SPAs Urbanist BAT Thread

[granto93 4]

yay! spa's back i cant wait to download more of your buildings, Simtropolis needs more atlantic influence!

[bbfan02 23]

Wow, that looks great! That will be a great edition to mid-rise downtowns that I have.

[ky72x 13]

Actually, I downloaded all of your latest releases from the LEX, but that's because I believe in downloading the building from the site where I first saw them being created. Which, in this case, was over at SC4D.

But really, EXCELLENT job on the 5 releases you've uploaded over the past week. I have put three of them to good use already, but the Kingsway Shops and The Lexington still have to make an appearance. I'm sure they will soon, though.

Keep up the amazing work, spa! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.

- Kyle

[spa 968]

Jacqulina: Thanks

Yeah Right: Thanks

Starrdarcy: Thanks. Indeed midrise residential buildings have been largely missed. I may do some more eventually. The roof texture was difficult to get. I think the result was generally acceptable

Granto: Never really left, just saved up a few bats

Bbfan: Thanks.

Kyle: Thanks. I'm glad you've enjoyed my recent 5. I have a little note about my next bat below.

So I have a new project underway. It's from one of the Maritimes larger cities and is a major landmark that only just missed the wrecking ball in the 1980s. The building was saved by a successful grassroots effort. With funds raised from the community, the building was completely restored to its former glory. I'm not too far along and so far I just have the grand entrance done. Take a look below.

Lots more to do yet, but it's a start. This will probaby be a 2x3 w2w when done and is definitely an oldie. As usual a lot of the details I put in have been lost. Below is what it actually looks like in gmax.

A lot of work for just a hint of depth but hey it's kind of fun to do. If anyone has any guesses as to what this one is, feel free to post away. I'll update this one again soon.

[jacqulina 162]

wow thats cool is it a theatre entrance

[DarkEldar 6]

Hello there mr detail! thats a nice amount of quality going on there, can't wait to see how this turns out.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Looks great! And I'm looking forward to the nitelites on this one.

[granto93 4]

thats looking good! what city is it from though? i noticed the great big sea sign and was wondering if its from around here.

[simdad1957 3]

Well SPA, I'm assuming that it must be the Imperial Theatre. I can't imagine any other building in the foggy city by the bay that this could possibly be. Good to see that you are upping the Maritime content by putting "Great Big Sea" on the marquee. I see that you are planning tp make it a 2x3 W2W. I would have thought that the Imperial would have been bigger than that. The Capitol Theatre here in Moncton would be a 2x3 but I think the Imperial would be 3x3.

Great work as always.

[granto93 4]

ah. so im guessing its a Saint John, New Brunswick BAT. oh well, it will still fit fine into my St. John's semi-recreation city. And i agree with simdad, the Great Big Sea is a really nice touch! Everybody who downloads will have a little piece of Newfoundland in their city

looking forward to what ever else you conjure up! You're buildings are one of the main reasons i play the game

[spa 968]

Jacqulina: Thanks

DarkEldar: Indeed. It makes for slow-going now and then, especially when there are angles or any other kind of odd-shape involved.

Jason: Thanks. I'll have to do something to light up the marquee

Granto: Sorry, just a ' and s away this time I do have a pile of photos from St. John's from when I was there back in September. I'll try and make something from the city in the next few months. Great Big Sea made it onto the marquee because they're my favourite band. The first date that my girl and I went on was to a Great Big Sea concert at the Saddledome out in Calgary. I'm keeping an eye on their website in hopes they'll be playing within driving distance of Halifax sometime this year.

Simdad: I replied to your comment in more detail over at Devotion You were right about the dimensions, this one will definitely be a 3x3. I don't know what I was thinking when I said 2x3. It might not be quite a w2w though but it'll be at least pretty snug.

So just to clue in everyone who isn't from Atlantic Canada and may not know the Imperial Theatre off hand, below is a photo I took this past summer of the real thing.

