Finnbhennach's Crypt

[Finnbhennach 161]

 

"Behold, a curious place,
where evil BATs come alive
and devour your mind!" 

Original post reserved for project updates,
announcements, and tutorials when appropriate.
Finnbhennach's Crypt. Fri, Oct 20, 2017.

 

   

New York City:
Blocks of Midtown, Manhattan

I. "Ongoing Projects w/ Status Updates"

   

Spoiler

 

B1292 [4x8 Residential/Office]
    Glass material abstraction (day)
        // new "workflow" almost perfected
    Glass material abstraction (night)
        // yet to be determined
    Interior lighting system (day/night cycle)
        // scripting needed for renders

    ▫ Legend
              Active Development
              Paused
              Complete

    ▫ 575 Madison Ave
        Preliminary modeling
                                 30%
        Ground & roof details
                                 0%
        Interior & textures
                                 0%
        Lighting & vfx
                                 0%

    ▫ 34 E 57th St
        Preliminary modeling
                                 20%
        Ground & roof details
                                 0%
        Interior & textures
                                 0%
        Lighting & vfx
                                 0%

    ▫ 432 Park Ave + Pavilion
         ^{Last Adjusted: Sat, Oct 7, 2017}
        Preliminary modeling
                                 80%
                           | Need more beam work on the Pavilion.
        Ground & roof details
                                 50%
                     | Getting started on vegetation and public space outside the entrance.
        Interior & textures
                                 30%
        Lighting & vfx
                                 10%

    ▫ 48 E 57th St (Jacob & Co)
        Preliminary modeling
                                 0%
        Ground & roof details
                                 0%
        Interior & textures
                                 0%
        Lighting & vfx
                                 0%

    ▫ 50 E 57th St (Turnbull & Asser)
         ^{Last Adjusted: Fri, Oct 20, 2017}
        Preliminary modeling
                                 30%
                 | Need to work on upper floors.
        Ground & roof details
                                 20%
               | Lobby exterior complete.
        Interior & textures
                                 0%
        Lighting & vfx
                                 0%

    ▫ 450 Park Ave
         ^{Last Adjusted: Fri, Oct 20, 2017}
        Preliminary modeling
                                 100%
        Ground & roof details
                                 70%
                         | Needs more roof piping. Revolving door and some lobby windows missing.
        Interior & textures
                                 35%
                  | Facade texturing on east view. Interior planning for ground.
        Lighting & vfx
                                 30%
                 | Environment reflections prototype for east/north view.

 

   

New York City:
Blocks of Midtown, Manhattan

II. "Future Projects"

   

Spoiler

 

B1293 [4x8 Store/Office]
// Bergdorf Goodman, Breitling, Burberry, Chanel,
   Dior, Fendi, Hublot, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu,
   Saint Laurent, and more.
    ▫ 737 5th Ave
    ▫ 743 5th Ave
    ▫ 745 5th Ave
    ▫ 14 E 58th St
    ▫ 16 E 58th St
    ▫ 600 Madison Ave
    ▫ 3 E 57th St
    ▫ 5 E 57th St
    ▫ 9 E 57th St
    ▫ 11 E 57th St
    ▫ 15 E 57th St
    ▫ 17 E 57th St
    ▫ 598 Madison Ave

 

 

  Edited October 20, 2017 by Finnbhennach  
Progress Tracking

[Finnbhennach 161]

432 PARK AVENUE
PRELIMINARY Z5 RENDER - DAY, SOUTH

Hmm, here are two renders for the first 5-6 floors. The left show an approximation of the chamfered edges seen in the real building while the right is an exaggeration to have the details pop more. What do you think is more appropriate?

Green figure (approximate to human proportions) included for a sense of scale.
 

Spoiler

 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

I think the right-hand version is fine. Of course, you can also enhance the visual impact of certain features by means of textures, but I think slightly exaggerating characteristic features so that they can be noticed from the viewing distance in SC4 isn't the worst idea. On a side note, it's good to see you back! I always hate it when someone appears out of nowhere, shows amazing WIP shots, and then goes AWOL.

[Reddonquixote 4,338]

On a side note, it's good to see you back! I always hate it when someone appears out of nowhere, shows amazing WIP shots, and then goes AWOL.

