SPAs Urbanist BAT Thread

[edmonton_stinks 5]

The Halifax boxes look great; I agree that they should be R$$. I think they'd work especially well as either W2W's or semi-detatched.

[Gn_leugim 858]

hummm.. the Halifax Regional Council looks a nice building for BATing

the little row houses look good as well

[allez l'om 1]

I like this corner house you started!!! Halifax boxes are still great too!!!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

A house of ill repute?!? I like it already! Is that an all wood structure, if so that's a pretty cool old building. Shame something so hideous has to go up in its place, looks like a bad trip meets sketchup. I would love to see a R$, but there isn't much that fits the style for that wealth so R$$ seems more appropriate.

And the Halifax boxes are looking delicious... (dose that even make sense?!?) Seems like you have a fun little collection of projects for now. Best of luck,

-Todd

[nofunk 1,933]

Originally posted by: spa

Excuse the sparse roofs, I still have to do the roof junk on all three. It won't be anything much though, a chimney here a vent there. Small little houses like this really shouldn't have a complicated roof!

quote>

You're not excused! I want to see duct work and HVACs on those roofs!

Just kidding! The Halifax boxes are wonderful! Can't wait to see all the variations in my cities.

And I have to agree with SimHoTToDDy on the proposed new development of that site. I hope those red balconies are just conceptual; otherwise it's going to look ridiculous. Also, I don't even want to get started on the hideous melding of architectural styles. Eclectic is not always good.

[Odainsaker 2,135]

Awww, the older Victoria Hotel has such regional character and approachable human scale, let alone historical charm.  Wrap around porches are becoming such a rare novelty in some places, and few modern buildings today seem to be able to successfully emulate them.  Too bad negligent maintenance far after the building's expected lifespan is often the death of these old gems.  Sometimes even deliberate maintenance undermining on the part of owners in order to undercut preservation and expedite renewal.  Can't say the new buildng proposal, whose styling suggests Anywhere, N. Amer., is an improvement beyond shinier construction and more potential rental profits.  Mini balconies on towers are overrated--uncomfortably exposed and more often selling points for units rather than useful people places to hang out--but wrap around porces and bay windows always look comfortable and inviting.

[Wrightguy0 40]

Spa, methinks thou shalt huggeth me for this. http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/transition/english/index.asp, now it's all about Saint John, but there are some fantastic buildings in here.

[spa 970]

Wow long time since I posted anything. Let's clean up the replies before I get into explanations

Francis: Thanks

Mightygoose: Maybe I will one day. It does look like it's going to get built so I might end up with something I can take photos of for texturing purposes in the next 2 years.

Danielcote: Yeah it is. This one was let go 30 years ago before Hollis Street gentrified. The people who bought it 5 years ago, unfortunately, just weren't interested in saving it.

Edmonton: R$$ seems right to me too. Maybe I'll do some trashed up ones for R$. I'm actually thinking that they could be both w2w and semi-detached because on each lot there will be one building and the second one will be a prop if all works out. So it should be really easy to do lots of w2w and lots of semi-detached.

Gn: Thanks.

Allez: Thanks

Simhottoddy: I don't think it actually is all wood, but it's tough to say. The one exposed wall on the south side is concrete, but it could just be a firewall. Given the age of the structure, I have to guess that it's substantially wood (were they building with concrete in the 1800s?).

Nofunk: Oh the red balconies are in, at least at this early stage. They're going to be red glass and are drawing very polarized reactions. It's going to be one of those things that'll either look really neat or fail miserably. It definitely is a melding of styles. You'll probably be amused to note that they've also proposed a green wall around back It's definitely not a great proposal, but it's not the worst thing that could happen either. There is some density, it at least tries to relate to the corner and it's not a blank box. Still, it does have that out of control sketchup project feel to it too.

