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[Rott 2,351]

Going through this guide to nightlight windows; 

It illustrates how to use two textures, one diffuse and one using opacity, which I think I figured out how to do, just one issue, when I applied this method the opacity was where I could barely see it. How would I reduce the opacity or am I doing it correctly in the first place? (I'm using the button next to the opacity dial then applying the same texture)

[Dreadnought 8,226]

Since I know nothing at all about 3Dsmax -- how it works -- what it really does -- or how it can be used -- I thought it a good idea to ask a few questions.

My biggest question, I guess, concerns compatibility issues.  Something I have noticed on sites with 3Dsmax models is that they all have "dates" on them.  One model was done with 2009 -- another with 2012 - etc, etc.  I assume the date actually refers to the "version" of 3Dsmax used to make the model.

Could the difference in dates cause problems in rendering / exporting the model?

Would you need to convert a "2009" to a "2012" ?

 

[rsc204 21,817]

1 hour ago, Dreadnought said:

My biggest question, I guess, concerns compatibility issues.  Something I have noticed on sites with 3Dsmax models is that they all have "dates" on them.  One model was done with 2009 -- another with 2012 - etc, etc.  I assume the date actually refers to the "version" of 3Dsmax used to make the model.

Yes, a bit like Fifa, Autodesk keep chucking out the hits with yearly updates. A long time ago there were version numbers, but the current system of years is at least 10 years old.

1 hour ago, Dreadnought said:

Could the difference in dates cause problems in rendering / exporting the model?

Generally speaking, if a file was created using an older version of 3DS Max than you are using, it will open at least. But, if you make a model in a newer version, users of older ones probably won't be able to use the file. Backwards compatibility sometimes sticks around for a few versions, but not always.

.3DS format models can be imported into and version of 3DS Max, but often need more work to finish the model before rendering.

[Dreadnought 8,226]

Thank you much, my friend --

That pretty well answers my question -- at least for the time being.

Hope you're having a "Happy" New Year -- things aren't going too well over here in "the colonies".

[WannGLondon 2,243]

Hi Community,

Can anyone help me with understanding why my model (pictured here in SC4 PIM and preview from 3ds Max) is showing up very bright and white, with texture loss?

Thanks in advance!

[mattb325 28,880]

The house looks good!

You need the gamma fix (by the looks of it) - versions 2014-2017 are affected....

 

 

[20huskies 4,693]

Is there a tutorial anywhere on flashing lights or animations?  I want to set a news ticker on a building 

[titanesk 125]

Hello builders,

I work on Sketchup 2021 but when I export my 3D models to Sc4Bat, I can't get textures I've put in Sketchup.

I tried to add it in Gmax but it doesn't work too...

Wait for your answer

Best regards

PS I'm french so if there some french explanations it's fit to me

sketchup vs sc4bat.pdf

[AP 3,588]

Has anyone ever come across the following while exporting with BAT:

Export failed!
Code = 12

Is there a proper list of error codes? I didn't manage to find one...

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

[mattb325 28,880]

On 1/23/2021 at 9:35 PM, 20huskies said:

Is there a tutorial anywhere on flashing lights or animations?

You need to first download BAB - the information on it is found here: https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=8003.0 Good luck: animated stuff is quite rare...only simgoober ever did anything with it (publicly to my knowledge)

11 hours ago, AP said:

Has anyone ever come across the following while exporting with BAT:

Export failed!
Code = 12

Error code 12 is a zoom 5, rotation number 2 subset error of Error Code 5.  Error code 5 means that there is an error saving thumbnails to the output file and can be caused by  a file sharing violation (eg the lot editor, reader, pim, pimx or even the game itself is running while you are rendering) or the output file is protected, such as being in a read-only folder.

[Vitoraju 675]

Hi @titanesk. I don't know if this is it, I'm just guessing, but you may have exported it in a different format (Off-topic: I use 3ds max and sketchup 2017).
Anyway try this: when I export in sketchup I export in "sketchup 8" format and import in 3ds max. (I also export for gmax, when I try used, because my pc have problem with the program. It's close).
Take this test. it might work on your gmax.

PS: I do not know French, but I am also a native of a Latin language (portuguese), so it may be that we understand each other "very little".

[titanesk 125]

Thank you

[Rott 2,351]

So I seem to have found the folder where the night window textures are in Gmax, would adding more of these be as simple as adding the folders with the mapping files in them into the directory? I figure this would make a lot of signage super easy to do, just use text and apply a night window texture to it to give it a bright red illumination at night?

[Jasoncw 11,841]

46 minutes ago, Rott said:

So I seem to have found the folder where the night window textures are in Gmax, would adding more of these be as simple as adding the folders with the mapping files in them into the directory? I figure this would make a lot of signage super easy to do, just use text and apply a night window texture to it to give it a bright red illumination at night?

Yep!

[Rott 2,351]

10 minutes ago, Jasoncw said:

Yep!

Actually there was something I might have overlooked, I think there can only be a single uniform night window texture used for everything right? I can't have the windows be beige and the signage be red can I?

