Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Jazzmaster 716]

Looks great, I love trains and thats why I made that other one, as much as it doesn't fit in with a mall.

Can't wait to see it on the STEX, I'm always looking for things like this for my City Journal. You're a superb BATer, we all appreciate what you do!

-Yoshi

[akiviks 2]

Man i really need those new glass faster then i thiught lol but as you work together those job are really great Anyway!!!!!!

[purpledaddy 6]

I really enjoyed the three you uploaded yesterday. One of these days I'll have to go back and review your BAT lessons. Your Trixies were really well deserved!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

YoshiIsland:  I never knew that you had a CJ.  Hopefully this station will turn out good.

Akiviks:  Thanks!

PurpleDaddy:  Thanks!  Whenever you want to pick up the lessons again I'll still be here. 

Well, here's today's progress.  Still working on it though.

Ok, so here's a question for everyone.  Up until now, most of my wall to wall BATs have a one meter setback.  As far as I know, I'm the only person with a one meter setback.  Many people use a one paver tile (1.6 meters) set back.  Should I keep my one meter setback (meaning my BATs will line up with my older ones), or should I change it to a one tile setback (my BATs would not line up with many of my older ones, but would line up with more of other W2W BATer's lots).

And also, about this building, right now this is a wall to wall building.  So, on either side of this building there would be other buildings.  Is this ok with people?

[Jazzmaster 716]

I definitely think 1 meter is fine, as long as they don't come too close to the other buildings (in RL buildings come very close, but never bump up against each other, although I don't think I have to say that to you  ).  As for this BAT, it being a W2W is totally fine with me, I use SimGoober's Simtropolis Train station all the time in my CJ.  It's a very good BAT and is made to be W2W so the tracks are set back a few tiles and you can place commercial lots left and right that are 3 tiles deep...

I nestled it between two office buildings by SG and it blends in perfectly with commercial districts, so I think a W2W would be perfect for your BAT!   But I don't know if you want a commercial approach or not so its really your call.  However, here's a link to the upload if you want to see, the description should say what I'm saying now, you don't HAVE to see it:

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=14728

But that's just my 2 cents or whatever.  Whatever you come up with I'm sure will be excellently perfect!

-Yoshi

[SC4BOY 20]

Wrt setback, I can't really comment.. you're kind of damned if you do and damned if yoiu don't. I will say that your lots have their own "style" and are not like a lot of other W2W's.. so I don't think it is a big deal.. but that's just one man's opinion.

Wrt the sides finishing, I do have an opinion.. lots of folk, myself included, use W2W lots even they doin't play a lot of W2W cities (ie strictly enforced).. for that reason I'd like the end walls to be designed so they look like a W2W that has had the adjacent building torn down (not many modern structures are W2W so its not rare to see older buildings with the older W2W's sticking out and looking like it doesn't quite belong.. which is pretty natural IMO..

Of course they're your lots so treat em as you judge best.. its served you well so far..

Keep up the nice work

[Sim shady 12]

Honestly my petty opinion would be for you to join JB and Spa in the 1 tile set back, but whatever works out with you is fine with me- just keep churning out those beauties on the STEX

[nofunk 1,933]

^ and me!

[SimFox 801]

Jason! Station looks fantastic! Textures are great mixture of realism and game!

The only tiny winy thing is that it doesn't appear to have and entrance - doors. And another is that that overpass leading to the tracks is startling a bit oddly from a middle od that structural column... Shouldn't it strart from Window? Would it be possible just to move it a bit? Texturing wise the decoratiove use of stone/terracota for facade logically ascs fot tower sides also be tiled with it.

But those are only minor things.. Station is really, really great!

Happy new year everyone!

[Swiss_Canadian 2]

Hey Jason, good to see the station is coming along! I think you should just keep the 1m setback; after all, what's wrong with being different? Not all W2W buildings in real life match up perfectly - I've been to some places where the sidewalk even curves to hug the different setbacks of the buildings, making for a rather interesting streetscape. Keep up the good work!!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Well, I think I'll go with one paver tile.

Also, I'd like to ask if I should continue using TruNite for night lights.  My VanWingerden Plazas, and Nofunk's three art deco towers use TruNite.

Normally in the game, night is essentially day, except with a dark blue overlay.  However, when you look at the BAT, there are still crisp shadows from the sun.  But of course at night time there is no sun, and there are only ambient shadows, and shadows created by man-made lights.  So TruNite does this, and is more realistic, and still looks good. 

The only downside is that it looks strange switching from day to night, because with day, there is a bright sun side and a dark shadow side.  I chose to match the bright side of my buildings to the bright side of the default nitelite color, which makes the dark side of my TruNite renders look strangely bright.

