(collaboration) Lets make an oil refinery! Anyone know anything about the petroleum industry?

[Badi_Dea 476]

Thanks everyone!

I finished up the T junction

Here's everything so far

Primary Pipeline Pack
[ ✔ ] Straight Segment (3x4)
[ ✔ ] Left Turn (3x3)
[ ✔ ] Right Turn (3x3)
[ ✔ ] T Junction (3x4)
[     ] Crossover Segment (3x2)

I want to do a details pack to vary up the long stretches of pipeline segments, something that has some technical junk spreading into the blank space. Maybe also a set built for over roads and under roads. But I just want to finish up the last asset of the Primary pack and then get on to doing some actual buildings.

So, I have a question - What menu should I put these things be in?

[squirrelarmyuk 100]

I'd say industrial. The same place Avanya puts her pipes in etc.

[Avanya 2,605]

These are buildings though, aren't they? So the industrial prop category wouldn't work. I usually dump my decorative industrial stuff in the Other parks or Ship category.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Just make you give them a good name so that they are easy to find in the search tool mod.

[averagecrackfiend 0]

This is amazing work, some very talented people here. thank you for making this game great with all your hard work.

[Bolduck91 54]

2 hours ago, Ln X said:

Just make you give them a good name so that they are easy to find in the search tool mod.

Yeahh !! This would be the best ! Like oil or pipeline or even just pipe !

[Badi_Dea 476]

Released!

I would have preferred to release this yesterday, but I was still in the middle of making the icons by the time I passed out for the night.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=793404813

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I dropped it into Water General after all. I don't like it, but a pipe is a pipe, feels more fitting than anything else.

I spent the last week optimizing, over 500 tris pruned from each asset. but they are still kinda heavy for my likes. I should have thought about the pipe organization earlier on so I could get the detail density I was after without having so many faces that are only visible from the side.

Shoving this much detail in an asset (not to mention 4) was grueling, I'll probably make some other stuff first before returning to the pipeline sets.

Thanks all!

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Well done! What is next? More pipelines or hydrocarbon processing units: cracker, naphtha hydrotreater, coker, etc.?

[Tim The Terrible 586]

Still a bit confused on why NExT is required? Other than that you did an amazing job!

[Badi_Dea 476]

 

59 minutes ago, Ln X said:

Well done! What is next? More pipelines or hydrocarbon processing units: cracker, naphtha hydrotreater, coker, etc.?

Thanks!

Probably the coker - it's easy to identify, everything else just looks like a jumble of pipes and scaffolds to me.

 

11 minutes ago, Tim The Terrible said:

Still a bit confused on why NExT is required? Other than that you did an amazing job!

They attach together because they have a zonable pedestrian path underneath them hidden by the concrete ground cover texture. I can't use a stock road because they won't blend in with the concrete texture.

Thanks all!

[Tim The Terrible 586]

Hmm, interesting. I think that also works with the vanilla pink pedestrian paths (in the editor), have you tried that?

[Badi_Dea 476]

I gave it a shot a while back, but couldn't make it work.
As far as I know, the purple paths only give instructions for the agents to follow(and in most cases to traverse from building to building), it's not something that can be used to chain the placement of buildings.
I am totally all ears if anyone has a better way!

[Avanya 2,605]

Those look gorgeous! So glad I didn't have to make the LODs for these  You did a great job - I'm gonna have so much fun with these! And ofc looking forward to seeing what else you come up with 

[Jerenable 266]

Started making a distillation tower set integrating the pipelines from @Badi_Dea  The tri count is hovering around 10k atm but it needs some optimization so maybe under 10k after. 

[southgermancold 5]

Hey,

first of all, I'm more than astounded by this mod an the effort put into it. It's absolutely wonderful and looks great!

I would also like to offer my advice on any issues or questions that might occur since I'm a M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering and currently employed in the Projects & Planning Department of a large chemical manufacturing Company. It would be great if this mod was as close to reality as possible and I would love to contribute to that!

 

Keep up the great work!

