The Portland & Oregon BAT Team, Chapter 1

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Ack, I ought have read this thread some more before going at Bishop's House today... Oh well, let's see what everyone thinks of today's update...

@Zilfondel: Long time, no see! Glad to hear from ya again!

OK, here's a full veiw of Bishop's House. It's 98% done now!

Accomplished since last update:

*Finished all detail modeling

*Changed a few textures

Left to do:

*finalize textures

*Night lites

*finalize scaling

*Mod, write-up read-me, package up, and release!

Here's Bank of America Financial Center:

Accomplished since last update:

*Finished modeling the base, modelling progress at 89%

*Tested scale for preview presentation

Need to do (short term):

*adjust ground floor and roof crown, both are a little too tall

*model entryways/add doors to upper level outdoor areas

*model detail of roofs

*model the final skylight areas

OK, I'm going to go now. I really appreciate everyone's comments and feedback, thanks!

Oh and Screamingman12 released his MAX lightrail pack! Check it out on the STEX!

[jt_144_2004 0]

Very nice

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Welcome to the 37th page of this project! Just responding to open up the new page.. To see the latest progress, please go back one page to see it... Thanks!

[MallowTheCloud 41]

Wow, rich... and to think THAT will be going down to Clackamas Town Center in a few years. Awesome! EDIT: Just noticed that was not even close to the most recent page... this was in response to the MAX pictures from 5 or 6 pages back.

I am ever in awe of your creations, Sparky.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Sparky, this is some wonderful progress you are showing here! I like just about everything you BAT.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

It's looking really good.  The utility lines in the back look nice.

The only thing I think is that the gradient is too strong.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Hmmm.. I just tried something new for that gradient texture. To me it looks almost like Jason's original one:

Just done before I posted:

It's not too dark, and closer to the peachy paint on the real building... Shall I work on a test export version and see what it looks like in-game? Comment away!

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Yeah, that looks a lot better.

[Andreas Roth 629]

Wow, that's superb! Another "must have" download for sure!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

OK here's the first in-game shots of the Bishop's House!

Now I am a little bit worried about the scaling. But then, in reality, the building has really high ceilings... They did build this for an archbishop after all....

Your thoughts will be appreciated! Once the scaling is figured out, if it needs to be... Let the nite lighting begin!

[Jasoncw 11,949]

The front looks just fine compared to other buildings.  It looks like they are just tall ceilings.  The only thing that might look out of scale are the side windows.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Sound advice Jason. Those side windows are probably whats really bothering my eyes in that version.

I know I'm up waaay too late, and am very drowsy, but here's a redesign of the side and backmost windows in-game:

I've really got to grow a decent-sized city again... Just too interested in making stuff right now. The Big City tutorial is pretty good for testing out smaller BATs though.

[tommiej 0]

looks nice, they do look they've got tall ceilings, but you will find that in a lot older houses in europe.. keep it up

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Now, should I light this puppy up and start preparing to release it?

[vester_DK 477]

Do you really need to ask ?

The answer is of cource YES.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

OK then, I'll start getting Bishop's House ready then. Not too much to do before it goes through the renderer.

And in other news.... Since Standard Plaza is getting some good reactions, here is the latest on it:

I am worried about how the sunken area integrates into the ground level area. In real life, this lot slopes every which way. One corner of the sunken area is slightly street level, another is much more above it. The entry with the brigde is actually a floor above the entrance on the other end, and the sunken area is level to that one. In this model, I added a floor below the real lowermost floor to keep some height integrity of the real building. I've done a bit more juggling to make it work in the SC4 world, but those ramps down to the sunken area look sort-of weird... I should make them a little longer so the grade isn't so steep looking.

Here's a close-up of the other entry. People often ride up the escalators to catch a better view of Portlandia statue on the Portland Building across the street.

Comments on this building are REALLY important! Enjoy....

[SimFox 804]

I think it looks good! Very welcome departure from boring stick 'em up boxes!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

HUGE update today on Bishop's House and Standard Plaza:

Warning: This post may be very intense on dial-up or low-bandwidth connections, sorry!

I've been REALLY busy again. So far, I still am working on everything, but don't have as much time to BAT as I want. For now, I've been BATing when I need a break from another tedious task. But I am getting some stuff done at least!

I have finally rendered a sucessful final export of Bishop's House. It took me about 4 tries and 2 custom LODs to get it right, but it is nearly ready. Here are some shots:

A good night shot, showing off the W2W effect and comparing scale with other buildings:

Same shot, but during the day:

Close-up at zoom 5 of the front:

A full 360 degree photo set, to show prop placement:

Props and everything else look OK? I would like to add custon query and menu icon. Going to try to figure that out.

Now for Standard Plaza:

Roof detailing has begun, and more plaza detailing will come as I find more time. The ramps are now longer and narrower, Also they are seperated from the building.

Comments really appreciated!

 Edit-screenshots now converted into jpg format

[Sim shady 12]

sounds cool but for some reason, im not seeing any of your pics in your latest post.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: sparkythepenguin

I would like to add custon query and menu icon. Going to try to figure that out.quote>

Like this?

[SimFox 804]

Sparky:

Somehow your big post is not compatible with IE7. On Firefox everything shows up just fine, but on MS IE7 (which now is a forced on all Windows users ( I mean update to IE7) no pictures are visible...

[Andreas Roth 629]

@SimFox: I think it's not the fault of the IE this time, but the fault of the board software. PNG images that are embedded into a post are not displayed for some reason. However, if you click on the "Quote" button, they will show up fine in the preview window.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Missing images: Sorry you aren't seeing the images Sim Shady. Thanks for being the first to report this problem!  SimFox and Andreas_Roth, thanks for elaborating more on the issue. That's weird, as I have Win XP, and I haven't been forced to upgrade IE at all.

