The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[SYM Productions 7]

BEAUTIFUL

That's all I have to say for now...

 

- CDI_spy

 

EDIT: Ok, I've found my words... beautiful... very warm, I'm loving it!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Welcome to page 23! A lot to cover today. Sorry for a huge, long post! Lots of roses blooming even in winter! hahaha

I didn't get to do anything at all on the Hatfield today. Too busy. *sigh* However I did get some more pics of Portland while I made a walk through the Pearl District, Union Station, and Chinatown. Next on the list to get are pics of Old Town/Skidmore Fountain area, Lloyd District, and Nob Hill/Northwest Portland! Starting after this thread, I'm thinking that I'll just put a pic of something or somewhere in Portland daily (or at least every time I post if they are at a day or more apart). I call it the Almost Daily Random Portland Pic!

Now to respond to all the great commentary (in order of poster)and other stuff posted by y'all. And quick things to say to anyone else I have a quick thing to say to...

@Yatagan_L: I'll take a look at the hotel on the fic projects page. Is that the big yellow glass one? I think that we all will be happy with what I have planned out for the Hatfiel's rooftop garden.

@ricb: Thank you for the description of the interior of this building! Internet photos of the interior are few. You have to go to one of the the two architectural firms- BOORA and some NYC firm that I can't remember to see some very limited shots of the court rooms and all. Stil from what I saw, I couldn't figure out what went where inside! Thanks for helping figure that out, since they don't allow you to take your camera in there (not unless you want it temporarily confiscated!). The bubble-in-water-inside glass fountain is inside of the lobby and goes up a few floors. It is VERY dramatic at nite when you look in from the street. Too bad the front awning and inset entry are factors blocking me making that show up. Darn fixed SC4 camera angles! They really splurged with the artistic budget on this one, eh?

@Bixel: Good luck on the new job! Congrats! Don't sweat it. I've found that things that force you to take your time on a BAT end up making the BAT better! The Hatfield, which just wracks my brains out, is often interrupted with real-life stuff, but the breaks have resulted in it coming out much better than I thought! I'll try to get the HPP lot comparison going soon.

@mcarch:Hmmmm.. It grew in my cities when I tested it... I may be just asking some obvious things that you have all ready checked, but here's some suggestions on what may be wrong:

*You may have accidentally put the R plop versions, which admittedly, was a dumb thing for me to include. Check and see if you have the plugin files (R$$ grow or R$$$ grow lot and desc files) match and are both in there. You probably did this all ready...

*I may have set the growth stage like really high (I'll have to look at the file again). If you have the Super Demand Ordinace mod in your game, turn it on, zone a lot of 4x4 R_high density lots, make sure all building styles are on, and keep bulldozing stuff until you see it pop up. If it doesn't then we have a problem.

*Try re-downloading it, throw out the old ones, and put the newly downloaded ones in. I think that there was an issue that I fixed with the grow versions. I think I found and fixed the problem myself and got it updated within the first few days of having it on the STEX.

If all that doesn't work, then I'll whip up a quick update while I am modding the Hatfield. I need to get the R plops outta there anyway.

@diablo_del_bano: Yeah I did forget to light up under the roof overhang in back. Maybe tomorrow, I'll put the garden in and light that up. That area is definetly lit up. Unfortuneately, night pics of the Hatfield are probably non-existant. I went by it today as dusk set in. I saw that the sides of the overhang are not lit up (except in back). I'm trying to keep it as true-to-life as I can..

@CDI_spy: As always, thanks! As soon as I get this beast done, I can get at least 1 minor project nuked (200 Market definetly and maybe Memorial Collisieum). Then it is on to Fort Garry Hotel! It will be nice to get an old building outside Portland going. I'm getting tired of BATing modern stuff, and need a good challenge and change!

@Koybashi: Whenever you are ready, let us know and you are in! If you need any ideas for a project, we have a HUGE list of stuff on the front page. And if you need help getting started, feel free to ask here, PM me, or ask in the BAT workshop!

@JtPortland: We miss you! Hope school is going well!

Announcements on the Hatfield and on my future BAT plans:

I am not going to bother adding flags to this one. Exporting this once and modding it will be quite a task enough. Unless there is a good demand for flags (I mean more than 2 people POST that they want a Hatfield Courthouse version with them on), there's only going to be a flagless model to reduce file size and maintain sanity. Everyone OK with that?

