JP Schriefer's BATs

[SimCoug 5,973]

Another surprisingly awesome building in Philadelphia... Drake Hotel. 

[Simmer2 23,831]

@JP Schriefer

I will do my best to deliver a top notch lot.

Custom all the way baby

Simmer2

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

4 hours ago, Jasoncw said:

I was way off! I'm ashamed!! 

I agree though Philadelphia needs way more love. The size and style of the buildings are a great fit for SC4. 

It wasn't so bad if you think that the biggest error to a distance on planet Earth is 20,000km but you just missed it for only 130km

 

3 hours ago, SimCoug said:

Another surprisingly awesome building in Philadelphia... Drake Hotel.

Definitely a gem! There are several art deco skyscraper forgotten there D:

 

1 hour ago, Simmer2 said:

@JP Schriefer

I will do my best to deliver a top notch lot.

Custom all the way baby

Simmer2

I've no doubts about that! I'm looking forward to this work

[Francis90b 748]

I knew what the building was, but refrained from posting :P.

Sometimes you might notice a portion of a building being added onto another, with seemingly no relation whatsoever between them - and sometimes such additions happen in a short timespan - but seldom you'd see a tower, probably equalling or surpassing the former building's area, being added at the back of an already large and tall building merely twenty years later, wouldnt you?

More than one poster noticed an affinity with contemporary nyc towers - and indeed, Lewis tower's "tower" seems to recall them.

Curiously, early 20th century Philly and NYC, faced with high rise construction, reacted in different ways to the issue of combined bulk and height:

NYC adopted strict rules which allowed one to build as tall as one wanted but with reduced bulk, Philly seems to have tolerated somewhat bulkier buildings, but with formal and informal caps on overall height.

So the thin and slender tower, born out of necessity in a given environment, finds itself into another one possessing different conditions, perhaps due to aestethic trends (and indeed, how many towers vaguely recalling nyc were built in those years, scattered all across america's mid and small towns?) - yet in this case i find it hard to find any fault in that, as Lewis tower's architects seem to have done a darn good job with it.

[Silur 3,308]

This is a very interesting building!

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

OMG!!! Francis90b is active now! 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Thank you very much, guys! Good analysis, Francis90b, it's always good to know and think more about how the aesthetics of the buildings are connected to the cities history and the time context 

Well, this one is not new, I started doing it almost 1 year ago, but I was frustrated after the first previews and I realize that it was the most bizarre preview I had ever done. I don't know if it's because the building doesn't have many colourations, or because of its staggering, it does not look good for the game for me. However today I saw a photo from Central Park where this building appeared and I was excited again. Maybe if I add a lot of plants on the balconies it will cause a certain contrast and it will look good.

The Hampshire House

[Jasoncw 11,946]

My advice would be to make the brick warmer, and to make the patios darker. I also think it would look better if the glass texture had a bigger uvw map, so that the windows had a simpler appearance. 

[tonyr 926]

OMG, Schriefer!?!

[gutterclub 2,729]

Brickwork should have some dirt, weathering and variation

[Hotwheeler 409]

Oh wow,another Central Park Jewel.I love those old Buildings that are scattered all around the Central Park,and this one is no Exeption.

I agree with @gutterclub about adding some Grime or Variety on the Brick Texture but the Color itself looks pretty spot on.I checked the Place in Google Earth klick and the Building seems to have a rather cool Brick coloring Tone compared to the Building on the right,which is of a more warm Color.

Maybe add some Variation on the Balcony Floors because it seems that almost every Balcony on the real Building has another sort of Tiling or Floor Covering (these People...) ,but i guess when covered in Balcony Plants,you won`t see much of it anyways.

I assume you`re not entirely finished with the moddeling but it looks like the left Sidewall actually has Windows from top to bottom (well,some are walled up...)

klick

However,amazing Quality Work as always.Keep up the amazing Work and stay awesome.

[Francis90b 748]

I think the building had always been meant as an one-liner - good when viewed from a given vantage point, not-so-much from anywhere else.