Odainsaker: I agree completely with everything in your post. I think there has been a fair bit of negligent maintenance to later justify demolition in Halifax over the years. It's unfortunately not a unique approach from what I gather. A full attack on a building is too politically dangerous, but if you let it fall down for a decade while collecting rent and paying very little in expenses, then you can smash away. Those balconies are a definite sales pitch and probably won't see much use whereas the current wraparound porch, despite being a bit hazardous due to poor maintenance, tends to always have someone on it.

Wrightguy: Thanks for the link. I have bookmarked it to consult when I start my next Saint John building.

Well it has been a while since I posted. I have been caught by the real life virsus. First up, at the start of May I went to Cuba for a week with my fiance. It was a really great trip. I had never done the all inclusive resort thing before and was worried that I would get bored, but it's amazing the way doing nothing can eat up so much time. I'll post a few pictures to give a flavour.

We stayed in Sol y Luna Mares (North of Hologuin). Our room was awesome. We had an ocean view on the third floor of a quiet section of the hotel. With such a nice setting, we made good use of the balcony (I read 4 books in a week as opposed to the 1 a month I tend to otherwise do). My fiance enjoyed it too and she's a "I can't relax I have stuff to do" type personality.

We did remember though to also spend some time on the beach.

mmm coconut!

The real appeal though for me, was getting the chance to go snorkeling. Being from a grim Northern climate where we have fairly opaque waters and uncolourful fish, I really wanted to see a coral reef. With that in mind, we were really careful about picking a resort. We wanted one with a reef you could swim to from the beach so that we didn't have to operate on someone's boat schedule. We wanted ot be able to just go swim the reef when we felt like it. Sol y Mares proved to be a great pic (the other hotels in the area take their boats to the reef in front of this resort). My fiance brought her waterproof camera with some amazing results.

Just me cruising on the reef.

How nature say's don't touch! Lion Fish are quite posionous and my fiance fled in panic when I told her what she was photographing!

A parrot fish of some kind.

I dove down and pulled this perfectly intact urchin from between two rocks and then snuck it past Canadian Customs. Unfortunately, I broke it in two a few weeks ago when I knocked it off my aquarium

And this would be how urchins dies. When they break off the rocks and their fleshy underside is exposed, the fish descend like vultures. It was a real feeding frenzy and so much better since it wasn't some tourist chucking bread in the water that was causing it. It was a natural event. In the photo you can see Sergent Majors, a bunch of different Wrasses and some Damsel Fish.

A school of Blue Tangs and Surgeon Fish cruising the reef

Spanish Hog Fish

A Trunk Fish (odd shaped creatures aren't they?)

All and all it was a great trip

Cuba wasn't the only thing going on though. Cuba was actually a honeymoon of sorts. My fiance graduated on May 22 from law school and started articling on June 30. Her family was going to be in Town for graduation so we decided to make it a 2 for 1 deal. Come for the graduation stay for the wedding We got married on May 23 in Economy, Nova Scotia at a small cottage resort. It was a very traditional wedding in the sense that the bride and groom and the family did almost everything. We did our own decorating, prepared the food (except the cake) and organized our own music. Even the dress was bought second hand and then tailored to fit. We rented the whole resort to let everyone stay over and did a bbq/party. It all went amazingly well and Nova Scotia's very unpredictable and untrustworthy weather actually cooperated by offering up a perfect warm, but not too hot, May day.

In the gazebo where the ceremony happened just before the kiss the bride

A done deal

On the Bay of Fundy shore for pictures. The world's highest tides are right here. In the course of just a few hours you go from a huge expanse of mud to water lapping at the breakwall!

Us and almost all our guest (about 5-8 didn't make the photo for one reason or another)

You might notice that although it wasn't a big crowd it was a really young crowd.... it made for quite a party!

It's the right of every groom to force feed the bride the first slice of cake!

Do you know what takes a long time, stringing hundreds of lights through birch trees. Yes that's how I spent about 4 hours of my morning day of, but on the other hand it looked really great at night.