[Badi_Dea 476]

8 hours ago, southgermancold said:

I would also like to offer my advice on any issues or questions that might occur since I'm a M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering and currently employed in the Projects & Planning Department of a large chemical manufacturing Company. It would be great if this mod was as close to reality as possible and I would love to contribute to that!

Kickass! we need some specialty advice, at least I'm sure I do.

Link in case my outlines get in the way: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9991399,-90.4006855,342a,20y,42.75h,36.06t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I'm gonna make this thing next - 99% certain it's a Coker.
Would it be safe to assume that everything there is part of that unit? the tall tubes that look kinda like fractionators are specific to the workings of the coker, right?
The thing outlined in blue, I'd say its safe to assume it's not solar panels - any ideas? Heatsink perhaps?
The think outlined in red, that tank is tough to tell from google maps if it contains solids or liquids, what should that be filled with? Should it have a solid roof instead?

 

Here is a quick and dirty Work in Progress pic (not even close with the geometry and just testing textures)

 

I would appreciate any advice, I'm all for making these assets as technically close as the game will allow. As far as I'm concerned, if this project can produce something that even resembles something in real life, I'll be happy.

 

 

[.Del 53]

We should have a list to summarize all the mods that have been completed so far in the OP

[southgermancold 5]

16 hours ago, Badi_Dea said:

Kickass! we need some specialty advice, at least I'm sure I do.

Link in case my outlines get in the way: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9991399,-90.4006855,342a,20y,42.75h,36.06t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

I'm gonna make this thing next - 99% certain it's a Coker.
Would it be safe to assume that everything there is part of that unit? the tall tubes that look kinda like fractionators are specific to the workings of the coker, right?
The thing outlined in blue, I'd say its safe to assume it's not solar panels - any ideas? Heatsink perhaps?
The think outlined in red, that tank is tough to tell from google maps if it contains solids or liquids, what should that be filled with? Should it have a solid roof instead?

 

Here is a quick and dirty Work in Progress pic (not even close with the geometry and just testing textures)

 

I would appreciate any advice, I'm all for making these assets as technically close as the game will allow. As far as I'm concerned, if this project can produce something that even resembles something in real life, I'll be happy.

 

 

From what I can see, the basin you marked with red is the drain sump of the unit. At the end of the coking process, the coke is quenched with water which needs to be contained somewhere since it is heavily contaminated. Its position next to the six coke drums right in the middle of the unit also suggest that. The drain sump doesn't need a roof  at all in my opinion. The tall structure right above the coke drums is the main fractionator column alongside its two smaller sidecut stripper columns. The two narrow towers to the right are just chimneys for excess steam and the smoke from the furnace, the one right next to it actually being the chimney for the furnace which sits right beneath it.

I can't really tell what the thing in blue is supposed to be, but my educated guess would be that it is some sort of pump house. You can safely assume that everything contained within these streets belongs to the coker unit.

I really hope this was helpful!

[Badi_Dea 476]

14 hours ago, Dejected Angel said:

We should have a list to summarize all the mods that have been completed so far in the OP

Good idea, Done

@southgermancold Thanks for the clarification! It's fascinating stuff. As the project continues I'm sure we all value your input.

[Bolduck91 54]

@southgermancold This is very interesting stuff. Understood half of it, but i'm sure your acknowledgement will become very useful around that post !

[Badi_Dea 476]

I just noticed @Jerenable put up his new Distillation tower, show him some love: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797381457

Also, I posted the pipeline asset on the STEX, hopefully it can help if anyone else wants to contribute to the project:

 

[Badi_Dea 476]

Just wanted to give a little update, it's been a busy weekend so I didn't get as far as I wanted to... not to mention that Planet Coaster is looking awful tempting right now lol.

6,916 tris at this point. I'll probably end up doubling it when the other details and pipes are in place.

Texturing is always a pain, I'm not entirely happy with what I have so far and I'm almost out of texture atlas room at 2048x2048... I don't think it's grungy enough, I don't think the rusted-ish metal on the stack comes through very well, ugh - any ideas?

