Adding Windows & Doors in GMAX

[daderic888 215]

I might be posting this in the wrong forum, but here goes:

How do I add Windows, doors and props to a building which I made using boxes in GMAX?

It says there are several ways to do this and that there's an easier way, but it doesn't say how.

Can someone help me out here please?

Thanks.

[Ro-Bo 183]

There are GMAX tutorials in Omnibus section. Look through them & I'm sure you find one you need.

_{I'm too lazy to find the specitic tutorialfor you.}

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Doors are usually individual constructs, remembering to make them 3m high (to fit the sprites).

If you are doing an office building of some kind, you can often tessellate your windows by using an array.  Very carefully construct one window (with the night light texture, please), then use the array facility to copy it as needed.  A window can simply be modelled separately then saved in your junk library with the rest of the roof junk that I hope you don't make more than once.

Experienced BATters often have one or two libraries of commonly used objects.  Makes creating new models much easier.  If you are a programmer, this is the same as stashing a subroutine you use a lot in a separate library.

[daderic888 215]

Thanks A Nonny Moose.

How did you make the windows when you were Batting? Did you make them using planes or splines or how did you do it? Sorry, I can't figure out to make them.

[Bombardiere 591]

This Omnibus Bat essential series has sadly lost the pictures.   Mod Edit: Actually it's since been fixed.

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/simcity-4/batlot-editor-tutorials/bat-essentials-part-1-r11/

 

But this was a great series of tutorials and with this I learned to Bat.

 

[MushyMushy 3,617]

The design of the window is contingent upon what space the window looks into and how the window is sized and oriented.

Once the frame and stuff has been made, the simplest and easiest method of making a window is using a flat plane stuck in the hole where the window goes. This is good for most situations, and is probably the best looking and most logical solution for smaller windows or buildings with a massive number of windows (glass curtain office buildings). I never used gmax much so you'll have to get someone else to tell you how to do night lights for these windows. I'm pretty sure the end result will be a 2d plane (just like the day window) with a texture of a window with a room behind it, but this time the room in the texture image has a light on like it's night time. Then this plane glows or something like that to give the effect of lit up windows.

The other option, which is good for very large windows (storefronts with big panes of glass, things like that) or buildings with excessively large skylights is to make transparent windows and model a basic interior (for what's visible to the sc4 player through the window in game). This is much more time consuming and complex and really is only needed in special cases and is not practical (and can actually look downright ugly) if the windows are small.

[Ro-Bo 183]

20 hours ago, Bombardiere said:

This Omnibus Bat essential series has sadly lost the pictures.

https://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/simcity-4/batlot-editor-tutorials/bat-essentials-part-1-r11/

 

But this was a great series of tutorials and with this I learned to Bat.

 

I still have Bat Essentials part 1-4 saved in MS Word (pictures included). If anyone wants to fix the tutorials, I can send them my copy.