Newbie BATter seeks feedback on first creation

[Odd from Sweden 129]

I really like those buildings, very well done for a beginner!

I also thinkt that this is the right way to start batting, with a moderately sized and familiar building. There have been numerous posts here like I have started building Woolworth Building/London

[mattb325 28,880]

Wow...page three!

 

msd thankyou so much for the textures they are incredible: the roof textures were spot on, so I can't wait to see what else you've up your sleeve: I too have had RW stuff to attend to, but I posted the second BAT for R$ Sims today here:

https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?mode=files&filetype=BAT&Str=sydney%20terrace%20renovators%20delight

 

It's an old terrace near where I used to live when I was younger. The area was right near the city, and full of uni students etc, so it was predominantly rental stock. When you get R$ housing in Maxis, it's all trailers, and wooden shack or purpose built tenements, which just doesn't seem complete, and also, it's a pain to have to set up a new city area just for rubbish housing in order to raise the caps.

 

A lot of low income people also live in very old, very tired looking houses. So I made one for my sims which I wouldn't mind seeing mixed in amongst R$$ stuff (the way it is in real life).

Jacqulina et al, thanks for the comments - the first BAT went really well for a newbie (really must change the name of this thread) so I hope the second goes OK too.

 

oddfromsweden...even if i wanted to, my BATting skills are well & truly not up to making skyscrapers and the like. Plus, there many, many talented skyscraper builders on STEX. I'll leave it to them. I'll probably never go beyond 10 or so floors!

 

But, that said, with two done,I've started a new one. They are taking a lot less time and angst now. Lot work is still fiddly as I can never remember which props/base/overlay textures are Maxis and which aren't...

 

 

These are of a real house from 1810-1820 in Windmill St Millers Point (near Darling Harbour/The Rocks). It has long been demolished, but it was in a pictoral-history book and it was purpose built as rental housing stock. In the 1845 council census the tennant living here was paying 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

*pops in*

*spills some drool on the carpet*

*faints*

*slowly regains conscience and sneaks out, rubbing eyes and wondering if it was all a dream*

[SYM Productions 7]

Hey Matt!  I love your leaning toward low-density buildings... your attention to texturing and fine detail is really quite amazing, especially for a beginner BATter...

 

I'd like to invite you to SYM Productions, the new rapidly-rising BAT group... you can exclusively produce your own stuff, colaborate with others (you BAT, they mod/lot), ask for tips, give advice, all under the friendly SYM Productions umbrella...   Think it over and post or PM with your answer...

 

- CDI_spy

[Glenni 1,445]

oh man!you are proabably gonna be one hell of a good batter!your work makes me speechless!

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Wow, Matt, you're getting pretty popular! Keep up the good work.

[mattb325 28,880]

Awww - shucks guys (& gals). Blushes profusely :-)

 

Well the 1820's house is on the STEX.

 

This is another one in the pipeline. It's a gothic revival home in Annandale (a Suburb about 5ks west of the city). They have everything on them but the kitchen sink (widows' walks, spires, stained glass, blah, blah) so I actually toned it down for the BAT:

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Gothic%20Semi%20Day&Night.JPG align=baseline>

 

I'll probably make it 2x2 as it's a pair of semis...but we'll see...

[maetoch 0]

holy cow!! these buildings are excellent.

[TheCrybKeeper 301]

Well Matt, they are stupendious models for a, not so novice, novice.

Great look and feel, with exceptional textures! I like textures...

[Kwakelaar 92]

Some very beautiful batting being done here, great work!

[mntoes 271]

Wow you learn fast. Some excellent work here, since I last checked this thread.

Thanks for the link to the Gimp. Gonna keep popping back for a look here.

 

regards

 

Mntoes

[mattb325 28,880]

Thanks guys. Frndofyaweh (welsh?) I'm glad you like the textures: the windows (other than stained glass which don't show in the picture) of the gothic semis are actually yours!! (the leadlight-ish ones with the gold bars which I'm experimenting with for this new home).

Kwakelaar. Ihre Deutsche Kirchen siehen sehr gut aus, und es froehe mich dass ihre Gebaeude haben so viele kliene, erfreuliche Stuecke.  (I hope I got that right - it's been a while for this aussie!) Your style is, I think, similar to my own, and I can't believe I haven't seen your work until now. But I'm glad I have.

 

Mntoes. Your comments 21 December pushed me to up the ante a notch and not settle for so-so. I am utterly grateful for your comment and am very pleased you returned to check in. Actually never got around to changing textures in gimp (too much to download - esp tutorials and help files - for dial-up): just did it by eye in Microsoft picture it which is standard on XP I think...

 

And to anyone who views...if you think something I've done is way off the mark - ****please, please, please**** say so, here or on STEX (either forum makes no absolutely difference to me).

 

I may not always agree (and I'll say so!) but I do listen and really appreciate when someone says hey, XYZ is good, BUT..., seriously - it's the only way to improve - I've only been at this for under 4 weeks so I've got tonne to learn!

 

The simple fact is, I get pleasure out of making these BATs (seeing something grow in game from absolutely nothing but mesh and lines and bits of old high school math) and I get pleasure from using them in game and I enjoy testing them before I put them up on the STEX (for my playing style which is lots of hilly terrain), but the reason I put them up for everyone is because I hope people will enjoy seeing them grow in game

 

I remember when I first joined ST and downloded some very fine creations from many a talented batter how much joy I gleaned to see them grow in a city and give it variety and difference no matter what the style of play - my current region has a US style city with skyscrapers from sparky et al and apartments, and a parisian region with all of the Xannepan/Porkie ploppables, and a Euro city with all of RP2005/Simgoobers beautiful terraces (and all of the little houses and shops that were released by so many along the way) which remind me of when I lived in the UK & Europe.

