Jason's BATs & Tutorials

[Girafe 1,729]

Looks good, I would say that BNF in Paris would be a georgeous addition to Paris set

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So update time:

The 1x3/3x1 is actually all done, I just need to make the menu icons, menu description, and STEX images/description.

But today I've started a new building, another quickie. It's a 2x3 CO$$$, for the New York tileset.

In a thread in the NYBT forum Cogeo asked about BATs of a certain tileset/stage/occupancy which there are few of, Marshall Printing being one of them, which grows a ton in my cities. So I've whipped this up.

The facades are mostly done (maybe some more texture tweaking). The main stuff left is the roof, and the alley.

[Chris M 406]

Looks great! Looking forward to seeing this and the 1x3 one on the STEX.

[gutterclub 2,729]

Jeez, it's insane how your 'quickies' are way better than most peoples 'slowies'. Great work..

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Yes, I remember his post. Looks really great! I know this isn't the most constructive comment but what else is there to write?

[Sgt Pepper 864]

That's an amazing looking little structure you got there Jason! Beautiful.

How long did it take you to whip up such a gem? It took me most of a night to make this kind of modern International styled building at only around 20 something stories(I haven't showed it in my thread yet but I plan on to). Just curious. I would guess that 3ds. max has easier ways to make facades in a matter of minutes, compared to the amount of time something could be created in Gmax.

Always good to see some BAT's from you. Hope to see more and these two beauties on the STEX.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys

Sgt Pepper: I think it took around 9 hours. I was really productive. Usually I don't BAT that fast with these results, but I was in the right mood and knew what I wanted to make and was able to just do it. I think since the first preview I posted I've worked on it another 9 hours, but it's been more boring tedious stuff, so that's why it's going slower

So here's where it's at now.

There's also going to be a 2x4 version, which will be the same except it will be an H shape instead of a T shape.

[madhatter106 3,903]

On my best day, I wish I could BAT half as good as you...!

[Sgt Pepper 864]

I can completely understand how tedious it takes! I can BAT pretty fast in the right mood as well, I usually tend to be really slow though in a way where I don't get a lot done, but enough. 9 hours? All that time surely shows though!

I love this building. It's a perfect size, and it'd be great competition with Marshal Printing. And you plan to have a second version with the H-plan shape? Very nice. I'd love to use both.

I like the shape of the entrance, and how it has a similar design on the penthouse as well. Of course, I like everything else on it to.

BTW Madhatter you BAT exceptionally. ;D

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Sgt Pepper  

[darn42 1,268]

Agreed, I think most of us wish we could BAT that well. What I really wish I could do was texture like that >.> The texturing looks spectacular. I'm jealous of those skills.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

I agrre with darn. Of course, modelling is great and really important, but what makes the buidling look good are the textures and that's what Jason is really good in.

My opinion

[gutterclub 2,729]

Jasons great ability is that he understands Architecture, but that he also understands the game, the scale and ultimately what pallete works..this is the reason that despite great modelling skills, every single one of his BAT's looks like it belongs in the game and never stands out..

Anyway, enough praise..get back to work and release something SOON

[Gn_leugim 853]

Got'a love that brick texture well done in the overall

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I have missed so much. I am a fan of Jasoncw and don't you forget it, I am happy to see you batting again and this one has a water tower, I like it.

[Vlasky 1,803]

Adorable little building. I'd only suggest adding 5-10 floors to the original structure and adding up to the structure that encompasses the watertower, just to spice it up. But, surely, it's only an idea/suggestion, nothing more. It's good as it is.

Anyhow I'll illustrate what I was talking about:

And your building oddly reminds me of this one. Not even sure why:

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I do agree with you Vlasky, or Jason can make two versions.

  Edited July 16, 2012 by Aaron Graham  

[Francis90b 748]

I would disagree...i'd keep it as it is, and maybe design something that's specifically thought to be of 20 floors rather than 10 at a second moment.

  Edited July 16, 2012 by Francis90b  

[gutterclub 2,729]

I agree with Francis, I think Jason's thinking was inspired by Cogeo's thread with regards to lack of midrise New York tileset 2x3 buildings and I think the way this is designed fits that just perfectly.

[cogeo 960]

Hi Jason,

I just saw your BAT on the STEX. It's definitely an excellent model, and will complement the NY tileset well!!! And a Marshall Printing competitor was badly needed, as this building grows en masse, esp if you limit the tileset to NY only.

