hkabat-forum-threads Hong Kong / Asia BAT team

[toxicpiano 125]

these are all absolutely stunning, please release them at some point if you can!

[mcarch 15]

Yes those are wonderful!  It would be wonderful if you were to finish them and upload them! 

Welcome to Page 10!

[SYM Productions 7]

Very nice Paul!  You're a wizard at BATting!

 

- CDI_spy

[bixel 1,228]

Yeah, I'm kinda helping paulvmontfort out with his renders, turns out he is having some problems. I went ahead and did a render of the Jardine House, I'm not going to post any pictures here (heheh I know you want to see them), but at least this is the explanation as to why paul has like 6 buildings sitting around and no BATs to download. Jardine House is a bit bright so hopefully we can work on getting some good colors on it for the game.

Simcity tends to bleach colors out during the render, so his building was very white.

 

Anyway this is the final render of the Liberte Complex, I corrected some inconsistancies and I am pretty happy with the nite windows. The nitelites however I am not happy with and after 5 renders of fooling around with them which can take hours and hours and hours cause the file is so big I have to wait like 2 minutes while its thinking after I selected something, really is a big pain in the butt, soooo I have no solution as why they are so bleached out. I'm thinking it is becuase I'm using 3DS Max6 for the Liberte.

 

I used 3DS max 5 for Manhattan Heights and we all know the nite lighting on the pool looked absolutely brilliant, so from now on I'm officialy using 3DS Max 5 for all my future projects. So. Liberte is off to shipped to T Wrecks for his genius, and then give or take a couple weeks (or days) it will be avaliable for all of you to enjoy. Cheers!

 

This was such a huge project that I confess there were many pitfalls that I fell into while making this. One of the 1st obvious ones was color coordination and texture application. The reality of it is that the towers (all 7) are not textured at all. They are simply colored, parts of the foundation and all parks and patios are textured and you can see the difference. Working on this building was sooo sluggish becuase of the size that the patience needed to apply textures to every item was just too taxing for me.

 

There was a point where I consider created a motely group of 4 different window textures, to give it that (sims actually live here look) but by the time I came around that idea the windows were already in place, I would have to completely redo the windows a 3rd time, and I was just not in the mood.

 

There was a couple of expereiments I tried on Manhattan Heights that looked marvelous in the 3d scene but didn't seem to translate to the BAT export for the game. For instance I had a subtle gradient slapped onto the entire building that made it look gradually darker towards the bottom and lighter at the top. This looked real cool in the 3d program and gave the building a feel of depth, but unfortunetly the export plugin does not seem to recognise the gradient addition and completely ignored it.

 

My next project I will be working on the Around the Roses: the Portland, Oregon BAT project  , I'm going to try some new texturing techniques and hopefully learn to do even more realistic looking buildings. Since the building I will be doing for the Portland project is considerably smaller it will be easier to use and discard ideas without the hassle of a 75megabite scene puttering away 5minutes at a time.

[paulvmontfort 617]

Great News: Thanks to bixel the Jardine House is rendered. Here are some pics. I'll send it to T Wrecks for modding soon:

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Jardine3.jpg align=baseline>

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Jardine4.jpg align=baseline>

[Alkaola 18]

the building is not my taste but you did a good job on it, well i only advise you doing some extra nitelite but well its ok anyway

[Fantail 0]

wow, wonderful job on the Jardine House, it looks like th real thing.

[HONG KONG 74]

Wow, simply wow! 

Your model looks like a photo of the building.  Extremely good work! This one is particularly important,

because it was the first genuine Skyscraper in HK.  (When completed in 1973 it was the tallest building in Asia)

[SimFox 804]

Great work!! so what was the problem with rendering it in first place.. Just curious as to any problems what may occur and the ways to solve them...

Another question is about proportions. I see you went with 1:1 also on height. So you don't think that using 1,5 modifier is valid or credible solution? Guy from Maxis mentioned that that to give proper proportions for in-game view

[paulvmontfort 617]

Date: 11/25/2005 9:29:40 AM Author: SimFox

Great work!! so what was the problem with rendering it in first place.. Just curious as to any problems what may occur and the ways to solve them...

