madhatter106

If we're talkin' gmax and night textures, make sure the word is "nite" and not "night." Yeah it's stupid, but it's how they set it up. For nightlights such as omnis and target spots and the like, make sure the word is "nitelite" ... I looked at your model above - it doesn't look like you have any window glass - it just looks like open spaces in the splines where the windows are outlined. If you're using night textures, it's the glass that needs to be textured at a lower opacity, and then the prefix "nite" added to it. If you're working from phillipbo's tutorial, it's explained in depth there...

Originally posted by: SWAT-MEDIC Another technique for nightlighting is projector mapping.. There should be a tutorial coming out soon but I will explain the process simply: 1. Download some TruNight Windows 2. Create a spot light, name it nitelite_window1 3. Change the aspect ratio fit your window, make sure the light is perfectly aligned with your window. 4. Open up the projector map selector and choose one of the night windows downloaded. 5. Set the intensity to 2.5 - 3.5 (or less or more) 6. Render it. Make adjustments as needed. Brief, I know, but that is the process. If you need more detailed information just ask!quote> Is this a 3dMax solution, or can this be applied in gmax too? I've been wondering about this and self-illumination, but speaking for myself, I'm working in gmax, so I can only answer things on that end to a limited degree...

If you're not using night textures in gmax (and I wouldn't recommend them, as they should be seen on the Maxis buildings), then make sure the texture for your windows is set to a lower opacity - I think in the phillipbo tutorial, he recommended 40% opacity with certain specular levels and glossiness. Then it's a matter of setting up some lights inside the building, and subdividing the interior depending on how you want it lit and what windows you want to show light and what windows you want dark.

I've died and gone to Texture Heaven. These look wonderful!

Didn't someone create and post a model file on the STEX that is a modular fire escape, that could be copied and spread across multiple floors? I don't know the proportions, but it might be a good start, rather than building it from scratch.... Model and bleak texturing looks great - and the idea of various chairs, satelites, and junk on the balconies sounds fantastic - though it might a be a bit tedious to do, I'm sure the end result would be spectacular...

Is it supposed to be a residential house? That looks like an awful lot of windows on each side of the house - it has the look of a dormitory or bunkhouse or lodge. Keep in mind what the others said about the BAT squishing effect - make stuff a bit taller than in real life to accomodate the squishing when it renders...I always think in thirds - if the surface I made is three squares tall in BAT, I have to remember I'm going to lose about a third of it (ie. one square) in the render, so I overshoot the heights on everything... The tiling on the roof texture is bothersome, but that can be easily overcome, via imaging programs like Photoshop and the others mentioned in your thread. The other thing that bothers me is the thickness of the windowsills - they look like enormous logs nailed under the windows! Something more delicate and slimming would work better, IMHO. I would agree on the idea that adding roofjunk in the Lot Editor is a "pain-in-the-tuckus" - it never looks half as good as something that was modelled/textured/proportioned in BAT. Bixel's idea is best, and it's one that I have toyed with lately - a separate file full of roof junk that you can go to when the need arises. With some research photos, the determination, and a couple of hours, I'm sure it's entirely feasible.

I'm having a time trying to figure out what is probably an easily solvable problem with the SC4Tools program. Whenever I create custom buildings and lots, I place them into a subfolder named for that particular building, and always within the plugins folder. However, when I go into the Comparer to view these, they will not show up when I have scanned the Plugins folder and selected the appropriate building type and wealth level - every time I want to see one of my customs, I need to go into the file mode and seek out the .desc file and rightclick to add it to the list. Why won't these little guys show up once I've scanned the plugins folder? Other custom content that I've downloaded shows up fine in the Comparer...but wondering why I have to do a special dance to add these individually? One thing I have noticed, which may be symptomatic...when I have a list of buildings which have been found once I've scanned the Plugin folder (let's say CS$ stage 2s), I have noticed that at the bottom of the screen, it will give the Lot name and file information. However, when I have added my own files to the list manually, it won't give me any of this information at the bottom. I haven't had any trouble growing these lots, however - they've all shown up in game... Any ideas? What am I missing?

Once you have done a preview render (usually at high quality), simply line the day and night shots up so they don't overlap each other and hit "print screen." Then open up Photoshop or whatever you use to manipulate images with, and create a new document and paste the screenshot into it. Crop, resize, save, and publish. Easy as that!

