Petahhhhhh's BAT Thread

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Well, most BATters use a different technique. Actually lighting up the interor can work (see kellydale2003's recent stuff), but you'll need something inside the building. I really don't mean to offend you, but I think at least in the current building, the approach you chose combines many weaknesses: While the lighting is so dim that it's hardly even notable from afar, a closer look immediately reveals a totally empty interior. To top it off, there seem to be some light leaks (along that recessed area at the thicker end of the building). I'm not sure since I don't BAT myself, but I think most 3dsmax BATters use a self-illuminated material for their windows, i.e. there is no actual interior, it's just faked (some special areas like lobbies being the exception from this rule of thumb). However, if you take a look at recent releases by the likes of Darknono35, Jasoncw, Aaron Graham etc., I think you'll agree that it doesn't look half bad.

[petahhhhhh 76]

Well, most BATters use a different technique. Actually lighting up the interor can work (see kellydale2003's recent stuff), but you'll need something inside the building. I really don't mean to offend you, but I think at least in the current building, the approach you chose combines many weaknesses: While the lighting is so dim that it's hardly even notable from afar, a closer look immediately reveals a totally empty interior. To top it off, there seem to be some light leaks (along that recessed area at the thicker end of the building). I'm not sure since I don't BAT myself, but I think most 3dsmax BATters use a self-illuminated material for their windows, i.e. there is no actual interior, it's just faked (some special areas like lobbies being the exception from this rule of thumb). However, if you take a look at recent releases by the likes of Darknono35, Jasoncw, Aaron Graham etc., I think you'll agree that it doesn't look half bad.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I don't really plan on releasing that one at all, now that I have a better idea of what all of my options are and what I want it to look like. My main problem is that 3dsmax isn't really a viable option to me right now because I'm doing all of this on a laptop.. I have 3dsmax, but it takes too long to start up and too long to render things.

[petahhhhhh 76]

Hey guys!

 

I've taken a bit of a break from doing the Business District buildings for a while and started working on a building from the City Center. I'm working from this concept art to make it (it's the "Thin Slice"):

 

I've run into a bit of an issue though... Because the building is so big, the camera and lighting rig is causing some issues...

 

 

I read more on it and found that a user named Caliban had released a fix for the default Huge CamLightRig in GMax, but when I found the thread (), I couldn't find the link to download it. Does anyone have a copy of this fix or something comparable that I can use?

[KonstantinII 1,106]

Can you also upload the sinoviet tower? It looks good enough.

[petahhhhhh 76]

Can you also upload the sinoviet tower? It looks good enough.

I'm not interested in uploading anything that is just "good enough", but I can PM it to you as well as the gmax file, since I don't plan on releasing it.

[edwardjeria 503]

ooo jesus

[petahhhhhh 76]

So, I tried (after backing it up of course) renaming "TB2_CameraLightRigBig" to "TB2_CameraLightRig", which helped a little; Now the shadow and lighting errors occur farther up on the building. Still, if anyone knows how to solve this issue, help would be much appreciated!

 

Also, I made the building a bit thicker. Before, it was a bit too thin for my liking. Anyways, if anyone has any modeling suggestions, and especially if you can help with the lighting bug, please comment!

[KonstantinII 1,106]

Yeah it does need to be bit thicker. Also the base is not detailed.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

You might have to make a bigger lighting rig yourself.  the rig files themselves are simply .gmax files which you can open yourself and see that they just have lights and cameras in them.  You'll have to move them further from the origin of the scene, but without changing their angle or orientation.

[jaredh 195]

The thin building is really looking good.

[petahhhhhh 76]

You might have to make a bigger lighting rig yourself.  the rig files themselves are simply .gmax files which you can open yourself and see that they just have lights and cameras in them.  You'll have to move them further from the origin of the scene, but without changing their angle or orientation.

Unfortunately, I tried this and still am having the same problem (I did so by setting the pivot of the light group to 0,0,0 and scaling outward). Do you think I should render it in two parts, with one as a prop? I just don't know a whole lot about lighting in GMax, so I'm not even sure how to approach the issue.