I also checked the lotting and modding work and I have some comments to make, concerning its role as a "Marshall Printing competitor" and its integration witn Maxis content in general:

- First off, the shape of the building is way too different, yours is T-shaped and W2W. It's also noticably lower. Not that it should be similar (the goal here is to provide some visual differentation after all), but please take into account that a) not all players build W2W areas, and b) these buildings are the "largest midrises" - the largest that can grow on medium-density zones and it would be best to have a set of similarly-sized (but different-looking) buildings, to achieve a good aesthetical result.

- Yours offers some more jobs, but not a lot more though. I think this is OK, however the game will tend to choose yours when demand is higher, and Marshall when it somehow softens. This is acceptable too imo.

- You have set the growth stage to 5, however the stage for Marshall (for the 2x3 lot) is 6, and it offers fewer jobs too. This is wrong of course, as the ingame stage-5 2x3 lots have much smaller buildings like Modde Inc, Curtin Fabrics and Kearney LLC, with only 77 jobs. This means that the game will rather tend to overgrow yours instead of choosing Marshall (this will only be chosen when the simulator decides to grow a stage-6 building but demand isn't high enough to grow yours). Also, Modde, Curtin etc won't be upgraded to yours because they are the same stage. And once grown, it will only be possible to be upgraded to a stage-7 lot, because the one and only available at stage 6 has fewer jobs.

- Other/secondary stats are in general in line with the Maxis ones (with minor differences). Building value (relates to taxes paid) is a little off, Water consumption and pollution are way off.

- A stage-7 2x2 lot is missing, but this is obviously due to the model's size.

So, I would suggest the following:

- Fix the growth stage thingy.

- A small request please (I say "small" because making this BAT from scratch took you only 9 hours ): could you please make a derivative out of this model, that will match Marshall more in size? I mean remove the back part (the "stem" of the T), add some few extra storeys and slightly narrow it so that's not W2W. Marshall's width is ca 30m, although the rightmost vertex is at +15.65, which means a width of more than 31m (this is the LOD width though). If you match the depth too, the building could be included in the Marshall's family and grow in the Maxis lots. This means no lotting work, ie the download would only contain the model and the bulding exemplar. It would also be best to change the texture (talking about the derivative only), not that it's not good, but only to avoid the "derivative" look (I would wish to use both BATs in my cities ). I'm offering to do the modding part.

Please consider my suggestions above.

Regards, and many thanks!

  Edited August 14, 2012 by cogeo  

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So I'm all done uploading for now, so if anyone was still anticipating another upload you can relax now. I do have another batch of WIPs to finish up, and I'll be working on them, but I'm not sure when they'll be finished.

I had a hard time coming up with a name for Anthony Bikes. It was based on a building in Seattle (http://goo.gl/maps/t1EMY), which looked a little plain as it was, so I turned it into a bike shop. I don't know anything about bikes and I can barely ride one myself, and when I looked through wikipedia for important figures in the development of bicycles I didn't find any names that I liked.

But while searching google I did run into a nice quote by Susan B. Anthony:

"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."

Which also reminded me of this (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=331) webcomic. There's a lot of really interesting history behind the bicycle and the effects it had on society, especially before the automobile came along. So that's why it's called Anthony Bikes!

Cogeo:

Hi

- First off, the shape of the building is way too different, yours is T-shaped and W2W. It's also noticably lower. Not that it should be similar (the goal here is to provide some visual differentation after all), but please take into account that a) not all players build W2W areas, and b) these buildings are the "largest midrises" - the largest that can grow on medium-density zones and it would be best to have a set of similarly-sized (but different-looking) buildings, to achieve a good aesthetical result.

It is T-shaped so that the back of the T would go to the back of the lot. If it were rectangular the entire back of the lot would be empty which doesn't make sense for an art deco building. And since the building was deeper, in order to have the same mass as Marshall's it would need to be shorter (unfortunately it still has more mass/jobs than Marshall's because making it any shorter it would have made the height problem even worse).

The T shape is also a common one for art deco midrises in small towns. If it were a bigger city an art deco building of this size would probably be an H or a [ or an O.

I was also mindful that this would be next to shorter buildings by making sure that each end of the tower had a narrow facade with ornamentation and windows, to have a tower-like appearance from different angles. Normally the wall to wall parts would have less windows and less ornamentation.

Art deco buildings are literally almost always wall to wall. The only exception is for alley ways, and for buildings which take up the entire block. Having an art deco building like this not be wall to wall would be like having a Parisian building (like the ones porkissimo and xannepan make) not be wall to wall.

