sparkythepenguin

OK update: Been busy working, and also found that my computer crashes almost weekly. It's extremely outdated and likely broken now. Going to try to get SC4 to work on it, but no guarantees. I've just got to hold on long enough to save up enough for a decent laptop. Until then, I have to pray that this thing doesn't eat all the bookkeeping work that I'm doing. After I replace this thing, it is going on a one-way flight out the window. Not a good send-off for the computer that I did all my BATs on, but it is an onery shell of its former glorious self. A little note on Portland since 2008: They haven't really been building too much of significance in the Pearl or anywhere else here lately. When the economy shrinks, Oregon's evaporates! They started on a really neat tower right near Pioneer Square just before the global implosion, but only dug a hole and built up a few floors of the parking garage in the hole. It's been sitting like that for years now. However, you'd probably like the South Waterfront. Some sleek and tall condo towers were started or finished just before the powers-that-be put a hold on all construction everywhere in town. We also got lucky because the new MAX Green Line, Streetcar extensions, and a cool aerial tram went through. There's some stuff that has just started, like the total rebuilding of the then-hideous Federal Building. Two new bridges have been started: A new MAX bridge near SoWa and a replacement for the Sellwood Bridge. OHSU just a few months ago put up two big cranes by where the MAX bridge is being built, and the renderings of them looked cool last time I saw anything. I do know of a lot of stuff that's been in the works for years, but the economy and the housing implosion are giving all the developers cold feet. I can't wait for this ridiculous mess to be over with! I want to see some more cranes!

Hahahah! I do have a copy of 3ds Max that Bixel gave me, but I could never get BAT4MAX to work. (It's weird capitalizing "max" without talking about the Portland light rail trains!) I think now that I have a camera phone again (yeah the economy took a big 2x4 to me and my friends and family), I should do some scouting and try something small first. I'm thinking about the house here that I'm housesitting at. Nice little craftsman shotgun on a really narrow lot, maybe BAT my kitties into it and my doggie nephew. There's plenty of stuff still in town to BAT, just which one? And I still got to get the game running on this dinosaur. Yeah, I kept my desktop that I originally BATed on. Can't really do this on a laptop or tablet, eh? lol

Well, it's quite nice to see everyone again! Thanks for the hearty welcome! I miss BATing and even though I am very busy with life, I am going to make the time somehow. So far as plans go to get going, I plan on doing some re-vamping of some of the older BATs, especially 1000 Broadway and the US Bancorp Tower. There are a few aborted projects that I want to tackle again, such as Portland's Union Station and the Memorial Colliseum (started by JtPortland). I have most of my old files, so all that really needs to be done is to get the BAT, patches for BAT, and LE again. I can't find any of that on the official site. Another thing I have put off for a while is BATing other spots in the Northwest USA and Canada's West Coast. Oregon's State Capitol in Salem is really cool, as is Vancouver's Science World building. It'd be fun to do some Denver stuff, and even my own designs that I doodle on napkins when I'm bored. For now, I gotta catch up on just using the programs and playing the game again. I picked up GMAX and am working on a project for my new significant other. I have found that I have a lot to re-learn! It'll be hit-or-miss, but as I get doing things again, I'll be back at 100%. Especially with everyone's help.

Sparky here. It's been a while and I got the urge to start BATing again. I guess its a New Year's resolution or something. The plan is to get SC4 up and working again, play it and plunge back in! First of all, who is still out there plugging away keeping SC4 fresh with awesome stuff? Also, what are the good mods and essential stuff (for both gameplay and BATing)so that I can BAT properly? There's probably a lot that's happened and I'm all ears! Thanks in advance for any assistance in getting up and running again. I am a bit busy with life, but this is an itch I just gotta scratch! -Sparky

Thanks guyz. Before I go into my junk, I want to try to help out with the above mentioned problem. HIgh School is just that time. Get through it, graduate (or get a GED-diploma equivalent in the US or at least here in Oregon) and move on with life. Its such a superficial time and when it is over everyone becomes different. And what is the messed up thing, that I have found in life, is that people in HS turn out to be really different people after it (no matter how much crap passes between you and them). For me it was just a matter of waiting it out. You really will be suprised at the capability of most people to change and grow. Keep your head up and don't let them get you down. Perhaps you unknowingly will help change their lives. And if it is tough out there, take strength in the friends that you have that accept you for who you are. That's how I got thru it even with parents that didn't understand and living in a rural town that probably will never be ready to accept us. And the funny thing is later in life, I have ran into at the bars, etc, a lot of people I never thought were, but are gay from HS. Keep on keeping on my friends still stuck in HS... It will be over and different one day. Now onto the train wreck that is my recent relationship... I am working through it. Going through this is tough, as I was practically "married" all that time... Its still a lot to get through. I rant, I rave, I cry, I get whimsical... I still live with him. It is so weird. It hits you so hard and so true. But I am going to get through this with him and come out the other side. Life is too short to keep the pain and anger. And it's pretty tough to scream and yell at someone when you are right and they know they are wrong. Really weird feeling to be in such a position. And to be out there again. *sigh* Its tough to find out where to go from here. I get "Oh you need to lose 50#". ugh. My response is not repeatable here. I'm also getting responses from guys who knew me while I was with my now-ex and now want to jump me. grrrrrrrrr.... That is so frustrating!!! When is too soon? If I get a good thing on the line, should I go for it?