[Ronyx69 2,413]

Instead of making the entire texture rusty, try keeping the texture more neutral, and adding small and sharp details of rust, quick example:

[teknon 9]

Nice! I've been looking for assets to make a refinery. I work in an oil refinery with some petrochemical units. I was involved in the design and construction of a Coker then was later assigned to operations. Now, I'm working with an FCC unit as part of the engineering team. I would assume I'm an expert on this stuff and I'll be glad to help you out the best I can. I've got 3d models (MicroStation) of different units as well that can be opened using Autodesk navisworks but, obviously, I can't share the file. I can give you screenshots instead upon request. 

Gopd job guys! When I saw the model of the Coker, I readily recognized it as a Coker (coke drums and Derrick) although there are some misses and what nots. For the blue and red square above: the red is a water tank. We call it the clear water tank but the water isn't clear. It's water drained from the coke drum cutting process then gets a "filtration" then recycle to the tank for the next cutting process. The cutting process uses a big pump that "pumps" water to 25MPa to cut the coke. People stay away from this pump because it can cut human tissue if there's a leak. LOL! The blue is a forced draft air finned cooler. Most likely for the blowdown or gas compression section. 

The 6 cylinders beside the coke drums are a little weird. We don't have them on ours and I can only assume these are air cooler chimney's. These chimney's most likely create additional draft for the air cooler in case of power failure.

Just some comments, you can make the bottom part of the fractionator as a cylinder. The bottom head, similar to the top head, is a half sphere (2:1 sphere) but is inside the skirt and can't be seen. So it's OK if we just make it a cylinder. I'd suggest adding the major large bore piping also. From the top of the cabin heater with stack on your model,it goes to the coke drum from the bottom part. The top of the coke drum has large pipes that go to the fractionators lower part. Then the top of the fractionator supposedly goes to a gas plant but for our case, let's just put it in the structure. I'll try to make sketches later to better represent my comments.

Geez, I'm excited an I hope we can build a refinery. 

[Bolduck91 54]

@teknon Man this is sweet informations ! I never thought I would be so interested in a oil refinery before haha ! Thanks for sharing. 

[Badi_Dea 476]

Indeed! thanks for the info

@Ronyx69 thanks for the advice, It's not exactly the type of look I was going for based on the reference images, but it's a good concept to keep in mind.

8 hours ago, teknon said:

Just some comments, you can make the bottom part of the fractionator as a cylinder. The bottom head, similar to the top head, is a half sphere (2:1 sphere) but is inside the skirt and can't be seen. So it's OK if we just make it a cylinder.

@teknonIs this the part you're talking about? Can you provide some references of the lower part of it? Thanks for the expert information! between you and @southgermancold I'm feeling more comfortable that we all can make these buildings at least closer to accurate. :-)

I've mostly been working on textures, but still slower progress due to the holidays, I'll step up the pace this weekend for sure!

You'll notice I'm not going for an exact 1:1 recreation, I just want to make sure I get the major elements.

The model is a little over 7k tris right now, 2048x2048 texture. I'm focusing on making it as lean as I can, but there is TONS of exposed detail to model. After I get some of the piping in place (based on the large elevated piping segments) I plan to fill the rest of the empty space with alpha mapped pipes to save on tri count.

Thanks all! as always, looking for input about what can be improved!

[Giovanni E 155]

this looks awesome, i just wonder how those shiny metal textures will appear in game, they look awesome here, the model is great tho, just one question, are those large tubes supposed to be half rendered ? or is it because the normals face the other way ?

[teknon 9]

Great! Big progress! You're air fin cooler model is accurate and I like it! And I also like how you put the cabin at the top of the structure. Most cokers have this but ours was put on the grade cause its more safe. 