[Jasoncw 11,841]

23 minutes ago, Rott said:

Actually there was something I might have overlooked, I think there can only be a single uniform night window texture used for everything right? I can't have the windows be beige and the signage be red can I?

That's correct. So you'd use red night texture for the neon, and then you'd use spotlights to light up the interiors of the buildings. I thought madhatter106 wrote a tutorial about it but I can't find it, but basically the tutorial is to do that.

[Kloudkicker 4,561]

I don't know if these will help, but they are the links I've bookmarked so far about this.

 

 

 

[Rott 2,351]

I have had a look at these, the top one has some broken links but I think what it means is you make the night scene yourself without relying on Gmax to do it for you? Could be wrong about that one... The middle one had something I got caught up on about making a dual texture for windows... and the bottom one was giving me an error when I tried to open it, even though I did open it once before, seems like it uses 'Material' for night lighting from what I remember but I have no idea how to use that feature...

[AP 3,588]

12 hours ago, Rott said:

Actually there was something I might have overlooked, I think there can only be a single uniform night window texture used for everything right? I can't have the windows be beige and the signage be red can I?

Hi Rott,
I came accross that exact same problem lately (see: https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=18785.msg536197#msg536197) and I solved it by doing the following:

When you create a new texture in the Material Editor and go back to the Parent (1) and then tick the box for Self-Illumination select a color and play with the Opacity (2).

That adds some level of glow to the texter in your night render and it gave me pretty nice lighting for my vessel while still being able to use the night windows in the way they they were intended to.

(1)

(2)

If you need further info on how to do that just let me know, I am more than happy to explain it in more detail. It is kind of sad, that all this knowledge gets lost and the tutorails on how to work with it are rather bumpy...

[AP 3,588]

I need to raise another question on lighting myself here, regarding props shining lights on other props. (described using the following picture)

(1) the bow section is the building of the lot and rendered with normal lighting (unfortunately the vessel is so big and complex that trying to render it as one model [over 300MB] keeps crashing, therefor I had to split it and the working deck with the jacks and cranes are all props added to the lot.)

(2) now I have the problem that the light cones stop at the border of each prop and I cannot light up my deck properly

(3) I tried adding other props that have lighting to see if it is a general problem, but this standard MAXIS lantern shines without any issues on the base texture and on the deck prop (4)

(5) My own light pole, even tho it comes with Target spots, does not light up anything (which makes sense, since these spots are only used to shine the light while rendering, and the program does not know that there is a light source once it is converted into a prop.)

(6) If I include a random ground surface in the LOD limits you can see the spots do light it up while rendering, but that is obviously no solution to my problem

So...long story short: How do I light up my deck?

[20huskies 4,693]

@Rott @AP

I will add something that was not in the tutorial that I can remember. If you have a light colored sign, say white, with lettering on it, it will make a difference also in how you approach it. You can make the sign glow more with a light source and mapping to reflection and refraction, But with reflection it will reflect the sun as well with no light source other than that. This May be fine if it’s a solid color but will make sign lettering unreadable if it’s too small. To get around that you can use refraction and play with the mapping percentages. This will tone down the glow a little bit but it will make the sign more legible.

[Rott 2,351]

@AP Seems like a neat trick for windows, if only this self-illumination could be applied as a night light source it would be super easy to make store signs. Doesn't sound like there is way to do that unfortunately.

Is anyone familiar with how the Oregon sign is lit up? If only it would open for me I would have a better idea...

[Jasoncw 11,841]

@AP It might be crashing because the overall building is too big. idk what the upper limit is, but yours looks really huge. So it might not be a lack of memory.

You broke down the BAT by taking individual elements and removing everything else and exporting them each in isolation. Instead, you need to choose elements but leave their surroundings in the scene when you export.

This isn't the best example but hopefully you can see what I mean.

The top part of this image is the actual render of the BAT (the .FSH file inside the .SC4Model file), and below that is the model being displayed. The wireframe in the lower image is the LOD, which is just a box. When I exported this, I didn't hide the rest of the building, and you can see in the render how the rest of the building is still there. This way, the building and the marquee are still casting shadows on each other and getting lights from each other and stuff. The final result is that the main BAT and the sign prop are seamless once they're put together in the lot editor.

For yours, I would try keeping the entire model visible, and then exporting a few smaller LOD segments. If that doesn't work (that is, if it is crashing because of memory, and not just because the building is too big), then you'll have to start selectively removing things which won't be visible and which won't have any impact on the final result. It will be tricky figuring out which things are safe to remove, but that's how you do it.

[AP 3,588]

18 minutes ago, Jasoncw said:

@AP It might be crashing because the overall building is too big. idk what the upper limit is, but yours looks really huge. So it might not be a lack of memory.

You broke down the BAT by taking individual elements and removing everything else and exporting them each in isolation. Instead, you need to choose elements but leave their surroundings in the scene when you export.

This isn't the best example but hopefully you can see what I mean.