Another question is about proportions. I see you went with 1:1 also on height. So you don't think that using 1,5 modifier is valid or credible solution? Guy from Maxis mentioned that that to give proper proportions for in-game view

quote>

the render problem varies for every BAT. Some render only 1 side. Others have the LODs dislocated and some turn out not to render the scene at all so you get an invisible building. I also got mirrored views once, while the LODs were correct. As for the Jardine House, bixel rendered it for me.

 

for the 2nd question: What the hell are you talking about. I don't understand the question at all

[paulvmontfort 617]

This is what i'm working on now:

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government center/City Hall

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//tokyo%20city%20hall2.JPG align=baseline>

[Fantail 0]

Very nice.

[bixel 1,228]

Surprise! its the Grand Villa, located somewhere in HK, I have the map but I cant read chinese. Well I got the floor plans and this tiny pic, so I dunno how accurate it is.

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//front.jpg align=baseline>

I also dont know how tall it is, so if you want it taller than can be arranged. Some of the colors are off, I know but tell me what you think needs changing and so forth. Gimmie some opinions!!

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//GrandVilla.jpg align=baseline>

 

The windows don't seem interesting enough, I might add some more detail there, and the greens reall dont match, so that an obvious something that needs changing.

[toxicpiano 125]

very nice! i look forward to the final artical.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Wow, looks pretty cool! It's odd how HK residential buildings all seem to start with a base that's several storeys high before the main building even begins...

The little plaza on top of the base looks great, and so does the roof. That reddish block (top of the elevator shaft?) could do with a slight improvement of its roof texture; it's a bit odd so see such a stainless, unweathered red up there.

The windows, yes... Something doesn't look right abiut them. Maybe they look a tad too big and too flat? If you made them a bit smaller and added dark window frames (like in the small picture), they might look more natural - partly because it would split up the window texture a bit better. That said, a more varied texture could indeed turn out to be an improvement.

I think it would also look better if you toned down those black division lines a bit; they make the building look a tad cartoonish the way they are now. The horizontal lines on the narrow sides of the building look fine.

[Fox 1,444]

I just have to say thankyou for inspiring my City Journal located in South East Asia... Your bats are allowing me to create something original...

I look forward to being able to play with all these new, great looking bats you are creating... I love them.

 

Here are some pictures from my City Journal I took to show off the awesome bats you guys are creating... well done to you.

 

 

 

 

[bixel 1,228]

Fox: Wow! What a great looking city and awesome use of roads and transportation. Paulvmontfort found your CJ on simcitybrazil, so we have been checking it out everyonce and a while. The Grand Villa will not be released as a stand alone but it will be a part of the HK Residential Tower Pack III!!!

[HONG KONG 74]

I look forward already much to your HK Residential Tower Pack III !

If the buildings have a basis, they can stand closely together

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//3206443.jpg align=baseline>

[bixel 1,228]

Hong Kong: Thanks, this new Tower pack will be cool. Grand Villa looks ten times better now, and good news! nitelite at all zooms! I don't really know how that happened, but I'm not going to ask.

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//GrandVilla2.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//GrandVillaN.jpg align=baseline>

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//GrandVilla3.jpg align=baseline>

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Yes, the windows, the balconies and the roof have improved considerably!
The night lights look -excuse the pun- spot on this time, especially the spotlights. Isn't there a possibility to get some texture to the window lights somehow? Like the NDEX buildings, for example - they generally have more varied night colours in their windows.

The only thing I'm not that sure about is that reddish ground texture you apparently BATted. I guess you made that so the light cone of the spotlight will show, but I think the colour sticks out too much, and it probably won't even be possible to put props on it, since it belongs to the building. If it's not possible to adjust the LOD, I would at least vote for a slightly less flashy texture - and/or some details like on top of the base. Some simple planter boxes and stuff like that.

[HONG KONG 74]

Yep ! The revised version looks much better.