I dunno, is the slowdown of late a "throw money at it" kind of problem? Or is it the sheer volume of stuff that resides on the servers, waiting to be accessed? If it's the later, then I wouldn't mind getting rid of some of the "junk," but then the problem arises as to how to determine what is "junk," when you're separating the wheat from the chaff. (Personally, I think stuff like imaginary flags from imaginary nations requested by people at an entirely other websites, ie. not even on Simtropolis, qualifies as "junk," but perhaps my eye is a bit too critical.) So it's a catch 22 - one man's junk is another man's treasure, I suppose... Has anyone been able to positively determine just why this slowdown is occurring?

Originally posted by: Gn_leugim about the glass texture, you could try 2 things: follow Jasoncw tutorial, which you can find in his signature, or do as I do, make the interior floors with something, usually making the base floor texture having multiple shapes and colours helps, and make the windows blue and transparent.. then you just have to adjust the colour and transparency quote> This is an effective method. Another way which I have used successfully in the past is to model the contents of the room (tables, chairs, counters, items for sale, etc.) in a roundabout basic way, then place two or three omnis with a multiplier of about .65 or so in the vicinity of where the overhead lighting of that room would be. With the transparent glass texture and a vague sense of items behind it, you can create the sense of "interest" behind the glass. I've done it that way in my low wealth small commercial shops I posted recently in my BAT thread. I believe in 3dMax you can use self-illuminating textures for the window nightlights...I think people like autovino even have shown their nighttime photo reference that they have used for their skyscrapers in their BAT threads. The results are amazing, but I am not sure (if at all) you can get the same results with self illumination in gMax...perhaps someone more experienced could answer that....

Originally posted by: simcity4fan12 thanks.... its not like anyone reads this anyway I shouldn't have even started this if any one who comments just is going to complain about the multiple posts its not like it really matters.quote> Just because we haven't posted or replied doesn't mean we haven't read it. Okay, I'll have a go at your recent creation - like the others have said, the windows are way too blue, so much so that it stands out even in the distant shot of your building, surrounded by the other Maxis buildings. Also, I think that the night texturing totally destroys the effectiveness of the modelling; since the windows are so large, you would see the contents of the room, the furnishings, etc., but the standard gMax night texture method is so deficient when compared to other ways of lighting (target spots, omnis, etc.) Also, just like the forum posted, you can EDIT your STEX uploads. Rather than posting three different versions of the same building in a row, you can edit the first posting and include updated models, descriptions, lots, etc. While I appreciate your enthusiasm, understand that others aren't checking these boards as frequently or thoroughly as you might be, hence your frustration with people not posting replies or critiques. Give it time, keep consistently posting different works, SHOW IMPROVEMENTS, and be willing to accept and apply critiques that you may receive, and you'll get replies and comments. But also question why you are doing this and what you hope to acheive by posting/sharing your work - if you're here to learn and get better, and to share in your techniques and learn from the techniques of others, then that's fine - but if you're here for asspats and personal validation or for us to fawn over everythinig you do and proclaim you the next BAT prodigy, that's the wrong reason for posting... (Not intending the above to be snarky, just trying to steer you in a more positive direction.)

Hmmm a good question, $ or $$? You could make the case for it either way...I think maybe with the "grim" texturing, it might work better as $...but I'm biased, as I'm a big fan of $ in my cities...

Yeah I agree with Gn_leugim - if you had a mixture of the former roof junk with the current roof junk (and retaining the roof access point), I think it would work better. Right now it looks really "pipe-y", I think it needs to be varied a bit. The base looks like it could do with some work too - it needs some point of entry or some sort of detail or interest, as it looks like a platform right now. My eye keeps being drawn to the little ledge that is created about two thirds of the way up, where the windows become more inset in the center front...I would love to see some sort of veranda or railing or walkway or something that makes it look like the building designers used it functionally....right now, it looks a bit too arbitrary. Either that, or retain the inset for the full length of the building, rather than the top third of it. Either way, I think it would add something which right now looks like it's missing...

In the interest of combating the non-descript Maxis small shops that pop up everywhere in my commercial districts, I have been BATing a number of fictional named businesses. Battery Hut actually exists - it's a dumpy-looking little store about three blocks away from my apartment, and it's what gave me the idea of doing these. Though I wouldn't mind taking a stroll through Varla Jean's Wig World, just to see what the clientelle might look like...

Dude, you should sit down and do a nightlighting tutorial, and explain how you get such stellar results. Your lighting is truly impressive...