So if going to Cuba and getting married wasn't enough, I'm also moving on Sept 1. The Victorian Apartments' days are even more numbered than I thought. My landlord isn't renewing any leases beyond Sept 30 so the writing is on the wall. It'll be a pile of rubble by late Fall to live on only in Sim City (whenever I finish the model). Luckly I already found a new place that's still in the neighbourhood. Costs a bit more, but my wife is working now so we can afford a small increase. Here's the new home which is just 2 blocks away from where I am now.

Beautiful isn't it! You will definitely see this one as a bat sometime soon. I really like old buildings which was a big part of the appeal of this place.

Anyway, I know this is a long post and is somewhat self-involved but I just wanted everyone to share and to let everyone know that I'll be back to batting soon now that life is returning to normal.

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Oh, that one really will be great as a BAT. Congratulations to the groom!

[_Atticus 10]

Congratulations Spa!! I guess you had good reason to relegate your BATing responsibilities  . Anyways, I'm glad you had a good time.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are they tearing down that lovely victorian building? If so.....

Looking forward for some more of your wonderful BATs.

-Pingangster

[jacqulina 162]

congratulations and very nice pics,thanks for sharing.

[nofunk 1,933]

Congratulations, Sam!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,939]

Congrats!

But who would want to go back to the normal life after that? I know I could use some fun in the sun!

Looking forward to seeing you back in action though,

-Todd

[Jasoncw 11,933]

Wow!!

Big congratulations!!!!!!!

Going to Cuba, getting married, planning your new home!!  Very exciting!

You know, you should try to get your wife into BATing. 

[ky72x 13]

Congratulations! I'm glad everything went well. Both sets of pictures were nice, that group sure does look like one to have a rockin' party.

Too bad about your old apartment, but the new one is a beauty. Looking forward to see your awesome work soon.

- Kyle

[danielcote 9]

Wow you had a great vacation! I know I'd love to frawluck along those tropic beaches. But I went to france, Paris then to Lyon then to paris again.

 

A traditional Deli in paris.

here is the monalisa at the Louvre museaum.

The bottem of the Eiffel tower looking up.

A view of the french parliment from le summit.

A picture of one of the modern arias.

Heres I am at the an antique car convention.

The arch de triumph, for some wierd reason this picture has no traffic usualy theres trafic jams and endles honking.

A ww1 tank at the war museaum.

Napolions tomb.

An old faithful workhorse that is a staple in the french fleet.

My double decker TGV I was lucky enough to be on the top floor.

heres an old work truck. sorry its sidways.

the wedding reception had flambed veal

Heres lyon more colorful eh. Its much older too.

heres a neat fountain.

[spa 970]

Edmonton: Thanks

Ping: Thanks. Indeed I couldn't have come up with any better excuses. Sadly yes, they're tearing down the old place. It'll be a pile of rubble sometime in the Fall. It's the outcome of years of neglect by past owners. No one unfortunately cared about the place.

Jacqulina: Thanks

Nofunk: Thanks

Todd: Indeed fun in the sun is tough to beat, especially coming off a dreary northern winter and an even drearier spring (unlike our New England neighbours, the Maritimes doesn't get a Spring, it kind of just leaps from winter to summer).

Jason: Thanks. Unfortunately my wife has zero interest in batting. Her electronic obsession is photography. We have about 4 digital cameras now. That has helped me though in batting since I work from photos

Kyle: It definitely was quite the party. But with the exception of two chairs, everyone survived.

Daniel: haha I didn't mean to start a show me your vacations thread!  Looks like you had a neat time in France. I have never been, but will get there one day. Probably won't be anytime soon though as France is kind of far down my European list. Italy is my #1 for Europe followed by, Greece, the UK and Iberia. France is somewhere after that.

So I'm back into batting. After a two month hiatus I was back into gmax over my 5 day break (Canada Day was July 1 and I have been off since then, but I have to go back to work tomorrow). To get back into it, I finished the modelling on the Victorian Apartments and did about half the textures. Below is where things sit:

Obviously it's still a work in progress, but the textures are coming along. The big thing will be the windows since they'll tie the building together. I think it does feel rundown enough to be R$ which is really what the real building is. There is still a bit of modelling left to be done on the roof. The real thing is a gravel roof and it has a few modern vents poking through on it in addition to three old chimnies that I haven't batted yet. Anyway, if I don't get caught up in other things, I should have a final version this coming weekend since this one is heading into the home streatch.

