SPAs Urbanist BAT Thread

[spa 970]

Scotiabank is now ready to go too barring any last minute suggestions.

Just for fun, I'll show you guys some pics I took with the girlfriend's digital camera today of the roofs across the street from me that I'm basing my roof junk on.

In this photo you can see those trusty York HVACs. These are the ones I based the HVACs on the TD on. I'll probably eventually do the square York HVACs as well for one of my other bank branches.

The HVAC on my Scotiabank is based on these greyish ones.

Finally, the round air downblaster that I have two of on the Scotiabank loosely comes from the one on the back of this building.

So that's where things are, expect CIBC, BMO or the Royal to join the collection tomorrow. Things will probably speed up as I get more variety (I'm keeping everything in a roof junk file so that I can just merge in what I need). As always comments are welcome.

[spa 970]

darn it! Accidental double post.

[Kwakelaar 92]

It is a great bat with good details in every aspect, the roofjunk that you have made is the finishing touch.

[spa 970]

Just a small update. It was another day and another bank complete. Today I wrapped up the Royal. To do so I made yet another HVAC version. Only the Bank of Montreal and CIBC to complete now. I have two more pieces of roof equipment that I want to model, but besides that it should be a simple task of just importing in what I want to use. Anyway, below is the pic of the finished Royal.

[tag_one 133]

looks very great, I love the textures althought the rooftextures are a bit tily

[spa 970]

Tag_One: Thanks for the feedback. I'll take it into consideration on my next bunch of BATs. I make roof textures by mixing layers. Sometimes it doesn't do as good a job of randomizing as I would like. Not a single roof texture is actually tiled though.

Anyway, today is release day. You can now download any of my five bank branches. They're all Cs$$ and they come with ploppables and growables. Below are some finished pictures of the five of them plopped on Main Street.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Wow, they are all gorgeous! Time to get out the DROOLPROOF ™ keyboard protection film again...

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Argh, NOOO! Triple post, holy cow. I hate my I-net connection.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

*grrrr*

[Jasoncw 11,941]

From my experiences in Windsor, those buildings are very canadian.

I think the shingles and the top decoration on the one building turned out really nice.

Poor T Wrecks....    Simtropolis 5.0 is unkind to him.

[spa 970]

hehe. It does seem that Simtropolis 5 has it out for you T wrecks! Jasoncw, the Scotiabank is my favourite too. It turned out well and is probably my best. It definitely took the most in geometry know how to pull off! Anyway, thanks for the kind words guys. I'm just glad to share. With my first release done I can see how BAT becomes addictive since I'm now itching to start something new. I have another set in mind that'll post once I have something done.

[mackeast 0]

Dude, these banks look awesome! Truly some Canadian icons...I must go download these now so I can use them in my region. I also want to eventually recreate my home city, so these would be essential!

By the way, thanks for the comment on ym CJ. I am looking forward to showing these off in it.

[spa 970]

Mackeast, I'm glad you like them. I have some more Canadian BATs in the works, including one surprise upload for either tonight or tomorrow so stay tuned.

[sparkythepenguin 90]

The little bank branches are just what any city needs! There are really too few on the STEX, thanks Spa! Any plans for department stores? I always chuckle when I hear of "The Brick". Funny name for a department store. I thought it was a home improvement splace when I first heard of it in BC. The Bay is a really nice store. At least the West Edmonton Mall one is.

[spa 970]

Thanks Sparky. I'm glad you like them. I think that we generally have too few small commercial buildings so that's what I'm working on. I probably won't make anything above midrises anytime soon. I don't have any immediate plans to make a Brick largely because all the ones I have seen are ugly, ugly buildings. I do have plans for a Hudsons Bay store though. The Bay doesn't have any nice locations in Halifax, but the one in downtown Calgary on Stephen Avenue is quite beautiful. Check out the picture below.

I haven't done anything yet and I don't know when I'll start it, but I'm going to eventually make an attempt. I might fail because of the buildings large size and high level of architectural detail (I might get weighed down by excessive polygon counts). If I'm successful, this will obviously be a near top stage Cs building. I'll post when I start, whenever that is (I have another few buildings I'm also itching to get going so it might be a while before I have a post about this one).

[Kwakelaar 92]

That would be a great building for the game, and a biiig step up from your bankbuildings (in size that is).

[spa 970]

Well the Bay might not be started, but my surprise upload is now on the STEX. So without further adieu I give you Corner Gas:

Corner Gas is a hugely successful TV show in Canada and this is a model of the set. This was the first BAT I ever tried and I spent a lot of time on it learning what to do and what not to. I decided a few days ago to revisit it and jazz it up for a release. That meant more detail and new textures but she's now done. 

I tried a few things on this BAT as far as extra detail is concerned when I came back to touch it up. Most of it doesn't really show though in game, which is too bad. So just for fun and to show a delimma in batting, I'll showcase some of that detail that's on this BAT that is barely detectable.

This first photo shows the ice box and the air pump, both of which lose much of their detail. You can see them on the Bat between the garage door and the store.

This next photo shows the gas pumps, which aren't perfect dimension wise but aren't bad, complete with no smoking signs. Note the untextured front door which I put on there before I knew enough about batting to realize it wouldn't be visible below the roof.