Thanks Wrightguy. I need all the support I can get now

Maybe it is time, maybe I am going out on a limb... But once I do this it can't be undone! For the better I think too. Recent events have made me think about things and maybe it would be a good thing to tell. Yup I am gay. People who are close to me in RL know. JtPortland and his bf were the only people from ST who knew. I've had just the worst week possible, as I and my bf of almost 7 years just broke up. But it is a new start I guess. Maybe if those who are gay know exactly what I feel know, the support can help me find a way to get my heart back into BATing again. Thinking about pressing the "reply" button... Oh well, here it goes!

Well, for now folks, RL has just is really bad, bad, bad.... My relationship of almost 7 years has ended and I am niot exactly in a state to do much of anything. Sorry everyone. I have to go and deal with this, which is not my fault, btw... (for a change!) I will eventually move elsewhere, don't know yet, but it is highly likely I will remain in the Portland area. Bix we may just have to go out and have some beers sometime. Yeah, I'm off the wagon. Until things get settled and my heart is in it, I am taking time off my BATs. Sorry guys.

Speaking of a structure that has to be unbuilt in a communist country, how about the undisputed king of the failures of design-on-the-cheap? The infamous Ryungayng Hotel (probably spelled it wrong) in Pyongyang, North Korea! At least Chernobyl wasn't some high-rise monstrosity smack dab in the middle of the capital that people had to look at every day.

Sorry for the double-post but forgot to mention Hamster's post! Different topic, so new post... Pioneer Square is insanely complex for the SC4 world. JtPortland and I thought about it, but never could figure out something that would work right. It's an old debate and one that does crop up in my mind from time to time. The problem lays with the fact that, as those who follow this project know, Portland's downtown slopes up from the river. Probably the most challenging aspect of architecture in Portland is how to build stuff on these sloping blocks. One of the most creative ways was what they did to make Pioneer Courthouse and also Pioneer Courthouse Square. For the courthouse, they just centered the building on the lot and built a level plateau for it to sit on. Easy to reproduce in SC4 and useful 100% of the time. For Pioneer Square, they dug out and leveled the lot from the downhill side. Not easy to reproduce. The fun part is how it tricks you into thinking that it is level or open-cut, when it certainly isn't. The east end of the square (lowest point) is flush with the street. The high point, where Starbucks is, is at Street level too, and the MAX stations along the side slope downhill to the east from there. Inside, you can make out the slope and cut, but your eyes are drawn away from that. Some people get vertigo due to the fact that the space has no vertical point of reference. Part of BATing real-life stuff is to capture the spirit and essence of the subject work. I feel that making Pioneer Square as an open-cut (or conversely, a raised, ampitheater area) would not capture the magic. Only an exact, measured model would, but that would not be suitable 100% of the time in the SC4 world, as you would have to have a map that included that exact slope, which is a really weird point that not only slopes east-west, but also down slightly south-to-north. I think it would be too much work for too little interest in a lot that can't be used 99.9% of the time. I don't even think hard-core City Journalers would find a lot of use for it in that form. So if it does get done by me, I will only call it something "Based on" Pioneer Square, and not the real one, as I would really have to break some of the magic that is the real one to make it work. It is just demands too much exactness to make a true reproduction work. Anyone want to see some photos I took of it? I may have some that really show off how weird it is!

