psander5

The STEX search won't work in this case... I made them and never released them if I get the chance they might see the light of day eventually. Quite a few people have asked me for them over the years!

It's always great to see another new UK BATer around here! You have some interesting projects going on. That theatre model that you opened with would be great if you could pull it off, although the irregularity of the buildings will likely cause problems when converting it into a working BAT within the constraints of SimCity4. I usually have to take the facades and square up the backs so that they fit into the grid... which is a shame. My advice to you for now would be to pick one small project (that A Foster & Son shop would be perfect in my opinion), and work it through to the end. You seem to be flitting from one project to the next at the minute, and from experience I can tell you that it's not very helpful when you're leaning the complicated process of making things for this game. You'll also get more focussed, continuous help from the community if you show updates from only one or two projects at a time, start to finish. As has been said before, good textures are vital in this business If you don't already, you should get familiar with an image editing program. I and many use Photoshop, but there is a free alternative called GIMP. Here's a link to it if you need it, it's an unfortunate name for a Google search... link. I don't use it myself but I hear it's comparable in many ways to the expensive Photoshop. It's incredibly rare to find an appropriate stock image texture for a big expanse of BAT, so most will need heavy processing in an image editing program first. Personally I make most of my big textures (walls, roofs, floors etc) from scratch using various sloppy techniques. If you have access to Photoshop (There will probably be a way to do it in GIMP as well but I don't know it) I can recommend for creating a basic brickwork pattern to use as a base. I've also used a separate program called Bricks 'n' Tiles before, which has a free edition, to create a brick texture from photographs, although for regular sized house bricks then Jasoncw's tutorial is more than adequate for me. I'd love to see your models worked up into full SC4 BATs so I hope that none of this puts you off. I want most of them for my cities, which are influenced by my British experience, and there aren't enough of things like this yet! I have an insatiable appetite! I haven't BATed anything myself in a long time, but it just happens that I was inspired by a walk through Sheffield this morning to pick it up again, so I might be able to add my limited knowledge to your endeavours once I remember the stuff that I've learnt in the past

You've just about made my day

I use that compact one myself sometimes. It's good for where you need an interchange that you didn't previously plan for because it's so tidy. I hope that one day there will be a few more roundabout options in our world of SC4

A collection of small towns, villages and hamlets in one tile of a new region I'm developing: The main town is called Colbourne Town Centre: Schools and playing fields: Station, markets and high street: Park and the tallest building with habitable floors in Colbourne: Night time: A smaller town, McGlynn, to the south: And Walker Wood to the East of Colbourne: And a zoom 1 view of the completed tile... the only one so far in this region that will eventually be full of small towns orbiting a large conurbation: Fun Fact: I'm naming all the cities, towns and boroughs in this region after Team GB and Paralympics GB Athletes who've won medals at this years Olympics and Paralympics. If I get far enough into developing it I might even make a return to CJing This thread and all the other "show us your..." threads are inspiring!

Nice and curvy The FARHW pieces really add some interest to it and make it look really comfortable in its surroundings. It's been a while since I posted any content around here, but I recently started playing again, and lurking in the forums. Here's a pair of interchanges from me... I built the bridge system first to provide access for the riverside suburbs that will fill this tile, but I forgot that a major arterial road was coming through here so I had to squeeze it in to the side as an afterthought

