SPAs Urbanist BAT Thread

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: spa

TWrecks: Thanks for posting the picture of my buildings in your city. I always get a kick out of seeing them in use quote>

So do I when they pop up, believe me. So do I. 

I might have another photo - your Wright Building totally dominating a diagonal intersection in one of my boring little villages.  I gotta check if it's worth a photo, though.

Originally posted by: spa

I actually had thought about how my new residentials would look with Cycledoggs (I use his stuff a lot!). Unfortunately, this is where questions of scale get a little awkward. I try and keep my buildings in line with what Maxis made, but of course that leaves a lot of latitude. I find with residentials, batters often stick to the 5m floor rule which tends to make them too big. 5m works great for commercial buildings, but less so for residentials. Cycledogg's stuff doesn't suffer from scale problems, so the Boxes will fit alongside. However, I did make the Boxes at a slightly bigger scale and if you look closely it shows. Check out the mock up I made from your photo below.

[PICTURE]

I think they'll fit together alright, just not perfectly.quote>

I see what you mean. Yes, I agree. If you really focus on scale and take a close look at them, you will notice they are a bit different. However, I guess on a larger scale (no pun intended) and during normal gameplay, it should be perfectly ok.

[_Atticus 10]

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

[danielcote 9]

Wow its been a while. I like theway its coming along! keep it up.

[allez l'om 1]

it looks pretty!!! looking forward the next !!

[spa 970]

Todd: Thanks. Indeed rendering them all isn't something I'm looking forward too. At least they're small though so it shouldn't take too long for each one to finish. The green door certainly provoked its fair share of comments, both here and at the other sites. I'm planning on leaving it since a lot of people seemed to react to it with "people down the street from me painted their ____ this horrible colour." 1 of 28 should mean it won't be everywhere! Depending how it looks in game, I might ease it off just a shade or two though
Madhatter: Thanks and I agree with you. It's the little touches that end up adding a lot of time to batting and seem so insignificant, but they're what really makes things come alive. Your own work is full of that too.  All your recent nimby sets have a wealth of little details (I'm using almost all of them). Ahh the green door, I might ease it just a shade or two. There is always that one house though that does something off the wall. In an old flat I use to live in, I actually would direct people by saying it's the one with the blue door because my front door was a very bright unapologetic blue.
Jacqulina: Thanks
Aaron: Thanks
Delecto: Thanks. I'm hoping to have these ready for early in the New Year 
Nofunk: I was up there on business. I work in the real property section for the federal government (Public Works) and I was up there on a site visit. I'm still planning on eventually posting some photos.
Evillions: Thanks.
Twrecks: My thoughts exactly. They should blend in fairly well with cycledogg's stuff even though the scale is slightly different.
Ravens: Thanks.
Daniel: Yes, time does slip by awfully quickly these days.
Allez l'om: Thanks

Nothing new to report on the Halifax Boxes in this update. I have been up in the country house sitting for my parents for the last week and a half. That always means more time to bat because other distractions aren't around up there (slow internet and no civ4). The Boxes were on my own computer though so I started something new. I have a model for another old residential building almost done, Victoria Hall in Halifax. Below is a picture I took of the real thing.

Victoria Hall is a retirement residence for women. It is located on Gottingen Street in the North End and is run by a non-profit foundation whose mandate is to provide affordable rents. The building was designed by Henry Frederick Busch, a well-known Halifax architecture from the late 19th century. The building was finished in 1885 and it has been well maintained over the years. It still has that timeless style that is characteristic of a lot of Victorian architecture. It's kind of tough to see in my photo because of the sun's glare, but it has beautiful red wooden siding.

Anyway, here's my version.


Obviously I haven't done the foundation level and steps. I also still have to add a few chimnies on the roof and there is a small entrance that extends out from the addition on the back that I still need to make. Other than that though, the modelling is basically done. The one thing I'm wondering about is whether I might have made the windows a touch too big. As you can see from the real life photo, the real thing has really big windows, but I'm wondering if I might have taken it just a little too far. I'm not really worried about the front view because the front entrance is so grand it looks fine, but on the back the windows seem kind of big compared to the doors.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I am  Loving your work. Keep it up.

[Amthaak 1,501]

Beautifull Bat! For the windows "too big", I didn't notice it untill I read yr comment, I agree with you specialy for the ground floor, the windows seem too low, maybe it's come from the fact that you didn't make the basement! I think it will not look so evident with the base...!

[Jasoncw 11,933]

It's looking great, there are a lot of lovely details here.

The windows don't seem too big to me.