So I was wondering if this is something that people like or if it's something they don't like.

SimFox:  Thanks!  Good catches too.

[ianpaschal 77]

I haven't been following any Simcity developments for a long time (haven't even had the game installed for more than a year) but I have to say, that an alternative to normal night lighting would be great. In real life there is a tremendous amount of ambient glow created from all the lights of a city. I remember being on a party on a ship in Lake Michigan one night and seeing Chicago just glowing, with the light clouds totally illuminated yellow orange from the city. It was amazing.

An interesting experiment could be attempting to simulate this overall glow of a city by possibly using some volumetric lights. I don't know but it may be worth investigating. Maybe I will do it when I have time since I'm one of those guys who shoots for as real as possible BATs.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I don't remember if SimFox wrote a tutorial about it, but here's a quick summary:

1.  You render as normal, and you make your .FSH files.

2.  You replace the Xreffed lighting rig with your TruNite rig (a rig without a sun, and with whatever other lighting adjustments that are desired).

3.  You do another render.

4.  In the output files folders, each .FSH file-to-be has a folder.  You replace the transparency .BMPs in the night folders with the transparency from the day.  This way the game flat out displays your render, instead of going through all of the compositing stuff it normally does to do nitelites.

5.  You make your night .FSH files, and you put everything together in the .SC4Model file with the Reader.

It doesn't make a lot of sense now, but once you get BAT4Max set up, and you see how it's put together, it should make sense.  Manually copying the files doesn't take as long as you'd think.

So here's some progress.  I was hoping to get a lot done today but that didn't end up happening.  I got the 4 Disc Blade Runner DVD for Christmas, and I watched the making-of feature.  I was expecting it to be 45 minutes or an hour, but it was actually 4 hours, lol.  So that took up my day.

[david1314 44]

Can you render a platform addition as a prop when you do this so you can have as many platforms as you need? I've always thought this would be useful to include with a station... Just a 1 x X lot that butts up to existing LODs to give the appearance of a natural platform 5 & 6 (or more...) for when tracks are expanded or more platforms needed.

I'm excited to see another rail station for the STEX from one of my favorite BATters. I love you work, and this looks as though it will be no exception.

[ardecila 124]

Looks awesome, Jason! I'm sure I can find a way to grade-separate the rails anyway - I don't need it to be elevated.

My only suggestion is that the stone facade at the top of the raised section needs a little extra something. Maybe a carved railroad name, or a clock, or a frieze/relief, or something. Oh, and a window on the end of the pedestrian bridge would look nice.

[nofunk 1,933]

Jason, that's gorgeous!

[spa 968]

Looking good Jason. I like the transition from the grey tile to the brick on the corners. Maybe I'm missing it but where is the main front entrance?

[ianpaschal 77]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw I don't remember if SimFox wrote a tutorial about it, but here's a quick summary:

1.  You render as normal, and you make your .FSH files.

2.  You replace the Xreffed lighting rig with your TruNite rig (a rig without a sun, and with whatever other lighting adjustments that are desired).

3.  You do another render.

4.  In the output files folders, each .FSH file-to-be has a folder.  You replace the transparency .BMPs in the night folders with the transparency from the day.  This way the game flat out displays your render, instead of going through all of the compositing stuff it normally does to do nitelites.

5.  You make your night .FSH files, and you put everything together in the .SC4Model file with the Reader.quote>

Yeah, that makes sense.  Maybe I'll give it a try. You know how I am about my lighting.  I'll have to see though that if overly realistic lighting makes a building look too detached from the rest of the city.  Then I'll have to make my whole city use only my custom lighting

[Jasoncw 11,840]

David1314:  That doesn't sound like it would look very good, lol.  I can probably make another version with more platforms though.

Ardecila:  That was my plan, but the station hadn't been named yet.  I've added the name.  If you ever make that modd that changes the elevation, I could probably make another version of this for that.

Nofunk:  Thanks!

Spa:  The main entrance is under the tower area to the right.

Scipio:  Hey, I'm sure no one would mind if you made an entire city of BATs for your custom lighting. 

So I've added some details on the facade, and have worked on the roof.  I've also named it "Perry Station."

I don't really know what to put for the shop fronts, and there are a lot of them.  If anyone knows of 20s/30s luxury shops, that would be helpful.

[Swiss_Canadian 2]

Looking awesome Jason! I love the inset doorways! As for 20's/30's stores? How about Woolworth's? That's a good common one that was in the U.S., Canada, AND Britain.

[Sim shady 12]

Hmm a barber shop? The station looks awesome

[ardecila 124]

Pre-Great Depression, the US did not have chain stores on a large scale. If you use real businesses, it would have to be set in a specific city.

