Squirrel Goes Nuts with Asset Building.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

2 minutes ago, Tim The Terrible said:

Really nailed it on the textures man, nice work! As far as I know you don't need any mods as dependency, only the props.

Do the trucks just drive into the wall, I thought it had openings before? Are you keeping it like this? (I liked the openings )

Thanks. 

They do drive into the closed doorways, I liked the openings as well but when you have two stations back to back you can see the trucks despawning from the other station plus was a little tricky getting the trucks to line up with the opening.

I'm going to make a more modern version as well, will try and use the openings on that one. 

I'll add it to the workshop as a Beta version and post the link in here and probably reddit as well.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

It's on the workshop. Set to friends only for now so you'll have to add me to download it. Same ID as this one on there.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=773346198

 

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

I've updated the asset now. Halved the number of tris and updated the textures. Apart from the LOD I think its all done now unless anyone has other feedback

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

I've just released the first in a series of prop packs. 

Making props is ideal for learning about 3DS as I can use my engineering experience to bring lots of real world items to CS in order to populate our cities. 

SAPS (SquirrelArmy Prop System) will mainly be those every day industrial items that make buildings functional. 

The first pack has been suggested by Jerenable for use with his Oil refinery. It's a set of straight and circular walkways with and without ladders all at various heights in 6 metre increments. 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=775489010

That pack will be updated constantly with more items.

The next prop pack I'll be producing is a series of industrial doors & shutters. They will be in various sizes, from pedestrian right up to doors big enough for trains and maybe even planes if the demand for them is there. 

[Strechnitz 12]

Interesting, good luck with creating them. 

[boformer 3,169]

16 hours ago, squirrelarmyuk said:

I've just released the first in a series of prop packs.

I would just publish them as separate items. Also, add important stats like tri count, texture size and LOD to the description

 

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

2 hours ago, boformer said:

I would just publish them as separate items. Also, add important stats like tri count, texture size and LOD to the description

 

I'm not sure about the separate files part. I like being able to have everything as one asset,  it works for quite a few things, there are about 15 files in that first pack with about another 10 to be added at some point, are there any negatives to having them as a single file?

I'll get the other info sorted though

[boformer 3,169]

10 hours ago, squirrelarmyuk said:

I'm not sure about the separate files part. I like being able to have everything as one asset,  it works for quite a few things, there are about 15 files in that first pack with about another 10 to be added at some point, are there any negatives to having them as a single file?

I'll get the other info sorted though

You are forcing players to download all of them, even if only a single one is needed for a building. It will also spawn 15 extra items in the content manager and the More Beautification menu.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

1 hour ago, boformer said:

You are forcing players to download all of them, even if only a single one is needed for a building. It will also spawn 15 extra items in the content manager and the More Beautification menu.

I see your point, even though I like having a the whole collection of a prop type not everyone else would want them like that especially for a large collection.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Taken Boformers advice and uploaded them all separately and made a collection for them.

I'm working on the LOD for the 1st elevated station but in the mean time I've done a bit of rough work on version two of the station to fit in with the Manhattan themed buildings.

Double tracked and can be used singly or back to back to have a 4 track system.

 

 

[maksim2014 17]

Container transported by the 2F to the ground is not true, like this sealed building is better

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Just wondering how people go about texturing a large building on CS?

For the next elevated station I think my previous method of mapping by just randomly putting a few textures on a blank template and then UV mapping the shapes to suit probably won't work. I'm working on a double sized map at 2048x1024 in order to cover the width of the building at a high enough resolution. Using photoshop I've arranged a downloaded brick template in rows and then with a semi transparent 2D image of the asset I'm placing windows where I think they should go. On the rest of the map I'll add more areas of texture for the doors, roof and other features where I will be able to pick smaller faces for mapping.

Am I doing this right or is there a better way?

[Badi_Dea 476]

For the next elevated station I think my previous method of mapping by just randomly putting a few textures on a blank template and then UV mapping the shapes to suit probably won't work.

It totally will! - just with a little planning and packing.

I would recommend using a texture atlas.
When working on an organic mesh it's important for the individual faces to disappear behind the texture leaving only the silhouette and no signs of hard edges. Structures, however, are a different story in full. The vast majority of the time there will be repeating features and hard edges in buildings, so having individual, flowing, distinct texture coords for each face is a waste. (unless you want to bake global illumination or ambient occlusion, in C:S that doesn't really matter.)
 

This is my first attempt at making a texture atlas so it's not the most efficient, but it's the best example I have at the moment...

I would advise building your mesh first, but think about the textures you want to use for each of your surfaces.

