The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Wow Jt! Memorial Collisieum! Are you going to make the whole Rose Quarter? I may have a few pix of it floating around from my transit work, since it's right by the MAX. My photobucket account's nearly maxed out, so I gotta wait a few hours to sign up for another.

The Fox is the best new building, probably the last big office building for a while. Luckily, there are tons of tall condo towers being built or proposed. They look interesting.

Its the only big office building in Portland I've watched rise up. Sure beats the unfortuneately dilapidated Fox Theater that used to be there.

Speaking of buildings built atop old theaters, here's 1000 Broadway's progress:



As you can see, no texturing yet, and a lot still must be done. However, I have the shape down. I think, after fleshing out the round part, I'll get the dome on the roof done. I assume roof crap goes under the dome, which is actually a group of rings and open to the air.

Before I even start on the base, I need some opinions. The building takes up half a Portland block, so it will naturally be 2x4. However, the back of the building does not extend all the way down, an ugly parking garage behind it covers the back end of the base. So, here's where I need everyone's help:

Option 1: Either model the parking garage or stick one of the Maxis-made garages in as a prop. The lot would be a full 4x4 Portland lot. The bottom of the building in back would be just a blocked-up wall, as it is in real life.

Option 2: Block-in the back of the building, but make it 2X4, so that buildings generated in the game would grow next to it and cover this area.

Option 3: Same as 2, but add shorter pre-made commercial buildings in LE as props and make it 4X4.

Option 4: Rack my brain and figure out a good way to fill the space with a rear entry. The building really doesn't have a grand entryway in real life, but this would not be completely like the real building. It would be a 2X4 lot and may not look good if other buildings grew around it.

Please let me know what you think and thanks for the comments on everything so far!

[crazyarchitect 7]

I kinda like #1, maybe try to model the one in back of the building, I'm sick of the maxis ones
Edit: welcome to page 8!!!!

[Tunafish 48]

Option 1 and model the garage.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

**RELEASED**




Click here to elect Congress Center to your city!

[crazyarchitect 7]

way ahead of you and good job on the center, looks great

[JaWood 194]

Nicely done. Oregon will be gracing the streets of my cities in no time.

[jtportland 184]

great job on braodway so far! and i think you should either use the maxis garage, or make your own that goes with the building, even if it is ugly, maybe you could put the fish in it like other parking lots have in portland haha. all depends on how much work you want to spend on it. it would also be cool to have a 4x2 growbale of this building! hehe

here's a helpful pic if u don't already one:



great job on the Congress Center too! looks really amazing for your first all bat project

and with regards to the Collisieum, more pics would be nice! hehe, i've only been there a few times. and no i wouln't be making the whole Rose Quarter, since the rose garden looks really hard to make! haha

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Thanks Jt, JaWood, and Crazy!

Well, I'll take a good look at the parking garage next time I'm downtown. I'll probably pass by it on Election Night. I think it may have a McDonald's and a Starbucks in the ground floor... That may be interesting....

Either that, or I could teleport the Standard Insurance Center's parking garage over. It's really funky after they retrofitted it. People call it the Boogie-Woogie building. It may look better with the Broadway than cady-corner to the SIC. I'll dig up a shot of that to show everyone.

I may have to drop into Rhino to do that dome... It really obscures everything under it, doesn't it?? I'll have to see if I can get a decent look at it from the Fox Tower cam that one of the news stations uses. Provided they have a live stream. I just can't get up high enough to get a really good pic of it (and believe me, I've tried!)

Jt, I'll try to find some more on MemCol... There's a really funky 60's style awning over a forward ticket booth area that you may be interested in including. It's really really funny looking.

[SpartanBadger 4]

Hey great job on your recent releases guys, they look great! I'll be looking forward to see how the 1000 Broadway turns out, it looks like it will be really cool! Good luck with your next projects guys.
Happy Halloween!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Thanks! Looks like I'll be taking the day off... BATing just isn't fitting in with my plans for tonite... I'll also be off for Election Day. Paaaaarty time!!!

This'll be my first Halloween and election after quitting drinking... I'm betting that I'll have more fun, since I don't party as much as I used to.

Happy Halloween and good luck to your favorite candidates/initiative sides! May the best candidate win!

[crazyarchitect 7]

well have a good halloween and election day

[jtportland 184]

have fun sparky!

well, i was looking at Portlands the tallest building list, and i noticed that we have missed one!

PacWest Center



after i finish this, sparky and i have made the 7 tallest building in portland!!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Looking good JT, don't forget the base now! It's pretty cool. The Ice Cube's in the house!

The full name of this building is Key Bank Tower at PacWest Center, btw... Us penguins just call it the Ice Cube.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Oh, btw, I just managed to get 3 more photobucket accounts, so I can now post as many pics as I want for the time being...

Here's some of the Memorial Collisieum:

From the Interstate/Rose Quarter MAX station...