The C0$$ grow and C0$$ plop lots have a working title of The Hatfield Tower. If anyone else has a better suggestion, I'd be willing to give it a shot. That just doesn't sound right to me yet.

I remember that the ODS Tower release generated a lot of interest in the Bank of America Financial Center that sits next to it. I'd love to BAT it, but I want to get into doing older buildings. Another reason that I want to back off this one is to give Bixel, Koybashi, SYM_Productions, or someone else a chance to BAT a prominent, modern downtown Portland office building. Let's face it, we're starting to run out of the really big modern stuff. I'd like someone to get their place in the sun, but if there's no takers after a long time, I'll do it if it is demanded enough and I have a clear queue.

Union Station and Waddle's Diner will be eventually be restarted. When, I do not know. Maybe after I get some stuff done for the Winnipeg exchange, I will start them over again, but I need some good experience with old buildings to crank out Union Station. Also expect Union Station to take quite a while. But in the future, your sims will be able to Walk in, Waddle Out and be reminded to Go By Train!

Now it is time for bed. Good night and hope to have more stuff to show off tomorrow!

[mcarch 15]

Sorry the one I was refering to was the second upload that I downloaded.  About a month ago I downloaded and tried it again to no avail.  I have everything in there that is needed.  Thats why I thought you might have an idea.  Very high demand etc.  I always leave on all building styles, so I know its not that.

I hope this isnt some stupid problem that will take you a lot of time.  If it is please dont worry about it on my behalf.  However, it would be a shame not to have a beautiful replica in my cities.  But I do appricate what you are doing!  Thanks!

[diablo_del_bano 3]

okay. i just thought it would brighten up the roof a bit. also, i am amazed at how urban portland is. it reminds me of st louis

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Phew, it's been a while since I popped into this thread... however, I've been watching it, and I liked what I saw! I gotta say that the latest night lights really look superb - what an improvement! Looks like you got lucky with that night scheme you tried on the Portland Building for the first time, because it seems to have the potential to look good on any building. Right now, I really can't think of any suggestion... the wall textures might look a tad too greyish (it seemed to be a lighter grey in the photos I saw), but since the textures get brightended up considerably during export, we'll have to wait for an in-game shot to see if everything's ok. Anyway, I would wait for an in-game view before changing anything.

@mcarch: There must be something wrong on your part - I'm also using the R$$ version of that building, and I got it to grow very easily once the required stage (7 or even 8 ) was reached. I've also seen it grow easily in many other peoples' cities, so I guess the building itself is ok. However, I'm damned if I know what's wrong. Odd...

[mcarch 15]

I do have everything... however, I am wondering something.  I have noticed that certain buildings dont show up in certain cities.  But once you start a different city, different buildings tend to show.  So in using this observation, I have started many cities since the download of the building.... however to my avail, still nothing.  I can keep trying this, however, since its been over a couple of months, Im not sure how much time is needed.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

A big update this morning! But first, as promised, the Random Daily Portland Pic:



Portland's China Gate at NW 4th and Burnside. It's the second-largest China Gate in the US after San Francisco's.

Thanks to T-Wrecks, I did a low-quality export of what I have so far on the Hatfield. This provided a wealth of information, as you will soon see...

First, I decided to see what it looked like in the context of a sampling of this project's (at present) released buildings. I then decided that it was a perfect opurtunity for a family portrait, so I added EVERYTHING that we've done so far!



Now for just the Hatfield:

Here are the day and night shots of all angles at a farther zoom:





The night lights are working fine at all zooms except zoom 5. This may be because I exported it as low-quality though. Any guesses as to why this happened? Compare with the above night screen:



To respond to the last few posters:

@Bixel: If you plan on using JtPortland's Lloyd Center as a guideline for the Holladay Park Plaza lot's dimensions, I found that the width at the east end is 11 SC4 tiles.

@Mcarch: It may just be that you have a ton of buildings in your plugins and the game isn't selecting it to develop for some reason. It may be sort of the reverse of the Wren Insurance problem. With Wren, there was some sort of coding Maxis inadvertantly put in it that made that building develop far more often than most of us cared for. Iamrobk fixed this by setting this attribute down in a mod. Maybe Portland Plaza has a lower setting? I'm not at all good at modding, so I don't even know where to find where that value is stored. Maybe if you take the model and make a new growable lot off a Maxis-made lot known to proliferate, that may do the trick...