 

Seconded

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

On a side note, it's good to see you back! I always hate it when someone appears out of nowhere, shows amazing WIP shots, and then goes AWOL.

 

Seconded

 

Thirded?

[Mr Saturn64 742]

I may not be that big a fan of the actual building, but it's fine work here in SC4.

[Finnbhennach 161]

Thanks for the support guys, much appreciated! 

      
432 PARK AVENUE
A Z5 RENDER FROM HELL - DAY, EAST

Here's an update with some corrections to the overall dimension of this lot and the inclusion of fundamental details that were missing in the first preview. It's possible that the adjacent buildings will need to be modeled to retain the w2w quality seen in real-life; however, suggestions would be great. The 4 to 7 column transition area at the base holds retail space that extend out and will require more research as references for that section is quite sparse at the moment.

Now, as an experiment, the interior lighting for the pool deck on the 9th floor has been nearly perfected to simulate day & artificial ambient lighting. A solution to keep the rendering delay to a minimum will be needed soon-ish though to exact the same result for other areas. One thing at a time I suppose 

For the following updates, I'll be focusing more on defining the interior walls and with some basic furniture to keep things going while I add more floors above. Btw, how do you guys like the white concrete material? Is it tasty? Enjoy 
 

Spoiler

 

[Huston 5,798]

Some great progress on the tower Simplistic and boxy, yet somewhat elegant. It'll be a fine addition to the STEX

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

I recognized the building without readin its name. That's a good sign ^^

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Looking really good! I liked the white concrete

[Jasoncw 11,841]

Glad to see you BATing!

 

(fourthed )

[KonstantinII 1,106]

I agree with Huston. Yet is another boxy tower for me to plaster with my holographic neon signs. 2x2 is it?

[Charlie_Zane 963]

Looking good!

[Hotwheeler 409]

Wow,your highrise residential NYC Tower comes along great.

The white concrete looks really sweet and maybe my eyes are just fooling me but are the windowframes grey?This is a nice feature to the windows are more realistic look than just beeing transparent squares.

I assume you already did some research on the original tower and maybe have already some flor plans of it.

If not or if your source of information wasn`t that good,i tried to look up for some plans and construction plans and it seems that i found some stuff:

 

Penthouse Floorplans

 

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/23/check_out_the_penthouse_floorplans_and_views_in_432_park.php

 

Construction Plans

 

http://www.worldofarchi.com/2012/12/432-park-avenue-floor-plans-and.html

 

Oh boy, i didn`t even recognize that this will be such a skinny pencil tower.It looks like it will only take a little storm to tip this stick over...

[Finnbhennach 161]

@Huston The simplicity of this building is really what got me started and of course the lighting experiments I could do to it 

@Toothless Stitch Haha, yes indeed 

@JP Schriefer Did a bit more tweaking to the white concrete that you liked 

@Jasoncw Yaas, although ages later, I'm excited to be back. 

@KonstantinII Mhmmm, yes plaster those holographic signs  The building itself is slightly less than 2x2 tiles but now with the lot enlarged there should be more room to play with

@City_Master You're looking good in that picture of yours 

@Hotwheeler The window frames rendered a bit strangely and it should have been much darker (fixed) and yes transparent squares definitely don't look realistic. Those blueprints and floor plans helped immensely with some measurements that were missing in the beginning. Much appreciated 

Thanks for all the encouraging words everyone!

      
432 PARK AVENUE
A Z5 RENDER FROM THE WAKE - DAY, NORTH

There is much work ahead of this project but rest assured it'll get done slowly but surely  I took the liberty to further simulate ambient lighting on the front facing windows with some subtle glaring and varying dips in light levels to accommodate clouds and an exponential falloff to the first four rows of windows on the side. The next step would be to complement that with residential and public area lighting (think of night renders but for the daytime tailored to sims/tenants that would switch on the light for much needed lighting in their rooms/spaces barely or not adequately lit by the sun).

The glass is still in the tinkering stage with an experimental, continuous shot of its corresponding environment using 50-100+ stitched-together google maps images that would be reflected back per side. Indeed, it is an extremely cumbersome process yet so liberating when done right. However, it may require more tweaking and the horizon needs some adjustments for better sky transitioning but what do you guys think?