I agree with T Wrecks about the reddish ground texture and the less flashy texture on the top of the base.

Both textures should be less remarkable for the general impression.

[paulvmontfort 617]

Yes!! finally, I got my Hong Kong map today, all the way from Singapore It has a detailed view of the Harbour region with Kowloon and Central

Other good news is that tomorrow, the Poll about which building will be next ends and i'll start Batting the Centre very soon

[Fantail 0]

that's cool.

[paulvmontfort 617]

I started the Centre today, here's an update:

 

PS, i don't have any good pictures of the roof and bottom

[bixel 1,228]

whooo Hong Kong is slowly coming together, I'm so excited!!! We need more BATters. There are so many more Residentials and Commericial need to be done. Not to mention it would be interesting to create more freeway peices that you see in photos, I should should transportation threads to see hows its done.

[HONG KONG 74]

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//roof_4569.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//tz.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

 

[Fantail 0]

I'm sure this project will turn out well, keep up the great work Paulvmontfort.

[mcarch 15]

I thought for a moment that the last picture was of the building in game!  lol, anyways, I can't wait for the Centre!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Hello everybody!

Just popping into this thread to tell you I'm working at the lots for the Liberte complex like a madman. The modding work is 100% complete, let me summarize briefly what you will get once this is finished:

- A mid-wealth residential growable that houses a whopping 10,450 sims on a 9x8 lot (no dependencies at all!),

- a high-wealth residential growable that houses 8,160 rich sims on a 9x8 lot, too (I may use a base texture that came with one of the Maxis landmarks, the Kunjungjon),

- a massive landmark on a 10x10 lot(!), which will be filled to the brim with beautiful props and textures, plus it will come with a really cool icon. Now all this bling-bling has a price, and this price is called: dependencies. Don't worry, though, I limited myself to Cerulean's base textures (used them for the Sham Wan already) and SimGoober's Flora Packs - everybody knows them, almost everybody has them. And if you have SG's Mega Prop pack and the BSC Mega Texture Pack, you can sit back and relax anyway.

All versions will feauture a fully transit-enabled, functional, UDI-compatible road right through the base of the building. Yes, the growables will also be TE'd, because frankly: What could possibly overgrow this complex? There's nothing of the same size anyway...

Apart from that, the lots will look very different, and you will easily see the difference between R$$, R$$$, and landmark.

----------------

Ok, now you have a general idea, let me show some preview pics of the simplest and most basic and boring-looking version, the R$$ version.

We start with the wide left side (the LOD and the position of the road through the base forced me to leave much space here):


Next is the right side, which is rather narrow in contrast to the other one:


The third picture shows the front from a farther zoom:


And finally, we zoom in some more once again and have a look at the back side - nothing spectacular here.


I hope you guys & gals like what you see...

HONG KONG, I even hid some palm trees especially for you! The richer versions will have even more! *gasp*

The landmark lot is ~60% done, the R$$$ lot isn't even started yet. It's really tremendous work to fill such huge lots in a way that they complement the building and do it justice! Bixel, I sure hope your next buildings are smaller, eh?

[bixel 1,228]

Hahaha. Yes, in fact the new HK Medium Res Tower Pack III, I will do myself, will prolly contain about 4 towers, including Grand Villa. I will compare them to modified STATS by T Wrecks to get most consistancy and no unpleasant effects, however in the future I will probably do the Tung Cheung Crescent, The Tierre Verde, the Sorrento, and Banyan Garden. But that will not be until 2006.

 

Wether I will do these LOTs for those is up to speculation, with the new SC4 Tools out there I might try a hand and unload some of the work that T Wrecks has been bombarded with, I know cause I've been following the threads T Wrecks has been doing A LOT lately, hahaha thats a pun I think.

 

In the future I hope my BATs will included more the necessary eye-candy that LOT making is used for, which means all these little extras, phonesbooths, bicycles, post-boxes, fountains, bushes, and other randoms will all be modeled and placed onto the BAT itself. Well see....