Attercap Buildings

[Attercap 123]

Euh... I'm a beginner !. I just use the standard parameters of the "NVIDIA photoshop plugin". I will have a look. Thanks for the "clue" !

Which options should I use ? Give me more advices I like advices

  Edited September 27, 2015 by Attercap  

[Darf 1,439]

Well, I usually use scale to determine the height, but u set it to 0 I see. Also do you use it on a flat image? Cuz that preview looks weird.
Could also be another thing as I spotted the same effect aswell, do you use the ambient occlusion mod?

[boformer 3,169]

Here is a heightmap I made for my sunken station, and the resulting normal map: https://imgur.com/a/3wjST

[Attercap 123]

Well, I usually use scale to determine the height, but u set it to 0 I see. Also do you use it on a flat image? Cuz that preview looks weird.
Could also be another thing as I spotted the same effect aswell, do you use the ambient occlusion mod?

Thanks a lot !

I used a flat image ; I didnt use the ambiant occlusion mod. I will try this evening to apply the AJ3D advices, and we will see.

[Attercap 123]

I have better results now, but textures rotated in Sketchup still have bugs. You shouldnt have a look on my buildings during the sunset !

Is there a neutral color for the normal maps ? (like the grey 192/192/192 for the illumination.)

Because I want a normal map for some parts of my buildings (bricks) but I have to avoid normal map on others parts, especially the roof. It's not white or dark of course, but it's not neutral grey (192-192-192).

  Edited September 28, 2015 by Attercap  

[Koesj 659]

Neutral color for normal maps is 128/128/255 (half/half/full RGB). Remember that all three separate color channels are used for different lighting calculations: R=X, G=Y, B=Z.

[Attercap 123]

Yeap, I will try to do normal maps by myself ; I think on bricks it's quite easy. Thanks for your advices. I'm glad we have this excellent community.

[OwiHH 240]

3d preview is helpfull (select animated light for auto rotation).. you can rotate the light and see the result .. seeing this and changing values make you better understanding what the settings are about.

F1 on the preview for Keybinds.

I have a bug with that previewwindow - if i dont close it befor pressing "Ok" my Photoshop crashs. Lost alot unsaved work that way so make sure all is saved or closed ..

Also flatting the image (your screenshot shows it wasnt) = selecting all layers / ctrl+e and setting it to reduce to Backgroundlayer (rightclick on layer after ctrl+e) or simply use a saved jpg for the heightmap that works better for later work.

Using 3x3 sample reults in best detail all others for reduced detail but couldt also be a option to reduce noise.

Scale set 1-5 is ok for most textures but experimental and depend on how much detail your texture have - heigher values can have good results to.

Alternate Conversations you can check while having a eye on the 3d preview for different results.

  Edited September 30, 2015 by OwiHH  

[Koesj 659]

How about using a program like AwesomeBump? You'll need to get into it a bit before results are good, but with my admittedly tiny amount of experience it seems nicer than Nvidia's PS plugin.

[Attercap 123]

I have actually two 2x2 corners. I need two more corners ; one level1, one level 2, with the same footprint.

I would like to try a 1x2 building. Does it have a chance to grow as a corner ?

Or should I create two 2x2 corner ? (not 3x2, I think the main facade is a bit too long, even if I will probably do some "two-in-one buildings" to avoid the repetitive patterns " 8 - 16 - 24 meters " (wich is really borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring). Thanks !

[Feindbold 1,190]

My guess is, that 1x2 will spawn on roughly 15-20% of all corners (using the building theme mod). But best way is, to test it.

I created a few 2x4 corners as they are nessesary for 4 story+ brooklyn buidings, and I expected them to suppress all other corners(like the 2x3 did with the 2x2 corners). But to my surprise, 2x2s are still about 15-20% and 2x3s and 2x4s are very equally spread.

Also there a certain situations, when there is no space for a 2x2, so a 1x2 could be usefull.
 

  Edited September 30, 2015 by Feindbold  

[Attercap 123]

Ok. I will have to test with "white models" Thanks Feinbold.

[boformer 3,169]

In general the building themes mod prefers bigger corners:

4x4 (start value)

3x4 (or 4x3)

2x4 (or 4x2)

1x4 (or 4x1)

4x3 (or 3x4)

3x3

2x3 (or 3x2)

...

1x1

That means when you include 4x4 corners, these will always grow when there is enough space.

  Edited September 30, 2015 by boformer  

[Attercap 123]

Yeap but corners seems to want to grow earlier than the others buildings. There are more or less always the first buildings I see. Maybe a 1x2 corner has some chance to grow, even if there is enough space to allow bigger buildings.

Have to try this in game ! (I want a 1x2 corner, I prefer small scales models !)

