My first BAT

[SimCoug 5,977]

Amazing! You really knocked it out of the park with this set. I hope it well be the first of many.

[DCMetro34 577]

I agree completely!!  There are a lot of house BATs on the STEX yet, this brings something brand new to the table. 

 

Just wanted to echo everyone else's praise and show my excitement for a new BATter! 

[JP Schriefer 5,591]

Lovely houses!! Looking really good.

[TCD 123]

I haven't made much progress lately, it's mostly been modding and lotting (and losing patience). So far I have 40 lots in 1x2, 2x2, and 3x3 sizes. I have organized them into 3 groups; rural, urban and medium density which have multiple houses per lot.

 

Some rural lots.

 

Some of the rural lots have an agriculture theme.

 

 

Here are some of the medium density lots so far.

 

I think these look pretty good growing on a nice slope.

 

 

I'm trying to create a good variety of R$ and R$$ lots, but I think I need to model a few more buildings. I think I'll render them as diagonals as well and try creating some larger multi-house neighborhood style lots.

[SC4B 55]

Nice Houses, How Do u model them?? Sketchup?

 

And Also 5/5 for ur houses

[Huston 5,800]

You're insane dude. INSANE. (And daayyum that looks looking great )

[SimCoug 5,977]

Great loting! And of course I wouldn't be opposed to seeing additional models

[tonyr 926]

Awesome work my friend!

[Jasoncw 12,030]

Great project!

[dirtguru 24]

Am about to rebuild my favorite city as it recently suffered an apocalyptic case of prop pox.

It is especially hilly so much terraforming takes place for the dense parts of the city leaving the surrounding hills the perfect place to showcase your wonderful houses, much like Seattle or San Francisco.

Am anxiously anticipating there release.

[TCD 123]

I'll get a few renders with them sitting on their foundations later. The top 2 rows are the same building and will be a corner lot.

 

 

 

[Huston 5,800]

:O NO WAY. :O

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Wow, they look so lovely! I feel tempted to ditch Maxis's family homes altogether because among Cycledogg and you, low-density residential is dealt with in a more than satisfactory manner, at least for this style... I mean, everything on custom foundations, slope-friendly and all! Plus the wonderful variation. What more could I be wishing for?

 

There's just one question I'd like to ask: Are you 100% sure that you are not a clone account created by Cycledogg (CP) to test us? Because that could totally be one of his updates - and if you are really not him, then yes, that was a compliment, and a well deserved one at that!

[Turjan 1,048]

These houses are absolutely lovely and exactly the style of houses I'm looking for at the moment. I was already becoming desperate and thought of doing more relots of the Maxis 2 story houses. Amazing really.

 

I just hope you will upload whatever you have before you lose interest in the game or batting and lotting. Keep up your good work, and don't burn out on us, will you ?

[Hotwheeler 409]

Wahhhhrghfp...the suspense is killing me.I want these pieces of art so bad in my game.And look at all these variations,i guess someone could grow a 10.000 pop. Village with only your BAT`s,and the Village would never look boring or repetetive.

Also have to agree with T-Wrecks,your BAT`s really match to the ones made by c.p. The quality is top notch,lots of different colors and very deep detailing.

And it is really good to see that there are still talented BATters out there that will keep the flag for SC4 raised another decade or so.

Please,never stopp batting,okay?

[SimCoug 5,977]

Super work - the textures are wonderful.  I really dig the wrap around porch.  

[tonyr 926]

Beautiful houses!

[TCD 123]

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping to release this set soon. Hopefully March?

 

I have about 40 models to export and mod which is annoying and aggravating having to test them all and make sure the work properly. Sometimes I'll export the whole family of buildings and mod them then test them in game only to find out all 4 or 5 models don't light up at night or somehow zoom 4 east view is all distorted for some reason. Then I have to open 3dsmax again and redo the LODs on all day and night files and try again.

Fingers crossed that I don't have any issues with this latest batch of models. 