 

I have Cycledogs beautiful trees and base texture, Pegs seasonal woods and water, the CSX seasonal trees, SWI's utterly beautiful creations; underworlds/il tonkso's stations, the asian temples & skyscrapers and cherry trees; Jen_P and Dedwoods aussie stuff; the little hobbit stuff by pmiller for my farms, brutalist buildings by glenni, the NAM, the modd that makes PEGs trees grow on the footpath, plus a bucket load of others which would be a huge roll call if rattled them all out! My plug-ins folder is bursting at the seams: in some cities these styles all jostle for space side by side just like in the real world. 

 

AND GUESS WHAT? I adore the variety, I see the beauty in every creative attempt and hope others see that in my attempts too. If not, there's always the bulldoze tool!

 

So I hope that I can give back some of the pleasure that others have given me.

 

Were it not for this community, and every single person who has uploaded their creations, downloaded my stuff, or just stopped by to offer words of encouragement/criticsm/help to me on this thread or my uploads, SC4 would have been gathering dust by now, so thank you to everyone.

 

Matt

[cammo2003 20]

The new one looks great! I'd love to see a 2-story version though.

Oh, and if you ever want any photos of suburban townhouse complexes or the dreaded walkups (they don't have so much of a stigma here, do they?) let me know. There's stacks of styles etc. around here. Practically the entire suburb next to me is walkups...

And if you want any pointers on the townhouse complexes, I happen to live in a small one, and there's also quite a few of those around here too...

[mntoes 271]

Thanks for your kind words.  I am only trying in a small way to repay some of the excellent advice passed on by so many others on this site. I love Batting and like a few others don't actually play the game much at all.

The Gimp is actually quite good for anyone who is looking to make or amend textures. I  bought Photoshop Elements for about

[mattb325 28,880]

Gothic Semis are ready to test in game...

 

What do people think?

 

Is it a style anyone would want in game?https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Gothic%20Semi%20Day&Night.JPG align=baseline>

 

Also, I've retextured and re-lotted the 1820's house - Thank Twrecks for the suggestion! So should be there this w/end - a duck-egg blue version and better lot with changeable Maxis props...

 

And, not to disappoint, my latest project is a school in Surry hills. It was built in the 'palace style' in 1884. The pre 1930 schools in Sydney are incredibly grand, they usually look like Cathederals in high Gothic style, but this one was one of the later ones built so it's a bit more elegant. They're nothing like in-game schools. The closest one I've seen on the STEX is Vanderaaps and Porkie's. In reality it's a Kindergarten-Yr6 school (elementary for ingame speak) but I'll make it a high school cause it looks more grand than the in-game town hall.

 

No rendering has been done and there are no windows etc, and the roof will have chimneys are I'll also include  some Mansard windows so the top doesn't look so empty. Here it is so far.

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//Bourke%20Street%20Public.JPG align=baseline>

 

Comments? It will be rendered as stone. The mansard roof will be slate and the two cupola (which were seperate entrances for boys and girls) and the roof will be copper.

 

Cheers

[sparkythepenguin 90]

Sorry I haven't been lately in to check out all this stuff Matt. You are really building on the sucess of the Terrace Houses! The gothy houses look stunning, and this new building also looks great!

As far as texturing the latest project goes, once again, I'll have to see more real-life shots to see what you're aiming at. Modeling-wise, you have that down perfectly.

[sharkbait16 0]

Very nice work here.  I'd love to see these beautiful creations in my cities, good luck.

[mattb325 28,880]

Update on progress...

My CD rom decided to die (not even the old paperclip trick works!), so I'm tossing up whether to buy a new CD Rom or a new PC...strange quandry, but new PCs are so cheap (around $1200) and so powerful now, that I'm wondering whether or not it's worth shelling out up to $200 for a CD drive or just throw the whole thing away (I sound soooo incredibly western-disposable saying that, but it's kinda the truth)...

 

Anyway, so I'm not rabbitting on...have completed the 1820's house update (red and blue), looks great in the lot editor, has Maxis prop families, comes on a 1x2 and a 1x3, but can't test in game. Lotting with Maxis props only is terribly dull, so I usually find a million and one other distractions :-)

 

I definitely won't be putting an untested thing on the STEX - watch this space.

 

Sharkbait - glad you like them. There are 3 on STEX already. They're W2W stuff, so not sure if they suit everyone's playing style.

 

The little gothic semi detached houses is queued for professional lotting and will be released as part of SYM productions (can't wait to see the finished product)

 

And, the first building for the Bourke St School is done and rendered, so now you don't need photos. The texture I used for this replicated the warm honey glow of Sydney S/stone (in the LE) so I'm very happy.

Now will make a prop building for an additional side wing before that gets released. I've changed my mind and decided that I wan't it as an elementary school, because that's what it is in real life; and that MAXIS one looks so cheap and tatty.

 

I've visited california a few times and seriously don't remember things looking like the MAXIS models. Do they deliberately model the worst buildings they can find?

 

Here's the building that will face the street - the preview photos are a bit blurry for some dumb reason, but you get the idea. The 1884 is visible in the LE and the VERITATE and VERTUTE on the boys and girls wings is also visible, so not too shabby there...

 

I really like this one, and because it's a school, I'll be able to see it straight away...also, the whole thing will take up the same footprint as the current Maxis elementary building.

 

Hope you like it!