thecitiescenter's BATS

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Hi Everyone.  So I've decided to start a BAT thread to show some of the stuff I've been working on.  These are, and started out as, projects to primarily fill gaps in the cities that I'm building.  I'm not really looking to become a career modeler or anything like that (I'm already well into my career doing something else).  This is a hobby and a way to relax after work and family commitments are done for the day (sometimes (more often lately) at the expense of sleep.. but who needs that, right?).

Anyways, I hope to release these once I'm satisfied that they're "release-able"... but thought I'd share with you all regardless.

AVIATION:

Fact of the matter is, I really, really miss the content put out by the AC, SCAG teams and mike_oxlong.  If you followed my CJ from years ago, you'll know that I love to build airports.  Since there hasn't been any activity from the aviation teams a lot of the planes and liveries available on STEX are becoming outdated.  A month ago, I contacted mike_oxlong and he was kind enough to share some of the base models that he converted from Flight Simulator (with permission from their original modelers for release to the STEX).  With his help (and it was a LOT of help -- HUGE thanks to mike_oxlong), I began re-texturing some of those models.

Here are two examples:

Xiamen Air Boeing 787-800:

Amazon Boeing 767F:

 

RETAIL:

Working on those planes kind of opened up a bit of a BAT rabbit-hole for me.  For years, I've wanted to add some retail to my cities with brands that don't exist on the STEX.  Primarily, I was looking at Asian American brands that are quite common where I live in California and in major metropolitan areas along the US west coast, in Texas, the East Coast and in Canada (and some mainstream brands as well-- specifically Pacific Northwest based brands). 

In the past couple weeks, I've come up with these:

 

99 RANCH PLAZA: This is a retail plaza styled after similar retail plazas found throughout suburban areas on the US west coast and in Texas.  It's anchored by Taiwanese-American supermarket chain 99 Ranch, which is based out of Buena Park, California.  They have 42 locations in various US states.  There's also a GEN Korean BBQ, a 85' Bakery, a Tea shop and Koi Palace Seafood Restaurant (a popular (and rather large) dim sum restaurant in the SF Bay Area).  

 

SEAFOOD CITY PLAZA:  After coming up w/the above, I re-skinned the original to make a smaller plaza anchored by Seafood City, a Filipino-American supermarket chain based out of Pomona, California.  There's also a Red Ribbon bakery, Filipino restaurant, and a Jollibee's (a Philippines-based fast food joint w/over 3,000 locations worldwide including a few in the US) in this plaza.  

  

 

COSTCO: I made this one just to fill a spot in my re-creation of Tokyo.  It's a Costco, but its based on their Japanese locations, which, unlike their American counterparts, are usually two stories and set in a very urban environment (although I've seen one in New York like this).  It's purposefully W2W so that you can plop a parking garage next to it, though if I have time, I may model a parking garage for better consistency.

 

I've got quite a few others coming up, as well as some on my "To-Do" list, including two more Pacific Northwest-based retail chains (one store has the initials F and M... and the other N and R.)

 

Anyways thats it for now.  

 

 

[CT14 2,486]

Looking good! If you want a good prototype for FM that will fit into a smaller footprint, the Burlingame store at SW Terwilliger and Barbur in Portland is their original. It still has its large mid-century modern sign standing.

On the other hand, if you want sprawling malaise dialed up to 11, try the Gresham or West Eugene stores.

[Jasoncw 11,949]

Try making the white of the planes darker. Right now it's so white that it's blown out, and there aren't any greys to help define the shapes. You should make the white darker until all surfaces of the plane have a slightly different light grey color in the render. If you look at a photo of a plane you can see that the shading gradually changes because the surfaces are all curved.

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

@CT14 The Burlingame store was definitely on my mind as I was putting together my "To-Do" list.  It might happen, but for the first release, I am looking at a suburban location... one of their late 90's stores to be exact.  It is in the Portland area.  I did look at the W Eugene store after you mentioned it.  Completely forgot that was the location I frequented when I was in college... it's been a long time.  

@Jasoncw Yes, I do plan to modify those to make 'em darker.  Those planes were one of the first things I textured, ever, and I'm not completely satisfied w/it yet.  Will probably get back to the aviation side soon.