Furthermore, it experienced several small alterations over the years, with these having perhaps taken their toll over an already thin design  base.

 

Here are a couple of pics of the building shortly after completion:

mcny pics

There are certain features, then lost over time, which perhaps helped to give the building a more consistent appearence than nowadays;

I'm especially thinking about the way in which broad horizontal windows were framed in narrow and tall panels, attempting to counterbalance a fenestration pattern that feels overwhelmingly horizontal almost everywhere within the building's envelope, and the dramatic broken gable which sat over that arch just below water tower, which gave a slightly stronger contribution in highlighting the building's upward conclusion.

 

With that i am in no way downrating the very careful replication of current situation, which you masterfully achieved and which must have taken a lot of effort - furthermore some of it helps to give variety within the model.

The point i am trying to make is that maybe experimenting with selective implementation of some of the building's past features might produce an even better result, and help you overcome part of the discomfort you seem to feel with the building's appearance.

 

I would also subscribe with the suggestions concerning glass - i can't help but think it feels way too busy, and slightly too reflective as of now.

As for brick hue, my position isn't that simple - While i agree with the idea that a slightly warmer hue might help somewhat, i'm also aware that the real building's hue is anything but warm.This might be one of those situations where a relatively cool hue must be subtly steered towards pink / peach in order to appear in game as it should.

I'm also inclined to think that the brownish masonry should be made slightly darker, at least judging from street view.

Furthermore, i perceive the copper roof of the existing building as having an even more pronounced blue-ish hue than what appears in your model - but that's something else that might require a lot of tweaking to get right?

Finally, i think that experimenting with potted plants and balcony tilework might be a good idea, but that too much of it would bring you to a worse situation than where you are in now - perhaps you might want to take another look at it when you have tweaked all the materials and modelled the base.In other words, before adding an icing on a cake you must make sure that cake is as good as it can get .

 

 

 

 

 

[raynev1 1,886]

Those buildings look great . I really like the modular set , they will be very useful .

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Jasoncw: I'll try those configs, thank you

tonyr: that's me!

gutterclub: annotated

Hotwheeler: I intend to make the balconies based in the ones from RL as well. Thanks for noticing that the left side is not W2W. Looking on GE 3D imagery it looks like. I'll fix that soon. There is a lot of work to on the building indeed.

Francis90b: thank you very much! Don't worry about criticism. Suggestions and analysis are always good to improve. I'll model the building as it is nowadays, if in the end it doesn't look good I'll make some tests modelling those parts it used to have before and compare both.

raynev1: thank you very much

 

The three commercial buildings from Cidade Jardim Corporate Center are now on STEx. Remembering that @Simmer2 will still release a lot with the three buildings based on the real life one with some of his custom content. What I can say at the moment is that it's getting wonderful

I'm happy with these buildings because they made me break 2 records. I'm now the BATter who made the most Brazillian buildings (13), surpassing Suico (11) - may he be resting in peace. The other is a personal record of most uploads in a year. In 2014 I uploaded two files, in 2015 five, in 2016 seven and we are in april 2017 and I released eight

Here you go to the new files:

 

[Jasoncw 11,946]

I've released 5 Brazillian BATs. And with what you've released so far and the number of WIPs you have I think you'll be beating my "most in a year" record.  

Maybe it's today that I reveal that I've secretly completed 8 new Brazillian BATs?

(I don't have 8 secret Brazilian BATs  ) 

[Bastet69008 1,102]

11 hours ago, Jasoncw said:

I've released 5 Brazillian BATs. And with what you've released so far and the number of WIPs you have I think you'll be beating my "most in a year" record.  

Maybe it's today that I reveal that I've secretly completed 8 new Brazillian BATs?

(I don't have 8 secret Brazilian BATs  ) 

It's never too late Jason

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

On 29/04/2017 at 1:49 AM, Jasoncw said:

I've released 5 Brazillian BATs. And with what you've released so far and the number of WIPs you have I think you'll be beating my "most in a year" record.  