I recently decided to finally learn how to BAT. I first downladed all the programs about 2 years ago, but have only now begun to open the door to the batting world. I have quite a lot of ideas for things I'd like to see in the game. I've never requested a BAT, I always thought it would be more 'proper' to do it myself. Now that time has come. I'll start by showing my first real project.... Skylon Here's two preview renders: Day: Night: In the game: Day: Night: I know there are some issues. I've read quite a bit of the forums and i've deduced that, in Gmax there's no way to alter the jagged edges - anti-aliasing. Am I correct? One thing I need to sort out is the shadow problem (visible above). She shadow begins in the wrong place, and I can't figure out why. It also appears in the night view. Is it possible to stop that happening? Overall i'm currently happy with the texturing. I tried various metal maps on the losenge before settling on the satin look I have now. I don't really want anything too shiny as there's no raytracing in Gmax (and faking it is way above my current level) The lit version above is only one of the nightlit versions I want to make. I also want to make a version with coloured lights to make the monument more realistically versitile. (RL buildings like this always have extravagant light shows) Further reading... for more info on where SKYLON is from (this is a copy of a post in my CJ) [the image is an old version, but gives you an idea of the in-game scale] ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Skylon 2008: As I mentioned in the last update, there will be a temporary monument in the lot for the forthcoming observation tower for the Gelderland Games event. This is that: The original Skylon was designed by Hidalgo Moya, Philip Powell and Felix Samuely, for the Festival of Britain 1951. The structure was an enormous success for the event, but was sadly scrapped in 1952 on the orders of Winston Churchill, who saw it a symbol of the preceding Labour Government. This version of Skylon, designed by... ME! is different in several ways. The original structure was clad in aluminium louvres and lit from within. My version is clad in seamless satin aluminium and will be lit from the outside. The original tower was suspended 15m from the ground and reached almost 90m in height. Skylon 2008 is suspended 16m from the ground and reaches 110m in height. Both the original and the new version are suspended using only nine suspension cables and three supporting 'legs'. Skylon 2008 features a completely original plaza (not yet complete) at its base, where visitors can stand directly beneath the procarious point of the 16ton suspended 'lozenge' Skylon will be opened officially during the opening ceremony of the Geldeland Games, where the lights will be switched on for the first time (i've not done the nightlights yet, nor do I know how... just yet!) The long term future of Skylon 2008, like it's predecessor, is still uncertain. The structure is designed to be fully dismantleable and can be moved to another location. This new location is yet to be discussed, but will be decided before the end of it's 3 year stay in its current location. Skylon could yet be shipped away to another New Gelderland city, or perhaps even to its ancestral home, London's South Bank. facts taken from the wiki article ____________________________________________________________________________ Rugby League I'm also working on this project: Less of a BAT project at this stage, and more of a lot, props and textures project! I intend to expand the theme to BATting the current and planned versions of the stadium of my hometown rugby league club, The Castleford Tigers (logo featured in the above images) Other projects I have in mind are a 370m observation tower (again for my CJ), and a range of commercial, residential and industrial buildings (UK themed) I still have a lot to learn before I can do buildings with windows, doors and lots more detail! My next training project will probably be a modest clubhouse prop for the rugby league pitches above. This I hope provide me with the basic practice needed to make something more ambitious. Note: I'm waiting for a texture range before I can make my first upload to the stex, a basic rugby leage pitch... otherwise I probably would be further ahead with that one. I hope you like what i'm working on! Remember when commenting: I'm a novice!! So please forgive me if you get responses like "je ne comprends pas!" (i'm not French, nor do I speak it unfortnately) PS, sorry if this post was a bit too long!

...Hello I'm still here, sort of. I haven't forgotten the project. I've just been busy with work... or rather, travelling to work. I've moved to Sheffield now though, closer to work, so I should have more time and energy in the evenings. This means I will be able to do more BATing! I don't have anything more to show on this project yet though. It'll take me a while to get back into the swing of things. I have been working on the model a bit, but progress will be slow to start with. So don't worry, this building hasn't beaten me. It's not that difficult to do really, especially with all the support around here As well as this project I also have an ice hockey stadium to finish! I recently went back to Finland and had another look at it 'in the flesh', so I will get back on to that project before too long too. No BAT pictures to show so here's a relevant one from my holiday album... It was quite cold

I hear there are more than about three different voice actors in this one! If they have a copy left in the shop on friday after work I'll get a copy for the weekend.

