The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[bixel 1,228]

Sounds good! Looking forward to it...just email anytime you want to meet on Sat.

[josefmayor 8]

Looking forward to this bat!!!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Just checking in and posting to get past the "can't read a new page if there's only one post on it" bug. Will do Bixel once I have an opening! Oh, and how's the Henry coming along??

EDIT: Welcome to page 36!

[bixel 1,228]

Sorry Sparky, Henry will be on the pending list for quite awhile, I've rediscovered Oblivion unfortunately + I am still going willy-nilly on the HK stuff + I am currently learning Traktor and Live to use as DJ tools and music production so Henry will just have to be a kind of a once-and-a-while update kinda thing.

[K1A 0]

Hi, Nice Project u guys got but where can i find the model files so i can use those beautiful buildings u guys produced and use in my cities???

[jacqulina 162]

wonderfull project you guys

[1ajs 49]

hey sparky did you want me to put all my hotel fort gary pics i snaped for ya this summer into a zip file on my web server? un resized images.....

[K1A 0]

so uh is anyone gonna help me??

[sparkythepenguin 90]

@Bix: OK, take your time, as the HK BATs are very worthy of your undivided attention, and well worth it once I get my hands on them in-game!

@1ajs: Cool, lemme know where you have the pics, and I'll grab them up. PM me jhere on ST if you need. I don't know when I will get back to the Fort Garry. My current project's been 3 months so far in the making and it's only a 1x2 lot!

@K1A: What specificly do you need help with? By no fault of yours, I am a little confused by your request.  I usually assume when people refer to models, they are talking about the raw 3d model before it's made into a file that SC4 can use... Or the actual file that gets spit out is referred to as the "model file".

Here's some detail modeling I started on the Bishop's House:

I'm going to work around the building, adding more stuff as I go...

[Jasoncw 11,949]

For the textures, add gradients. There's a tutorial about "fake raytracing" in the omnibus. It makes everything look a lot better.

[ardecila 125]

Actually, a recently-painted brick wall would not have a gradient. If sparky was using the raw red brick here, then the gradient would be appropriate, but not here, I don't think.

There's enough detail on that wall that it avoids the "large flat wall" look anyway. Like that gutter - I never model those into my buildings, lol, although I probably should.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Gradients don't represent weathering though, they represent how light bounces.  It should be a subtle gradient though, since the building is short.  It lonly takes a few minutes to make too.

[SimFox 804]

Here is a little illustration of the reason why top of the building wall should be brighter (and less saturated) then the bottom part. This is given ideal situation when there is nothing around and ground is neutral (has brightness of 128).

  

Imagine overcast day, just for simplicity sake. Amount of the light points A and B receive will be proportionate to the angle A and B (angle of “open” sky).

This is also explains/suggests that point on open roof will always be receive more light then any point on the wall.

Of course this is hugely simplified example. Any geometry on the wall can significantly upset this balance and make point near the top darker then the point halfway to the ground.

[K1A 0]

Originally posted by: sparkythepenguin @Bix: OK, take your time, as the HK BATs are very worthy of your undivided attention, and well worth it once I get my hands on them in-game!

@1ajs: Cool, lemme know where you have the pics, and I'll grab them up. PM me jhere on ST if you need. I don't know when I will get back to the Fort Garry. My current project's been 3 months so far in the making and it's only a 1x2 lot!

@K1A: What specificly do you need help with? By no fault of yours, I am a little confused by your request.  I usually assume when people refer to models, they are talking about the raw 3d model before it's made into a file that SC4 can use... Or the actual file that gets spit out is referred to as the "model file".

Here's some detail modeling I started on the Bishop's House:

I'm going to work around the building, adding more stuff as I go...quote>

To clear it up man, i am talking about when in your "read me" for each building  it says u need the source files (model files, etc) to use the buildings but i have no idea what it means cuz i keep recieving brown boxes whenever i want to use ur beautiful buildings and i thought maybe u could tell me where i can find the source files so i can use ur work

[bixel 1,228]

WOW!!! looking so nice Sparky!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Sorry for the lack of updates again. Been helping a friend move, and may be able to get going again later this week.

@Jason: That tutorial worked great, would have made my job easierr on the Hatfield Courthouse! I have played around with it to some degree, but haven't really settled on anything I like yet. All I know is that this process will be utilized on the Bishop's House, and will have gradient walls.

@K1A: The model files ought to bhe included in the zip file downloaded off the STEX. If you take a look at the files for the BAT, model files will usually be titled "[buildingname].sc4model" So for for example, 1000 Broadway would be 1000bway.sc4model, or something like that.

