Reddonquixote's BAT thread

[John A. Rivers 109]

Dear Reddonquixote,

 

I am not a bat specialist but what you are doing for the STEX is forcing respect and I would like to take the time to say thank you for recreating a such beautiful city like Melbourne. Your creations are always realistic and detailed, making our cities more beautiful. Don't change anything, it's just perfect.

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

That was a nice thing to say, thanks Chrysler

 

Well... I don't think I've ever seen the BAT threads this dead before... Been a bit busy so here's something easier I kind of 'whipped up' over the weekend. Just thought I'd post where I got up to.

 

Don't pay too much attention to the glass, its just placeholder glass at the moment. I was just experimenting with the glass atrium/ canopy things

 

Collins Place

 

 

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Dayum! Having downloaded at least several of your buildings, I'm looking forward to that large museum and Collins Place.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Wow! Hope to see it on STEX soon 

  Edited January 17, 2014 by CaptCity  
Language... See the site rules.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

Wonderful work!!!

[Xander Dax 310]

WOW!, just can not wait for that baby to be uploaded....plus Melbourne Central, Q1, Melbourne Library and the Hyatt! .

[Delecto 941]

Again it starts brilliantly.

[RepublicMaster 428]

Awesome new BAT, very interesting!

[MTT9 187]

Looks great

[dubaidude303 1,119]

Your awesome!! It looks wonderful already! Can't wait to see at on the STEX :-)

[Scaley McSlither 1,714]

Wow... I wish I had your skill at modelling new buildings! Fantastic work and look forward to seeing this and all your others on the STEX. (Esp. Q1!!!) 

[Jasoncw 11,840]

So fast! 

 

Still missing AO though. :,,,(

 

It also look like you might have reduced the glossiness of the glass, which you shouldn't do. This is what that glass looks sort of like plastic. If you'd like you can make the glass slightly opaque, or you can reduce the reflectivity a little bit (or change the BRDF which is the same thing), but you can't reduce the glossiness. Reducing the glossiness would be equivalent to making the surface rough by sandblasting it.

[Bipin 3,402]

The glass looks a bit too mottled for me, as if it were frosted, which I don't believe is the look you are going for. Otherwise it's an excellent texture and you're off to a great start with the whole structure!

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Lol.. um you know they aren't textures though right? They are just MAX pallette colours. I stil haven't finished the modelling on the base yet.

 

In terms of the glass, I was just experimenting really, that was just as far as I got with it.

 

Not sure if you had a look at the original building (I'll post some images later tonight). Funnily enough as I was reading your post I was thinking I lowered the glossiness because it looks like sandblasted glass, and then that's what you wrote. I'll post some images then I would really love some help with it because its going to be really tricky to make, and I believe its the same glass canopy used around the base of the Melbourne Central tower as well.

 

Edit - I crossed posts with Mr. BP. But yeah, it actually is a kind of frosted, plasticy looking glass. I post some images later, that might just be my perception of it

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Not sure if you had a look at the original building (I'll post some images later tonight). Funnily enough as I was reading your post I was thinking I lowered the glossiness because it looks like sandblasted glass, and then that's what you wrote. I'll post some images then I would really love some help with it because its going to be really tricky to make, and I believe its the same glass canopy used around the base of the Melbourne Central tower as well.

 

Edit - I crossed posts with Mr. BP. But yeah, it actually is a kind of frosted, plasticy looking glass. I post some images later, that might just be my perception of it

 

LOL well fantastic then!! Normally it doesn't happen that someone does something "wrong" but is actually right.

 

Lol.. um you know they aren't textures though right? They are just MAX pallette colours. I stil haven't finished the modelling on the base yet.

 

What I normally do is I make temporary materials for things, just using approximate colors but no textures. And then I estimate the reflectivity and glossiness, and I also turn on AO. The colors give me an idea of what the contrast will be, which helps for making things like window frames. And then the material settings help me see how the shape will appear, because the reflectivity and glossiness can affect how the shape is perceived. And AO just helps you see the shapes of things in general. And making and naming the temporary helps me organize what materials need to be made (although considering how fast you work I doubt your running into any organizational hurdles).

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Edit - I crossed posts with Mr. BP. But yeah, it actually is a kind of frosted, plasticy looking glass. I post some images later, that might just be my perception of it

Agreed, they do look like it IRL. It's an interesting plaza, especially with the Christmas decorations they had.

[Bipin 3,402]

Lol.. um you know they aren't textures though right? They are just MAX pallette colours. I stil haven't finished the modelling on the base yet.

 

In terms of the glass, I was just experimenting really, that was just as far as I got with it.

 

Not sure if you had a look at the original building (I'll post some images later tonight). Funnily enough as I was reading your post I was thinking I lowered the glossiness because it looks like sandblasted glass, and then that's what you wrote. I'll post some images then I would really love some help with it because its going to be really tricky to make, and I believe its the same glass canopy used around the base of the Melbourne Central tower as well.

