The FrankU and Nexis CO-OP

[mrbisonm]

FrankU, I just talked to my sister in law in Aachen, and they had 14 C today, kinda unusual for this time of year in western Europe. Imagine here, they said that we will have  down to -50C today in some places in Quebec tonight and (believe it or not, +2C on Monday.

Something's wrong somewhere............

But all is well, Insurance told me today that we have everything insured, including the two freezers with my beef and pork that I filled this fall and now are spoiled with the defrosting. No lives are taken and that is what most counts.

Don't start something too important or too big, because I was ready to finish the MFP1 just before we got hit with that icestorm, and I will continue as soon as things are tidied up around here.

Fred

[gn_leugim]

14ºC in Aachen, Germany?

These days, here in Portugal we get that or less :\

[FrankU]

We had a sunny day today. These 14⁰ could have been here too. I had no thermometer at hand, but it felt like that.

And I am ready to fire up the farm lots any moment. The rewards set is something for inbetween. Otherwise I have no projects at hand, except some RL, of course, if you forgive me....

So, my hands are aching.....

Good news that most of your damage is insured. Stilll a lot to do, but no financial disaster, apparently. Good luck!

[mrbisonm]

Yes, I am back on the project......



.......and I have a question for BATters. Please help find me a solution with this. This is a farmsilo and I wish that the "dome" on top would look a less like a simple "ball" put on top. I usually create a sphere and then cut it in half. That is the only way I know how to. Is there any other way to make a dome/ halfsphere that might look better?.

A ball is ball and no matter what, it just doesn't look right on top of a silo. (especially on the pre-render pic)
Thanks for helping

Fred

[Jack_wilds]

glad for the progress...  wish I could help ya... perhaps someone better will step up and say something of substance... 

[vester]

Maybe you could use a arc, that is centred on the middle of the silo.
The angle in the top point should be 90 degrees and the other could be around 30 degrees.
That way you don't get that smooth transition between the side and the top.

Then use a Lathe modifier that you can find the modifier list.

Some quick and dirty graphic:

[mrbisonm]

Hm...sounds good, hope I can find out how to, I will try it later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks, vester.

[mrbisonm]

Well, vester, you made my day (evening) and You can visit our thread anytime.....lol.

Woohoo, it worked just like a charm. Thank You. It looks a lot better this way. That is surely something to remember!

Ok, let's continue..........



Fred

[FrankU]

Looking nice 'n dirty, Fred!

[vester]

Glad I could help.


Maybe make the edge a bit sharper that you done it. Making the "dome" top more flat.

[mrbisonm]

Maybe make the edge a bit sharper that you done it. Making the "dome" top more flat.

I will certainly consider and try it. Thanks

FrankU, I took my own silo (32 years old) as a sample for the model above. Many years of overflowing corn and alfalfa juices have marked the outside walls. But I also have some (actually many) different textured models of this kind of silo, like the one below, others are smaller and one model taller.
I will show them all soon after I have gone through them with detailing and adjusting textures. I try them each ingame to see what they look like, then re-texture or modeify each model before doing the final render.

Here's a cleaner version, with a not quite finished domeroof texture (maybe I'll find a better texture or another way to photoshop this one).

Fred

[vester]

Maybe combine the two textures.
The last one of structures details and the previous for color.

In Photoshop, if you place this as a layer over the color layer and the layer properties to Multiply:

[click to enlarge]

That will darken the result. Then adjust the opacity to get a good result.

[mrbisonm]

Maybe combine the two textures.
The last one of structures details and the previous for color.

In Photoshop, if you place this as a layer over the color layer and the layer properties to Multiply:

[click to enlarge]

That will darken the result. Then adjust the opacity to get a good result.

Thanks for the tip, I will try to do this in the beginning of next week, now all the modeling is on hold until monday. I'll be busy with an outdoor convention in Victoriaville, a town nearby my place (well only about 100 kms, a small distance for Canadians)

Btw, does anyone have a good looking metal texture for grainsilos? I mean something that is shiny, and looks like polished aluminum like on this picture below? Thanks.



.....and here is a rl silo that is dirty as mine.

[mrbisonm]

Working on a lighthouse for Frank's rewards at this moment, one of 5 lighthouse models that I had for 7 or 8 years already. That gives me a break on the barns for awhile too.....lol

@FrankU, how does this texture on the main frame suit you?  Kind of a grey with some darker spots.





