Newbie BATter seeks feedback on first creation

[mattb325 28,878]

3 days ago I'd never used 3D software, so after downloading gmax on friday nite, I gave this thing a go and here's the results in game. It's a terrace house typically found in Sydney Australia (rendered brick, two stories, iron lace balconies, french doors, parapets etc...I was hoping some experienced BATters could give feedback...would people want this sort of thing?

I'm kinda happy with it (especially for a first go)...PS: it's the white-ish terraces (about 5 of them)

 

Also - really stuck on how to get roofs actually looking decent. The gmax help files are really hard to understand; Phillipbo's tutorial was EXCELLENT, but that's for a flat roof - couch potatoes web site shows a basic gable roof, but I don't know how to even go about creating dormers, hip-roof, multi gables...nor do I know how to get the walls to go up to the peak of the gable...the file here just uses a couple of extruded lines for the balcony roof...any help would be fantastic....

 

Cheers

Matt

[MsD 0]

It would be a lot easier to give feed back on your creation if you post some pictures.  If you don't know how to post pics or have trouble do so, send me a private message and I will talk you through it.

To send me a private message, just click on the picture of the squirral just to the left of this post then when the new page loads find the section that says send a private message and click on the click here that is next to it.

[mattb325 28,878]

The file's there (attached), but i've since noticed these things have the pictures pasted in the post (oops)...so here goes - sorry about the picture - but for some reason my PC won't do screen shots with GMAX:

     

[Simen 1]

he attached it...

It looks extremely good for a first!!! keep it up!

[MsD 0]

My Bad, I didn't see the attachment, sorry about that. 

 

It is hard to tell with out a closer view, but from what you provided the roof texture looks good so far.  Also, from the shot you provided I can only see windows in what seems to be the front of the building.  Were you planning on adding any on the sides.  Other then that it looks great.  Could you provide a night shot.

 

As far as screen shots from Gmax.  I have posted them by holding down the shift key then pressing the prnt scrn key and then I paste it to a new image in window's paint and save it to a file.

[mattb325 28,878]

Right - here's the gmax ones - thanks for the tip!

 

Day & night versions...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace-day.JPG align=baseline>https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace-night.JPG align=baseline> 

The french doors upstairs are bedrooms,s o no nightlighting for them :-) Also, cause it's a terrace and they are all built on top of each other, they never have windows down the sides at all - those side walls were just there to allow a really small space for the dunny cart man to take away the night-soil (gross) from the toilet out the back....most Australians disn't get flushing toilets until after the 2nd WW!!!!!

 

So how do you get complicated roofs? I would like to do more terraces with dormers on the 3rd floor, but have no idea... 

[MsD 0]

Well well well.  With the new pics I can see the roof textures better and I can see what you are talking about with them.  The only thing I can say is to try and play withthe UV Mapping on the texture in gmax.   Try different parameters like planar, cylindrical and so on.  Also try tweeking the numbers under the length, width, height, U Tile, and V tile.  Sometimes that can give you the look you are looking for.  Other then that I can only say try a different texture.

 

As far as the windows go.  I understand your point and it makes sense.

 

When it comes to the dormers on a 3rd floor you will have to forgive my ignorence.  I am not sure if I understand what you are wanting with those.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

That's a really good model! I like how the house looks, and you are providing some interesting info about Austrailia!

I think MsD's tackling walking you through how to do things in GMax, so I won't get into that stuff.

Could you post a pic of a real-life terrace house? Without one, I really can't say what textures ought to be there. But I can say that the roof looks like the tiling of the texture on it needs to be set down. Also I take it that these are older buildings, so you may want the roof and maybe the walls to look a little weathered. A good texture and MsD helping out will get this going great!

BTW-I've used a box-shaped UVW map around slanted or curved surfaces with no adverse effects before. Play around with stuff until you get the desired look. Always remember that there is no rush to release a BAT. The most important thing is that you are happy with it before releasing it.

Keep up the good work!

[spa 968]

Hey I think this isn't half bad. It's not a style of building that I would use but I still think it's pretty good. You have an eye for detail which is often what separates the really excellent BATs from the simply adequate ones. I too am just learning how to use the BAT (I'm doing detail work and texturing on my own first creation). Keep plugging away. It definitely gets easier and the tutorials around here are generally really good sources of knowledge. Good luck.

