Das Model

[Fargo 542]

After looking at the Ones that never made it to the STEX thread I have been moved to take another stab at BATting after more than a decade. I have the disadvantage of being restricted to Mac OS for the time being, thankfully there is BAT4Blender. At the moment I am working on conquering the Blender learning curve with some Youtube tutorials. So I've begun this thread to share my progress and inspirations for content that I aspire to bring to SimCity 4.

As a son of the midwest I am principally interested in bringing to the game buildings from the places I have lived, namely Chicago and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Here I'm attempting to tackle one of the International Style office towers in the Chicago Loop, Michigan Plaza South.

[Girafarig 1,379]

Ooh, finally BATs from macos? Have you got any tutorials to recommend? I might be interested in learning more, but I can't be bothered with WINE (or borrowing my wife's Windows PC).

[IDS2 3,344]

Great to see you taking the plunge! You've chosen a great place to start as well, and your geometry looks good. Your facade has some depth and texture to it, and it looks really nice. 

[Fargo 542]

Last weekend I remodelled 205 N Michigan from scratch to more accurately reflect the proportions of the real building. I also started experimenting with procedural texturing, including reflective windows. The problem is that the lighting settings in BAT4Blender are not currently optimized for SimCity 4. You can see that the shadows on the far side of the building are way too dark and the light source is level with the horizon. So these textures are completely provisional and will have to be done over when a new lighting rig becomes available.

On 10/26/2024 at 7:01 PM, Girafarig said:

Ooh, finally BATs from macos? Have you got any tutorials to recommend? I might be interested in learning more, but I can't be bothered with WINE (or borrowing my wife's Windows PC).

Blender and BAT4Blender are completely compatible with MacOS, no WINE required. This tutorial was a great place for me to start: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3GeP3YLZn5ixsnIOIx9tB4v6s-rsw48X

On 10/27/2024 at 12:29 AM, IDS2 said:

Great to see you taking the plunge! You've chosen a great place to start as well, and your geometry looks good. Your facade has some depth and texture to it, and it looks really nice. 

Thanks! You will have to let me know what you think of the new model. For the first one I deliberately exagerrated the features on the facade; for the second one I went for more real-world accuracy, but perhaps this is not the best choice.

 

[memo 1,435]

This looks really good already. Great to see the progress.

Regarding the dark shadows, my primitive understanding is that you can tweak it to some extent using the background light settings in the World tab. Though, I'm not sure how well-balanced the result would be.

As for the angle of the light source, it's not parallel to the horizon, but it should be the same as in BAT4Max.

[Bobelboy 435]

Oh oh oh ... These models look very good! I'm excited.

Now concerning the textures: I'm not sure, if either one would be close to the end result. But the first one gives the impression of an empty building because you can look into the windows - and there is nothing there except the floor. But from the photos I saw this would be more accurate for a situtation when the sun is shining directly on the facade. So this would require some kind of solution for the view into the building. Modeling all the furniture might be a bit too much though.

The second one might be the more effcient option. But there the different parts of the facade should be more contoured. Maybe the windows should be a bit more reflective?

[Fargo 542]

I have begun work on the roof and the base. I am foregoing textures at the moment. In any event I have found adequate lighting settings per Jasoncw's suggestions here: https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=17650.140

Regarding the windows, this is the effect I would ultimately like to achieve, so some limited modelling of the interior (window blinds, desks, walls) is the plan.

 

[IDS2 3,344]

Model looks great, nice work! A couple things come to mind:

1. Louvers, like the ones that make up the horizontal band partway up the building, can be tricky to get right. If you attempt to follow real-world dimensions, they will be too narrow to show up in your renders (at least without getting a moiré pattern), so you will need to exaggerate their dimensions. There's a balance there, because if you exaggerate them too much it won't look right either, but I've personally found the sweet spot to be right around 0.2m or slightly less. Additionally, when you make your textures, you can create multiple variations of your cladding material with very slight color deviations and assign them at random to each louver, and this will increase the contrast between them.