[spa 970]

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[spa 970]

double page flip bug

[Gecko_2006 1]

Ahhh! It's good to see you back at work! Your model in progress is coming along excellently. (the detail is great!) So far as I can tell, the only thing bothering me is the paneling- it just seems to be a bit too busy. To fix it, I'd reduce the contrast of the texture, and maybe apply it at a tiny bit larger scale. I can't wait to see this building completed; keep up the good work.

[beutelschlurf 10]

moin spa,

that looks really good, glad you bating again! don't play alot, but that's a building i definitely download!

b_schlurf

[jacqulina 162]

very nice work great detail

welcome back

[danielcote 9]

The model you made looks great now I can't wait untill it is released! Its going to be a 3x2 corner lot right? Well When I'm old like mabey 50's 60's I'll travel the world and eventually see everything.

[SimsPlanet2 7]

Great building!

[JayStimson 211]

A bit (maybe a bit more than a bit) lighter. Dark BATs don't show detail in the game very well.

And in general ... I really admire your talent and appreciate the smaller BATs you do (Tramway, Wright's Building, Pier One, Ridley's, etc.).

They fill a hole in the game very well and add nice smaller detail to city neighborhoods. Thanks.

[spa 970]

Gecko: Thanks. I touched up the paneling just a little (see below). I increased the scale by eliminating just a few boards. I think it was the right call and the right suggestion. I'm pretty happy with it now.

Beutelschlurf: Thanks

Jacqulina: Thanks. It's nice to be back at it again.

Daniel: 2x2 actually. I rendered it this morning and it fits the lot almost perfectly.

Simsplanet: Thanks. Too bad they're tearing it down.

JayStimson: Thanks for the suggestion and I'm glad you've liked my bats. I have thought about your suggestion regarding the darkness and I actually think it's fine. You can see it in game below. It just doesn't feel like a particularly dark bat to me

So as mentioned, I finished the Victorian Apartments and rendered it this morning. Below is how it looks in game on a lot with everything textured.

On the whole I'm pretty happy with it. There is only one thing I'm not sure about and that's the gravel roof over the Hollis side. The real building does have a beigey gravel roof that probably replaced tarpaper somewhere along the way. What do you guys think about the one on my bat? Too busy? Too beige? Just doesn't fit? Or is it fine? My first reaction was no, but it has grown on me and it's what's on the actual building. Thoughts?

I have also done the night lighting. It's my usual fair.

[psander5 197]

The building looks great! The roof does look a tad strange, but gravel is what gravel is I suppose. It's uniform from this distance, and doesn't 'stain' like other roof surfaces do. The only thing I can think of that might break it up is a bit of moss or small weeds. They tend to grow in unkept gravel. I think it looks ok though.

[Jack_wilds 550]

Hello Spa, Jack wilds here...

It really looks to me, as a structure that is this old is less than perfect due to time, use, neglect, and various repair attempts... so if its less than perfect to you then its ready to go... all my thoughts to suggest I have dissmissed as it would ruin or clutter it too much, I think its intent doesn't lend to too much clutter, perhaps a couple of tenants milling about or a sun bather on the roof but that maybe over the top as well or a sign(s) house name and  'rooms for rent', or an advertisment on the side wall...

I like it as it is too, it looks good -well done

Jack

[Francis90b 748]

You've done a wonderful job, but i believe you've made your materials stick out too much.Neither the wooden walls nor the gravel roof are so definite from a distance.

I've made these considerations after comparing your building with what i saw in Live Search:

[plasticboy 36]

Smart Gaussian that bad boy a bit and it will look just right! Congratulations on the newest addition to your BAT family, by the way!