@T-wrecks: Thanks bringing up exporting the Hatfield. I think the color of the walls are fine, but I found that the metal on this monster is as bright as the sun (especially on the roof overhang)! I'm going to have to darken those a bit... The metal roof looks a bit more smokey-gray in aerials, and the side metal could be toned down a tad.

Time to keep plugging away....

[SYM Productions 7]

real nice, sparky! i see the problem, i don't know what's wrong, but i wouldn't worry too much about it, it looks too good to worry about that, and any ways, i looks like the inside of the building with the windows malfunction. great jub up till now!

and what a family you have there! wow! that's a lot of BATing! there's what, 19 marvelous buildings there? wow!

 

- Yatagan_L

[SYM Productions 7]

Hey Sparky!

Great family you got there, great random pic of Portland, great Hatfield, good job on page 23... I'm running outta original things to say because your buildings are really very awesome... Yatagan said most of it... mainly, don't worry 'bout the little details, because you got enough of them right... pack this one up after a high-quality render and upload for our downloading pleasure!

 

Note to all: Sparky has sent me the photos of the Governor Hotel, so you'll be seeing my progress on that one for a little while to come... in maybe a week or so, at most...

 

- CDI_spy

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Sorry for the lag in updating, as I have been working on pushing out a high-quality test render. But first, the random Portland pic of the day!



This is the Oregon Pioneer Building, formerly known as the Railway Exchange Building (Possibly Portland's version of Winnipeg's Electric Railway Chambers). It hosts Portland's oldest restruant, and quite likely the oldest Asian American-owned businesses in Oregon: Huber's Restruant (dating from 1879). A history of the establishment may be found here .

OK here's a side-by side comparrison of the high-quality export and the low-quality one. I darkened the metal, but now it looks too dark. I'll need to find a middle ground between theese two. Also the main wall texture didn;t show up on the high-quality version for some reason:



I added some trees on the roof's back deck. Bushes and flowers didn't show for some reason even at zoom 5. That's even after I made sure to change everything to editable meshes. BTW, I'm using the models Kd5rax uploaded to the STEX for my trees:



Also, the potted trees around the high quality version are just to test where the LOD's will prevent props from showing up on the lot (once I get to that point). The real-life building has some anti-terrorism barriers that I will quickly whip up as props once I get everything on the building in order.

Nightlights are doing the same things on the high-quality version as the low-quality one.

I've made an updated checklist for a final product:

1. Finalize, once and for all, the textures.
2. Set some of the night-lit window intensities down just a tad (I'm thinking of a large picture window at the base that looks a little weird).
3. Make the anti-terrorism barrier prop(s), which just consist of metal posts mixed with some trees.
4. Export the prop and final building model, and whip up the lots

I am not releasing this with the flags. Maybe if someone wants a version with them, I will make one later.

Yatgen, you're probably right about the windows. I'll just tweak the abovementioned wierd picture window, and call that good. The side slits really are so dimly lit in real life, that you really can't see that they are unless from a distance.

And CDI_Spy, looking forward to seeing the Guv! Can't wait to see how you get this one goin'!

[SYM Productions 7]

Wow neat background on the random pic...

Anyway the gardens are look beautiful!  You very rarely see a touch of greenery in a modern building/BAT! 

 

Very nice... and it's so close to release... can't wait! 

 

- CDI_spy

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Huber's is one of my favorite places to go for desert after the Portland City Grill. PCG's stuff tends to be small portion, artsy-fartsy deserts (not that those taste bad or anything). But Huber's has great selections. Their sandwiches are good I hear. Drinks are great too!

They actually serve coke in glass bottles there. The only thing about the place, is that the lounge, while beautifuly designed and decorated, is REALLY noisy, especially when large parties of inebriates get loud around 1 AM...

I'd say that the Hatfield is indeed close to release. Just gotta get those textures right first. Then all the hard stuff is done (for now)!

[bixel 1,228]

that the width at the east end is 11 SC4 tiles. That's absolutely perfect, becuase that's the exact width of the HPP, BTW you Hatfield building looks great,  upload upload upload upload upload!!!!

[diablo_del_bano 3]

the building in the portland pic would be cool to see batted.
oops. the first post was supposed to be this. sorry.