2. Modeling blinds is way easier if you have a script to do it for you. I'm not familiar with what's out there for Blender, but I would recommend looking into it because it can save a lot of time. Alternatively, you can just copy your window geometry, move it to the inside face of your windows, when it comes time to do textures, you can just texture blinds onto that. 

Keep up the great work, I love Michigan Plaza

[Fargo 542]

I have modelled the louvers, thank you @IDS2 for the tips, I would say they've produced a fine result. I have spent most of the past week modelling the roof, which has been difficult for lack of hi-res images of it.

 

I found the picture below which has been super helpful for approximating some of the details.

[Fargo 542]

I have commenced work on the next building in the complex, 225 N Michigan.

I have also started another project. Maybe you can tell what it is.

[Bobelboy 435]

I have no idea what the second building could be. But it is a joy to look at your naked models. I almost feel like a filthy voyeur ... 

It is great that you decided to bat the other Michigan Plaza tower too. Looking forward to seeing more progress on all three BATs in the weeks and months to come.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

How has blender been so far? How are render times?

For your lighting rig, right now all sides of the buildings are the same blue color, just different sides are brighter or darker. The sides of the building facing the sun should be a warmer color than the shadow side. Maxis's art direction for the game made sunny sides of buildings pretty colorful, but they used several inconsistent lighting rigs with their buildings, and they mainly controlled their colors through their textures anyway. The Gmax lighting rig we have has a very brown sun. The BAT4Max sun is more peachy colored which is more consistent with the game's color palette, but also still pretty neutral looking imo. I've personally found that most of the time you can use realistic textures from online without changing their colors and they will look good with the BAT4Max rig.

Anyway, you're currently the only BATer who uses Blender, so what you end up doing will make a big impact on BAT4Blender. Sadly Blender is incomprehensible to me, but I'm happy to help in the development of the lighting rig, especially with someone who is proficient with the program.

Also, while I'm posting, you'll need to make a really big plane to represent the ground. Right now your building is this kind of object floating in outer space, but in real life there's light bouncing off of the ground back onto the building. And then the building reflects whatever is on the ground. It's especially important for glass, but it also impacts other materials which aren't as obviously reflective. imo the best way to approximate the in-game environment where the BAT will be, is by using screenshots of the game as the ground plane. The screenshots are ideally of a generic cityscape of buildings. If there are parks or water you'll get big patches of green or blue in the reflections. And the cityscape is ideally Maxis buildings, or BATs that fit into the Maxis color palette, so that you don't have the "wrong" colors getting onto your BAT. And then I personally BAT in the immediate surroundings (paver and road textures) and set them to not be visible to the camera, so that they show up in the reflections but aren't rendered as part of the BAT. It's not perfect but I think it's as good as we can do with pre-rendered graphics. Anyway, if you search around I think you can find the Maxis road and paver textures, but if you can't I can send them to you.

[Barroco Hispano 26,671]

Regarding Blender lighting rig, we need to find a way to update the script to version 4.2 LTS:

 

[Fargo 542]

Update on my latest labor of love. Perhaps it's more apparent what it is now. I promise a quick return to Michigan Plaza.

@Jasoncw I haven't used Bat4Max so I have no reference point for how long a preview render should take. The one above for instance took about 30 seconds. I have max samples at 10 and denoising enabled. With reflective glass textures it would be considerably longer.

Regarding lighting, as Barroco pointed out, Blender 3.6 is a lot more limited than newer versions in what you can do to control the sky, ground, etc. So it's a long way off from producing the same results as Bat4Max. Not to mention you can't do night lights with it yet. I'd like to contribute to the development of Bat4Blender but for the moment it's a bit over my head.

[Fargo 542]

Not me starting five new BATs..

Behold Two First National Plaza (1973), Avondale Center (1980), 200 West Monroe (1973), 230 West Monroe (1971), and 30 North LaSalle (1975). Here I am putting into pratice my thought that SimCity 4 needs more boring, anonymous office towers.