[spa 970]

Aaron: Thanks

Amthaak: Yeah that might do it. I still have to make the foundation and it'll be somewhat significant (1/2 a story) since the real thing is up above the ground with enough space for basement windows at grade... at least on the front. On the back of the real building, because it's built into a hill, the first floor is actually almost level with the ground.

Jason: Thanks. It seems my worry about the windows was misplaced given the reaction on all the forums

Well I hope everyone has had a good holiday break (those of us that got one anyway). My time off is sadly ticking down now. I have to go back to work on Tuesday which seems all too soon from a Saturday perspective! I didn't do as much batting as I thought I would over the holidays, mainly because I ended up at my folks place for longer than expected, but I did make some significant progress on the Halifax Boxes. The two window versions are now half done making me 2/3rds of the way through my planned set. You can check out the newest 7 below.

Not a whole lot to say about them. They're basically the same as the others with the usual variation of colours, entranceways and backs. I'm glad to be finishing them up as I'm starting to get tired of patios Hopefully, at this rate, I'll be into rendering them towards the end of January.

I just wanted to also thank everyone who has followed my thread over this past year and offered encouragement and feedback and to whoever wrote me in for that custom trixie with such kind words. Thank you very much!

[Simbourgeois 139]

Great work on these! And I just can't wait for the Victoria Hall; I really, really like that building!

Haven't been posting here a lot, but I must say that I'm a big fan of your buildings, particularly, the Empire Theatre - one of the greatest buildings on STEX!!! 

Keep up the great work and have a great and happy New Year!!!

Yours sincerely,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[nofunk 1,933]

LOVE the variation on the backs of these! The decks and additions add a ton of character.

Congratulations on your Trixie!

[_Atticus 10]

These look great Spa! Great job

-Pingangster

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Loving the rowhouses. I like the colour variations and how they all fit into the same style. I'll need to use these as a measuring stick the next time my buildings get too saturated.

[Gn_leugim 858]

just gorgeous

[josefmayor 8]

Love it spa, can't wait to become more active again, I've been downloading all your releases as they come out!

Keep it up man

[Wrightguy0 40]

Ever think about doing the Dominion Public Building, it's one of the coolest building in Halifax, IMO

[spa 970]

Not only dust but cobwebs collecting in here too. Time slipped by on me. I guess some very overdue replies first.

Simbourgeois: Thanks. I was actually tinkering with Victoria Hall the other day. I'm glad you like my theatre, it's one of my favourites too 

Nofunk: Thanks.

Pingangster: Thanks

Edmonton: They're definitely a rainbow! 

Gn: Thanks.

Josef: Hey good to see you around again, even if it was just for the holidays. Hopefully I'll have buildings to release in March since I'm starting to finish things up.

Wrightguy: I actually ever! I work in the Dominion Public Building so I'm there 5 days a week and have a good perspective on it. It really is a beauty and they did a great job restoring the tower. A rare piece of Art Deco in the Maritimes and Halifax's original "skyscrapper." When I'm done with this batch of residentials I'm toying with a coupe of ideas for the next 7. One of them is a set of Government of Canada buildings from around Atlantic Canada which would include the Dominion Public Building along with two you would know well, the Saint John Customs Building and the Saint John Postal Station A No promises though as I'm also feeling like another set of old 1x2 commercials (Barrington Street), a set of old residential mansions (Young Avenue) or even a set of contemporary residential midrises may also be possible. It'll be a month or so before I finish up my current projects so we'll see how I feel then.

So I have been absent for a while here. Haven't had much time to bat lately. I have actually been playing Sim City for a change and I have been into a new fitness regime since the New Year began. Hitting the gym after work and then coming home and making dinner leaves only a few hours free in any given day. Anyway, I have made slow, but steady progress and I'm pleased to report that the huge Halifax Boxes set is done... at least the modelling and texturing part! Below is how the two window versions turned out:

Still a few things that I'll be tweaking with a few of the models. Nothing major though. There are 14 two window versions and 14 three window versions. I'm not the best at math, but by my calculations that means there are a possible 378 unique combinations since I will set them up so that every box can be paired with any of 27 others. This ended up being a much more ambitious project than I thought it would be when I started out! Anyway, now I'm going to have to get with rendering 28 different little houses.

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: spa

 Anyway, now I'm going to have to get with rendering 28 different little houses.quote>

...and meanwhile, I'm running out of superlatives. 

