The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[crazyarchitect 7]

That looks pretty cool Sparky, as far as I know there are not many hexagonal buildings here, great job

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Geez! I was gone for 2 weeks and this thread exploded! So many new posts... oh well. Um, I guess nobody remembers me anymore.... So, anyway, just letting everyone know I'm still here.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Hiya Mallow, welcome back!

Welcome to page 6 as well...

Thanks Jt for the roof crap stuff! I found a few more things on the exchange that will work. Now my only question is what and how much roof junk to use!

I've been playing around with texturing the windows. I grabbed the Simtropolis Tools and they seem to work great!

Now I've run into a new problem... I can't seem to get the reflection texture to stick itself to the windows without tiling itself. If it isn't tiling, the whole picture appears on *Each* window instead of being stretched over the entire group of windows. ugh.. what an annoying error.

Nothing in any turorial has explained to me sufficiently how to strech textures over a whole group of things.

Jt, do you know how to fix this???

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Oh and I forgot to mention

Holy GEEZ these buildings are looking great!

Sparky and JT, both of you are doing a great job, and putting way more work in to this than I ever would be able to, or that I ever imagined anyone would. Keep up the good work.

[jtportland 184]

sparky, texturing was a big problem for me when learning bat too, but now it's easy! since i know what i'm doing lol, i will post a mini tutoral on how to do texturing on here later today when i get home from school.

also a tip on roof junk, don't over do it! make it look organized, have things in a row, and frame stuff together so it doesn't look too cluttered. use the Pioneer Park building as a guide. or SIC even.

thanks a lot MallowTheCloud!

[jtportland 184]

ok, im back with a tutorial on how to place textures on windows!


EDIT: i deleted the content and posted the tutorial here:

Texturing 101

this gives step by step instructions on how to texture windows

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Kinda funny, that's exactly what I did and it worked! I got real determined and figured out what the problem was. Still, if I forget how to do texturing (which I probably will!), its on there and easily accessable.

Here's Congress Center. I may tone down the brightest windows since they look almost like night windows.



Sorry for the huge pic. It's at zoom 5 and BAT likes to take BIG screens of whatever it is I rendered. At least I have this thing scaled.

Next up to do is to model a set of arches near one of the entrys. These arches were salvaged from the old Congress Hotel which was on this site. They now serve as an entrance to a now-closed restruant below the street.

After that, I'll spruce up the base a little, add roof junk, and night light it. Then it should be ready for exporting...

[jtportland 184]

nice job on the textures sparky! im guessing you used the random window texture technique? it looks really good! i wouln't change it at all. the black and grey windows look nice like that

good luck on the base part, if you need any more help let me know!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

I guess they'll do... I wanted to get the reflectivity of the building and the blackness of it at the same time... But I guess I got something entirely different, but good!

I d/l'd the Simtropolis tools last nite. And that random window tool comes really in handy! Not to mention the select and rename tool. What a lifesaver those are!

Maybe when I can figure out how to bend walls, I'll re-start the Fox... Unless you're on that Jt? Oh and did you manage to save the KOIN from the last render you did of it?

[jtportland 184]

i do have the koin model yes want me to send it to you?

sparky, i have gone ahead and stared on the Fox Tower, and i think i got the basic shape of the building down just right.



i still have yet to do much detail on the window seps, also roof, and the textures! it looks pretty short, so i might want to scale it up...

[subedei 3]

Very nice Portland buildings you all are making. Keep up the great work.

 

 

 

Subedei

[Superstar 69]

I see now some great texures on the building see some missing still but great job

[crazyarchitect 7]

Wow, very awesome, that looks so cool like that, and the Fox Tower is looking tight as well

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Weren't you going to finish the KOIN and post it Jt? It looks ready to do so and go ahead if you got a lot for it ready. If not, just send it over and I'll finish it all up for ya. You're probably sick of working on that building by now!

The shape looks good on the Fox! Just remember to get the little blue window thingies on the corners of the tan parts! Those are a big part of the building. The blue parts have a half blue and white spandrel (floor window peice) every 4 floors.

BTW are you going to do the base? I have advice on how to make it when you get there. It should not be too hard with array tools.

There's also a slight notch in the rounded part. I was just going to leave it out on my attempt.

I guess I went way too overboard on the detail. Ugh. But Rhino is good for that. Gmax is much much faster now that I actually sat down and used it!

But now I must decide what the next one I'm going to do is... Congress Center is almost done!

And look at all this rain and overblah weather! yuck! I really don't want to go out into it tonite... Maybe I'll stay in and finish CongCen...

[jtportland 184]

thanks subedei, superstar and crazyarchitect!

sparky, ohyea, i'll post KOIN, just havnt gotten around to it i guess lol, i'll post it some time tomorrow, or tonight maybe?

and yea, i just put the bule box thingys up on the corners.

yes i will do the base too! so please tell me all the tips u got on doing it! since it doesn't look too easy haha.

here is what i have so far:



i have a boxs as a place holder for the base.

[crazyarchitect 7]

cool

[Tunafish 48]

Awsome dude!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Hiya, just a bit to post here, then I gotta run out the door!!!!

Jt- The back tan part of the Fox is exactly the same height of the front tan part.... Otherwise, it looks really really really really good!

And looking forward to seeing KOIN on the exchange. Want me to write a blurb for it and a info about the real building for the readme file? I can do that as soon as I get home later...

Congress Center is now mostly textured and with roof crap!!! Just gotta add vents to the top diagonal walls (replacing 3 rows of window/spandrel panes), and nite lite it!!! I'm also shopping around for reflections for the base windows.

Gotta get the base steps modeled and the old Hotel arches done. That may be done tomorrow?

Here's the pic:



Gotta go now. Keep up the good work JT and thanks for the comments everyone else!

[Superstar 69]

Wow!!!!!!! looking very good, well textured now, love the roof texture, so realistic

[subedei 3]

Awsome work so far. A really nice mid-rise addition to the STEX.

 

 

Subedei

[crazyarchitect 7]

that is so cool the texture for the roof, you guys are doing a supurb job with all of these buildings

[sparkythepenguin 90]

OK, I exported the model after adding a few extra things to the building. Here is Congress Center in game!

Zoom 4:



Nite Lights:



Close-up of the old Congress Hotel's arches:



NOw time for lot editing.. I'm going to make a 4x4 plopable version to align with JtPortland's scale for Portland blocks. It works very well, as the sidewalks around Congress Center are extra-wide. I'll make a growable 3X3 and 3X4 version as well. Now to figure out how to make growables...

Gotta run, see y'all later and I'll reveal what's cooking next...

[jtportland 184]

sparky, Congress Center looks great! awesome job for your first offical bat!

and you're right about fox tower's box part, i thought they were uneven for some reason. but i fixed it now! haha, also, i have yet to start on the base, but i will shortly!

[crazyarchitect 7]

very cool, and good job on this sparky

[jtportland 184]

sparky, one more thing, i'll be releasing KOIN soon, so if you want to post a description here or PM/email me one go ahead! im sure you have more things to say about KOIN than i do lol

[jtportland 184]

** released **



Click here to download

[panthersimcity4 162]

Waddles.... I've passed that sign a gazillion times. I live in Vancouver.... across the river from Portland... yay! i'm glad you guys are making this project...

[Superstar 69]

Very well done, looks great!!! seems this is going great, good job

[crazyarchitect 7]

great work on the KOIN Center, I downloaded it already

[jtportland 184]

thanks panthersimcity4! i use to live in vancouver! i went to clark college last year, but now i live in seattle and go to school up here.

thanks superstar and crazy!... what's up with your upsidedown avatars btw?