 

Wow, they look so lovely! I feel tempted to ditch Maxis's family homes altogether because among Cycledogg and you, low-density residential is dealt with in a more than satisfactory manner, at least for this style... I mean, everything on custom foundations, slope-friendly and all! Plus the wonderful variation. What more could I be wishing for?

 

There's just one question I'd like to ask: Are you 100% sure that you are not a clone account created by Cycledogg (CP) to test us? Because that could totally be one of his updates - and if you are really not him, then yes, that was a compliment, and a well deserved one at that!

Yeah I completely blocked all maxis houses and use CP, JMyers, Andisart, spa, Mattb325 and Simgoober houses mostly. Probably forgot a few others.

 

Thanks. I am not CP even though 99% of the props and textures on my lots are made by him. I swear!

I looked through his thread over at sc4devotion a few times and I can't wait for him to release some of that stuff. The thought of new CP prop and texture packs... oh man... and those farms look amazing, too.

 

 

Nice Houses, How Do u model them?? Sketchup?

 

And Also 5/5 for ur houses

I use Autodesk Maya for most of my modeling. I find that I work a lot slower in 3ds Max and really dislike editing UVs in Max. I have never used Sketchup before. I know nothing about that program.

 

 

Here are a few of the latest models with their foundations. Think I need to darken the foundation bricks and desaturate a bit to make them look a bit more neutral. Also made a few more garages.

 

[Huston 5,800]

I can only express my feelings in shock and awe. Nothing more.

[Charlie_Zane 963]

Oh my, those houses are simply outstanding! Absolutely amazing work, TCD!

[SimCoug 5,977]

Awesome! I agree you could darken and desaturate them a bit, bit other than that, everything looks phenomenal. The garages will be especially versatile. I'll go do my successful render dance now in order to please the BAT gods.

[Jasoncw 12,030]

I think the textures should be desaturated and brightened actually. 

 

I feel bad saying anything though because I know how much work, aside from just making them, but just logistically speaking, goes into making so many houses with foundations and garages and lots and everything.

[SimCoug 5,977]

Regarding the foundations, I guess I was thinking a little darker because I imagine the foundations would be dirtier, more susceptible to grime and wear.  That was my thinking at least.  

[TCD 123]

I think the textures should be desaturated and brightened actually. 

 

I feel bad saying anything though because I know how much work, aside from just making them, but just logistically speaking, goes into making so many houses with foundations and garages and lots and everything.

Now is the best time for any suggestions. Nothing has been exported yet.

 

Regarding the foundations, I guess I was thinking a little darker because I imagine the foundations would be dirtier, more susceptible to grime and wear.  That was my thinking at least.  

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Dark, earthy red brick with lots of grunge and weathering would look good for older houses like these. The current foundations are too bright and clean looking. Not that it matters too much since the foundations are only partially visible on most slopes.

[Huston 5,800]

I wouldn't desaturate, nor brighten them too much though, I honestly think the colors look pretty good, and I get pretty overboard on color desaturation in pics and BATs sometimes I'm not too much of a fan for overly bright colors.

[tonyr 926]

Wow!

[Jasoncw 12,030]

It has to do with our perception of colors. If a color is too saturated we will think it pops too much so we'll make it darker to try to mute it, but instead of fixing the problem (too saturated) it just adds another problem. The opposite happens too, a color will be too dark and to make it pop more we'll make it more saturated. 

 

Something that I like to do is check black and white versions of my BATs against maxis backdrops.

 

 

Trees in grass are some of the darkest things in both the game and in real life. Here you can compare your "black" roof with a maxis black roof and with black asphalt. The blue paint is also about the same value as the black asphalt. 

 

It's easier to "verify" that the value of a color is correct than it is the saturation. And then once the value is correct, it will probably look like super saturated plastic candy, and then you can lower the saturation until it looks correct.

[SimCoug 5,977]

Neat trick!

[TCD 123]

I never thought about looking at it in grey scale. I knew the dark blue one in particular was too dark. I wanted a strong contrast between the brown trim and dark blue paint and roof. Looks like I went pretty overkill. Same thing with the red house with green trim.

 

Thanks for the tip.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Nifty trick indeed. I'll have to memorise that one.