Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Interesting lighting. I'm still not used to the night "squiggles" on any building's glass. Not saying they should be removed, though. It's interesting how reflective this thing can be.

Looking at the plaza again, I think it could have some more contrast in it. Well, mainly the planters. They look almost like a solid white-ish grey color at night.

I gotta give you kuddos for how much detail you put into that plaza. It's probably going to be one of the most detailed on the STEX!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Yes, It is different. I like it.

[SimFox 801]

It looks fab. I think you just may have cracked the totally reflective glass building, at least of this size.

I really like the plaza. But tables are a bit too big... If you are in a big Chinese restaurant and this is table to set well, say 8. but fir the such an open air place they are a bit too big. And too spread. They don't seem to belong to any place in particular.

Trees are lovely but the sort of spotted material although creates busy illusion it also a bit robes overall definition of shape. Of course this is only applicable if there is one that is distinctive enough.

I love the planters they are an embodiment of brutalism! Hedges/bushes are great but they may get a bit extra boost if you set them to generate black FG - if you haven't done that already. Actually they bay benefit too from spotted leaf material.

All-in-all day scene look great. You may, but that depends very much on a feel you are going for, make it a bit lively by increasing contrasts in your materials, and hence effective lighting. Especially withing the plaza. Somethign like that :

You should really be afraid about getting too bright. You wouldn't, really. Gamma Correction in LtbL will not generally allow overblown spots.

Night view is great. There is only one spot that I think really need the "fixed" - the washer rails. The are way to reflective and too glossy reflective at that, almost morror like. Of course it could be just th the things they are reflective are too bright, none the less it looks wrong. You can just reduce, or remove reflectivity form material in the night scene altogether.

One a bit confusing spot are th lower windows on the tower. Usually in such a glazing setup one piece (the whole piece) would be a window while other (vertically speaking) would cover everything and anything between them. In your building it is like those TVs they are like those TVs you find in fancy hotels nowadays - normally in bathrooms - hidden behind the mirror (suppose to be invisible till turned on). they sit a bit too much at the center of the glass unit. Although technically possible,at least nowadays, it is much more expensive... And I doubt it would have been built in the day and age the building supposedly represent... I think these sort of things are really importatn expressive elements and one should be using them carefully. You can create futuristic building like that...

All that said, it is a great work and would be eagerly awaiting it's release with or without any alterations.

PS here is comparison :

[Jack_wilds 550]

... I like it, its all good... are there stair tower court yard corner has upper- lower doors, entry lights and also a door or side-lite window

like SF's notions for the trees/bushes and the lower windows area -as for the rest I can't really tell if there is a notable distinction but between my eyes my graphics board and LCD monitor anything could be 'cloudy' the change

No hot-dog stand?? everyone goes hungry for lunch break, huh... (its ok I ain't hear broke; I'll just do a delivery)

I also like the planters and the benches... angles and imagined textures I can almost imagine being there...

I am wondering about the planters that maybe a ever so slight beige or off white could be applied to make the shapes pop better, the night shots make the planters almost appear 'smashed' into the floor... but that could be just me...

I think its coming along well and is nearing the calling it good phase... whatever you have in mind to do I'm sure it'll be good

as for the 'perfect naming'.... how 70-80ish do you want the name?

perhaps... "llama Plaza Office Suites", "Maple-wood Center", "Paradigm Office Tower", "Modern Commerce Center", or maybe

"Trident Center"...

[citiesxlfan42 27]

That's really nice, Jason! The plaza reminds me of the 211 Ford St. BAT's underground parking. It's nice!

I love the nightlighting in the plaza, it's seems warm and invites people into the plaza. A suggestion is a hot dog stand (like said above by jack_wilds) and maybe some shops like this and this. These are from Washington DC.

As for the nightlighting on the building, it seems too patchworked and not random enough. And the way they are centered, you must have HUGELY THICK ceilings. Maybe a smidge bigger for the squares, and I see the ligts are in "2-packs", so maybe on a few, you should take out one of the squares. It's looking amazing though, and I love the reflection on the glass. Awesome job!

[Slashback 136]

It looks fabulous! I'm just curious, how did you make the "blurry" mirror effect on the glass building?

[gutterclub 2,729]

Tutorial on totally reflective buildings in your bat blog...please?

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Well, it's exported and here it is! 

At night some of the lobby window mullions aren't showing up very well (I don't know why, it has something to do with the transparent plane which makes the plaza visible to the camera), and I'm just going to go in and edit the .fsh.

I plopped the building around a lot in my cities and I'm surpised at how well it integrates in the game, and how good it looks in general.

I'll write a tutorial about this BAT in my blog. 