[Wrightguy0 40]

by the Saint John Custom's building, do you mean the old one that was demolished, or the 50's one they put in it's place, i say go for it! we could always use more of these old government buildings

[Simaddict1000 1]

pretty much awesome

however the building from the left..... the chimney in the middle of the roof looks realy odd

also the 8th from the left the wooden thing looks too saturated to fit in with the pastel color theme you have going on

[spa 970]

Twrecks: haha you might want to skip this next update then, since I have them "done" and in game.

Wrightguy: I have seen pictures of the old Customs Building, shame to have lost it, especially given the ugly office box they built to replace it! I was actually thinking though of making the current version. There is a niche in Sim City for ugly 1950s government buildings I'm actually going to be in Saint John next week. Planning on walking Douglas Avenue and some of the streets in the East End of the Peninsula to get some good photos of some of the city's old residential buildings.

Simaddict1000: Thanks. About the chimnies in the middle of the roof. Most of them are centred, however, in the real world not every single chimney sits centre in a roof. Often they do, but it's not a given so I tried to reflect that with my houses. Check out the photos below, you'll see most are centred along the top of the roof, but not all. I actually like the effect. Breaks up the monotony and is more realistic. I did, however, take your advice regarding the deck on that one house, I desaturated it, by several shades.

So the Halifax Boxes are now done! I have rendered them, put them into a prop family and dropped them on lots in game. I made several different lots, 1x2, 2x2, 2x2 corners, 3x2 and 4x2. They use my usual favourites for lotmaking, cycledogg's trees and base textures. One thing I had to sacrifice to set these up with the varied backs is I couldn't fence the yards. The fencing didn't line up since the houses stopped at various depths in the backyards leaving fences short with some and half inside the houses on others. They looked bad. So no one gets a private backyard with these I'm afraid. I'll just assume they're all located on Halifax's Lawrence Street where a streatch of neighbours got together and tore down all their fences to make one long communal backyard  On the whole, I think it's a small trade off for the amount of variation. Here's how they turned out.

The 1x2 and 2x2 corners. The dimensions of the corners worked just right to make a dense setup since I was able to squeeze an extra house on the corner side. Makes them fit pretty well.

Besides the 1x2s and 2x2 corners, I also made a few 3x2s and 4x2s. I gave the 3x2s and 4x2s a typical Halifax feel: narrow driveways. A lot of buildings in Halifax's old residential neighbourhoods were built wall-to-wall with one or two neighbouring houses. There are frequent narrow gaps between groups of properties. Some of these gaps are too narrow to be of any use, except to make firefighting easier, but the wider openings have typically been turned into ridiculously narrow driveways that I'm sure are a challenge to get in and out of in terms of visibility. My 1x2s are w2w so you'll be able to build great swathes of them right next to each other, but the 3x2s and 4x2s have narrow driveways that reflect Halifax's historic patterns.

From zoomed out, the lot of them make a very colour splash on the landscape!

And finally at night.

I like how the red one (4th from left) shows up at night with the window frames. Nothing to spectacular with the night lighting since these are, after all, just houses.

Anyway, with these done I'll be looking to finish up Victoria Hall and get a start on my new apartment building. I'll be on the road this week on business so I'll probably do a fair bit of batting (I always bat in the evenings when I'm travelling). Hopefully I'll have the batch of 7 residentials ready to upload soon. Sometime in April from the looks of things.

[spa 970]

page flip bug

[spa 970]

double page flip!

[Wrightguy0 40]

Orange Street is a must, as well as germain and prince william, princess too, and even king are all good streets queen square if you feel up to it, and take a drive along manawagonish over west there, lots of great homes, try to chec out Mt. Pleasant just south of rockwood park and if you really want to see something nice, historic rothesay is always good to look at.

speaking of 50's and 60's; brunswick house is the best example of an international style office tower in atlantic canada

these are all looking so great, i like seeing atlantic canada brought to the stex

[_Atticus 10]

Beautiful!

[T Wrecks 10,209]

Originally posted by: pingangster

Beautiful!quote>

Indeed. 

These are medium-wealth, right? That should be perfect - now I have Cycledogg's 19th century stuff for low-wealth rowhouses, and soon I'll be able to use your Halifax boxes for medium-wealth rowhouses. This is so cool! 

[Jasoncw 11,933]

They turned out great!

You could probably re export the offending buildings with tighter LODs for the fence problem.

[c-doodlez-man 16]

very good work. i just went through the entire thread and loved all of it.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I love the work you have put on these homes, but when are you going to put these houses on the EX because im tired of waiting????

[Roger51 381]

Those look wonderful spa! Hope to see them soon