[Andreas Roth 629]

The model looks fabulous! I hope you can fix the texture issues; from looking at the pics, I'd say the walls and the roof looks like they don't have a texture at all. You said you lost the wall texture, but apart from lighting up the roof texture a bit again, you should try to bring some structure into it, some stains and such.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Wow, thanks for all the imput everyone! More to add to the list, but not too much that can't be done quickly. Still I am sort-of forcing myself to take it slow on this one. This is mostly due to the fact that this is a pretty complicated model, and GMax/BAT is being a turd with my textures (I have to reload each texture map each time I attempt to preview or export it after starting the program!). It's really frustrating...

@Diablo_del_Bano: I really want to BAT the Oregon Pioneer Building. I have a bunch of stuff to get to before I can even think about that though, but I really want to start on BATing more old Portland buildings and CS stuff too. Oh and the empty post happened to me too, but I usually cut-and-past stuff just in case...

@Bixel: Cool to hear! HPP'll align perfectly with JtPortland's creation!!! If you need to fill up some empty space on the lot, I think it has a bunch of surface parking on it.

@Andreas_Roth:Yeah I'm not happy with the roof. I'll keep trying out some different things and see what it results in. Danke Sch

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Today's random Portland pic is Union Station!



The Gateway to Portland long before Portland International and even air travel, Union Station continues to welcome rail passengers well into the 21st century! Three Amtrak lines serve it: Cascades (Eugene, OR-Vancouver, BC), Empire Builder (Portland-Spokane-Chicago), and the notoriously late Coast Starlight (LA-Seattle).

Now for the Hatfield:

I added a new roof texture. I took the Portland Building's roof and darkened it, tweaked the contrast, and dumped it in. Unfortuneately GMax is still eating textures, but it only omitted a minor one this time. There really needs to be a reload all texture maps button!



Also Ardecila gave me some new trees to try out. I think they look better. Post away!

[Rickk 16]

Hey sparky, I've been thinking about doing a small skyscraper to pass some time between a couple of my bigger projects I'm slowly cranking out and I came across a Portland tower: The Yeon Building.

 

I think it would make a great BAT and I'd really like to do it. Is there a certain scale you're using that I should take into consideration if I decide to do this tower? 1Unit = 1M or something?

 

Also, I've only been able to get one photo of the building. Do you have anything in the pictures you've taken that shows it? It's located at 522 SW 5th Ave. I believe it was built a little before 1920.

 

Thanks!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Quick note: IT JUST STARTED SNOWING HERE! I'm in Beaverton, just a over the hills to the west of downtown Portland, so they probably got a little too!

Sorry snow is a big thing to me... It doesn't happen much on the Willamette Valley floor.

Rickk,

I pass by the Yeon Building all the time! I don't have any pics of it though... But I can definetly get some for you on my next trip downtown! I'll probably be down there on Tuesday.

It's quite an exquisite building, isn't it? It's part of Terra Cotta row. Emporis has a bunch of photos of it, but none of the street-level detail though (can't find it on the English version of the site, look on their German version-it's definetly there). I think the base has some black granite stonework-but don't quote me on that... Also I think that there's a huge painted advert on the back of it now (or maybe that's another near the Yeon). Unfortuneately it's not one of the old ones, but a modern billboard-type thing, possibly for the Portland Tribune.

Scaling should be easy on this one! It takes up a quarter downtown block, which JtPortland and I represent by 4x4 tiles. So, I'd say make it 2x2 tiles.

It's sort of one of those that would be considered a candidate for a W2W lot (a full or partial block of wall-to-wall buildings).

So I take it with the Yeon Building, you are a part of the team Rickk! Welcome aboard. Glad to have your tallent, even if it is just for one building!

[SYM Productions 7]

Wow this is really moving along, and you even caught Rickk's attention!

 

And your building is almost (just almost) breathtaking... you've just got so much talent my man!

 

- CDI_spy

[bixel 1,228]

Yup! The building is practically done, now I just have to do the rest of the eye-candy, I'll see if I can finish it tonight!

 

[edit] Ok, building is done, though I'm having some LOD problems that I dont want to deal with right now cause its 11:30pm and I have to wake up at 7:30 am, so off to bed with me.

 

But anyhoo, I will get it rendered tomorrow, post some pics, create an alternate version viz request from T Wrecks that will look like the Eastern Block projects...hehe -- And after thats done it will be submitted to you SparkythePenguin!!!! Yes its true, since it is a Portland BAT project I decided that you should upload it. I will not do any modding or LOTting, so that is up to you and your contacts.