Oops. Double post

gutterclub : There's no way I'd model the interiors of the whole thing There are some areas that might need it though, such as the lobby, the penthouse (top three rows of windows), skybar (the overhang), and the glass-enclosed balconies on one side of the upper section. That's still probably too long a list... oh, and there's the glass atrium and restaurant in the annex as well! Bing can sometimes give a good approximation of SC4's angle. Not so much in this case though. It appears less transparent and the overall colour is darker than from more lateral angles, but the resolution is too low to tell. Something inbetween realism and convenience is what I'm looking for T Wrecks : Yep, for someone who's scared of glass I made a strange choice in this huge glass box! The groundplane isn't appropriate for this model, I agree. I plan to make a better one. The current one worked well for my last building, which was a lot smaller! Jasoncw : Hero That's just the kind of knowledge I was lacking. That little mini-tutorial is great! I would have never arrived at that solution. I even 'chucked a sickie' from work so I could play with it Well, not really, but I have conveniently had the day off with a bad back. I've applied it to the hotel floors, but I think it might be more valuable on the residential floors, which have fewer obstructions in the windows. People that high up don't care about walking around naked with no curtains it seems! _____________________________________________ So here's another mini update. I think I need to stop messing around with the glass now though until the rest of the model is finished. I think I'm going in the right direction with it now at least. It'll be easier to judge colour and reflection once the reflected elements are finished and textured, and I don't want all that glass to stretch the preview render time too far just yet. Not that it matters too much any more now I'm using a beastly machine! I think I need to up the contrast between the 'clear' glass and the milky, coated glass a bit more... but that's one of those things that can wait until the end. I'm quite pleased with myself that I managed to work out how to get map channels to work so I could keep the bump map on 'face' UVW co-ords and the texture on a separate 'planar' channel. Even though it looks a little messed up on the south side, but I think that might be down to the white roof that's being reflected. On a related note... 3dsMax 2012 Bible is in the post, so I might be getting to know a few more useful features If I can find the discipline to work through it!

skyscraper : Thanks! gutterclub, _marsh_ & Ion_Cannon : Thanks! You see, this is why it's important to post updates! To be honest though I know the glass isn't right. I'm well aware that Jason's tutorial is for metallised glass, and this property is what I've tried to adjust to make it look more like normal glass (Keeping the map seettings and material structure but changing the IoR and reflectivity values). The problem is that this building is all glass, with full height apertures into the rooms. This makes the idea of modelling the interiors a no no... at least for me. The other option that I know of is to make maps to put behind the glass or on the floors. I really have no idea what I'm doing with that though, and I have a feeling that it will be difficult to make it look realistically like a true internal environment. My intention so far has been to make the glass opaque/highly reflective so that I don't need to go to so much trouble, but it seems that won't do All your other suggestions are great too. I'll look into them as I continue.

Thanks guys This is pathetic, and probably doesn't really count as a proper update, but I thought I'd come by here and prove to you and to myself that I haven't given up yet, and am still working on Beetham Tower... All I've done is make a tentative start on looking at glass materials. They're not finished, and are an approximation of what the final result will be. Actually, I just pilfered the material from Jason's thread and tweaked a couple of values for my own evil ends. It is a superb tutorial by the way Just one view today as I've only prepared the pattern for these two sides. The reflection image is an old one from a previous BAT that I had lying around. It's just there as a placeholder. Of course, even though I acknowledge the unfinished state of the materials, I'd welcome any comments. I hope to make quicker progress from now on, but I fear this is just a pipe dream. The good news is that I've upgraded my computer since my last post, so it works much better! I'll use the shininess of the laptop and the freshness of the upgrade to Max 2012 to fuel this along as I fight fatigue I'm hoping for lots of snow over the next few weeks because it would be pretty easy for me to get snowed in, giving me lots of time to BAT and play computer games!

To get Bat4Max to install, extract the .mzp file to a location on your computer, then run it using MAXScript inside 3dsMax (Toolbar - MAXScript/Open Script...). Then just follow the instructions and you can show us previews It's too early to comment on the model really, and I don't know what you're using for reference, but good luck! BATing for yourself is the best way to get what you want

The fountain looks impressive! I have zero knowledge of particles or the modeling of water, so to me it looks superb. Instinct leads me to agree with anotn on the ripples though. I would think that the falling water would cause more interference in the waves than that 'stone in the reflecting pool' effect that you have currenly. How you would go about making such a change though is beyond me at the minute! I can't see the rest of the complex at the minute because I'm on my mobile phone and the picture won't display, but i had a peek at the weekend and I remember being excited about it! Great effort folks.

I love UK buildings. Good job I recognised this artwork! I won't be going to see them. I was never that big a fan even though I liked them quite a lot... although, not until ten years after the fact Any boost to the collection of British BATs available would be much appreciated by this moderately significant demographic of the SimCity playing population

I don't think there I'd such a thing as a horrible building when it comes to Sim City 4! All cities in real life have their share of abominations, and so should all cities in the game! only a bad BAT can make an ugly building bad for the game, and from what I can see this is certainly not going to be a bad BAT. I would like to see more brutalist buildings in the game!