Here is what the texture atlas looks like after being brought into 3ds max from Photoshop. I would suggest building the atlas surface by surface - add a texture to the atlas, uvw map the faces that are that texture, then move on to the next one.
The point here is to subdivide your large surfaces and overlap them on their part of the atlas. Making sure you're using a texture that lends itself to tiling is fairly important.
Other details, like windows especially (top right) can be mixed and matched on the model to make it look more unique and less repeated. There are way more windows on the model than there are individual windows on the atlas.

Here is the texture atlas with faces mapped on it. After filling the atlas with your faces trim the unused space on the texture so you can fit other stuff in. (I didn't really do much of that here since it's such a simple model)
I've found that it's easiest to select the faces that you'll be texturing, hide everything else so you don't accidentally select something else, and flatten map just those faces.
Keep in mind that uvw coordinates can be rotated. Pack in as many things as you have room for!

You can see how the faces are cut into sections so that each individual large area can occupy the same texture space

And that will yield a result like this

[boformer 3,169]

The issue with this technique is that you can not have ambient occlusion in your texture.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

6 hours ago, boformer said:

The issue with this technique is that you can not have ambient occlusion in your texture.

Was that in response to me or @Badi_Dea?

I don't know how the ambient occlusion works. Is it better to have the textures in place in relation to each other and then UV map in larger areas? I'm still learning as I go so sorry for the noobie questions.

I've got my first attempt at texturing done on the larger station and I'm far from happy with it, the colours in photoshop don't seem the same in game with the different lighting. Also I think I'm trying to texture too much of a large area in one go so I'll need to break up the surfaces into smaller sections and then redo the UV maps to suit. Another thing I need to check, is it better to have recessed windows and high tri count or use the normal maps to give the impression of recesses.

@maksim2014 you weren't happy with the containers before, is this a better way of moving the cargo?

 

 

[Badi_Dea 476]

2 hours ago, squirrelarmyuk said:

9 hours ago, boformer said:

The issue with this technique is that you can not have ambient occlusion in your texture.

Was that in response to me or @Badi_Dea?

Yeah, it's about using a texture atlas - Ambient occlusion is a way of replicating the way that real-life light scatters and bounces off materials. An inner corner or indent in a wall will be darker than a flat side just because of shadows. AO approximates this effect by recoloring your texture map and making areas with a lot of inset detail darker. If you have many faces sharing the same texture coordinates, trying to bake on AO will likely overlap right in the middle of another surface.

The thing is, I didn't think that AO was used much in C:S, I've seen an asset here and there with it, but not many. I would think it would look out of place compared to other assets and stock buildings that lack AO, especially when there are mods and/or driver tweaks that can add AO in real time without baking it into the texture.

2 hours ago, squirrelarmyuk said:

I've got my first attempt at texturing done on the larger station and I'm far from happy with it, the colours in photoshop don't seem the same in game with the different lighting.

Its looking pretty decent, but you may need to up either the scale on the texture, or find a way to tile it creatively. I've also been disappointed by the color mangling the game seams to do with textures, everything is either too bright or too saturated, and it looks different with every different LUT. I've been adding a 15-25% black layer set to multiply over everything in Photoshop, seems to tone down how harsh stuff can look.

2 hours ago, squirrelarmyuk said:

Also I think I'm trying to texture too much of a large area in one go so I'll need to break up the surfaces into smaller sections and then redo the UV maps to suit. Another thing I need to check, is it better to have recessed windows and high tri count or use the normal maps to give the impression of recesses.

I agree! you'll get it with some practice, you're doing a pretty good job as-is!
With the recesses, go with whatever looks better at maximum zoom. If it's obvious that the window is painted on, no amount of normal map height can help you, it'll always just look a little off.
With your model, since it's a brick facade, I say take the poly hit and model the windows, you'll be much happier with the result - remember that it doesn't have to be a perfect circle, 5 to 8 verts is probably plenty to give you your rounded top.

I'm looking forward to seeing more, thanks for sharing with us

[boformer 3,169]

5 hours ago, Badi_Dea said:

The thing is, I didn't think that AO was used much in C:S, I've seen an asset here and there with it, but not many. I would think it would look out of place compared to other assets and stock buildings that lack AO, especially when there are mods and/or driver tweaks that can add AO in real time without baking it into the texture.

There are quite a few stock buildings using AO, though sometimes only partially. Especially low-density buildings.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Small update on elevated station version 2. 

I'm still not happy with the textures, think I'm going to replace the bricks completely with a different style as just recolouring them isn't making much difference in the changing LUT's. 

I have released a new set of props for this building and others. It's the first of my industrial door series. The overhead sectional doors probably won't get much use outside of this asset or any others I create as they need to fit within an opening of a certain size but the smaller pedestrian roller shutters should fit in with a lot of other industrial and office buildings. @Avanya I'm hoping you may find a use for them in your amazing buildings.

