Reddonquixote's BAT thread

[Utvaw 45]

Man, I just love the roof on this one. So great. I can't wait to put this in a city and turn the lights out and watch it glow.

[libellibicus 396]

This BAT is fantastic. I can't wait to see it in my cities

[AndisArt 2,067]

WooooooW :O

That is simply stunning! Your nightwindows look so realistic!

Great work

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Thanks everyone!

The good news is the night renders came out quite nicely I think.. the bad news is I've been a complete nong today and didn't notice I had left the wall wash lights on in the day render... so sadly no upload tonight but all going well should be up on the STEX tomorrow.

[Xander Dax 310]

OMG! that is absolutely amazing!

[weixc812 509]

Yeah, the nightlight is absolutely astonishing!

As a little flavour added to this beauty, I suggest making the roof light changable (pink, blue, yellow, green...), though it may not be so in reality.

To archive this is simple: render the different-color models as props and make them appear one by one over season.

Anyway, just a small suggestion.

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

I like the idea but I assume that means a separate render for each colour? Maybe not for this project, it takes about 6 hours to do a render. I was thinking of doing that effect for the Arts Centre when I finally get to it, I wasn't sure if it was possible... that's good to know, thanks!

[Charlie_Zane 963]

That is a good idea, but most of the year it is purple. I can some times see it from my house.

Check out this link for the variations of the colour it can be

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=120+collins+street+night&hl=en&safe=active&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=620&tbm=isch&tbnid=XX64zV2uqbsQpM:&imgrefurl=http://blog.adonline.id.au/the-night-show-at-120-collins/&docid=MMDTgETCNTCTsM&imgurl=http://blog.adonline.id.au/uploads/120Collins1.jpg&w=433&h=215&ei=bG36UMHMNsWJlAWXhoDwAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=4&vpy=192&dur=624&hovh=158&hovw=319&tx=206&ty=71&sig=113811871695716346312&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=252&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:101

[weixc812 509]

I like the idea but I assume that means a separate render for each colour? Maybe not for this project, it takes about 6 hours to do a render. I was thinking of doing that effect for the Arts Centre when I finally get to it, I wasn't sure if it was possible... that's good to know, thanks!

There's no need to render each whole model (as prop), just render the roof part is OK.

We have an example, where I got this inspiration:

http://sc4devotion.c...php?lotGET=1017 (the right building with changable roof props)

Hope it will be helpful

[AndisArt 2,067]

Also, I think I know why your overhang looks out of place. I think the ground plane has "inherit visibility" checked on in the object properties area. Uncheck that and you should not be able to see the plane through glass and such anymore.

Though I am worried how it will look in the game if you do that. You will end up with an opaque awning. You should create a smaller plane underneath the awning that has what would be under it in SC4, that way the awning will look like it's supposed to be there when it's in the game.

This is a bit old, but I wanted to pick up on this point: It is actually possible to enable ingame transparency for BATs. There is a manual way in the Reader, but there's also a tool over at SC4Devotion that can do it for you. So

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Thanks Weixc, the issue with this particular model is that its gotten way out of hand with file size its very painful to work with. I don't think I can bring myself to extract parts and make them props now, just need to get it finished. I'm glad you raised it though, I would like to try this effect on another model instead.

On the topic of getting it finished, I just finished the Darknite render and it went well, but that took like all day, and I still haven't done the maxis night render. Depending how long that takes will depend whether it gets uploaded tonight.. see how we go!

Andisart, thanks for raising this, albeit several months late LOL... I wonder how many other great tools and tips and things are out there people have forgotten about over time...!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

I don't know what you did to the lights, but they are looking very RLish!

[Delecto 941]

Grandiose BAT!!!

I absolutely love the way you managed the nightlights.

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Something which has been bugging me since the last night render I posted, the building for some reason appears to have an ethereal glow about it. When I tested it out in game tonight it looks ok-ish on closer zooms, but further away the windows and lights overall disappear into a very pale soft focus and becomes almost blurry looking, and completely out of character with the rest of the buildings and night lights. I'm trying something now which appears to look better (but may be frowned upon! ) I've changed the sky colour to a dark grey which has darkened the night render overall and now doesn't have that pale glow about it. I'll post an image when its done see what everyone thinks... maybe somebody already has a solution for this?

oh.. maybe something to do with ambient occlusion??

[AndisArt 2,067]

oh.. maybe something to do with ambient occlusion??

Not sure, because I havent used it, but just from the concept of ambient occlusio this might be the problem. Did you try without it?

[Ion_Cannon 677]

It looks fantastic, I think the podium and surrounding building night lights look a bit yellow though, but it really doesn't bother me in the slightest, great work

[__A 792]

Wowowowowowow!! The nightlights are AMAZING!!

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Not sure, because I havent used it, but just from the concept of ambient occlusio this might be the problem. Did you try without it?

I'm not sure if I used it, at least not on the building. i know I used it on some of the smaller buildings, church etc The concept escapes me somewhat... There was some posting about AO earlier in this thread but it went over my head a bit. I am guessing I should be using it on all my textures as a standard.

Making the sky darker didn't work anyway, i think I might need to increase the brightness of the window texture illumination...

[gutterclub 2,729]

Can't you just turn it off on al lthe materials for the night render if it is the case

[Darknono35 3,138]

WOW, just gorgeous building. I want this one in my game now !!!!

The nightlights are so real

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Could it be related to the glare settings you used?

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Could it be related to the glare settings you used?

Oooh.. good point!.. Let me try that...

[IL. 1,043]

I agree, those lights are so real

You're using 3dsmax right? gmax can't do that

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone...

Unfortunately still not having any luck exporting the model... I'd need to confirm but I think its actually the Darknite version that isn't working. It seems to be rendering properly (i.e. dark tones) during the export process but when imported into the game shows up in Maxis-coloured blue-purple, so I think the Maxis night might be ok but something wrong with the Darknite tool. Any case thought I might have corrupted it along the way somewhere so I imported everything into a new scene and reset the camera etc... hoping that works... please cross fingers and everything else, I'm starting to worry this model might never get released

Anyway.. I haven't been idle, I've started on Freshwater Place.. I don't love it to be honest, hoping comes up better once textured...

[muxcomee 35]

It looks amazing.

Will you be doing the South Tower too?

And, what happened the lovely Bourke Place?

I would love to see that finished.

If the Darknite doesn't work, don't worry about it, I'm sure that the community would rather have something, than nothing.

Keep up the good work

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Thanks Muxcomee.. don't worry I'll come back to these. While I'm rendering I'm working off another machine so I can only model. Texturing will have to wait until my faster machine is freed up again

[Xander Dax 310]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone...

Unfortunately still not having any luck exporting the model... I'd need to confirm but I think its actually the Darknite version that isn't working. It seems to be rendering properly (i.e. dark tones) during the export process but when imported into the game shows up in Maxis-coloured blue-purple, so I think the Maxis night might be ok but something wrong with the Darknite tool. Any case thought I might have corrupted it along the way somewhere so I imported everything into a new scene and reset the camera etc... hoping that works... please cross fingers and everything else, I'm starting to worry this model might never get released

Anyway.. I haven't been idle, I've started on Freshwater Place.. I don't love it to be honest, hoping comes up better once textured...

Looks pretty amazing so far!.

[libellibicus 396]

Loving the curvature on Freshwater Place

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

Just thought I'd post early draft of 101 Collins Street... 120 still not ready...

[libellibicus 396]

Nice model