Front entrance flanked by US and Oregon flags



Weird 60's-style archway over what I guess are ticket booths:



And here's part of the SIC parking garage (AKA Boogie-Woogie), a good candidate for modeling into the 1000 Broadway lot:



I'll try to snap a really good pic of the artsy sides of it. It's really nice looking so far as parking garages go. The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame museum is on the ground floor. If you were in the photo, you could walk around that small building and be staring right into it.

[subedei 3]

Looks awsome JtPortland. Will be a fine addition to you prtland collection. Keep up the good work.

 

 

 

Subedei

[jtportland 184]

thanks sparky and subedei!

sparky, thanks for the pics! also, i don't have any pictures of the base, except a satalitte photo, and it's kinda hard to go off of that, so i would be hard to get it accurage, i could wing it though?

also, here's a link to the metal texture i used for pacwest:

http://img74.exs.cx/img74/7061/metaltexture09.jpg

edit: another thing, there are a lot of polies now on the pacwest! mostly because the round corners, to make them smooth i had to use lots of polies for that. so it's already moving slow, and i don't know if i can add any more like on the base, since it has lots of plants on it! not sure if my comp could handle it, but i could try! haha

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Jt: I think you could wing the MemCol's base. Just get that funky entry in, and the rest is just the windows running around it, with a bunch of doors behind that awning thingy (which is free-standing).

Did you make sure to knock out the height segments when you edited the PacWest mesh? That'll help out quite a bit in roundish buildings! It's either height or length segs... Mess around with it and see what gives...

For those of you not in the know, I decided to take a quick foray into a suprise building! It's a gift to JtPortland for all his help, not to mention patience, in getting me up to speed with BAT. I'd tell you more, but I don't want to give the suprise away...

Oh, and thanks for the texture. You posted that just in time, since my suprise project is ready for texturing! Still need to model the base, which shouldn't be too hard. Just hope I got enuf roof crap on it!

I'll post pics when I have the bulk of the building textured.....

Stay tuned!!!

[jtportland 184]

yay! a suprise for me, and it's not even christmas yet! haha

i will wing the memCol base and also the Pacwest base, and i think i will make the weird asian looking awning thing sepretaly as a prop.

i will also try to 'optimize' pacwest, to hopefuly kill some more polies, i think it's around 100,000 right now, wich is way to many!

not sure if sparky already mentioned this but sparky is updating the first page and first post of this thread of our progress! so check it out everybody!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Ready for the suprise?!?!?!?

Well here it is: Portland Plaza Condominiums!



This is the fastest I've EVER mada a BAT building! Pretty good for a first rounded building, eh?

Here's a real-life pic of Portland Plaza, taken after a rare Portland snow storm:



The base should be easy. It's yet another concrete podium, but with trees seperating the residents-only pool and commons area from the rif-raff. A hole is cut into it to provide a drive-up entry.

Should I leave the lights blue? I didn't like the beige lights when I first previewed it...

Jt, I remembered that you really like this building, so I thought it would be a nice way to thank you for all of your much appreciated help.

Enjoy the photos, for it may get out on the STEX really, really soon.

[Superstar 69]

looks great!!!! so many great Portland BATs to create I see, very well done, looks so much like the real deal

[jtportland 184]

WOW, sparky! you did a really amazing job on the portland plaza! and you're right, this is one, if not my most fav building in portland! great job on the windows too, looks simply amazing, along with the roof.

and if beige night lights don't look good with then then go with the blue, it looks good with the blue anyways

[subedei 3]

Looks awsome sparky. Keep up the great work.

 

 

Subedei

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Cool, glad you like it Jt!!! And thanks for the comments Superstar and Subdei!

I'll keep the nightlights as-is, then! Now I gotta figure out how to get the top of the base done. It's got a swimming pool and a very park-like setting. I'll have to fish around for a good concrete pond on the web. I just don't feel like modeling the tiny details myself, but will if nothing else exists.

Luckily I got a lot of tree and flower models to make it look all nice. I never knew how nice it was behind that wall til I looked at the satelite image...

What a way to stay up all night! I'm re-setting for a longer day tomorrow, since it looks like this election's going to be a real nail-biter. I'll be right in the thick of things, so far as Oregon politics goes tomorrow! I never know who I'll bump into at these things. I became vice-chair of my friend's Political Action Committee recently, and may get to know EVERYONE who does anything in this state...

I'm Sparkythepenguin and I approved this message...

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Great job, again. I think if I check in every two or three days I'll have posted Great job enough times to become a Veteran in no time...

[jtportland 184]

well i've been playing around with a new nightlight technique borrowed from n7, it took a very long time to get it right, but here is what it looks like:

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

that pacwest lighting looks amazing !

[Tunafish 48]

can you say real?

[dudyconstructor 46]

woooah!!!!!!! omg! that nitelites looks so real! nice job! its so great!

[subedei 3]

Very nice so far JtPortland. Cant wait for this to be released. 

 

 

 

Subedei

[crazyarchitect 7]

WOW!!!!!!!!! So much has happened in my absence, the norelco building(lol) and the pacwest center, sooooooooooo awesome, man I didn't know Portland had such cool buildings, love it so much