Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Michelle Yukimura 4]

Very nice

glad you were able to get things organized 

was wondering if maybe you could do a tutorial on how to properly add a roof 

or

a tutorial on how to do those mullion/beams that you see on a lot skyscrapers?

 

 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

5 hours ago, Michelle Yukimura said:

Very nice

glad you were able to get things organized 

was wondering if maybe you could do a tutorial on how to properly add a roof 

or

a tutorial on how to do those mullion/beams that you see on a lot skyscrapers?

I'm planning on doing a comprehensive tutorial that shows BATing from start to finish, and during that time I would be doing a roof. I don't think I'll do a tutorial on how to model glass facades because it's so simple, once you know how to model anything you can model those. But if you're working on a BAT and are having trouble with those things I can help you directly instead. 

[Sciurus 323]

15 minutes ago, Jasoncw said:

I'm planning on doing a comprehensive tutorial that shows BATing from start to finish, and during that time I would be doing a roof. I don't think I'll do a tutorial on how to model glass facades because it's so simple, once you know how to model anything you can model those. But if you're working on a BAT and are having trouble with those things I can help you directly instead. 

I didn't answer your answer to me last time on the other thread.. my apologizes. I just didn't know what to say 

But I totally agree with this idea ! I think it can improve my BATting technique and I'm impatient to discover it !

[Michelle Yukimura 4]

I'm patient have been for years in my pursuit to make a BAT

not just BATs but buildings for other games

namely CXL/XXL

i have some basic beginner knowledge from Frex Ceafus 

he was I guess you could say my teacher

though he was still learning himself so we both were kinda new to it, especially me.

But I'd be thrilled to learn more directly from you or someone who has made tons of BATs and still does it

 

is your tutorial going to be video or written with pictures?

though I personally learn better through video and visually 

i suppose I could follow a written tutorial if it explained in detail (it's cool if it's not full detail as long as there's pictorial help) I can fill in the blanks.

 

anyways looking forward to the tutorial and any direct help you give

and a much deserved thank you

best regards 

Michelle aka OmniBLACK

[Jasoncw 11,840]

@Sciurus That's ok.

@Michelle Yukimura If you want to make buildings for the 3d games then my tutorials will not be very useful. My "Deriving Dimensions" tutorial would be helpful but not the other ones. But for making buildings for 3d games you can read tutorials made for other 3d games, which are almost all exactly the same. You need to learn polygon modeling and uvw unwrapping.

You can go to places like https://www.gamedev.net/forums or https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/ or any other countless places online. 

SC4 is different than 3d games because SC4 is pre-rendered images. So making things for SC4 is more like doing architectural visualization or 3d effects in movies. Here's a forum thread where people discuss some movies that were made using mental ray (the same renderer we use for BAT4Max) https://forum.nvidia-arc.com/showthread.php?12546-Have-you-worked-on-a-movie-using-mia_material-Arch-amp-Design-Lemme-know!&s=271668cd790f981c8287fb4ce6d1f7d0 (some superhero movies, harry potter, the matrix, some others). But the other renderers used are similar (if you know how to use one you can learn the others really fast), so if you want to make buildings for SC4 you can learn architectural vizualization or movie stuff. 

[Michelle Yukimura 4]

I meant I have an interest in 3d modeling in general

Simcity 4 BAT and the BAT version for Cities XL/XXL

 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So I was talking to nofunk last night and decided to try to make a really really (like a few hours) fast BAT to upload in time for January. Of course BATs take much longer than that especially because the BAT I started wasn't as simple as it should have been, so I went to bed with a lot done, but it still being unfinished. Then it turned out that there was actually another day left in January than I had thought when I decided to make a fast BAT, so I kept on working on it today and I'll keep on working on it tomorrow, and I'll TRY to finish and upload it tomorrow. 

Needless to say it's turned out amazingly well for a BAT that I started 25 hours ago. I wanted to make a building 3 tiles deep, and because you don't get enough natural light for a building that thick to be an office building I decided to make a department store (why are all of my BATs department stores?). The top floor is a restaurant and the little courtyard is outdoor seating. 

 

For those curious about the Guardian, when I stopped working on it yesterday afternoon I had a good chunk of the base finished. I'll resume work on it on Wednesday, and on either Wednesday or Thursday I'll be at a good spot to do a preview render to share. I'll be posting that in the mipro thread though. 

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

The building looks good, can't wait to see more update.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

All that done within 25 hours? I think you may be a savant!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Jason signature quality... check.
Art Deco... check.
Intricate details... check.
Contrast between ornate front and utilitarian back... check.
Interesting details such as rooftop restaurant... check.

It's a keeper!

[Sciurus 323]

Excellent, juste excellent. Can't wait to see the result ! 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Looks great! Amazing how you did it so fast!

[matias93 7,535]

Superhuman BAT skills and now insane speed?! The building is really great and will surely be a staple of my high streets.

Now, thinking on alternatives, maybe you can reduce the height or even to eliminate the central block of the building to allow for windows on the inside faces that would make for an interesting office or even residential. In place of the central block there could be a low lying translucent roof (to keep the department store programme on the lower stories) or a central garden, on the style of the Barbican Centre in London. Both designs are very common here in Santiago, but with early modernist buildings instead of deco (think on façades akin to the polish BATs).