On the other hand, keeping it in line with the W2W spirit as seen in real life, additional buildings were added to the project only because they overlapped on some game tiles and couldn't be separated at 16m increments. Also, I could continue to have them included to keep the buildings' proportions in check but could this potentially break RCI demands due to this lot housing an entire block? If that is the case, maybe there is a way to get around this with some mod wizardry or stat adjustments or something simple yet unknown and I would appreciate any suggestions. It's good to be back and I hope you enjoy this update as much as I have been with exploring and tinkering. 
 

Spoiler

^{_{★ Tap image to view in full dimensions (1110 x 3452, 1.2KB)}}

 

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

Aside from the fact that I hate the building (and every single architect responsible for making it the tallest eyesore in the middle of Midtown), it looks promising.

[JP Schriefer 5,590]

Wow that's what I call a big building
This is not exactly the kind of building I looove, but it's definitely a need and you're doing it great! I hope to see it on STEx soon
BTW, are you going to model those other buildings in the image?

[Urban Vibravant 792]

Yes!! I was thinking about making this one myself but I guess I'll leave it up to you.

I know most of New York hates this building but this is my reasoning for why I like it:

1) The height raises the bar for new development to build just as high or higher. (competition among developers)

2) It's advanced engineering and technology that shows progress in human achievement.

3) Once the other supertalls are built, like 111 west 57th street, Nordstrom Tower, etc.. this building will fit right in. Because I'll agree it's far too tall to look good by itself atm.

Great job so far! Can't wait for it.

[Hotwheeler 409]

@Finnbhennach

Ah it`s good to see you`re back.I`m glad the Floorplans were useful for your Work.432 Park Avenue looks great so far.I would also love to see the whole Block as a BAT in Case it can`t be divided into 16m Portions.

The Building on the Corner of East 57th and Park Ave would be somewhat 2x2,5 Tiles large because of the narrow Building between your Highrise and the Corner Building.The Highrise would be around 3x4 Tiles (4 Tiles between two parallel Manhattan Streets seem to be Standart in every NYC based BAT) and the other Building (together with those 2 small remaining W2W Buildings) would be around 2x3....i think.So i think the whole Block would be something around 8x4 Tiles.

About the RCI,i think it might be useful to know what uses the Block the most?432 Park Ave is a $$$ Residential Building with high Density,the Corner Building on the right might be a Residential Building too,everything else is Commercial or Office.

So can choose if you make only one growable Residential or Office Version or a ploppable Office Version.

It`s up to you.

However,i`m glad you are back and i`m sure you will do the right Thing.

@Toothless Stitch

You`re right.A few Floors smaller and build somewhere where they don`t have to trample down rare historic Townhouses would be much better.Would love to see those Architect putting this much Effort and Costs into affordable Housing instead of one Condo Tower after another.

@Urban Abstraction

You are right on some Points,but i prefer those adorable old (and rare!!!) Buildings that stood there before:

https://goo.gl/maps/sPggWMCXFhM2

[Finnbhennach 161]

@Toothless Stitch It's slowly growing on me but I'm not entirely fond of it either.  Some exaggerations on the details seem to make it more palatable though. Can't wait to get started on the interior! That should make things really interesting.

@JP Schriefer Yeap, they are just placeholders for the individual measurements I took on the other buildings. They'll all get BATed eventually. It's probably going to be awhile 'til it shows up on the STEX but I guess later is better than never! 

@Urban Abstraction Thanks buddy this is beginning to become more of a long-term project! I chose this block mainly as a study for glass reflections, caustics, and interior modeling. Nevertheless, as you have mentioned, once the other supertalls are built 432 PA should fit more at home. It's interesting to note that the very top 2-3 floors house an enormous counter-weight so the building doesn't topple over. 

@Hotwheeler I decided to BAT the entire block and you were actually pretty spot on with the lot sizes when I compared it against the NY Digital Tax Map (super useful btw). I had to adjust some individual lot sizes but thanks to you it's now perfectly sized.  Different lot versions sound best for RCI flexibility. I'll most likely need suggestions on the different demand values when the time comes.

Thanks for all the likes everyone!

      

B1292: 450 PARK AVENUE
POSTCARD UPDATE: LET THERE BE REFLECTIONS!