[Bobelboy 435]

Nice to see so many new projects that will hopefully come to life. I have quite a large area in my CBD dedicated to international-style buildings like these and would be happy to see more of that in game. So I can only encourage you to keep up this nice work.

[Fargo 542]

Hey, I think it's starting to look like a proper BAT...

 

I finally figured out how to create a ground plane for the windows to reflect and make it invisible in the render. I have not upgraded to Blender 4.2 yet but as I understand it this won't even be necessary.

There are some really wonderful Youtube tutorials on creating procedural materials in Blender. I have begun working on the Avondale Center as well:

[gutterclub 2,729]

This is great to see the progress on BAT4BLENDER. I'm a B4M guy but know a lot of people can't get hold of Max. Definitely way way better than Gmax here and also room for lighting rig improvements. Good work, nice BATs!

[Fargo 542]

@gutterclub Thanks!

Since there's been some activity on the thread I figured I ought to post some updates. Only progress to report at the moment is on 30 N LaSalle. I can't say I'm particularly excited by the prospect of modelling roof junk.

 

As a bonus, here are two projects I already began last month but didn't share: 33 N Dearborn and 180 N LaSalle

 

[Fargo 542]

I spent a few days last month working out night lights. What I've got is more of a proof of concept that a final product. Still have to add window blinds, vary the interior office surfaces, create the lobby interior, and perhaps add some variation to the color of the lights as well. As always feedback is welcome.

[Fargo 542]

More boxes incoming…

[Fargo 542]

I'm excited to share progress on some more ambitious projects. I've turned my attention to Chicago's po-mo office towers of the 80s and 90s. Geometrically simple yet a bit more alluring than the anonymous boxes.

The first is 311 S Wacker.

I would say it's about 70% complete. I still have to finish modelling the crown, the base, add some missing geometry, tweak the textures, then do the interior and the night scene.

The development was originally meant to be a trio of identical towers. I'd like to do some variants to sit on either side and replicate the original plan.

The next is the Burnett Building.

The Grant Thornton Tower / 161 N Clark is also on my list. As yet no previews to share though. I would also love to eventually do the Thompson Center (left)

You can also expect a return to Michigan Plaza and the Prudential.

As a bonus, here's 125 Wacker.

Stay tuned for more updates.

[nos.17 5,112]

Super cool - thanks for sharing!

[IDS2 3,344]

Really nice stuff! Especially excited to see 311 South Wacker here. That one has been on my wishlist for a very long time! Took a stab at it many, many moons ago but never got anywhere with it. I'm really liking the Burnett Building as well - great attention to detail!

I'd love to see you tackle the Thompson Center. I have a real soft spot for Helmut Jahn's chromatic work from the 80s.

[Urban Vibravant 791]

Loving your work on 311 S Wacker! That is a solid looking building. Stellar job so far.

[Fargo 542]

On 3/16/2025 at 12:35 PM, Urban Vibravant said:

Loving your work on 311 S Wacker! That is a solid looking building. Stellar job so far.

Thank you! I admire your New York BATs so it means a lot.

On 3/16/2025 at 3:08 AM, IDS2 said:

Really nice stuff! Especially excited to see 311 South Wacker here. That one has been on my wishlist for a very long time! Took a stab at it many, many moons ago but never got anywhere with it. I'm really liking the Burnett Building as well - great attention to detail!

I'd love to see you tackle the Thompson Center. I have a real soft spot for Helmut Jahn's chromatic work from the 80s.

Thanks! It's nice to hear feedback from such a prolific creator as yourself. Regarding Thompson Center, it would certainly be an ambitious undertaking, so I'm taking time to hone my skills first.

I've been on something of a BATting binge these past few weeks, so this will be a long post. Here's the latest progress on Burnett…

…a first look at the Thornton Building, a.k.a. Chicago Title and Trust…

…and as promised, further progress on Michigan Plaza.