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks everyone.  

I worked on it a little bit this afternoon but of course it's not possible to finish a BAT so quickly.  

But I did get most of the terracotta textured. Some of the terracotta remains. The terracotta is a bunch of Tiles maps with different uvw maps and stuff to align the lines onto the blocks correctly. I also did the glass. 

Tomorrow I'll be back to working on the Guardian Building, so this will have to wait until later. But it would make sense to finish and release this with the other art deco department store, since they're both art deco department stores (in fact, the file name for this is "newnew department store" with the other one being "new department store" ).

@matias93 The massing on this works and so I won't be messing with it, but I'll keep that in mind for future deep buildings. 

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

I really like the texture you're using on Newnew department store

[matias93 7,535]

That texture looks so real is almost touchable!

I'm not sure if I understood the thing about massing, but guess is that you cannot alter the structure when you have begun to texturise. Anyway, your original concept is great and I'm glad you also like the other idea.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys.  

@matias93 It's not that I couldn't change it, it's that I don't want to spend more time experimenting with solutions to the deep block problem when the problem has already been solved by the current massing. In the time it would take to do that I could apparently BAT most of a new building.  

For the last few years almost almost all of my BATs have been very detailed/accurate recreations, and they've turned out good, but they take a long time, so maybe after finishing my WIPs (although I've now added another to the list...) I should think about doing more of these faster fictional buildings. 

[Diego Del Llano 5,206]

MAN LOOKS AWESOME! I HAVE TO WORK ON MY TEXTURES !!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[madhatter106 3,903]

4 hours ago, Jasoncw said:

For the last few years almost almost all of my BATs have been very detailed/accurate recreations, and they've turned out good, but they take a long time, so maybe after finishing my WIPs (although I've now added another to the list...) I should think about doing more of these faster fictional buildings. 

This is partly why I rarely ever do accurate or full recreations.  BATting time is finite and limited enough as it is; an unfinished and unshared BAT doesn't do much good compared to one that is done and shared and downloaded by many, though not as accurate as one might like...

On one of the film projects I worked on, which was based on a very well-known and highly regarded graphic novel/series, there was an almost slavish dedication to the source material in some aspects.  When asking what the designer wanted, usually the first answer we would get was, "well what does it look like in the graphic novel?"

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Actually @madhatter106 I've felt like I was channeling you while working on it because not only is it a loose recreation (although this one was extremely loose. Yours are closer and when I've bothered to look for the RL buildings I've found them, like for your two recent club buildings), but this is also based on a building from Los Angeles. However I'm not going to release a pack of 20 art deco department stores.

 

So recently the STEX surpassed 20,000 files. When I checked my own and also checked the list in the first page of this thread, I'm at 99. 

So it's appropriate that my 100th upload will be the Guardian Building. It will be the best BAT I've ever made or will ever make.

[Harry's Place 918]

Art deco shopping centers  <3 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I can't believe it's been over a year since this thread has been posted in!

It's because I've been working solely on the Guardian Building. If you follow this thread I hope you've been following the mipro thread as well.

But this weekend I started a new BAT to give myself a bit of a BATing motivation boost. Doing work and seeing immediate progress is motivating, and that's not where the Guardian Building is at at this point.

I've always thought that the little Maxis 1x1 towers were ridiculous, and then one day a few years ago I became aware of this building in Milwaukee. The building is named Hathaway Tower, and it is an honest to goodness real life 1x1 tower.

So here is Hathaway Tower so far. Still very much in progress, but I'm feeling reengergized now, so back to the Guardian.

Soon I'll be starting and posting about more buildings, especially my version of Bluerise Plaza from SC3K. But first things first.

 

[elavery 1,013]

I have a BAT or two in mind for you when you are back to taking requests.

[madhatter106 3,903]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!  I love this little guy!

This is exactly what I was trying to do a while back with one of my midrise office packs - as much as I do like some of the Maxis 1x1 towers, I think we need a lot more of them for the game, as they do tend to repeat a lot (some more than others, depending on the circumstances).  This one is great!  I especially like the roof details, it makes it a bit different and unique.  I'd be curious to see what the other sides look like, as they all seem a bit different.

Glad to see this thread active again.

[Sciurus 323]

It's so cute !  Really nice building !

And about motivation... i totally understand you. Seeing speed results of what you're making is always satisfying and encourages you to build more. Working on big things is ok, but sometimes, doing other projects to think about something else is a good resolution.

Courage Jason, courage ! And go on !

[Jasoncw 11,840]

With the Guardian Building now complete I'm eager to work on other BATs!

Here's the building I last posted about, with some bushes that I added this afternoon.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Brazilian apartments!

[Bastet69008 1,102]

19 minutes ago, Jasoncw said:

Brazilian apartments!

Very nice start Jason

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Another new one!

Can anyone guess what it is?

[EvansRE4 796]

1 hour ago, Jasoncw said:

Another new one!

Can anyone guess what it is?

Gonna guess the Renaissance Centre?