 

In the mean time... working on my first restaurant... (WIP).

 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Update:

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Second restaurant (will probably release these as a pack):

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

AVIATION UPDATE:

Per @Jasoncw's suggestion, I modified the textures a bit.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

[Jasoncw 11,949]

It's a big improvement.

On Prime Air you can really see the gradation in all of the shading now. However, the turbines are still blown out, and the main body of the plane is slightly dark. The wings seem fine. On Xiamen Air, the main body of the plane and the turbines are both blown out.

The way to tweak this, is to take a preview render and take it into an image editing program.

If you're using photoshop, in these situations what I often do is the quick and dirty method of making a new layer, filling it with red or hot pink, and then right clicking on the layer and going to Blending Options, and going to the "blend if" "underlying layer" and sliding the top bright slider to the left. As you slide it to the left, the brightest parts of your render will start showing through. There are other ways of doing this in photoshop and other programs but the main thing is to identify the brightest parts of your render.

Once you do that, you should adjust your texture until the brightest parts are not pure white (255,255,255) in the preview render. Or if anything is pure white it should just be the very smallest highlight area.

And then if after that, some parts of the plane look too dark you can manually make them a little brighter.

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

6 hours ago, Jasoncw said:

It's a big improvement.

On Prime Air you can really see the gradation in all of the shading now. However, the turbines are still blown out, and the main body of the plane is slightly dark. The wings seem fine. On Xiamen Air, the main body of the plane and the turbines are both blown out.

The way to tweak this, is to take a preview render and take it into an image editing program.

If you're using photoshop, in these situations what I often do is the quick and dirty method of making a new layer, filling it with red or hot pink, and then right clicking on the layer and going to Blending Options, and going to the "blend if" "underlying layer" and sliding the top bright slider to the left. As you slide it to the left, the brightest parts of your render will start showing through. There are other ways of doing this in photoshop and other programs but the main thing is to identify the brightest parts of your render.

Once you do that, you should adjust your texture until the brightest parts are not pure white (255,255,255) in the preview render. Or if anything is pure white it should just be the very smallest highlight area.

And then if after that, some parts of the plane look too dark you can manually make them a little brighter.

That's really useful info, thanks!  

 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

RETAIL UPDATE:

99 Ranch and Islands are now available for download on the STEX:

 

 

Next Up:

Should hopefully be able to release P.F. Chang's tomorrow.  Then my plan is to wrap up one more restaurant I've got in the works.  I hope your Sims like soup dumplings.  After that, the plan is to go into retail mode north of the border.

 

[Evanjs 602]

4 hours ago, portlandexpos04 said:

RETAIL UPDATE:

99 Ranch and Islands are now available for download on the STEX:

 

 

Next Up:

Should hopefully be able to release P.F. Chang's tomorrow.  Then my plan is to wrap up one more restaurant I've got in the works.  I hope your Sims like soup dumplings.  After that, the plan is to go into retail mode north of the border.

 

Great jobs so far. I’ll be for sure to download soon. When I get on my gaming pc

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Feeling like Chinese food?

How about some lettuce wraps, orange peeled shrimp, and Mushu pork at P.F. Chang's?:

 

Or perhaps you prefer something more authentic, like xiao long baos (soup dumplings), at Michelin-starred Din Tai Fung?

 

 

 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Thanks everyone for your likes, support, and feedback.

I also got a couple good comments about the scaling of my models from @mrbisonm and @DavidDHetzel.  I noticed the oversized scaling too after I uploaded the last two files (Din Tai Fung and PF Changs).  I think it's especially noticeable in Din Tai Fung because I used a lot of props from the BSC SG Props set on the lot (the tables, umbrellas, cars are all SimGoober's props).  I'll definitely keep the scaling in mind for future models and do very much appreciate the feedback.  However, now the OCD side of me is really bugged...... so I think I'm going to try a 25% scale reduction on PF and a 35% reduction on DTF and see how it goes.  If it turns out OK, I'll go ahead and update both files on the STEX.  Stay tuned.   UPDATE: Modified building scale for both PF Changs and Din Tai Fung.  New versions have been uploaded to the STEX.