I've created an open and a closed version of the same door. If there is more demand I can make larger versions of these too.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=779831429

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=779831497

[droidhacker 2]

These are so beyond needed, and they look great!  I really wish people would make more train cargo stations because more versatility and styles are needed in the rail cargo system.  It would be really nice to have elevated stations in some other styles as well.  These will be a huge help to any mayor.  Right now if you want elevated cargo you have to raise up the land which can cause issues and doesn't look very nice sometimes. Keep up the great work!

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Having a small break from the freight station so I can practise more modelling. This latest asset was suggested by someone on the CS facebook page. This is the first building I've done wholly in 3DS max and not imported from CAD first.

It's a little Welsh train station famous for having the longest name in Europe.

I'm having a couple of issues. Firstly, anything that is white really shines especially in the vanilla game. I have a feeling I need to do something with the specular mapping to fix that but not sure what I'm looking for. I can alter the exposure on the textures which does darken things but there's still a lot of glow.

The other issue is with the pedestrian routes. I've managed to use mod tools to change the path so it follows the bridge and goes up and over the tracks however the cims choose not to go up and over and even though they follow the route they cut straight across the tracks instead of going up on to the bridge. 

 

Loving the steam trains though, it's a great mod @Acc3ssViolation

 

 

[Matthias King 348]

I like those door props. More like them could be useful for buildings that logically would and should have a loading bay on the back, but don't have one modeled into them. I'd love to see some more.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Just now, Matthias King said:

I like those door props. More like them could be useful for buildings that logically would and should have a loading bay on the back, but don't have one modeled into them. I'd love to see some more.

That's exactly what I made them for. Instead of having to add new textures as well for a door you can just add a little prop

[Matthias King 348]

Excellent idea. I'd been hoping someone would do that. I look forward to seeing a few more, especially some full-size ones big enough for a box truck or semi. If you decide to do them, Avanya extracted the vanilla box truck and semi and put them on the workshop as props, if you need a size reference.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

2 hours ago, Matthias King said:

Excellent idea. I'd been hoping someone would do that. I look forward to seeing a few more, especially some full-size ones big enough for a box truck or semi. If you decide to do them, Avanya extracted the vanilla box truck and semi and put them on the workshop as props, if you need a size reference.

I used to design industrial doors in a previous job, knowing the sizing isn't a problem at all! 

[Matthias King 348]

That's good to hear, though I was more referring to the in-game scale, which is sometimes a little weird, but I'm sure you've got a good handle on it given your previous work. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Once I create an asset I always import the rough shape into the game first to make sure the proportions are right and it fits nicely within the grid.

The doors I've currently made are 1m x 2m pedestrian and a 3m x 5m loading bay door. I'll definitely work on some bigger doors for plopping on to the outside of buildings. 

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

Small update on what I've been upto. 

Main project now is the Cimtropolis Mall. I'm working on the base templates still. May take some time to get them right but will keep you posted.

What doesn't help are all the little random ideas I keep having of what to do in the game. I think there's a possibility that I have sorted out a way of making smaller tram depots. Found it out by accident but will have a play around and see what I can do. See the video below to see what I have so far.

Other side projects I'm thinking about is an extended single track freight station. Also wanting to create some kind of flood barrier system similar to the Thames Barrier in London. On a similar vein to this I'm wanting to make dry dock doors. Just have to play around with the effects of water in the game when it hits buildings & props.

I'm also wanting to make a large swimming pool with the ability to actually have water in it although this is still highly experimental. 

 

[droidhacker 2]

Wow all of those projects you mentioned sound great!  In my futuristic city with its elevated tram network the vanilla tram depot is both bad looking and inconvenient. A river (or channel) flood control system would be amazing too! And dry dock doors too!  It would be amazing and I mean AMAZING to have some sort of lock system to raise up boats. In my city I am working on I have flooded a desert valley to build a canal city 300 feet above the desert floor and I plan on having a ferry service.  It would be amazing and I mean AMAAAZING to have a canal lock or boat raising system.  It is possible to use a series of dams but then  you have boats driving through dams, which looks wonky. Do you also plan on making a more modern looking elevated cargo station?

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

@droidhacker

This is the effect on water by a bridge I found on the workshop, I'm wanting to try and adapt a similar principle for the flood defence system.

 

The real life flood barrier in action. I think the game would benefit from such a system especially with high flowing rivers.

[Avanya 2,605]

Did you know that brick building is actually based on an old tram depot in London?  I should prob look into doing a conversion of the bus depots to tram. Makes alot of sense since they're based on a tram depot.

Sounds like you've got the same "problem" as me with loads of ideas popping up. Looking forward to seeing your projects!