[mattb325 28,878]

Aww thanks so much for all the nice comments :-)

I've been sniffing around and I think I may have found some textures that are just so.

 

The problem is that even though these houses are now posh, the roofs are actually still often silvery bark shingles or roof iron and that just would not have looked good in game...so the texture you see is a compromise (not for long!)

 

With practice, I want to make a whole series of these things (Sydney has thousands of them)...they are always freshly painted even though they are often close to 200 years old. Most terraces in Australia don't leave the brick-work showing: they were rendered to replicate Ashlar and expensive stone.

 

The hardest part will be mastering the wrought iron lace, beading, urns and all of the other incredibly intricate detailing on these things (and of course trying to figure out attic roof dormer windows!). Anyways, I've attached a couple of pics (from Paddington & Glebe) which show what I want to eventually release...the houses in these photos were built between about 1850-1890 but aren't terribly weathered at all....

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace-photo.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace-photo03.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace-photo04.jpg align=baseline>

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//terrace-phot01.jpg align=baseline>

[choco1 4]

Wow! These look stunning! Brilliant work! I love the beautiful Melbourne townhouses! (my home town) and I would love to see them in simcity! Please finish these, and even make a set! I look forward to seeing more, cheers.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Those real-life Terrace Houses are cool! Will you make different colors?

You probably won't have to worry about what the railings look like. Railings are a great peice of detail that make that extra bit of difference when you're striving for realism. Unfortuneately there is a trade-off as to how detailed you make them and what actually shows up in-game, even at the closest zooms.

I went full-bore and made the railings on the Portland Building as close to real-life as possible, but the detail really didn't show up. Try to simplify them, so long as they somewhat resemble the originals as much as possible. Sometimes, this is a tough call, but odds are if the real-life railings are too thin, short, and/or the rails/bars are very close together, then the detail won't show up.

Once again experiment and find what you're comfortable with. I'm sure you'll do well!

[dadyrghluv 8]

i myself dl the gmax(after some digging) on friday, i am doing the tutorial now actually. i must say its kinda overwhelming for me. but its fun. for a first render u didnt do bad at all. i must say im impressed at how fast u picked up on it. my brian hurts just thinking of what i wanna create great job, hopefully we will see great things from u in the future..

[mattb325 28,878]

Cool - now I'm inspired...just figured out how to make the roof firewall protusion without splitting the party wall into segments (which looks a bit skinny when modelled...I did try and retexture the roof, but it no longer fits on the lot properly (even though I centered, reset cameras and lighting & LODs), so I'll have to read up a bit more :-)

Thank heavens for phillipbos tutorial is all I can say!

 

Chocolatemax285: I love the Melbourne terraces too: they don't have french doors on the balcony, and they have large arches to support an italianate parapet, so they won't be too hard to make once I'm happy with the first few...

 

Sparkythepenguin: will *definitely* be releasing in colours! The model in this thread has a series of extruded elipses which wasn't too fiddly at all. I've seen some pattern book pictures of these railings on the net, so I could also just try it as a large surface texture: we'll see - it's good that the office is closed for a few weeks after Xmas, so I'll have heaps of time to experiment!

 

I hope to have an SC4 Australian invasion soon :-)

[toxicpiano 125]

wow this stuff is great! keep it up!

[MsD 0]

I am glad to see that you are getting a handle on this.  I hope my suggestions have helped.  Your project does look very intriguing.  When it comes to the lattice work, I have never tackled any thing like this.  I would like to point to the thread of a friend of mine, zmveliger, he has done some lattice work with the project he is working on.  To get to his thread just click here .  There are 3 pages to his work and I believe the lattice work is on page 3.  Maybe you could ask his opinion on how to do the lattice.

[jacqulina 162]

very nice good job

[zmveliger 16]

Hi everyone! Some kind of party here? I'm in!!!!!!!!!

Welcoming a new BATter is a great event and always a party

 

So a welcome to you mattb325 . I was in the same situation in late August: no 3d experience at all. 3 BATs later, I'm working on a very challenging project which is at the same time a laboratory to explore some techniques. That explain why some informal tutorial are in it and that my progress is slow. And that's what my friend MsD is referring to. You're 100% right about Philippbo tutorials: they're outstanding. Most of what I've learned of BATing (with experimenting things myself) is coming straight from these tutorials.