Now that those are out of the way, I can start on my next project.  It'll be a Canadian retail store.

 

 

[RRetail 7,912]

Scaling also happened to be an issue for me when I first got into this. It is still does get me from time to time. It helps to remember that 1 tile in game is the distance of 16m in gmax. So if you want a building to be a certain size, that is the number to keep in mind. All in all, you're doing great and I look forward to seeing what you make next.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

I always compare my BATs to similar others that I have seen or like in the game, and that's a great help for me.

 

mrb

[CT14 2,486]

Scale is a beast. For buildings, I always model to real life height, then scale everything 133% vertically just before exporting the BAT. This compensates for the in-game squish that happens, and keeps my head from exploding trying to keep track of scaling while creating the model.

Specifically, I do the following:

• Group all geometry and lights and LOD (not cameras)
• Scale this group 133% vertically
• Using a side elevation view as a guide, move the group up the Z axis so it is flush with 0 again (the foundation point)
• Save to a new file as 'my_project_SCALED_005.gmax' so I know it's the scaled one - good for retexturing, not good for modifying geometry

There are other ways to get the same result, but this is simple enough that if I want to change major geometry it doesn't take too long to go back, work on the unscaled version and rescale it again.

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

RETAIL UPDATE:

Thanks again everyone for your tips on scaling.  They were very helpful.

And here's a preview of my next release.  She'll be the first in a line of Canadian retail stores that I plan to do.

 

Oh... and I've got two empty (small) storefronts on the bottom floor that need to be filled.  I couldn't think of what to put here... so I'm gonna open it up for requests.  Kind of fun for you, and kind of fun for me 

I'll take requests via a reply here, or you can PM me if you want.  I'll review requests as they come in and take the first two that I feel fit best.

Requests can either be an actual business that exists in the real world, or a "type" of business (e.g. a video game store).

Bonus points will be doled out for the following:
a.) The business operates in Canada IRL (if its a specific business) and
b.) New to SC4 (e.g. not currently available on SC4 sites, the STEX, SC4D).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pclark06 12,073]

I think what's great is your willingness to get better. Your BATs have shown amazing improvement and I can't wait to follow your future progress. As for Canadian retailers, I really have no idea considering how many American retailers are there. Maybe a Swiss Chalet or Harvey's, fast food restaurants unique to Canada although Harvey's usually doesn't show up in plazas (Swiss Chalet does). 

[Evanjs 602]

Hello!!!! Idk if you’d want to this or not but what about a Canada Walmart or Target. Tim Hortons. I also agree with @pclark06

[pclark06 12,073]

1 minute ago, Evanjs said:

Hello!!!! Idk if you’d want to this or not but what about a Canada Walmart or Target. Tim Hortons. I also agree with @pclark06

I do have a Dollarama that I've not released but am not sure if I'll ever release it. Maybe one of those could go in that plaza?

[Evanjs 602]

2 minutes ago, pclark06 said:

I do have a Dollarama that I've not released but am not sure if I'll ever release it. Maybe one of those could go in that plaza?

Yea maybe even a Sears Canada, and a save on food also! 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

6 hours ago, pclark06 said:

I think what's great is your willingness to get better. Your BATs have shown amazing improvement and I can't wait to follow your future progress. As for Canadian retailers, I really have no idea considering how many American retailers are there. Maybe a Swiss Chalet or Harvey's, fast food restaurants unique to Canada although Harvey's usually doesn't show up in plazas (Swiss Chalet does). 

@pclark06 Thanks man!  Glad youre liking my projects, Im certainly having a blast making ‘em. 

Harveys and Swiss Chalet are good ones.  I totally forgot about them.  One of the two has a good chance to make it to the ground floor of the Real canadian Superstore building.  But if not, I will be putting both on my to do list for near-term future projects.  

6 hours ago, Evanjs said:

Hello!!!! Idk if you’d want to this or not but what about a Canada Walmart or Target. Tim Hortons. I also agree with @pclark06

 

5 hours ago, Evanjs said:

Yea maybe even a Sears Canada, and a save on food also! 