I probably won't get around to doing much in the next few days due to school committments. Based on Simdad's comment though, I did go back into gmax to double check my estimates on the size and I have to say I don't know what I was thinking. This one would never fit on a 2x3. However, I suspect it won't be completely w2w. There is likely going to be 3 pavement tiles on either side because the dimensions of the front area just don't break up naturally into increments of 16. On the plus side, I can include the building's overexagerated upper lip as is since there will be surplus space for it to overhang

[DarkEldar 6]

You are quite accurate with the scale of this building. It's also going to be a higher poly count than most of your buildings, which is a bad thing for gmax

[Jasoncw 11,840]

You can scale it to make it fill the lot. It would only be a few %s, and wouldn't be noticeable. 3 tiles on each side seems like too much to be good.

[rjalh 0]

Your work is great . . . thanks so much for it.  I've downloaded everything but the banks.

As far as Canadian businesses go, I suggest Paul's Motor Inn from Victoria.  It's a great little place -- a wonderful deal of a time warp.  Here is the web site:  http://www.paulsmotorinn.com/photogallery.htm, but the pictures don't do it justice;  they make it look like any other hotel.  The place is charming, though . . . like a trip back to the early 60's.  It would be a CS $ or $$.  The restaurant in front is splendidly Ho Jo-ish.  Better pictures are from the traveler's pics on tripadvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g154945-d226288-Paul_s_Motor_Inn-Victoria_Vancouver_Island_British_Columbia.html#17101315

It's one of the best values in Canada.  That should get it something.

[spa 968]

DarkEldar: After the Lexington I laugh in the face of polygon counts

Jason: I might do that. I'll have to see how it goes but I don't want to push this one too much because it has such a nice division between the three front elements. Besides, the real thing's not w2w so it wouldn't be the worst thing ever to have a little tiny space.

Rjalh:  Interesting. I have only been to Victoria once and that was before I really started batting. I only do buildings that I see but if I'm out there again at some point I'll look for it.

So nothing new on the bat front. School has been too much of a time sink lately. Still I have one bit of news, or should I say I made the news. Today's Halifax Metro, a free daily here in Halifax, featured me on the front page and in the entertainment section. Check it out:

Front:

Inside page:

Kind of fun

[Godzillaman 21]

Ha, Sim city making the news! Custom content forever!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Great!!  Got an entire page, plus the front page!  The article turned out good too!  Very exciting! 

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Wow, that's awesome! Huge congrats on it, your bats are great

[Sim shady 12]

OMG! Awesome job man. Its great to see a BATer get some due recognition for their effort

CONGRATZ!!!

[Sim shady 12]

page flip...

[spa 968]

Gozillaman: Indeed.
Jason: Thanks. It was rather nice to get on the front. I had kind of figured that it would be a small article somewhere deep inside the paper. A nice surprise.
Ilikehotdogs: Thanks. I'm glad you like them.
SimShady: Thanks.

So school sucks right now. It's that last real push and my time is in short supply. Those kind of conditions, for me, aren't the ones to take on anything too substantial so the Imperial is kind of on the backburner right now. I'll definitely come back to it. For now though I have been slowly picking away at a Toronto building, the Pier 1 Imports on Yonge Street. Below is a photo of the real building:

And my version:

As you can see my version isn't a corner building. The real thing is but it's such an after thought that it seemed silly to replicate. There is still lots to do. Obviously the roof and windows aren't textured and the night lighting isn't done (looking forward to putting some tips from JB to good use there!). There is more detail on the window frames then is showing through that should show up when the glass is done. I also need to adjust the stone texture at the very top. It simply doesn't work especially on the side that faces up. I'm thinking I might bat a metal cover for the top stones since it's something that is frequently done in real life to protect vulnerable surfaces from weathering and encase drainage. I might also darken the garage door just a shade or two as well. Anyway, this one shouldn't take a lot more, but it'll no doubt be a while since my time is in such short supply until May.

[Howling 10]

Wow that too will look beautiful ingame. I use many (if not all) of your lots in my MD. They just work perfectly with the year i'm in (1890) and the whole feel that I wanted. If you hadn't been around making those lots I doubt anyone would have.

Keep up the great work!