I suppose we need to stop meeting like this.  Here's a quick render for you all while I sl-oowly get back into the groove. I'll focus more on frequent but incremental updates to keep the fire going. This should keep things more interesting while I BAT individual areas until the final reveal and then we'll move onto night renders. Let me know your thoughts on the new glass material I've been working on (totally a pain to do, but I'll tweak it further if you all think it's good so far). The next few things to expect from 450 PA will be texturing, roof w/ HVAC system, and ground details.

 

Spoiler

 

[cifer00 12]

wow! very nice building u got there.

though i like a little bit more less boxy towers, but thats a realistic one.

[PBGV103 729]

The glass on 450 looks like turbulent water to me. Have you taken a look at Jason's glass tutorial?

[edwardjeria 503]

It looks promising, personally, I hate that building with my soul, it destroys my Midtown scheme, but I admit it has done a great job .... applause

Question .... the building around (the apple) will be apart? or will he make the whole apple together?

I do not know if I explain myself

[vivarenedius 9]

perfect

[Hotwheeler 409]

On 3.9.2017 at 3:04 AM, edwardjeria said:

It looks promising, personally, I hate that building with my soul, it destroys my Midtown scheme, but I admit it has done a great job .... applause

Question .... the building around (the apple) will be apart? or will he make the whole apple together?

I do not know if I explain myself

I can understand you,i am not a huge Fan of those Supertalls too.The City seems to be a bit careless over the last Decade when it comes to preserving old Buildings and the old,classic NYC Feeling everyone around the World loves so much.

I really enjoy roaming around with Google Earth and sometimes it really stings if you read somewhere that a Building or a whole Block was demolished to make Way for something new and when you look at old Google Streetview Maps to see what once stood there.

Speaking of this particular Block:

What`s with 48 E 57th Street?That Building looks like they printed some Cardboard to kinda look like an old Building

On 31.8.2017 at 7:16 AM, Finnbhennach said:

@Hotwheeler I decided to BAT the entire block and you were actually pretty spot on with the lot sizes when I compared it against the NY Digital Tax Map (super useful btw). I had to adjust some individual lot sizes but thanks to you it's now perfectly sized.  Different lot versions sound best for RCI flexibility. I'll most likely need suggestions on the different demand values when the time comes.

Glad to hear you considered my Ideas.Your Update looks awesome so far,glad to see you are still alive and working on this large Project.Can`t wait to see it finished one Day...i will reserve a clean City Block in my City for it

[Finnbhennach 161]

@cifer00 Thanks bud! I'll probably move onto less boxy structures after this project—something dark and gothic. 

@PBGV103 After you said the glass looked like turbulent water I was devastated—especially, the upper parts of 450—it really does haha  So, I took a look at Jasoncw's Gardener Center Glass more in detail and inspiration may have taken me a little over-board but take a look. 

@edwardjeria Gracias! It's hard not to feel conflicted about the project; nonetheless, yeap the entire block will be one BAT. It's not possible to separate them because of how the lots are sized in real life—it'll require over-sizing or squeezing to make them fit in SC4 grids. 

@vivarenedius Thanks bud! I'm sure achieving perfection even in the ballpark area will kill me someday... 

@Hotwheeler Aww, a space reserved just for this project?  Your input definitely keeps me going! Hopefully, you won't be bones when the project is finished though lmao

      

B1292: 450 PARK AVENUE
POSTCARD UPDATE: LET'S EXPERIMENT!

Still working on some details for a proper render but here's a little experiment in the meantime. All individual panes are uniquely displaced in photoshop. It starts first with the height map (Fig. 1), which is fed through crazybump to get the normal map (Fig. 2). Then, we have an approximate image of what the glass would reflect (Fig. 3) and utilize the normal map to further replicate glassy behavior (Fig. 4) and finally we top it off with a transparency map (Fig. 5) to simulate how strong the reflections are based on outdoor vs indoor brightness. Let me know your thoughts and stay tuned for the next update!

Spoiler

★ Tap each image to view in full dimensions (1138 x 6114, 1.3KB - 2.6KB)

 

[PBGV103 729]

Wow that looks like a ton of work! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

[Hotwheeler 409]

On 14.9.2017 at 7:13 PM, Finnbhennach said:

@Hotwheeler Aww, a space reserved just for this project?  Your input definitely keeps me going! Hopefully, you won't be bones when the project is finished though lmao

Hehe,this will take a while until i`m all Bones And yes,your very own little Space for this Project,see: