed to go with the BSP blue, and the white of the text and the building is supposed to go with the white of the text area to the right.

Whoever guesses the identity of the building gets something.

Also, I took that photo myself, so I don't have to feel bad about using other people's.

oh yeah, Sim City.  I haven't done anything today.  Yesterday I worked on 211's nitelites, and it's going to take longer than expected, so I'm going to finish Stowell Foundation first.

[nofunk 1,933]

I think I already know what it is, but I will keep quiet so others can guess!