The 1st image, you can edit the skirt using the yellow outline then remove the red hatch. I suggest to remove the blue hatch especially the horizontal vessel cause I don't know how to make it more realistic. Lol. The 6 cylinders can be shortened to project from the structure only. Maybe remove the lower half portion. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpahqkhyp5lhzdq/1.png?dl=0

The 2nd image is more of suggested piping. Also sketched how the bottom of the vessel and the piping works. It's the skirt section of the vessel. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwae2a771h68ae5/2_01_01.png?dl=0

I don't know how you can maintain it to manageable details/tris but if you can squeeze in the clear water tank, it would be great. 

P. S. Don't know how to attach images in mobile. I'll try to do it better next week when I get back to our office. 

[Badi_Dea 476]

12 hours ago, Giovanni E said:

this looks awesome, i just wonder how those shiny metal textures will appear in game, they look awesome here, the model is great tho, just one question, are those large tubes supposed to be half rendered ? or is it because the normals face the other way ?

@Giovanni EPrecisely, I've deleted the tops and bottoms of the big cylinders in the middle, so you're seeing through the top and into the back side of the face which isn't rendered. Those holes will be covered with other details when complete and won't be visible, so it's not worth it to have the geometry exist.
It's an amazingly vital part of asset optimization, and it's even more worth it because pretty much all 3d package's cylinder primitive will create an ngon at the top and bottom, when that is triangulated during export the resulting single face could be dozens of tris.

11 hours ago, teknon said:

Great! Big progress! You're air fin cooler model is accurate and I like it! And I also like how you put the cabin at the top of the structure. Most cokers have this but ours was put on the grade cause its more safe. 

@teknonCool! thanks! - That cabin up at the top is present on the reference (https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9991399,-90.4006855,342a,20y,42.75h,36.06t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en)
It did seem a little crazy dangerous to have it all the way up there lol

11 hours ago, teknon said:

The 2nd image is more of suggested piping. Also sketched how the bottom of the vessel and the piping works. It's the skirt section of the vessel. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwae2a771h68ae5/2_01_01.png?dl=0

That is awesome! From what I could follow in google earth I was making some pretty big assumptions, thanks for clarifying

11 hours ago, teknon said:

The 1st image, you can edit the skirt using the yellow outline then remove the red hatch. I suggest to remove the blue hatch especially the horizontal vessel cause I don't know how to make it more realistic. Lol. The 6 cylinders can be shortened to project from the structure only. Maybe remove the lower half portion. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpahqkhyp5lhzdq/1.png?dl=0

Good advice on the fractionator skirts - are those usually bolted to the ground for stability, or do they have other ways of preventing them from blowing over?

I'd like to keep the horizontal tanks, they're pretty prominent in the reference.

I'll alter those 6 cylinders, would anything noticeable go underneath them, or just more piping and plating?

11 hours ago, teknon said:

I don't know how you can maintain it to manageable details/tris but if you can squeeze in the clear water tank, it would be great. 

The water tank is present, but I couldn't tell the clarity it's supposed to be, so I make it kinda skummy and filthy. I can change up the texture, but I'd rather not have it looking like a swimming pool. lol

Thanks for your advice!

[Badi_Dea 476]

Progress from the week/weekend, I'm still under my projected tri budget by 199, right at 12,001 currently. I will be piping out the connection to the pipeline set on the outside of the scaffolding and then filling the inside with some alpha mapped boxes to fill it out. I also need to make a little coke/tailings/coal pile prop and large decal to give some detail to the collection area place up front.

I've changed the skirts around those columns and hooked up the pipes where they're supposed to be per @teknon's advice.

Making this stuff is really pushing my limits of efficiency, I've been culling all the occluded faces as I build sections - which I thought would help - but then I end up having to rebuild sections because I decided to move something :-/

Anyway, pics!

Textured and shaded only to see the geometry more clear

Here is a close up with wireframe of one of the more geometrically complex areas

As always, looking for feedback and advise. I hope that I can get some free time when people at the office start taking Christmas vacation, so, if all goes well I hope to publish next weekend.

Oh! and I need reference for the top part of the coker if anyone can find something, the mechanism that lowers the drills into the drums would be super helpful!