Now for some good news. I was able to install Windows 10 on my Macbook with Bootcamp, meaning I can finally SC4PIM, the Reader, and the Lot Editor. For the first time I'm able to import my work into the game.

Spoiler

Much work remains to be done on Michigan Plaza. I have yet to make a suitable interior for night lights. I have to model the "bridge" connecting the two buildings as well, plus the entrance. The placement of the blinds is a bit too random. 225 needs roof junk. The textures could all be tweaked. For the plaza, I'd have to decide if I want to make it part of the main model or create props that I export separately and place on the lot. Although I've made custom lots before, I've never modded queries or stats, so I'll have to figure that bit out eventually. The above lot is simply a ploppable landmark.

Regardless, since I've been doing nothing but teasing you with renders for so long, I'd like to offer a demo version for download. I think just attaching it to this post should work?

 

Finally, I want to turn to the bigger picture. I have always wanted to see an American metropolis recreated in SC4, and the uniformity of Chicago's grid happens to lend itself to SC4's limitations. To that end, I'd like to do many more buildings in the Loop, which tend to have a distinctly Chicagoan massing that allows them to fill out downtown's 100x100m blocks. To visualize the extent of this project I've created a map that shows buildings already BATted by other creators using Max (green), ones I have started, i.e. modelled at minimum one face of the exterior (yellow), ones I would like to begin working on next (pink), and projects by other creators that remain incomplete (red).

When I said I had been on a BATting binge, I wasn't kidding! As things stand, I have 57 works in progress. So, expect to see a lot more in the months ahead.

[nos.17 5,112]

Impressive progress, and certainly a very audacious plan! Excited to see the future developments!

On 4/5/2025 at 1:45 PM, Fargo said:

Although I've made custom lots before, I've never modded queries or stats, so I'll have to figure that bit out eventually. The above lot is simply a ploppable landmark.

Fortunately, since you're using PIMX, assigning proper stats is quite simple. Before you create the lot, just assign the building an appropriate Filling Degree. PIMX will assign all of the other values for you (jobs, power, pollution, growth stage, etc.) based on this number.

[Fargo 542]

On 4/13/2025 at 6:56 PM, nos.17 said:

Impressive progress, and certainly a very audacious plan! Excited to see the future developments!

Fortunately, since you're using PIMX, assigning proper stats is quite simple. Before you create the lot, just assign the building an appropriate Filling Degree. PIMX will assign all of the other values for you (jobs, power, pollution, growth stage, etc.) based on this number.

Thanks, this was easier than I thought.

It's been over a month since my last update, during which time I've made progress on multiple fronts, so I've decided it's time to share some renders.

First, small updates on 311 S Wacker, Burnett, and Chicago Title. I have adjusted the exposure settings for my renders, and they are fitting in a lot better with the game now. For the renders below I have scaled the models by 133% on the vertical axis. I realized with 311 Wacker that I made the floors slightly too tall and with the vertical scaling applied, I think it shows.

Here is 1 S Wacker. Once again I have run into a small issue where the real-life dimensions are concerned, this time with the width of the window frames, so I will have to spend some time sorting that out before I make any more progress towards the rest of the model.

I have exported some of my smaller WIPs, all in varying states of completion, into the game to refine the textures, particularly for the roofs. All of my textures are procedural materials made within Blender.

Buildings along Clark Street:

2 North LaSalle:

200-230 West Monroe:

125 South Wacker Drive, AKA Northern Trust Building:

Out of all the roof textures above, I would say I am most partial to 2 LaSalle. It seems to strike the right balance of brightness and pinkish hue. But I would like to hear others' feedback.

[Ct1999 4,198]

Woo! This is really good! Am I crazy? Did you just model every frame and panel of the building? If it is true, I can imagine how much effort you have put in.

[Bobelboy 435]

What a joy to look at this thread and the progress you have made. Especially since I was in Chicago in March. Looking at your post was like a flashback and I see myself running through the Loop again looking at so many great buildings. It is one of the most fascinating places architecturally. Please continue your wonderful work, it is highly appreciated!