Currently, I am having some problems with the lighting rigs in 3ds, but I am recieving lots of help with this and I hope to have that fixed by the end of next week. You can see a weird shadow at the top of Big Pink... Texturing will begin soon too. I plan on pushing reflecting windows to its limits (I hope!), but I only have 3ds Max 7, and I need something more recent to make good use of the excellent tutorial on that. As for night lighting, I will cross that bridge when I get to it. I do have some really cool ideas for what to do. I may be grasping at straws, but my plan is to turn The Sims 2 into a BATing tool! More on this later! Since everyone is now interested, I'd like to tell some more about the US Bancorp Tower. It is a really neat, dynamic, and weird building. There are NO 90 degree angles in its footprint, as it follows a quirk in the downtown street grid. From some angles, the tower looks ultra-thin, others it is wide and looming. The materials used were picked by Pietro Belluschi who was more concerned with how the building would look in different levels of lighting. The windows are made out of a unique material which will reflect or absorb different amounts of light. The stone work is a pinkish-tan granite that has similar properties. Most of the time, the tower looks pink or purple, and this earned it the nickname "Big Pink", after an album by The Band (a band named "The Band", I know, weird). Other times, it can appear orange, grey, and dark brown/blackish. There is a building right by Universal Studios in California that looks very much like Big Pink, but a tad shorter, darker materials, and without the zigzagging glass curtain at the top. I hear it is the tallest building between LA and SF. Although you'd think it was their copy, it was built later and by a different architect. Also notable is it is Portland's second-tallest building. It was first proposed and approved in the 1970's before the strict height limits were imposed, but wasn't built until the 1980's (US Bank dragged their feet building their HQ complex). Since it was approved by the city for construction before the limits were imposed, it was excepted from height regulations. The attached, low plaza building predates the tower, built in mind to integrate the tower at its north end. If one looks at the south end of the plaza structure, there is a large empty area in front of the plaza and there are skywalks that end in a service door inside the SE corner. So there may have been plans to attach another building of some sort and bring the block to the south into the US Bancorp "superblock", but I've found nothing about that anywhere. And yeah, I've thought about making a blue version at one time. I'm just concentrating on getting this version done at this time though.

What a great start to the new chapter of this project! Sorry if I get a little incommunicado. It's getting a bit crazy here in real-life.... Plus I have been in a little bit of a funk due to some pain issues. I have good days and bad ones. And getting insurance to cover my impending procedure is a pain in itself. One word of advice: ALWAYS keep your health insurance no matter what you have to do to do so! OK First, before I show you something new, I want to address the previous posts: @1ajs: The Fort Garry Hotel is now converted into a 3ds file. I have a lot done on it and it is in the 1/2 done file. Those have a bigger chance of getting done now than new projects. But those will go onto CDI_Spy's thread, if that's still going on. If it isn't I'll just do a special thread just for the Forth Garry Hotel. @Jasoncw: Need your help with lighting rigs!!!! See our little discussion over in our private thread... @Bixel: Watch out, I may be nagging you soon, as you have the same version of 3ds that I do. After all you gave it to me! @T_Wrecks: You'll see just the first re-do's pretty soon. More to come. @1thegragg: Working on making the SImPortland I have work again. Turns out the NAM version that I used in it is really old. The new one does not like it. I'm now working on re-building my plugins folder and am going to be sure to have a second one for the old Sim Portland. I luckily backed it and all plugins up and just have to find the CD it is on... @Nightshadeanarch: Pioneer Courthouse Square is smack dab in the middle of Portland. On Google maps, Google Earth, or even better, MS Live search Bird's Eye view (a link is in my signature), find the corner of SW Broadway and Yamhill. You can't miss it! My best friend lives in Salem. I hope to do some buildings from the Cherry City sometime. @Livinginthepast: Too bad you haven't done it and won't now. Maybe once the MAX Green line opens and it is easier for me to get to, I may take some shots to lay the groundwork for a Mall 205 BAT, if you want still do it or if I ever get to it.... I am getting pretty old now and so long as I have the groundwork, I can remember how it used to look back in the day. @USA Patriot: Oh I forget, you use a Mac! Hmmmmmmmm.... I could just send you all the relavent files if you want. I'd make a new STEX listing with just zips, but I want to reduce redundant files as much as possible.... (I wold still be a Mac user if my first laptop still worked. ) PM me with your email if you want just the zips and I'll send you the whole enchillada via YouSendit. OK New, maybe old stuff. Just one screen to tease you all. Remember back in the day? I first started BATing and felt such a rush when I finally exported my first BAT and saw a Portland building of my own doing in SC4. Now I can relive that feeling as I venture into 3ds. Remember this beast? Yeah, ol' Pinky. Big Pink. The US Bancorp Tower. Actually probably the first building ever named that. My first BAT, ah the memories. So much that I have learned can now fix the major deficiencies of the first version. Actually, there's been a bunch of them since I first tried recreating Portland buildings even befor

Cool to see my Standard Insurance Plaza and Federal Building going to good use!