- Yours offers some more jobs, but not a lot more though. I think this is OK, however the game will tend to choose yours when demand is higher, and Marshall when it somehow softens. This is acceptable too imo.

Yeah, unfortunately the way the massing worked out my building turned out to be bigger. I was thinking that as long as it was in the ballpark, it would flesh out the building selection enough to compete with Marshall.

- You have set the growth stage to 5, however the stage for Marshall (for the 2x3 lot) is 6, and it offers fewer jobs too. This is wrong of course, as the ingame stage-5 2x3 lots have much smaller buildings like Modde Inc, Curtin Fabrics and Kearney LLC, with only 77 jobs. This means that the game will rather tend to overgrow yours instead of choosing Marshall (this will only be chosen when the simulator decides to grow a stage-6 building but demand isn't high enough to grow yours). Also, Modde, Curtin etc won't be upgraded to yours because they are the same stage. And once grown, it will only be possible to be upgraded to a stage-7 lot, because the one and only available at stage 6 has fewer jobs.

For some reason when I checked I thought Marshall was a stage 4. I don't know why I thought that. I was actually worried because PIMX thought that it should be a stage 6 (and it was right!) and it only lets you make it one stage higher or lower, so I made it lower.

- Other/secondary stats are in general in line with the Maxis ones (with minor differences). Building value (relates to taxes paid) is a little off, Water consumption and pollution are way off.

These were all generated by the PIMX. I hope the differences come down to Maxis's inconsistency and not PIMX's equations.

- A stage-7 2x2 lot is missing, but this is obviously due to the model's size.

Marshall Printing only takes up part of the lot. You could probably double the number of jobs by making a BAT that filled out the lot more, without changing the height very much. And in real life, even 30+ story 2x2s are not uncommon. So it could definitely be done and be architecturally plausible, but I don't know how the game would like it.

So, I would suggest the following:

- Fix the growth stage thingy.

I'll go and fix this. An updated version should be on the STEX tomorrow.

- A small request please (I say "small" because making this BAT from scratch took you only 9 hours ): could you please make a derivative out of this model, that will match Marshall more in size? I mean remove the back part (the "stem" of the T), add some few extra storeys and slightly narrow it so that's not W2W. Marshall's width is ca 30m, although the rightmost vertex is at +15.65, which means a width of more than 31m (this is the LOD width though). If you match the depth too, the building could be included in the Marshall's family and grow in the Maxis lots. This means no lotting work, ie the download would only contain the model and the bulding exemplar. It would also be best to change the texture (talking about the derivative only), not that it's not good, but only to avoid the "derivative" look (I would wish to use both BATs in my cities ). I'm offering to do the modding part.

I don't think I'll be doing this because I don't like the Maxis lotting, lol. The fact that I like the buildings themselves, and that I'm too picky to have enough BATs to build a city with, are the only things stopping me from downloading a Maxis blocker. I think it makes a lot of sense to take advantage of the building family system Maxis made, and it makes a lot of sense for the game in general, but if I saw one of my BATs on a Maxis lot I would be sad.

[SimCoug 5,972]

Thanks for the latest release of BATs - Like Christmas in August. I really like Anthony's Bikes, and now that I know the back story, It is even better. Thanks again!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So guys, my internet was out for the last few days. 3ds Max and Photoshop don't need the internet so I spent a lot of the time BATing. But finding reference material for BATing does need the internet, so I dug out an old WIP that I wouldn't need to google reference images for.

It's pretty much done. I'm going to add a bit of signage, and maybe a few more details around the loading bays.

It will be a 6x6 I-HT.

[art128 4,618]

I love it. Really nice looking.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

I don't know what the heck that building is supposed to be.... but I love it!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Great to see you back, Jason!

Too bad your internet was down, hope you solved/ will solve the problem!

The BAT looks awesome, as always. I like how each tile looks different. And those black lines, I guess they are supposed some kind of rails or so, are looing

Maybe one more tutorial

[mattb325 28,880]

Excellent - it's really good to see some more uniquely designed IHT buildings; the green roof is really nifty

  Edited October 17, 2012 by mattb325  

[MTT9 187]

You sir, are incredibly awesome

How did you made that green roof?

[sejr99999 8,336]

thank you for creating a green IHT building looks very interesting and imaginative

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Thanks guys.

Later I'll do a tutorial for the green roof.

Are there any other parts of this building (or any of my buildings for that matter) that anyone would like a tutorial for? The more specific, the easier it will be for me to put together the tutorials.

[harishna 847]

Lovely! I wish you have restricted internet access more often