 

Then I will finish the Arch (Victory Arch: see HK forum) and begin work on the Fontaine, which I'm sure will be much easier

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Date: 12/19/2005 11:12:09 PM
Author: bixel

I will not do any modding or LOTting, so that is up to you and your contacts.

quote>

Now this is a new feeling... bixel finishes a building, and I can sit back and relax while somebody else does the lot and modding work.

And if you guys don't find anyone, spoil my chrismas holidays.

Btw, do we get a screenshot before it's released?

[sparkythepenguin 90]

My 700th Post!

Sorry for the lack of updates today. Been busy at exporting again today. I have some news and a screen of the Hatfield to follow.

@Bixel: Well, if you need me to do the HPP lot modding, I can do that. But the Hatfield is keeping me quite a bit busy though... But I really need a break from that.

You deserve the heaps of praise that are sure to come for a job that I am confident is well-done! HPP's your time to shine on the Portland Project! Would you like me to bump it back to you after lot editing so you can take credit for your excellent work on the STEX?

Can't wait to see it out and The Fontaine begin!

Perhaps with the renewed interest and volunteering for Portland projects that has occured, maybe we ought to make a common STEX posting screenname just like SYM Productions on the Winnipeg Recreation Project....

Hatfield Courthouse Progress:

The annoying missing textures bug in the model has been rendered mostly harmless. Unfortuneately, the main wall texture doesn't come out at all the way I intended. I've exported it many a many time now, and the wall texture does exactly the same thing.

Now the texture is apparently showing on the renders, for if it didn't, the area where it should be would be black. I changed the color that is under the texture map to jet black in the material editor. So if the texture wasn't showing in the render, it would be pitch black. That wasn't the case on the last export I just finished. It looks unchanged from the last version. Because this is just one texture, it can't be the error that was happening before.

So I am faced with a hard choice: leave it or try again resulting in just the same thing. A friend of mine that is always around here and is familiar with the building says that it looks realistic even if the main walls come out the way they have been lately (see the thumbnail link below).

Here's a very large, 1024x768 screen shot of it in-game. Since this always the result of exports, even after correcting the missing textures bug, I'm planning upon releasing this:



If everyone thinks it's OK, then this one's going to lot modding. I'm getting pretty tired of this one and if it bombs on the STEX, I can always revise it at a later date or post the 3ds/GMax model on the STEX for someone else to figure this monster out later.

[Andreas Roth 629]

Well, I don't know anything about BATting, but if the wall texture looks like this after the rendering, then let it be. But I really think you should do something with the curved roof. It looks like a giant piece of plastic that sits on the building. I don't know what the real one looks like, but I'd like to see some ribs or something, just to avoid the sleek look. Look at DuskTrooper's Chase Bank Branch Building; those dark stripes add so much interest to an otherwise boring roof. You don't need to emphasis those ribs that much, but they could work great in a softer tone.

[bixel 1,228]

Try deleting the umv mapping that is placed on the object. If it gets ugly put a new umv map on, or perhaps duplicate the texture under a different name and re-apply. Also someone pointed out to me there is a umv remove tool, in the tool tab rollout, select more then umv remove. Failing that select everything save into a new scene, reload textures if necessary.

 

--Or you can set ID on the polygons and have multimaterial textures applied by ID only.

 

HPP: I will release screenies later tonight, however I want Sparkthepeguin to upload to STEX since this is a Portland BAT project, and if we create a cool logo for it thats cool too.

[Rickk 16]

http://www.alturasforums.com/stuff/yeon_03.jpg align=baseline>

http://www.alturasforums.com/stuff/yeon_04.jpg align=baseline>

 

I wanted to post my progress on the Yeon Building as it is right now, as I probably wont get a chance to really work on it again until after Christmas. My wife and I are moving this week (good timing, eh?) and thus my computer is going to be apart and then, once its back together, we'll be celebrating the holidays.

 

Next to do: The windows, then the roof and the base, and then the rafters/details.

 

Sparky, can I hope to see some pics of the tower? You're right about Emporis, it has a few good ones, but its mostly from one side. Fortunately there's a night-time view of it as well. Huzzah!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Sorry for not having the daily pics again... The Hatfield is keeping me really busy, as is real life...

