Chicago BAT Project

[Francis90b 748]

This side:

That looks towards south, towards the river and 333 N mich.

EDIT: Noticed this:

Would you mind to check it while you fix the sash windows?

  Edited July 6, 2012 by Francis90b  

[darn42 1,268]

Not sure what the problem is that you just showed :S

[kellydale2003 2,276]

Hey guys!

Awesome work here! Really loving it so far! As of most of you know... I'm back! And I'm here delivering a kind message to the Chicago Bat Project Team Members!...

KEEP YOUR DIRTY PAWS OFF THESE BUILDINGS!! :b

No, but really... These buildings are already built in 3dsmax, and they're not finished. So just a heads up! And the reason why the Wrigley Building, River Plaza, Marina City Towers, 330 North Wabash Building, and Trump's Chicago International Hotel & Tower are being built is to influence Trump's tower!

If you didn't know, Trump's International Hotel & Tower has Set-backs in the tower (Like podiums)... And each podium represents a building that surrounds it. Therefore the influential height is succeeded by a building nearby, therefore I thought it would be cool to BAT the other buildings the octopie I am with buildings! Sure I have a lot of projects, but they get done eventually.... sometimes all at once, sometimes too long! But just a heads up just so we don't go BATting the same buildings!

Trump Chicago is already in the nightlighting process, one lucky Simtropolis Member is testing the building and hasn't replied yet... But if you're willing to make a contribution to any of these buildings in anyway I'd be happy to give some credit to the Chicago Bat Team!

, kellydale2003

ps; If you're looking for good textures... Try "Stones" by Arroway Textures!

[IL. 1,043]

That building reminds me of the the world's tallest tower in dubai

[darn42 1,268]

Ok, I'll remember that kelly. I look forward to your BATs. I was going to BAT most of those eventually but I don't mind letting you take them.

The terraces on trump tower are really why I like it so much. I had a chance to go and "eat" at the 16th floor's terrace grill. Seeing the wrigley building and tribune tower at eye level is a really awe inspiring view. The other awe inspiring view was the prices... The most expensive thing on the menu was a 295 dollar lobster entree... My six dollar coke that I got there was worth it though

  Edited July 6, 2012 by darn42  

[Francis90b 748]

I took the old pic, and edited it a bit.Each colour represents a problem.

[darn42 1,268]

Wow, so in depth I can easily fix pretty much all of those. Thanks. I'll work on that once I'm done with the bit I'm working on now for another part of my tutorials.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Btw, did I get it right that kellydale2003 is about to join our team. Or at least, some kind of joining.

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Some small progress to keep this thread alive and to show you what I'm working on after the Merchandise Mart was put off:

I know this isn't much but at least better than nothing.

Comments are welcome!

Thanks to darn for supporting me as well as possible!

[Kevenbro 94]

it's a good start bro.

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

it's a good start bro.

Yeah bro.

[darn42 1,268]

Hey guys. Got distracted for a bit but I'm back working on tribune tower.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about buying zbrush... but it's 700 dollars... I believe that they give free updates to people who already own it so getting it now wouldn't hurt me. I got sculptris the free dumbed down version (comparable to gmax) and tested it out and loved it.

I did that as a sculpt. But the full version can do a lot more than that and the tools in the full version are ridicidonkulously cool.

What are all your thoughts on it? Should I get it or no?

Note: I plan on making 3d modeling my career eventually.

[darn42 1,268]

Here's an update on tribune that's taken way too long for me to start >.> Updated the arched windows with the changes aaron pointed out and made the main facade windows sash windows. The annexed part still has the plain plane windows I have to say, it looks a lot better with sash windows.

[darn42 1,268]

Another update on tribune. Fixed the facade above the terrace to be more accurate to real life and added the "orange circles"

Decided to start something new as well. Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House.

It's still in very initial stages. I spent a long time to get the proportions right with the roof. My plan for this is to create a nice BAT and, hopefully, a photorealistic perspective render.

  Edited July 11, 2012 by darn42  

[Sgt Pepper 864]

That Tribune Tower...those details...

Is it just me or is that the textures seem too saturated a tad? Or is it something different with the Gamma settings(something I don't really know about but heard about it being an issue with the appearance of textures on a building in 3ds. Max)?

Just me thinking on it. It looks fantastic though.

[Amthaak 1,501]

It's getting better all the time! I agree with Sgt Pepper, i.e. the green ground (according to the pic provided by Fran) should be less saturated/lighter (easy to fix...!)

Zbrush seems to be very interesting for sculpting and I think you 'll have a brilliant future on making a 3 d modeling career.

[Francis90b 748]

I have the last three points to make about modelling - but, remember the last words i want to say about that - if you weren't doing an excellent job, then i couldn't find anything wrong with it....it sounds nonsensical, but it's true, things are far easier to notice on a great model than in a sloppy one.