[Judazzz 1,936]

Yeap but corners seems to want to grow earlier than the others buildings. There are more or less always the first buildings I see. Maybe a 1x2 corner has some chance to grow, even if there is enough space to allow bigger buildings.

Have to try this in game ! (I want a 1x2 corner, I prefer small scales models !)

Getting exactly those buildings to grow that you want can be a pretty tedious affair, so what I do is resorting to a little work-around: if I want small buildings to spawn, I zone area's that are just big enough for these buildings. So if I want to have 2x2 buildings (or 2x3 or 2x4, if I want to include backyards), I don't zone a whole strip at once, but area's just two units wide alternated with empty area's that are two units wide. Once the zoned area's have filled up, I zone the empty ones, resulting in a neat row of 2x2 buildings.
Obviously same can be applied to 1x2 corner buildings: just zone a corner area of 1x2, wait for the building to grow, and then zone the adjacent plots.

It's not the most ideal solution, but it's the only way to have halfway decent control over what you want to grow, especially if you use themes that contain a multitude of different sizes within the same category (keeping in mind that the mod's logic favors larger buildings over smaller ones).

[Attercap 123]

That's a lot of micromanagement. I doubt people have the same comportement as yours

[OwiHH 240]

Most Simcitybuilders like this micromanagment! Thats why we love this game

  Edited October 1, 2015 by OwiHH  

[Judazzz 1,936]

That's a lot of micromanagement. I doubt people have the same comportement as yours

Yeah, it is, but like OwiHH said, I like the visual micro-management aspect of this game. I don't care too much about the whole economics part of the game (it's quite easy to master anyways), but I can really loose myself in designing my city all the way down to the tiniest details (it takes me many, many days to finish just a single district, and I can spend hours thinking about and searching for the right buildings to Eyedrop in specific locations).
So in short, I don't see aesthetic micromanagement, the whole sandbox aspect, as a problem - in fact, the unprecedented freedom to design your city exactly the way you want it to be is one of the things I enjoy most about this game (and custom buildings like yours, Feindbold's and many others' are really the icing on the cake if you want to create a life-like city).

  Edited October 1, 2015 by Judazzz  

[Attercap 123]

a life like city... or a visually pleasant city, as CO make really weird choices (give us these lovely cities from Cities in Motion 1 !)

[Attercap 123]

I'm still working ! I think I'm ok with the normal map now... but I have a problem with colors. I dont like this one. The original color is more or less pink / red brick I dont know which LUT people are using the most... I cant really adjust.

  Edited October 18, 2015 by Attercap  

[boformer 3,169]

I would use the temperate LUt combined with BloodyPenguins classic daylight mod.

[Darf 1,439]

Looks pretty good to me to be honest.  Glad your still working on some buildings. Did you put some specular on the brick? That might cause the color difference.

  Edited October 18, 2015 by Darf  

[Attercap 123]

Yeap it's a very nice building but the mustard color... I will have a look on the specular.

I'm working but I'm slow, I have a looooooot of professionnal work since three weeks, and I'm still more or less a student so I have "homework" ( "Re-use of historial monuments and architectural creation") So difficult to find time to model a building, sometimes.

[merc187 46]

Nice work on the normal Attercap - the buildings really pop - I can see the differences in the bricks on the walls - nice work! 

[Attercap 123]

Thanks. I had god teachers.

[Feindbold 1,190]

I actually really like this color! Also it adds a bit variation as most of your buildings are made with red bricks.

[Attercap 123]

Released ! I really like this one. The normal map is awesome (It's the first good normal map I'm doing I guess )

The Cossutta Building : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=539869221

 

 

 

 

Oh, I released a small building a few weeks ago. A before Daylight Classic Screen

The Pittsburgh Building : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=530886807

Dont forget to rate both of them

  Edited October 23, 2015 by Attercap  

[pieuponieu 70]

@Attercap, I always love seeing screenshots from a city someone builds on a map I made, so I thought you might enjoy seeing a screenshot of your buildings in game. I love this view. Props to boformer and feindbold too for the Brooklyn theme and the cloning tool in the themes mod.

 

  Edited October 25, 2015 by flippityfloo  

[Attercap 123]

Thanks a lot ! I didnt see my buildings "in group" before. Hope you like them.

[Matthias King 348]

Attercap, I wanted to say that I love your buildings. Not only do they look amazing, but they fill a niche that really almost no one else is doing, which is the side-by-side buildings. That and they're very manageable in file size which is also much appreciated. I'm always impressed to see really great looking buildings coming in at 2-3 megs. Awesome work all around. Thank you and I look forward to many more in the future.

  Edited October 30, 2015 by Matthias King