After lunch, I'll convert the screens into Jpegs so that everyone can see them no matter what. I'd have done it earlier, but was busy with a RLS project...

@T_Wrecks: Those menu icons look great! Just gotta figure out how to put that in. Have some time after lunch, so will use the tutorial to do it.  If I decide to, may I use those that you made?

I've also started to design a custom query. I figure it's about time I started using those. Again, after lunchtime, and a little work, I'll show my initial steps toward a template. 

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Originally posted by: sparkythepenguin @T_Wrecks: Those menu icons look great! Just gotta figure out how to put that in.quote>

Putting in an icon with LEProp is as easy as taking candy away from children. Just make sure you have the lot all wrapped up and finished, because whenever you save it in the LE, the LE will create one of its fugly default items and overwrite whatever icon there was before.

Originally posted by: sparkythepenguin .  If I decide to, may I use those that you made?quote>

Are you kidding? You didn't really think I showed the Icon in the correct size and correct format, with transparent corners, only to show off and tell you that you are not to use it, now, did you? Why of course you can use it if you like it - I made it for you! Then again, if you have different plans, that's no problem either. Making that was a two-minute job, so...

[sparkythepenguin 90]

The screenshots above now are in JPG form for everyone's enjoyment.

@T_Wrecks: Hahahaha! It's been a long week so far, my friend. On Monday I kept messing up everytime I tried to write something! I guess today's brain fart day. I think I'll use those, as you just saved me some time!

All righty then, to round out Bishop's House, I'd like a little feedback on how everyone thinks it should function. My plans so far are:

CO$$ Plop/grow, stage 4?

This would make some fancy office space as well, so should I put in a CO$$$ version? There aren't too many 1x2 CO tiles out there, and that'd add some variety to both classes.

CS$$ plop/grow, stage 4?

The Al-Amir Lebanese restruant within is a pretty spendy restruant, but not at all as expensive as the more distinguished dining establishments in town. So this'd be CS$$ only.

Landmark: 'Nuf said

And on the custom query front:

I am making a neat little stylized skyline as seen from the Willamette Riverfront. There's a bunch of ways I can go with this. I want as full of a skyline as I can possibly cram into a normal sized query box. From the South Waterfront to the Fremont Bridge. If it looks weird, I am just doing a cartoony version which just crams things together without streets between the blocks.The jpg compression stinks, but may look better once it is shrunk further down. The Wells Fargo Center (tallest structure) needs to be squished horizontally- it looks too bulky.

Now an interesting idea is to have the skyline sit atop the query box... Or I can put it inside the box at the bottome, and modify it to show where the building is located in the real skyline by highlighting it or outlining where it would be if it happens to be hidden by surrounding buildings.

[SimFox 804]

Andreas: I thought that much, as IE7 has no problem with png... it was something IE specific - I believe how BBS software had placed them on page that ticked it off. I remember there was a note somewhere recommending Firefox for Simtropolis. anyway it was working fine on Safari as well

Sparky: IE7 was forced down as a Security Update - one of those that MS forces done not leaving for you choice. you may chose to ignore it but if your windows is set to download and install security updates it will be installed automatically. it has some nice features but in my opinion is noticeably slower then Firefox, which in ver 2.0 also have it's share of bugs - I just ca not get rid off bookmark toolbar. Every time I restart the browser it is back there!

As for the query thing.. what do you mean front? may be background?? Or should it be as a header?

If it will be used as a background it should be muted as much as possible as the way it is now will make any text on top of it unreadable, even if put in dedicated fields... .

[Tarkus 6,933]

@sparkythepenguin:  It's been awhile since I've stopped by here, but I am continually impressed by your SC4 versions of well-known Portland landmarks!  The Bishop's House and Standard Building are no exception.  As far as the classification for the Bishop's House, I know there's the Lebanese restaurant in there, but I'm not sure what else is there in RL . . . I guess for realism, maybe CS$$, but I also concur with your idea of making it CO$$ and CO$$$.  It seems like a lot of BATs that are coming out lately are designed such that they have multiple classifications.  As far as the query box goes, the stylized skyline looks pretty cool.  Personally, I think it might look good tilted at an angle and black and white in the lower box (where the building statistics are).

Anyway, I have actually become semi-proficient with iLive's Reader and am starting to figure out transit modding.  (Like you, I use it to take a break from seemingly endless menial tasks.)  I've been doing some work on the Rural Highway (RHW) Mod lately, and I have been figuring out some things with bridge making. So as soon as I get some more things done on the RHW mod, I might come back to tackling some Portland bridges. 

I've actually been doing some experiments with creating double-decker Rural Highways. 

It is supposedly (from what I've heard) impossible, but that's not going to stop me from trying.  I haven't yet gotten to fully work yet, but it shows some promise--if I do figure it out, though, the Fremont and Marquam Bridges might actually be doable.

Again, keep up the great work--glad to see some familiar sights!

-Tarkus

[josefmayor 8]

Very nice sparky I can't wait for that building!

[bixel 1,228]

WOW Lots of progress here. Bishop's House looks amazing!! And I simply adore the Standard Plaza...is there anyway you can get some perpedicular photos (i.e. photos looking directly at the windows) of the standards windows from another building to be used as a texture? I would do it but I've no camera. What are you doing this Saturday..perhaps if its not raining we should take a trip downtown and get some shots.

[newyorkrunaway1 110]

you are such a great BATter. I love Portland and love the buildings!!!