1) So, concerning the area between the main tower mass and the rectangular annex:

2)Concerning the second crown:

3)Concerning window depht around the building:

What does it mean "window depht"?

I define "window depht" as the distance between the line of the facade and the line of the window frame - look at the pic.

This model has it's three windows placed at three different dephts.

That's always a tricky one - window depht can really alter the feel of a building, from the humblest building to the biggest one.In the end, it's a matter of fine-tuning and "feel" - but it's a key one.

My thoughts are those:

3a) The sash windows you just modelled should be placed less deep inside the building.I'd guess that half of the current depht would work.

3b)The arch windows above the sash windows - that you also had to modify recently - should be sligtly less deep than what they are now - but be subtle with that, they should be still the windows that are the most deep inside the building.

3c)The windows on the crown, that is those who are separated by the butresses, should be placed slightly more deep inside the building - but be subtle with this as well - they should not feel deeper than the arch windows i've mentioned before.

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Francis90b  

[paulvmontfort 616]

Darn, first of all, spectacular work as always. Second, I think I have plans and sections of the Robie House in dwg format. They came on a cd with the book Key Houses of the Twentieth Century by Colin Davies. I'm not allowed to publish them because of copyrights ofcourse, but I could convert them to .Max files and mail them to you if you'd like

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

I have the last three points to make about modelling - but, remember the last words i want to say about that - if you weren't doing an excellent job, then i couldn't find anything wrong with it....it sounds nonsensical, but it's true, things are far easier to notice on a great model than in a sloppy one.

1) So, concerning the area between the main tower mass and the rectangular annex:

2)Concerning the second crown:

3)Concerning window depht around the building:

That's always a tricky one - window depht can really alter the feel of a building, from the humblest building to the biggest one.

My thoughts are those, i'm speaking of the windows looking from ground up.

The sash windows you just modelled should be placed less deep inside the building.I'd guess that half of the current depht would work.

The arch windows above the sash windows - that you also had to modify recently - should be sligtly less deep than what they are now - but be subtle with that, they should be still the windows that are the most deep inside the building.

The (large) windows on the crown, that is those who are separated by the butresses, should be placed slightly more inside the building - but be subtle with this as well - they should not feel deeper than the arch windows i've mentioned before.

What does it mean "window depht"?

Let me show this with this example:

In the end, it's a matter of fine-tuning and feel - but it's a key one.

Thanks for your huge efforts on this thread, francis

  Edited July 11, 2012 by skyscraper241  

[Francis90b 748]

Thanks for your huge efforts on this thread, francis

BTW, you're doing this:

right?

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Francis90b  

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

I posted in my BAT thread earlier that im giving up BATing for now and i have. Ive been doing tutorials the past few days to learn more about architectural rendering I learnerd some things from the tutoirals, but not as much as I wanted to, so im going to start just doing things on my own after work today, then only looking at tutorials if i need to.

I know im going to get bored of doing portfolio work, so i will BAT when i get bored of the actual portfolio stuff. Im going to try and finsih the concert hall and tower first, but if ever get around to it, i would like the make the older building i made for class be an actual building somewhere.

This is the building i made for class (wihtout textures i added thoose later)

Obviously its highly unrealistic, this is just the wall as it is on the original building

Im pretty sure i will make the building like the original if i ever get around to it (i could learn some modeling stuff from it so it wouldnt be a complete loss) but is there anything in Chicago that looks like that wall? Or just a goverment or school building somewhere that looks like it?

Im just trying to figure out what to do with this building if i ever get to it.

Oh and just so you know, its Cass Tech in Detirot:

[Francis90b 748]

The ward memorial building:

is the first one that comes to my mind - but to be honest i don't know much about Chicago, so it would be more correct to say it's also the only one that comes to my mind .

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Francis90b  

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Thanks for your huge efforts on this thread, francis

BTW, you're doing this:

right?

Exactly. I would be interested in where you get your pics. I can't imagine you simply google them.

[darn42 1,268]

Wow, so observant! Francis you could make a living as a critic I would never have noticed ANY of the stuff you just told me about lol. I'll get on it soon. Seriously, thanks for doing this for us. You really have a skill, a skill most people wouldn't notice as a skill, but here gosh darn you are a cut above the rest.

Darn, first of all, spectacular work as always. Second, I think I have plans and sections of the Robie House in dwg format. They came on a cd with the book Key Houses of the Twentieth Century by Colin Davies. I'm not allowed to publish them because of copyrights ofcourse, but I could convert them to .Max files and mail them to you if you'd like

Would that be a 3d model of them? or would that be blueprints. Either way I would model my own of course Anyways, I'd love if you could email me them so I could take a peek around and get a feel for the building. My mom and I are going to ride from oak park down to chicago for a Frank Lloyd Wright adventure soon so I'll be able to see a lot of cool FLW houses.