..........or take your choice....

[FrankU]

Oh, that is hard to choose.

In my opinion the shape of the lighthouse feels more like a metal (steel, iron...) one. So I would not choose any of the brick or stone options.
Maybe it is possible to show the sizes of the metal elements? Something the size of the stones in option 3, but only faint lines. And then worn down paint and a bit of rust.
I took the liberty to put some links to lighthouses I like.

Ameland, the Netherlands
Including the red lines. This one is built of cast iron plates. If you look closely you can see the pins, but hardly the lines.

Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands
Egmond aan Zee from the other side.
Kept in perfect condition: no rust, no paint getting off.

Kampen on Sylt
This one has construction problems: the steel belts are for keeping the construction in one piece, I suppose.

Somewhere Belgium or France
This one is brock and stucco, I guess.

So, when you have taken a look at all of them: I think the problem with your lighthouse is that it lacks detail in the tower. I don't know what you can do about that.
Shall I just wait a bit? No hurry!

[Buzzit]

Looking good so far!
If you could model one like you can see at Ameland that would be great!
Keep it up !   

[mrbisonm]

Oh, that is hard to choose.

You think it is hard to choose....I am glad, because now you know how hard it is for me for every texture.

I have no idea how to texture this at all, (my mind is elsewhere on my farming models at this moment) even with pictures and I don't want to spend too much time on this model, since I want to finish my MFP1 project once and for all, and because I have other mopdels to finish after this.

So, please choose one, whether darker, lighter, more or less saturation or any other detail of the texture, explain it to me and I will do it. This model was only to take a day or two to finish.
I have included some more textures for variety below.
I will finish the model tomorrow night.



EDIT:  btw, I like Nr 15 a lot, maybe a little darker. and details will be added later, this is for the tower texture only

[FrankU]

Hi Fred,

Meanwhile I have tested your tower in the game on my lot (no images, sorry). The texture in itself is quite good. It resembles the good state of the Dutch lighttowers that you can see on the images. Just some details on the tower, like the metal panels, lines of pins, small windows... Such things would make the model perfect. The tower is just too empty in my opinion. But I guess that will take time and I haven't the faintest clue how much it will take and how much you like to spend.

Your models
11 and 12 are a bit too clean, but the black lines are both good.
13 has beautiful red and white lines. The colors are perfect. The brownish dirt is a bit too much.
14 is nice too for a less frequently visited location: an island or something. Yeah. I like it too.
15 is clean like the one you sent me. Good too, but also clean, like 11 and 12.
16 useful, yes! The paint is falling off here and there.

In 15 I see a thin hrizontal line more or less halfways. If you could make such lines, like maybe 5 or 8 over the whole tower, maybe that will be enpoug detailling. Could you experiment?

And the top: the blue, the red and the white are a bit too clean and saturated. I guess you are going to work on them too?
And the entrance: a door please?

[mrbisonm]

Your models
11 and 12 are a bit too clean, but the black lines are both good.
13 has beautiful red and white lines. The colors are perfect. The brownish dirt is a bit too much.
14 is nice too for a less frequently visited location: an island or something. Yeah. I like it too.
15 is clean like the one you sent me. Good too, but also clean, like 11 and 12.
16 useful, yes! The paint is falling off here and there.

In 15 I see a thin hrizontal line more or less halfways. If you could make such lines, like maybe 5 or 8 over the whole tower, maybe that will be enpoug detailling. Could you experiment?

And the top: the blue, the red and the white are a bit too clean and saturated. I guess you are going to work on them too?
And the entrance: a door please?

I see that you like the red and white stripes and the model 15. So here is what I do, I will make three of the same model with different textures. You may use all three of them, make something like a propfamily. How about this? Everytime you plop, you get another model............, surely become an excellent and unique upload.

Here is model 15 with more horizontal stripes as you asked for. Want it?



I figure one with a clean texture (more or less), another one with red and white stripes (similar to model 13 but more refined on the white texture though) and another one like the one in the above texture would be a good set. Maybe a fourth with the black strip in the middle like Nr 12 with less cleaner texture?

Fred

EDIT.....and hey, stop talking about the details please....this is NOT the point here, as I mentioned, these pics are only for the main tower cylinder texture, all the rest is in production state.

[Jack_wilds]

chiming in my 2 cents worth...  I like teh red and white one best... just fine tune, and add some weathered look and it ought to be good...