@Andreas_Roth: I was wondering if someone was going to notice the overhang's look... From the aerials that I've found it looks like a solid peice of metal. I guess I can add something like Chase Bank Branch's roof. The Fox Tower's base has something that I can probably use to base an improvisation off of. It'll probably be a 3d textured grid, pulled from the edit mesh mode off of the main overhang structure (or an easier to modify copy of it).

@Bixel: I'll try what you suggested. I may just destroy the texture and re-try it. I use my own s/n for my own work, not the project's stuff. JT and I just used to post our stuff on our own. I let him post things that we shared credit on. I guess me doing the lot modding on HPP would count as a case like that, so it's OK.

I'm thinking about sometime in the future, bundling up everything, revisiting them, and re-releasing a the Complete BAT Works of Portland, Oregon (Or some title like that) pack sometime under a common screen name or elsewhere where a large file like that can be better hosted.

@Rickk: I couldn't get downtown today, other things came up. The weather was crappy again today (and the little snow we got is all melted now ). I'll try tomorrow, whatever the weather. Please PM me with your email address so I can send you a zip of the Yeon pics when I have them.

You have a great start on the Yeon!

Good luck moving and hope you and the missus are happy with your new home.

Oh and for height scaling, I personally use the Sim Ruler, a little 3ds model that is available on the STEX. It is supposed to be the exact height of a sim. It has helped me more accureately scale stuff now.

Real-life is throwing me fastballs lately. I'm trying to keep up with everything at once, so it may be a bit tough to work on stuff. So long as I can hold everything together w/o a mental breakdown, I think I can push the Hatfield out.

[Andreas Roth 629]

Date: 12/20/2005 8:05:15 PM Author: sparkythepenguin

@Andreas_Roth: I was wondering if someone was going to notice the overhang's look... From the aerials that I've found it looks like a solid peice of metal. I guess I can add something like Chase Bank Branch's roof. The Fox Tower's base has something that I can probably use to base an improvisation off of. It'll probably be a 3d textured grid, pulled from the edit mesh mode off of the main overhang structure (or an easier to modify copy of it). 

 

Well, it may look like one solid metal piece in the aerial photos, but obviously, this can't be the case - I guess, they used some metal plates or sheets that are connected without any visual ridge. IMO, some artistic license can't harm when recreating a building in SC4. And please don't rush, real-life is still more important than a BAT. If you can release it for Christmas, it'll be great, but it will do fine as a New Year's present as well. 

 

@Rickk: Could you please edit your posting so those two pics aren't displayed side by side anymore? With this alignment, they are breaking the 800x600 rule.

[bixel 1,228]

I think the curved roof is fine...I kinda like simple colors like that I guess. Anyhoo...I don't have enough time to creat the Eastern Block version of the HPP today, so maybe WED or THURS. Here is some pics of the HPP semi-final. Please suggest and enhancements or ideas...I'm bad at nightlighting sorry...if Spark has 3DS Max6 maybe he can do better lights.

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//HPPnight.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//HPPDemo4.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//HPPDemo5.jpg align=baseline>

 

Rick: That building looks real nice so far...funny but even though I live in Portland I dont remeber seeing it...I guess once Sparky has a pic I'll figure it out.

 

[sparkythepenguin 90]

That's looking awesome Bixel! On the balconies, I'd add some potted plants or something. On the Eastern Bloc version, I'd add clothes hanging out to dry.

Still it looks good even without the embellisments I propose. On lot issues, since I'm handling the lot work, I'll figure that out. Hopefully I get the Hatfield finalized soon and can do it and HPP at the same time.

Speaking of that, I have some ideas about the Hatfield's roof overhang formulated at a Jazz jam.

Plan A: The cubbyholes- Using Boolean Differences (punching holes into solid objects), I'd have a series of square holes punched into the top. This would mesh well with the angular aspect of the rest of the building.

Plan B: The Finback- Not to be confused with Soviet-style fighter planes liscensed for manufacture in the People's Republic of China, this would add some small streamlined, fin-like ribs across the overhang.

Plan C: Solar Panels/small grids: A series of grids across most of the overhang, maybe with a solar pannel texture, or maybe just metal. I'm leaning toward just metal inside the grid lines as this keeps with the all-metal design of the real building.

I'll tinker with the overhang and have screen shots of all the options either by this morning or tomorrow.

Rickk, planning on getting those Yeon Building pics tomorrow. I hope to have so many pics to work from that you'll be sick of looking at it!