 

Edit - I crossed posts with Mr. BP. But yeah, it actually is a kind of frosted, plasticy looking glass. I post some images later, that might just be my perception of it

 

I just feel as though frosted glass may give it a bit too much of a weathered/older look; akin to glass that's been exposed to the elements for years without proper maintenance. It depends upon how you execute it though I suppose, and to what extent the surface is mottled in conjunction with how opaque the glass is. Also, not sure who you were referencing, but I realize these are just palette colours, I was just talking about that glass, which seems a bit more developed than the others; I wouldn't expect a gigantic flat yellow wall to be the final texture for your BATs.  

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Yeah, you might be right but this is a recreation and whether we like it or not the glass is most definitely frosted. I'm going to try and make it as close to the original as possible (Even though its really hard )

Here's a shot from underneath that clearly shows its frosted:

 

 

and one from above:

 

 

Also, I did say in my original post don't pay any attention to the glass yet, it was just a place holder - but when the time comes I would definitely appreciate some help with it

 

Actually, while I'm here may as well post this. I have been working on the glass a bit more tonight and this is where I got to with it. I'm pretty happy with the colour now I think, maybe a bit lighter, and I still need to work on the glossiness and the highlights. I realise the scale is a bit over-scaled too, I'll try reducing it but I have a feeling if I make the squares any smaller, when its BAT size it will be a bit of a mess.

 

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

If anything, I think it's a bit too blue. Needs a lighten.

[Scaley McSlither 1,714]

I agree that it's a little too blue. However it's also going to provide a much better contrast than the real-life photo shows. If the glass gets too light in color or too true to life, it may cease to resemble the canopy it's supposed to be and just look like plaza texture. In any event, this is going to be yet another fantastic BAT and I can't wait for the finished product!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Yep!! If anything that's a really good example of different materials in rl and the arch & design material, because the rl material looks just like clear glass with the glossiness reduced. I think what you have right now is really good, and I'd wait until you have more of the BAT done to do more comparisons with photos and final tweaking.

[Bipin 3,402]

I'd say even when doing recreations, feel free to take some artistic license where certain details would benefit from a change during their transformation from a real-world item to an in-game asset. That's not much of an issue though right now, for I'd say the current iteration of glass is much more along the lines of what I had envisioned. Perhaps a bit too blue, but I'd imagine that can be solved fairly easily. 

[SimCoug 5,972]

I wouldn't worry too much about the exact scale of the glass panes - scale in this game is so wonky, I think you can take a little creative licence to make it 'look' good (and you have certainly achieved that with that last pic)

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Yep!! If anything that's a really good example of different materials in rl and the arch & design material, because the rl material looks just like clear glass with the glossiness reduced. I think what you have right now is really good, and I'd wait until you have more of the BAT done to do more comparisons with photos and final tweaking.

 

My thoughts exactly. Its unusual that I would be working on glass when I haven't even finished the model anyway. Its really only because I wanted to check the glass material on the base model to see if the shapes are going to produce the right end result. I think indications so far are it should

 

 

I'd say even when doing recreations, feel free to take some artistic license where certain details would benefit from a change during their transformation from a real-world item to an in-game asset. That's not much of an issue though right now, for I'd say the current iteration of glass is much more along the lines of what I had envisioned. Perhaps a bit too blue, but I'd imagine that can be solved fairly easily. 

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the exact scale of the glass panes - scale in this game is so wonky, I think you can take a little creative licence to make it 'look' good (and you have certainly achieved that with that last pic)

 

I agree. I think every one of my BATs has had some degree of artistic license applied, admittedly sometimes that's through laziness, sometimes forced by game scale, and sometimes just to make it look better I really want to work on my materials though, and this is an example of something that's hard and I want to see if I can do it (i.e. in this case, with the materials, its more about accuracy than aesthetics )

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

If you've been lazy with some of your models, then not being lazy must be of God like quality.

Also the glass should look slightly weathered IMO, as it's not the newest building in the city.

[darn42 1,268]

I'm not seeing the same glass for your version as the real version, and I think that has less to do with material than the model itself. What I see that you modeled are very thick panes of glass, and that is making the refraction very distorted. From what I can tell of the pictures you showed, the glass is completely contained in the beams that hold it up, so either make the glass significantly thinner, maybe like 3-4 cm tops, or just use thin geometry. In the first picture you can kind of see how thick the glass should be by looking at the indents on the frame. The material itself looks just like a low refraction glossiness version of glass like you seem to have already.

 

Side note, I think it would also look better if you put the diagonal cut along the vertices of the squares so it doesn't seem like such an abrupt ending.

[zerozeronine 1]

Wow nice one! I can't wait for all the other buildings this is amazing

[Schulmanator 5,787]

I am always glad to see your newest work. And even more glad that I got to see Melbourne in person in July... makes it all come alive for me. Rock on!

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Ermahgerd, is so bewtiful!! 

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

We drove past this a couple of nights ago and it looked spectacular lit up at night. I wasn't even aware it was operational again. Now that it is operational I couldn't resist making a BAT of it!

 

Melbourne Star Observation Wheel