As for JtPortland's BAT's, he sometimes had put all the files in zip files within the zip file. So, it's probably best if dealing with one of his BATs to look and see if this is indeed the case, and unzip everything in it.

Stay tuned for more progress, as soon as everyone around me settles down.

[K1A 0]

o ok hopefully i just did'nt extract them right, thanks for the help!!

[spa 970]

This one has come along nicely. I like the side entrance. A definite download.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Well, been a little busy, but found some time to do some stuff:

Bishops House:

Got a new gradient texture. Too dark, weird? Lemme know what you think!

And here's a taste of some more stuff that's been in the works:

VERY early look at the Jackson Tower:

Bank of America Financial Center:

Standard Insurance Plaza (Still not sure where I'm going with it yet):

I'm feeling more like BATing. More specificly, I feel like starting up a bunch of projects and getting them done as I feel like doing them. Or something like that...

Enjoy!

[Rickk 16]

The Bishops House looks great! The gradient is a bit too stark, but not as much as some people may think. I would reduce it only slightly. Possibly make it 75% of what it is now.

I love the Standard Insurance Plaza. I dont know why!

[Andreas Roth 629]

The gradient looks fine; maybe it's a tad too dark, but since the colors seem to brighten in the game a bit, it's probably just right. You'll have to add a gradient to the gutter pipe as well, though, since the yellow really stands out in the lower part. Is the Standard Insurance Plaza a different building than One and Two Standard Insurance Center by jtportland? Or do you want to try a more realistic approach of those, complete with that sunken plaza?

[josefmayor 8]

lookin fantastic!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

@Rickk: Good advice, will give that a try! Ever get anything going with the Yeon Building?

@Andreas_Roth: It's pretty confusing, but Standard Insurance (now The Standard)  has 2 major office buildings downtown. JtPortland's One and Two Standard Insurance Center are actually just one building, he just made tall and short versions of it. The one that I'm making is Standard's first building. Their first, steel-beam building is titled "Standard Insurance Plaza", the later building, the reinforced concrete one, is titled "Standard Insurance Center", but was originally the Georgia-Pacific Building.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Actually, the colors you see in the preview are exactly the same as the ones that end up in the game.

But anyway, did you follow the tutorial?  I've never followed that tutorial, instead, I make a new layer, filled with white, and set to either overlay or multiply.  Then I add a gradient layer style, scale it bigger as much as possible, and then set that to multiply.  Then I adjust that layers opacity untill it's the right dark/lightness.

But anyway, yeah, I think it should be a lot lighter and more subtle (more subtle because it's such a short building).

Jackson Tower looks cool.  I looked it up and emporis, and it'll be a great addition to the game.  It looks like a 1x1, which is perfect for competing with those other 1x1s that seem to grow too much.  Is it a 1x1?

[sparkythepenguin 90]

@Jason: That's pretty much what I did too. Going to take a crack at it sometime soon. Been a little preocuppied lately with anothe project!

Jackson Tower is a quarter-block lot, so it'll be 2x2. It flares out at the bottom 3 stories or so, and provides a seamless transition to its neighbors. Or at least its original neighbors.... It's now flanked by modernist stuff on its block.

And here's what I've been a little preoccupied with:

The Bank of America Financial Center is now topped out!

View of the south side of the tower:

And here's the north side. The green junk along the edges are the beginings of the neon tubes that light up the crown of the building. Fun little piece of LA kitsch.

All textures and scaling are temporary pending final touches and adjustments.

OK, so now those who have requested this from me in my ODS Tower STEX comments, your wish will (hopefully) soon be fufilled!

[spa 970]

Bishop's House has turned out quite well. I think the gradient on it is fine. It's a nice lively earthy tone. These new projects look interesting. They're the kind of thing we need more of, nice mid-rise skyscrapers.

[Norwegian Neko 12]

I think I just wet myself with that rendering of the Bishop's House. Ditto with the one of the Standard Insurance Plaza and its' sunken plaza!!!

[bixel 1,228]

OOooOOOOOoooo Bank of America Financial Center is awesome!!!! Your skills are really rockin!!! Bishops House looks excellent with the new texture.

[cammo2003 20]

Yeah, on Bishop's House, just a tad darker than the render in Jason's post seems to sit about right with me. Having said that, if it were released as it was in that post, I'd certainly download it.

A shade and a half darker would probably be the most needed.

[tommiej 0]

nice work! looks good, looking forward for more