The top part of this image is the actual render of the BAT (the .FSH file inside the .SC4Model file), and below that is the model being displayed. The wireframe in the lower image is the LOD, which is just a box. When I exported this, I didn't hide the rest of the building, and you can see in the render how the rest of the building is still there. This way, the building and the marquee are still casting shadows on each other and getting lights from each other and stuff. The final result is that the main BAT and the sign prop are seamless once they're put together in the lot editor.

For yours, I would try keeping the entire model visible, and then exporting a few smaller LOD segments. If that doesn't work (that is, if it is crashing because of memory, and not just because the building is too big), then you'll have to start selectively removing things which won't be visible and which won't have any impact on the final result. It will be tricky figuring out which things are safe to remove, but that's how you do it.

Hi Jasoncw,

thanks for the reply! So if I understood you correctly, I need to put my own dimensions to the LODs and render parts of the model (eg. 0-40m, 40-80m, 80-120 m) how would I proceed with that then? define one .sc4model as building and the others as props and assemble them back together in the LotEditor? 

The other problem I would have with that then is that I put lots of other props on the deck (which I got from other prop packs and don't have as gmax models, like the container and people) these would disappear then, since they are stuck within the bigger ship sections.

Is there a way to solve the problem with the lighting like suggested in my post?

[Jasoncw 11,841]

@AP If I were doing it I would probably try making the main ship, including the big yellow things, as the main building, and then exporting the black towers as two or three props. I'm assuming that the black towers are very tall, so the combo of the very long ship with the very tall towers is probably making the building too big to export, so having one long but not tall export and a few tall but not wide exports would probably work.

The deck would be lit up in gmax the same way that the deck of the bow section is lit up.

Other props you put on the deck would not be lit up, but that's how props are everywhere else in the game too. If you wanted the props to be fully integrated with your BAT you would need to model them yourself.

[AP 3,588]

38 minutes ago, Jasoncw said:

@AP If I were doing it I would probably try making the main ship, including the big yellow things, as the main building, and then exporting the black towers as two or three props. I'm assuming that the black towers are very tall, so the combo of the very long ship with the very tall towers is probably making the building too big to export, so having one long but not tall export and a few tall but not wide exports would probably work.

The deck would be lit up in gmax the same way that the deck of the bow section is lit up.

Other props you put on the deck would not be lit up, but that's how props are everywhere else in the game too. If you wanted the props to be fully integrated with your BAT you would need to model them yourself.

Would I be able to put props on the deck if the LOD box is as high as the bridge? Would the props not just fade away? that's what happened to me when I tried to put props on the bow...

 

[Jasoncw 11,841]

@AP You need to make custom LODs which follow the shape of what you want props to interact with. You would have to make custom LODs anyway for the bottom of the ship to fit into water correctly. The LODs are the actual geometry that the 2D renders are being overlayed onto, so the LOD is the 3d geometry that will be in the game and which you will put your props on.

[AP 3,588]

@Jasoncw Thanks for the tip. I am however still facing issues and am pretty devestated about not being able to export my Model. Do you have more advice on how I could approach it?

The Model is a Wind turbine Iinstallation Vessel that is 160m long, 50m wide and 100m high. I tried using custom LODs (20x50x100, see first one in orange on the bow, the rest as scetched in red in the screenshot) that cover parts of the ship at a time but when exporting, BAT either crashes, or shows the error message "code 4" or "unknown exemption".

Do I need to use even smaller LODs? How should they be arranged and what is a good size?

@Barroco Hispano I saw that you are able to export giant ship models, how are you approaching this?

[Barroco Hispano 26,730]

@AP The largest ship that I have exported in HD measures 180 meters long x 32 meters wide x 48 meters high. Have you tried to export the ship in SD?

 

 

[Jasoncw 11,841]

@AP You need to make smaller LODs in order to decrease the size of the render area. In my theater marquee prop example from earlier, you can see that even though the overall building is a 2x4 BAT, the part of the BAT that was rendered was only a small rectangle, because it only renders the areas it needs to cover the LOD. That image in the example is a .FSH file. For bigger BATs each view will have several large .FSH files, which tile together to complete the image. Because of the way that the files work, there's a limit to how many of those .FSH files each .SC4Model file can have, which means there's a limit to how big the building can be.

With your LODs, you have very tall LODs in the middle that are just enclosing air. You also won't be able to put props on the deck with those LODs, because the top of the LOD (the actual 3d geometry that the prop will be placed on) is hundreds of meters in the air. Your LOD needs to conform snuggly to the deck.

Also, the LODs are the in-game geometry and that is what, when your cursor moves over it, highlights the building. If you've ever had a BAT where you've accidentally selected or demolished it, even though the cursor isn't near the actual building itself, that's why.

Making BATs that will be interacting with props requires very particular LODs. You have to make custom, non-box LODs which snuggly conform to all parts of your model that will interact with anything in the game.

This is the LOD for my Oakland Tribune BAT (https://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30779-oakland-tribune/) and you can see how in general the LOD conforms to the building's shape, because I didn't want people to accidentally click on or demolish it. But then if you look at the street level there's a canopy. The sim props have to go underneath the canopy, which means the LOD had to very snugly fit the shape of the canopy.