Maybe it's today that I reveal that I've secretly completed 8 new Brazillian BATs?

(I don't have 8 secret Brazilian BATs  ) 

You are the 4th member with more Brazilian BATs produced, did you know? I agee with Bastet, and IMO you should try to be the first one

I was thinking about doing an old train station from my town which was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century to the construction of a new one. However I've only a few pics from it and I need to know it's dimensions. Do you have any tips to do it only with these pictures? I was thinking about using the steps from that stair on the left of the first picture as 17cm each since it's default nowadays, and then the platform would be 68cm. But I don't know, maybe you've a better idea or technique

 

BTW I'm not working with my projects since the last previews due to many exams at the uni, but I hope to release something as soon as this exams period is over

[matias93 7,535]

Wow! Really nice project!

I think the stair steps are a good enough method, but maybe you can check them using the people on the front elevation photo. Considering the year and country, they should measure about 165 cm tall. Also, wooden lightpoles, as the one in the middle of the photo, are usually 6 metres tall.

About the colours, if you don't have that documented, I know that you can reconstruct them partially by knowing which colours the film used is most sensible to; use a colour photo of bare terrain around the city to get the reference, and then apply a monochromatic filter (Picasa 3 has one), changing the filter colour until getting a match with the sky and dirt tones on the old photo.

[SimCoug 5,973]

That would be a lovely historic train station!  

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

matias93: thank you very much! So I made a test with the steps of the stairs and I got 26,5m to the tower. When testing with the men on the front measuring 1,65m I got 25,5. So I decided the real thing is about 25m. Also, it's known the building's bricks were reddish, so this part is fine  

SimCoug: thank you! I think this station may look good in your CJ since it has a historic look

I'll export the model in HD and SD. The modelling part is almost done now - I'm studying how the windows really looked - and I think this building is very fun to do. BTW there's also a little European station on the JP's infinite projects backstage

[matias93 7,535]

Wow, that's looking really great!

I'm trying to guess what the platform roof is. On the lower photo it just appears as a white thing without any particular depth, but the most probable case is that some slope was included to avoid it to become a pool full of rainwater. About the material, maybe them were changed between both photos, but I think you can take an artistic licence on that; if you like a recommendation, I would back an Art Nouveau styled glass roof over a forged iron structure, even if is not the most authentical style to the overall design.

[SimCoug 5,973]

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

matias93: thank you! I need to add some slope there indeed, thanks for noticing it. About it being a glass roof maybe it would be better to be something simpler since the station wasn't so eye-catching, you know, but it's a possibility

SimCoug:

 

So last weekend I just checked the new measures from the Singer Building model with the original ones to make sure they are right this time. BTW I think I didn't posted it here, but I realized the Singer Building actually had an annex building with a different architectonic style, so I'm thinking about doing it as a different BAT in the future. Now I intend just to change some things like it was in its first version before modifications, especially on the top.

A quick render from a different angle (yeah I took out all the textures to start it again and make them better):

 

 

[SimCoug 5,973]

and...
 

31 minutes ago, JP Schriefer said:

BTW I think I didn't posted it here, but I realized the Singer Building actually had an annex building with a different architectonic style, so I'm thinking about doing it as a different BAT in the future. 

Most excellent! 

[SneakyDeaky 1,130]

Holy hell I Can't believe how good it looks. The Windows and arches really stand out for me. I love that you are doing this building; it's one of those buildings that is almost like a great artist who becomes famous after he dies. It was the tallest building in the world by 1909, but by 1968 it was gone. Yet, like Penn Station or WTC it is somehow still a quintessential NYC landmark. And you a truly doing it justice!

[Girafe 1,729]

Modeling is awesome

[Jasoncw 11,946]

Looks great! 

[mattb325 28,890]

As I said on sc4d.... a true gem!

[madhatter106 3,922]

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

I just updated the Great Southwest Building which was looking a bit weird before. I intend to do it with other buildings if I manage to have time to do it. Thanks again to Jason for giving me some really useful tips when I released this model months ago. Now I finally updated it, better late then never