@Evanjs Thanks for the suggestions!  Right now Im just trying to fill the two small empty storefronts on the ground floor of Real Canadian Superstore.  Most of your suggestions are of the size where theyd have to be a project on their own, with the exception of Tim Hortons.  Theres already one of those on the STEX, but I could see it working for the ground floor of RCS, too.  

Since both Target and Sears have shuttered their Canada stores, I doubt Ill be doing those.  And while Im not against Walmart, there are already so many of those on the  STEX and Canadian Walmarts arent significantly different than US Walmarts in terms of size, surroundings and building layout... but... that got me thinking, I have been to a few countries where Walmarts ARE quite different than North American ones and I might try my hand at those at some point.

I thought there was a Save On already on the STEX but it didnt come up in the search... Ill dig deeper, couldve sworn there was one.  But if not Ill put it on the list.  Either way, I do have a few Canadian supermarkets on my to do list.  

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Retail Update:

Continuing our Canada run, I made some progress on my next one, London Drugs.  Still a work in progress.

 

Does anyone know if these things have Drive-Thru pharmacies like CVS does in the states?

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

Update:

Real Canadian Superstore is now available on the STEX:

 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

It's been a while, but I'm still here, and here are some updates:

Retail / Restaurant Stuff

Sweet Tomatoes (yes, I plan on making a Soup Plantation version for your Southern California cities).  This is just a re-skin of my Islands Burgers restaurant, but I'll probably change a few more things to differentiate the two a bit more:

 

Strip Mall Anchor Stores:  I'm planning at least 5 big box anchor stores, either I'll put them into a gigantic plaza, or I'll release it as a pack so that users can interchange as they see fit:

 

Asia Restaurants & Retail:  I made these for my Asian cities.  

 

London Drugs:  I haven't forgotten this one, it should be finalized and lotted soon, with release shortly after:

 

"Skyscrapers"

 

Aviation:

3-story Jetbridges (45' and 90')

 

[RRetail 7,912]

Nordstrom Rack was something I was considering doing at some point. While I may still, its great to see you are making one!

[Evanjs 602]

@RRetail and @thecitiescenter Macy has a store called Macy backstage if like Nordstrom rack. 

[thecitiescenter 3,059]

8 hours ago, Evanjs said:

@RRetail and @thecitiescenter Macy has a store called Macy backstage if like Nordstrom rack. 

Macy’s also owns the Bloomingdale’s brand and I’ve been wanting to do a Bloomingdales The Outlet.

Also along the same lines, a Saks Off Fifth... both of which would fit in nicely as anchors in an outlet mall similar to the IRL Mills malls.

When that will happen though?  I dunno... could be never or it could be tomorrow, depending on when my brain, hands, motivation and computer all get on the same page. 

[RRetail 7,912]

@Evanjs Most Macy's Backstage locations I know of are inside of existing Macy's stores, making it kind of pointless to pursue making it by itself. Nordstrom Rack are standalone stores completely separate from Nordstrom.

@thecitiescenter You seem to have read my mind about outlet mall anchors. Another chain, though it is closing a lot of stores, that fits at outlet malls is Forever 21. On my recent trip to eastern PA, I made it a point to stop at the Pocono's premium outlets and it has one.that was not on the closure list. Another candidate would be Lord & Taylor.

 

[Evanjs 602]

2 hours ago, RRetail said:

@Evanjs Most Macy's Backstage locations I know of are inside of existing Macy's stores, making it kind of pointless to pursue making it by itself. Nordstrom Rack are standalone stores completely separate from Nordstrom.

@thecitiescenter You seem to have read my mind about outlet mall anchors. Another chain, though it is closing a lot of stores, that fits at outlet malls is Forever 21. On my recent trip to eastern PA, I made it a point to stop at the Pocono's premium outlets and it has one.that was not on the closure list. Another candidate would be Lord & Taylor.

 

@RRetail as more and more Macy's are closing more and more a becoming it they are building the backstage stores. there are more of them locations in s Macy’s store but some are now  popping up as  standalone store now. Also you’ll know We missing a outlet mall right jk 😂