[spa 968]

Well there is a lot of dust to blow off around here. I guess should start with a reply to Howling.

 

Howling: Thanks. I checked out your mayor journal earlier and it's really well done. You've got a great eye for detail. It's a slow paced journal, but the wait between updates is worth it

So I'm back in Halifax and starting to settle into my new routine. Schools is now completely done. My thesis defence went fine and I passed everything at Dal so I have two master degrees coming my way in the next month and a half. Pretty sweet. It's really nice to just have to worry about work and have my off hours actually free. Things are looking very promising at the government and it looks like there is a very good chance I'll be signing some paperwork this week that'll have me on full-time. I’m quite happy about that since I like my job

and I do need to start paying down my student debt

The vacation was great as well (things are really going well really). For anyone who hasn't been to San Francisco it’s definitely worth visiting. It's an amazing city. Five days was pretty much perfect. Not too much time but enough to really explore. We ended up cancelling our car rental because there was so much to do in the city. I’ll probably eventually post pictures over on Devotion (they have a dedicated forum). The quick highlights, besides just walking around, was the Aquarium of the Bay, the San Fran Zoo, the Japanese Tea Garden, China Town, Telegraph Hill, Yerba Buena Park and the San Fran Museum of Modern Art. I found Alcatraz overrated (the audio tour, however, is really good) and the De Young Gallery the most pretentious place I have ever been. Oh and on food, we had lunch one day at the Ferry Building and to my ruined northern palette grapes never tasted so good. Who would have thought packing them up and putting them on a truck for hours would make so much difference It was a really great trip. One thing I noticed was how polarized the city was. We stumbled into a sketchy neighbourhood and every single face on the street was black. Some of the scams that were being tried on tourists were also way more sophisticated then the "spare some change" request that is the norm in Canadian cities. People though were generally pretty friendly. I was surprised to exchange minor chitchat (almost all of it innocent) with so many strangers in such a large city. Just for kicks here a photo of Michelle and I up by the Legion of Honour with everyone's favourite San Fran landmark in the background.

Needless to say, at some point, there will likely be a few San Fran bats

[asturianu 4]

Sam! How are you, my friend? Well, I am glad you are back and very happy to see that you came with new BATs ideas from Calgary! Those are amazing ones, will fit very well in Canadian downtowns.

The last ones were amazing too, I am planning to use all them, and those new ones too. Some variety and realism is always needed

WEll, see ya, Sam, take care.

Cristian

[ngeeves 5]

Im looking forward to this one. Keep up the good work!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I'm glad to hear that real life is going well for you.  Your trip sounded like a lot of fun.

The new buildings are looking great too.  I like the choice of buildings that you've been modeling lately.

[spa 968]

Cristian: Thanks Cristian. It's good to see you around again. As always I look forward to seeing my bats at work in your cities. You always give them a suitable home

Ngeeves: Thanks

Jasoncw: Thanks Jason. It really was a lot of fun. Things are just kind of humming along right now. It's so good to not be a student anymore. After 9 years it starts to wear on you

So nothing much new to report. It has been a bit of a grey day in Halifax... but that means perfect weather for picture taking so after work I took the camera out on Barrington Street to snap some more photo for future projects. Nothing to show yet of course. I did, however, get Pier 1 done last night. Check it out below.

It didn't turn out too bad. I'm not completely happy with the windows on the sides, but at this point I'm pretty much done tinkering with them. I'll probably tinker with something else this evening.

[jacqulina 162]

these are very good

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Mmmmmm, nothing like good ol' town architecture! The only thing that looks off to me is the color/texture on the front of wall around the roof, its not bad, but the front view looks washed out. Its like there is nothing to brake up the grays/tans. Its nothing major, just a small aesthetic quirk that catches my eye. Otherwise, I LOVE this building and the others ones you have coming along.

[granto93 4]

wow! you made the front page of a newspaper .....about two months ago.

sorry i havent been around to see your work in a while. everything is looking amazing as usual and by the looks of it your personal life is taking a step up as well. Congratulations on everything you've achieved in university etc and i wish you the best. Ill still be here to loyally download your BATs as always