[Francis90b 748]

I would like to tell you two a tale...so, that's from where I started :

After melting down my hard disk and losing everything i was working on, i' ve decided to re-start bating as soon as i could.

Below you can see my first project after the meltdown.It's a mid-rise office tower inspired by a building i've seen in Detroit, as well as from the BATs of two of my favourite BATers, the BSP team and JBSimio (on SC4D).It will sit on a 2x2 corner lot, it will have a small back alley on one side and will be partly W2W .

I've dedicated it to John Steinbeck, my favourite american writer.So, here's to you the Steinbeck building.

Below you can see the side that will have the back alley.I still need to figure out how to model the fire-escapes (they will be put inside the small recession in this side of the building), but otherwise i can consider the modelling stage finished.

Here you can see the W2W side:

You may think that these textures are still beta.That's right.I need to refine them until they will look good.But even now you can have a rough idea about the building's final appearence.

Amthaak:Glad to see your post as the first reply!Very kind post, thanks a lot!

Jasoncw:This is the building i was inspired by.I hate the glass addition as well as the postmodern-looking base, but the rest was so beautiful that i simply couldn't resist.I think we need more of these on the STEX.

I don't really want a postmodern look, and i think that the base clash wiht the style of the rest of the building.So i will change it.

Ah, yes, that is the building I was thinking of.

I didn't mean that the building in Detroit was postmodern, but your building is postmodern looking.

The building's current base isn't the original base, but it is reasonable. Also, as you can imagine, the cornice and other ornament was removed from the building. The glass part is a glassed in light well. The building is actually a U shape. Here is a photo I found of the building a few decades after it was built.

Jasoncw:Speaking about postmodern i meant that the base and the glass addition seems like postmodern modifications of an historic builiding.Thank you very much for the photo, but i think i will use something different, i prefer something with more straight lines.Do you find anything else that looks postmodern in my building?

I say your building looks postmodern because there's really nothing about it that is historically accurate. But there are a lot of aspects about your building which are references to historical buildings, but are still not historical themselves.

Ok, could you be so kind to make me better understand where improves are needed?

I' ve spent a few hours in trying to figure it myself, but with my lack of knowledge i simply don't know what to do.

Perhaps a picture could help me better than a thousand words.

Yeah, there was a time i was not very observant - and i developed it because i needed it for BATing and architecture courses.

Everyone could do this, given some time and practice.

Skyscraper241, i just google my pics, believe me .

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Francis90b  

[gutterclub 2,729]

I still think the bricks are too browny/orange when if you look at most pics of the tower, on your average clear day they are a lot greyer and lighter. I put your Tower model into photoshop and played around the dropper and the colour was various shades of a brown colour, I put the below example in and it gave various shades of grey.

I did 2 quick renders, not entirely sure what they prove as i'm no expert, a shade of your bricks on the leftand what I think it should be on the right

As Francis pointed out I think the main windows sit a little deep, also you'll need to add some variation and add blinds etc...

Lastly I also think the bricks still need a little more contrast and a little bit of weathering. Please don't feel like i'm knocking it, and I'm both a novice with photoshop and max, I'm just trying to get across how I think it would look best in game..it's great work already

  Edited July 11, 2012 by gutterclub  

[darn42 1,268]

I haven't actually worked on my bricks since the last time I've shown progress with texturing :s The one on the right seems a bit too pink imo, but I can still make it lighter. Though I think what is making it seem yellow might actually be the sun, I'm going to make the sun's color neutral and do a rerender.

[gutterclub 2,729]

Well ideally you shouldn't need to change the sun settings as the rig should do that for you, all you should need to do is adjust the textures accordingly. You'll find that the game itself does have a tint of pink to a lot of the buildings, especially the lighter buildings. All you'll need to do is keep dropping it into a screen shot to see how its coming along..but yeah, it's your baby so go with whatever you feel best with.

[darn42 1,268]

Just did a z4 for this, don't feel like waiting for a render. I turned the suns red tint to 0 and lowered the gamma setting by .1 I think the color is a bit too washed out now tbh. I think I'm going to keep it how it was in terms of texture base color.

  Edited July 11, 2012 by darn42  

[Francis90b 748]

I would second what Gutterclub said - it's not exactly a good idea to change settings like sun, etc.

Things like BAT4max were set to re-create game environment, and by altering them it's easier to get something it would not fit it.

Other than this, you should really compare it to in-game environment....take some screenshots in your city, then paste your building in them, and see how it looks.

  Edited July 11, 2012 by Francis90b