[petahhhhhh 76]

Hey all! Here's my latest progress:

 

I'm not really sure what to do with the base - the city center's streets are never visited in-game, so I have some freedom as to what I put down there. I was thinking a transit station (probably monorail) and maybe some recreational-type things, if I decide to make this a residential building. Any thoughts or pictures for inspiration?

[KonstantinII 1,106]

you can make some walkways, store fronts, parking garages entrances with futuristic cars, cafe. And here some pictures.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/281/9/6/future_city_street_by_sid75-d5h6jxm.jpg

http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/257/9/1/remember_me___neo_paris_2084_concept_art_by_jamga-d5en0y9.jpg

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/707/ued2.jpg

http://www.art.eonworks.com/gallery/sci-fi/cyberpunk_wallpaper_image-199803-SM.jpg

[Darknono35 3,138]

The building looks very big. You can create a mix of stuff as konstantinII like advice in his post . All is possible

 

Keep it up

[Huston 5,800]

I can tell that this is gonna be good Keep up the awesome work!

[Gannet 34]

Fixed it!

Hey how do you make a roundabout?

[petahhhhhh 76]

With the NAM installed, just drag a 3x3 one way road

 

Also, here's my latest progress on the building:

[KonstantinII 1,106]

Well, most BATters use a different technique. Actually lighting up the interor can work (see kellydale2003's recent stuff), but you'll need something inside the building. I really don't mean to offend you, but I think at least in the current building, the approach you chose combines many weaknesses: While the lighting is so dim that it's hardly even notable from afar, a closer look immediately reveals a totally empty interior. To top it off, there seem to be some light leaks (along that recessed area at the thicker end of the building). I'm not sure since I don't BAT myself, but I think most 3dsmax BATters use a self-illuminated material for their windows, i.e. there is no actual interior, it's just faked (some special areas like lobbies being the exception from this rule of thumb). However, if you take a look at recent releases by the likes of Darknono35, Jasoncw, Aaron Graham etc., I think you'll agree that it doesn't look half bad.

 

This building was created an a way similar to that of the sinoviet tower

[Terring 6,476]

Looks great

[petahhhhhh 76]

Thanks guys. See, I really like the way omni nightlighting looks for the building, but there are two main concerns for me. One is that if I do it that way, I have to model the interior of the building too, which seems pretty tedious for a building that tall. Second, doing it that way would take so long to render that I'm sure I'd have to break the building up into two or three parts just to get it exported. I think this time I'm going to try some of the other methods.

 

I really wish I could get 3ds Max up and running

[petahhhhhh 76]

 

Slowly but steadily making progress. I am a college student, so studies come first

[Huston 5,800]

Looks good, though I could only imagine how it would look on 3ds Max

[KonstantinII 1,106]

Really like the details!

[petahhhhhh 76]

Hey all! I've been away for a while working on other things, but here's one of the many things I've thrown together in the past few days:

I'm sure most of you will recognize this. It's not at all related to my New Mombasa project, but I always liked using these in SC3000, so I thought, "Why not?"

[KonstantinII 1,106]

I think that using an illuminated night texture will work better for this tower than having to put omni lights in the interior compartments.

[Terring 6,476]

You are working on the nuclear fusion reactor of Simcity 3000? I LOVE YOU!!! :ohyes:

[Darknono35 3,138]

SC3K Nostalgia...

Beautiful model, I can't wait the texture

[petahhhhhh 76]

So.. I'm running into some issues with texturing.

I really don't like the concrete texture, but I can't find anything really fitting for an area that large. Also, I don't really know how to fill the interior of the chambers without some sort of particle effect (which I understand can't be done in gmax). Does anybody have any ideas? I've never really been good at the texturing part   

Thanks!

[Reddonquixote 4,339]

Loving it.. looks great

[petahhhhhh 76]

Hey everyone! I'm uninstalling 3ds Max 2012 and am about to download a newer version. Should I get 3ds Max 2014 or 3ds Max Design 2014? And what's the difference between them?