[Ke|is 3,333]

OMG, I like so much the textures !

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

WOW!!! Its finish, now all I have to do is to get ready to download it when it is uploaded.

[mben92 9]

ZOMG!! It looks stunning. I can't wait to download this when it is up on the STEX.

[madhatter106 3,903]

The glass reflection of the plaza is stunning. Utterly amazing, and an inspiration to anyone looking to do this sort of BAT.

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

There won't be a hot dog cart, and signage depends on what the name will be. quote>

Looks good though!

[Jack_wilds 550]

...luv it, well done    -can't wait to be able to study it closer, I think a 3-quacker rubber ducky award is in order

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Very, very nice.

[x493x 446]

Amazing night-lighting on that tower. I've never seen BATs show reflections before.

[mattb325 28,880]

Jason - this has been a great exercise to watch this building unfold and most importantly, the day view looks spectacular in-game!  I really like how the road is the demarkation between the clarity of the paza and the blurriness of the general SimCity scape that is hinted at 

[citiesxlfan42 27]

I love the building, Jason. I know it's finished, but I thought a suggestion, maybe for a different BAT or even this one, would be to have realistic storefront along, using this BAT as an example, the plaza and those areas on the sides. Like cafe's with canopies, hotels (with larger scale BATS) with canopies, and stores with realistic signs and canopies. Maxis really lacked realistic storefronts. Just a suggestion for the future.

Great work. Keep it up!

[LivingInThePast 364]

The reflection would be a bit problematic if the street view looked nothing like what was reflected.....

[fabricio83tst 27]

@ jason: Can you say me wich material and effects have you used to make reflection on glasses of your building?! I think it's a kind of raytrace and reflect or refraction! it's so amazing!!! Realy nice model!!!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

The raytrace material is out of date (to be honest, I think that omnibus tutorial should be removed), instead use the arch & design material. Change the reflectivity to 1 (the maximum amount of reflectivity), and glossiness to 1 (so you have clear, non-blurry reflections).

There's more to it than that though. I've been planning on writing a tutorial for my blog, which will explain that building's glass material. Until then you can read the discussion in this thread about the glass, it might be insightful.

[fabricio83tst 27]

The reflections on uour building are realy the bests i have ever see, but there's too a kind of light distorsion on reflections i think so realistic!! And your building is realy nice architecture model!!! It will be on my city!!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks! The distortion in the reflections is because of a bump map.

That building (which will be called "Gardener Center") is done and is just needs to be modded. It should be on the STEX this month.

[fabricio83tst 27]

Jason can you see my thread an maybe help me with a few issues!! I wrote on these topics and noones answer me!! bat compendium of information, on mine own and on bat4max4.5!! Sorry to write here and disturb you, but a good batter like you can solve my problems may!!;-)!!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Hey guys, I've made a tutorial about the glass in my Gardener Center BAT (which should be released relatively soon) in my blog. A few weeks ago I did one about self illuminated night glass.

fabricio83tst: I don't know specifically what's wrong with your BAT, but it does look like it has to do with your LODs, as well as what parts of your building are above ground and underground.

[Slashback 136]

I must say that your work is amazing, no doubt about that.

[fabricio83tst 27]

Jason i saw your blog when it was released!! Congratulations it's good for who is starting!!! And i'm waiting for the glass arch&design tutorial!! For my problem it's the problem it's'nt ground and underground!!! It is straight on the floor!! See the link: https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=37&threadid=112233&STARTPAGE=8&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linearlastunread

[NBAFAN1 28]

Your buildings are great! Now to make room in my city to place them.

[Eldaldo 1]

I came here to just personally tell you that you are probably my favorite BATter. I use almost every single building you've made in my cities (specifically the older ones), and whenever i see one grow it is such a great occasion. Keep up the good work! I eagerly await every release!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys!  I appreciate the kind words. 

I guess I'll take this opportunity to say that all of my BATs are on hold right now as I work on some non-SimCity projects.  Originally I was going to have 1001 Woodward, The Kean, and The Pavlion done and released by the end of 2010, but instead I'll resume work on them in early 2011.  But none of them have much work left on them so once I get working on them again they shouldn't take too long.  After those I'd like to finally finish the Penobscot Building.

But a few weeks ago I did BAT for a few hours and started out an I-HT building.  There's an office portion with wood brise soleil, set on top of the green-roofed, sky-lighted base which is the production area.  The base is sunken into the ground, and in the back (not shown) there is/will be a big ramp loading area type thing.  The front entrance actually has some stairs which lead down to the ground floor, but it'll be easier to see that when there are rails.

The design is still being worked out, except for the office part.  The green roof will have some paths and patio space, plus a little bit of utility type stuff.