Stuff over the Ruby patio actually showed up quite well all and all. All the time I put into making those chairs and table seems to have been rewarded. The light fixtures show up fairly well too as does the Ruby Sign. However, the non-text part of the Ruby sign comes out as one shape in the render. There was half an hour shot.

Finally, the kitchen staff at the Ruby Cafe need a place to duck out for a cigarette break away from paying customers. So I placed this bucket full of sand at the Ruby's backdoor. It's actually pretty visible, but the cigarettes in sand got lost in the render which means the purpose of the bucket gets lost.

So I don't know if all this attention to detail was really worth it or not. On one hand, it's hardly noticeable (someone would have to be looking quite carefully to catch any of it), but, on the other hand, it does set a tone and, even if it's nearly invisible, it still lends a hint of detail to the BAT. It's an interesting line that batters have to walk in deciding what detail to include and what to leave out. I'm still learning clearly since this BAT was a mix of success and failure on that front.

[Weird 0]

Awesome addition. Looks great!

[vester_DK 477]

Looks really good, but the yellow roof, is a bit to bright and solid.

[mackeast 0]

Holy crap dude, your attention to detail is awesome! Wonderful building! I cant wait to see you handle a mid-rise building like The Bay - that will look great! Have you seen the Bay in downtown Vancouver? It is quite impressive as well.

[Pipes 0]

I absolutly love your bans man, and the coner gas is sweet too. Since you too are also an canadian you must be able to appreciate a good cup of coffee, that's why I would like to request you think about batting an Tim Horton's coffee stop. It is of the essental canadian commerce, mabie even more important then the bay (HBC). again I love your work dude, keep it up

[spa 970]

Thanks everyone. A few replies to specific questions:

Kilkenny: I'm glad you like my work. I have never been to Vancouver so I'm not familiar with that city's Bay store. If it's anything like the Calgary one that I'm going to eventually attempt, it would be a real challenge.

Vester: I wondered about the roof texture. There is actually some detail on it since I put a layer of rust underneath the colour to bring out some random discolouration and if you look closely you can see it. If this weren't a recreation of the BAT from the show Corner Gas then I would probably go with a less in your face yellow but the building on the show really does have a strong light yellow for the gas station's roof. Thanks for the feedback.

Pipes: Indeed Tim Hortons is a must. However, the STEX already has one. If you search for Tim Hortons it'll be the first thing that pops up. Eventually I'll introduce some competition for it as the Perks on Quinpool Road in Halifax is on my agenda as is the Second Cup in Calgary's Sunnyside neighbourhood. Again I don't know percisely when I'll get to them but I have the photos so eventually.

[spa 970]

Well with Corner Gas and the banks complete I have almost cleared my vault. Only the Ardmore Tea Room remains. I'm not working on it right now though and instead I have started something new. The weather has turned nice here in Calgary so I have been out taking pictures of lots of commercial buildings in the city's Kensington and Stephen Avenue areas. Next overcast day I'll be out again down on 17th (aka the Red Mile) for some more. My new project comes from some of my recently taken photos. The building I'm current working on is pictured below:

This building is on Kensington Road in Calgary and is kind of neat because of the related business that are operating in it. The place boasts a great wine shop as its anchor tennent, but it also has a cheese shop, a bakery and a delicatessen. Unrelated to theme, the place also has a craft store, a mexican/pizza place and a hair salon. This is streetside service. Funnily enough, there is an almost identical building only a block away that is also on a corner. The only difference is that it has square decorations on the top and different store front overhangs. Besides that it is identical in its dimensions and style. I figure some developer didn't want to pay to make another plan so they just copied the one they already had. Anyway, below is what I have come up with so far.

As you can see I'm taking some liberties as usual (with the exception of my Corner Gas BAT none of my projects have aimed at being exact replicas). I'm planning on making the BAT a two or three story building so that it doesn't look so flat and long with access to the office space above coming from the back. It'll be a 3X4 corner lot that will fit snugly against buildings that grow next to it. Now one thing I'm not so sure about right now is how I'm going to setup the upper stories. What I mean is where those decroative arches should go. I'm leaning on keeping the wall facade fairly consistent all the way up and putting the arches at the top, but I could also put theme above the store front and set the walls of the upper stories back a little from the edge. I'm not sure which would look nicer. I'll have to play around with it. As always sugestions and comments are welcome.

Oh and one bit of news, I was accepted into an MA program in urban planning for the Fall! Hooray career prospects.

[jt_144_2004 0]

Very unique...best of luck with this one

[Pipes 0]

Wow man, that is super great, an masters brings forward so much to the table, things seem to be really clicking for you. you go dude.

[Nexis 1]

wow looks promising.

[mackeast 0]

oh my goodness! This building is gonna be awesome!! Your Bat ideas are so original, spa! I love it!! cant wait to download this puppy!

[spa 970]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and comments. It's nice to hear feedback from the community, especially on new projects. Anyway, I have done a little bit of work since my last update. I put the top floors on it, the decorative arches and some wall textures. Still lots to do. I need to figure out what I'm going to do for an office entrance off the back and put on the small details. Still things are moving along. I'll update again once I have some more progress to show.

[Eagle Scream 0]

Thanks for the Royal Bank.  Here it is in one of my cities:

[Spike345 20]

Very Nice Plaza Spa, Do you think this will be a wall to wall building? I really hope so...we lack them.