 

I agree that your texture work turned out pretty well. Since I like to give constructive feedback, I'll suggest you to explore a little more the great possibilities of nitelitle. Be careful to avoid saturating too much your surfaces in both light and colors (if you intend to make a series). Usually, the game exaggerate it even more.

 

Feel free to ask help, you'll get it 99% of the time. see you later!

[mattb325 28,878]

Some text might help :-)

 

Oh wow guys! The comments are so lovely!!!!

I kept trying to get some bits and pieces fixed on the original, but there is too much that I'm not happy with, so I've left it to one side for now and have started another.

sparkythepenguin: I just realised how much of your stuff I've downloaded - love the ODS tower - it's in all of my larger cities!

msd: your suggestions have been fantastic - just by getting the photos of the houses i've actually remembered some very important details which were lacking on the original (which I just did by memory)

zmveliger: that mosque is beautiful and inspired - the latice work between the arches is breathtaking. I hope to be that good one day!

Anyways, while I tinker with trying to get the first one just so...this is the one I'm doing next for a 2x2 lot....as always your suggestions will always be welcomed (msd: i worked out how to do the dormer windows!). This is a terrace house from city rd chippendale (opposite sydney university) sorry about the poor quality image - it is just a screen shot - no rendering has been applied yet! https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace%20-%20city%20rd.JPG align=baseline>

[MsD 0]

Excellent work my friend.  It looks like you got the roof peeks down pretty well.  I am not able to get to my desktop tonight, hopefully I will tomarrow.  If I can I will post some roof textures that you my like and if you like can use.  I am glad that I have been able to give you some good advice.  I will try to continue doing so.

BTW, I believe it was sparkythepenguin who suggested posting pics of real life buildings so I pass the credit for that on to him.

[mattb325 28,878]

Oops it was too (sorry about my shocking memory sparkythepenguin)...but that said, don't be so modest msd; you encouraged me to do better!

 

Mucking around with this roof texture (it's ok) and definitely trying to source something better than the sheet metal for the bull-nose verandah bit...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Terrace%20-%20rendered.JPG align=baseline>

[jacqulina 162]

very nice you are doing well

[mattb325 28,878]

Thanks jacqulina - now all i've got to do is get it in game and hope people like it - it looks tough out there on the STEX :-)

[tag_one 132]

great job, I love the amount of details you put on the chimney keep up this great work.

[NintendoMaster128 30]

  Great BAT!  I hope to see more from ya soon!

[mntoes 270]

The roof textures are always the hardest to get right. Still not sure if I have managed it yet. Anyway try the tutorial in the omnibus by Gascooker.

https://www.simtropolis.com/content.cfm?mode=omnibus&view=130

 

Looking good

 

[mattb325 28,878]

mntoes: i see what you mean (and how)...sadly i don't have photo shop.

Hopefully using a black roof texture will hide this (somewhat)...hmmm

 

<rummages through coins in wallet looking for a spare $1K for photoshop>

[vil 3]

Try GIMP - people complain its complicated and not intuitive enough but it can do most of what photoshop can with RGB images (layers being the most important) - and its free.

Do read the gascooker stuff.  

 

Black roof = bad idea, theres nothing actually black in the RW except at night in a tunnel.

[mattb325 28,878]

Thanks so much for that VIL - where do I get GIMP from - typing it into google brings many less than desirable results ; by the way this is totally of the topic and this is probably going to sound really dumb - what does w2w stand for - i've seen it here - and it's usually on really top notch stuff...?

[kaji 0]

great work mattb, youve got a good eye for detail =) keep it up and i hope you cn get some great textures on those.....

now for the off topic part in away you couldnt be more on topic because w2w stands for wall to wall and correct me if im wrong but your buildings are loosely based on this nature of wall to wall buildings, however they seem maybe detached but anywho . however wall to wall buildings have their own specific measurements and requirements here at ST devised by the gods of BATing many moons ago, or well just really good BATers you decide . people that make these wall to wall buildings allow them to be placed on a lot that exactly fits the building so when in game with a few adjustments you can get a road full of say terraced housing =) i hope that has helped. try typing w2w in the forum search.... more will be explained.

 

keep up the great work

 

~kaji