From looking at the blueprints of several big-city railroad stations, I can tell you that many incorporated hotels, a signature restaurant/dining room, and facilities for train crews. Gift shops were also common, although I don't know about "modern gifts".... A deli or a jeweler would be realistic as well.

The Art Deco movement embraced modernity and progress and especially machines like boats, planes, and trains, so a chic club of some sort in the train station would be authentic.

[david1314 44]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw David1314:  That doesn't sound like it would look very good, lol.  I can probably make another version with more platforms though.quote>

I can't help but think that if you made an LOD over the existing far platform while hiding certain objects that you could just make a basic extension.  As long as the overpass repeats on 16m intervals (or at least lines up), the LOD should cover the main station's and make it appear as though the extension was natural.  It wouldn't be a freestanding extension, but it would work along as many platforms as you wanted to add.

Its the same technique that you use to make things like sea walls.  Because it will be on equally graded land, the theory should work the same for this.  That way with 2 lots you could have a station with 4 to as many platforms as you need.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Originally posted by: Sim shady Hmm a barber shop? The station looks awesomequote>

 

Dude...that's what I was gonna say!

Looking better with every update man!  Can't wait to show it in my CJ and beyond!  Happy new year Jason!

-Yoshi

[ianpaschal 77]

Originally posted by: Jasoncw Scipio:  Hey, I'm sure no one would mind if you made an entire city of BATs for your custom lighting.  quote>

Haha, well I was attempting to do something similar at one point but I don't know if I have the time right now.  Junior year of high school is tough.

I think i'll be ambitious though; I'll have it done in a few years.

[paulvmontfort 616]

I always like your textures. It puts my texture work to shame Specially the roof ones

[ianpaschal 77]

I agree with Paul, the roof textures look great as do the window and doors, but to me the actual grey stone and the orange brick look a little too clean and perfect. It might look good if you could dirty them up a bit or stain some the stone like how the roof is a bit blotchy.

I don't know if you use Photoshop, but the way I often make dirt and stuff on my textures is to use splotchy brush and set the mode to "Multiply" and opacity to about 10 or something and just dab on some dirt and stain. It really helps the building's appearance look like it wasn't just built yesterday. Just a suggestion though. I know we have very different styles when it comes to BATing

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Wow, Jason, it is looking gorgeous! Like paulvmontfort, I get jealous of your brick and textures textures too, hehe.

Now that it has a name, I wonder what it might be like to run either that station name or perhaps the name of the railroad stylishly across the top roofline of the facade, in a low horizontal streamlined Art Deco font. When viewed from the rear, the long roofline could then possibly be enlivened by seeing complex supports bracing the backs of each letter, and perhaps even some have a control boxes for the sign lighting. It would take some playing with sizing to make sure such a long sign compliments rather than competes with the raised section over the entrance. It could look good, or then again it could look to busy, but it is something that can be played with.

I just keep thinking of that "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" airport scene where the filmmakers dressed up the old Art Deco seaplane terminal at Treasure Island with lofty signage to look like the Art Deco "Berlin Flughafen." It must be the long march of windows and pilasters both buildings share.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Swiss_Canadian:  Thanks!  I think Woolworth's is too big of a store for those retail spaces.

Sim Shady:  Thanks!  A barber shop wouldn't be bad.

Ardecila:  A restaurant and jeweler would be good.  A club wouldn't be bad either.  It's funny that you read the signs.  Other signs are: "Draper's Drapes" "Lady Items" "Posh Potatoes" (I plan to make a full building for that name), "Wilson's" "Modern Gifts" and "Good Food".  You can see why I asked for ideas, lol.

David1314:  I see what you mean now.  I'll think about doing it, but I don't really want to get into anything complicated.  I'm not sure if I even want to make anything more than one version now, since I wanted this to be completely done last week.

YoshiIsland:  Thanks!

Scipio:  Be ambitious. 

Paulvomontfort:  Thanks, lol.  I just do what's in the tutorials in my signature. 

Scipio:  Yeah, different styles I guess, I like it being clean, lol.  There is some weathering where the copper meets the limstone, but it didn't show up very well, I'll go back and make it more visible.

Odainsaker:  Thanks!  I'll give the sign a shot.  If I can make the sign tasteful, and also keep the station anonymous (for the game's sake), I'll keep it.  My building and the "Nazi" building are VERY similar, thanks for sharing that with me.

I've done some more work on the station, but not anything worth showing.  But I really want to finish this up quickly, before I go back to school (Sunday), so I'd like to have it completely done and uploaded by then.  I'd like to move on to other projects (mostly BSP).

[bbfan02 23]

That picture of the lot looks fantastic! Looking forward to the finished product!