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romualdillo's little BATs & Problems

Started by romualdillo, May 21, 2014, 09:53:03 AM

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romualdillo

Greetings!

I'm a newbie here. I played SC4 for many years, abandoned it and returned. Now I want to try my luck at BATing. As I can't get through 3DStudio, I model my buildings with sketchup and render them with old gMax. The only inconvenient I've found is that I have to retexture the gmax archives if I reload them, but it doesn't matter at all. I'm only modelling little bats for the moment, tiny houses and shops with 8m-wide facades, and that's the result: 2 R$ houses and 2 R$$, grouped in families.



They even have lights:



I was very happy with my buildings. I didn't matter the negative shadows at all (I wanted my props to be slope friendly) until I read this terrible post from c.p.:

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=16509.0

And then my problems started. I wanted the little school building that appears in the middle of the image to be slope friendly and without negative shadows, but this seems to be impossible for me. I don't know if this is the right section to post it, but I need some help.

First I converted RKT1 in RKT4 in PIM-X, tested and everything seemed to work well:



Then I modified it with Reader, and set the second model:




I set my new prop in the lot with PIM-X Lot Editor:



And tested it in game:



A beautiful brown box, if I export the basement model from gMax as foundation



Or the basement model, with its negative shadow, if I export the model as building.

Any ideas? I would like to have slope friendly props without negative shadows and I don't know what to do now... ()what()


c.p.

A few things:

1. Welcome to SC4D!

2. The BATs are very nice  :thumbsup:

3. I've tried rendering as a foundation or as a building and it worked both ways for me.  So I don't think that is the problem.

4. Is it the "building" or the prop that is giving you the brown box?  All I can suggest is to double-check the TGIs of both prop models, as well as the TGI you used for the invisible building.

5. In your last picture, why is the main building not showing up?  Can you show a screenshot of the prop exemplar for that one (along with the RKT4 values?)

Kergelen

wow, really nice BATs! &apls

I love to see buildings compatible with Mediterranean style. All the models are very interesting.

Hope you can solve your problem and welcome to SC4D :thumbsup:


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romualdillo

c.p.: Thank you very much c.p.! I was a bit frustrated with negative shadows until I read your post. But it seems to be a difficult thing for me creating multiple models props.
kergelen: Thank you kergelen! I'm inspired by buildings from Spanish Mediterranean coast and the islands.

I've repeated all the process several times, without any positive result. The brown box seems to be given by the superior model of the prop. I could see the basement through the box when placing it. When only the superior model is present in the RKT4, the prop shows it without any promblems (as you can see on the first pictures I posted). If there are two models, the prop only shows one (or the box).  Here are the pictures showing all the TGI numbers of models, buildings and props used in the lot. I only know the basics about TGI numbers, so i can't see if there are any problems. My computer is running with Windows7, if it matters.

Invisible building model


School model


Basement model. First exported as building and second as basement.


Prop TGI


RKT4


The lot in lot editor, showing the superior part of the prop. I don't know if it's normal this "unknown resource key" message


The lot in game


Thank you very much for your help. I'm sorry if I'm being tedious with my problems.

vortext

#4
First off, welcome to SC4D! Always nice to see someone take up BATting and your models look great! The textures however could use some improvement imho, a little less saturation perhaps. &Thk/(

Anyway, upon seeing you troubles I gave CPs trick a go as well and ran into the exact same issue. Discussion continues in the appropriate thread.
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

romualdillo

vortext: Thank you very much! Perhaps you're right, and the buildings need less saturation. gMax "burns" the colours when rendering, and I had to experiment a bit with them. If was not sure if posting my issues here was right, so thank you for your advice.

romualdillo

#6
I followed vortext's advice, and I desaturated the colours a bit. I think the R$ houses look better now. I'm still working on the R$$ houses



If you have any other suggestion or critic, please post them!!

Girafe

It s a good start but the models lack of details especially relief. The look too boxy 
The Floraler

This is the end, hold your breath and count to ten, feel the earth move, and then...

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *    * 

threestooges

You're off to a good start, especially by starting small. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed if a large project is tackled straight out of the gate. I like the style you've chosen to model too, a few more Spanish-style buildings are always a good thing. Good start listening to vortext too, he knows what he's talking about. As for the model itself, are the windows and doors modeled in to the building itself, or are they just applied with textures? From the looks of it, they're textured on. If you model them in to the BAT itself, it would add that much more realism and depth to them. Keep up the good work.
-Matt

vortext

Quote from: threestooges on May 24, 2014, 10:20:30 AM
Good start listening to vortext too, he knows what he's talking about.

Well, I'm flattered but to be clear: I have none, zero, zilt, nada experience in BATting. That's not to say I can't nor won't tell poor from good quality work but as for practical, nuts and bolts advice . .  $%Grinno$%

time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

c.p.

In my opinion, the colors/saturation of the R$$ buildings are nearly perfect as they are, but the roof of the School is a little too saturated.

romualdillo

#11
c.p.: A friend of mine said the same too :P. OK I will desaturate the colour as soon as I can.

vortext: I've seen your road textures... You really have an experienced eye!!! I'm waiting for their release.
Saturation is a problem for me, because turn-of-the-century buildings in my city are always painted with bright colours.

threestooges: Thank you! I model everything I can, even the windows. I don't know why do they look so flat.

girafe: I can see what you mean, Girafe. Well, it's a handicap because the original ones have a boxy structure too, and there's not much to do with it.  :'(

I don't know if I can do something different with the textures or the relief. These are images of the original models I made with sketchup. I don't know what else they need...

















This is a new house I'm modelling





I've noticed that roof details get lost when rendering. I don't know if oversizing them (x2) will be useful to avoid the boxy appearance. Perhaps adding some water tanks or chimneys will help...  ()what() What do you think??

kelis

Fantastic work !! I can feel the Spanish touch in every picture and I like that. Are you thinking to make more variety ? I think we need more W2W buildings from Spain, we have an amazing architecture and would be really great if we can make some Spanish cities. Keep up the good work and you know it, you got all my support with your projects !!

Saludos compañero y bienvenido  :thumbsup:
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vortext

#13
The color shift from Sketchup to ingame is quite remarkable indeed. Besides, bright colors are difficult to get right anyway. In that regard you might want to have a look at Wallibuk's work. For instance: 



His BATs have a lot of similarities to yours, same turn of the century feel, same smallish w2w models. And if you look at his earlier work it's easy to see the texturing work has improved quite a bit over time. So, keep on tinkering!  :thumbsup:
time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

romualdillo

vortext: Perhaps the solution is "getting dirty" with textures. I think I have to work the brick walls too. I don't like to recognize the patterns. I will start photoshopping the first house again and show the result. I don't know if working on the relief will help, but I have to work on the roofs.

kelis: ¡¡Muchas gracias!! And yes, I plan making more residential and commercial buildings in the future. But I have much to learn and these are my first attempts!

romualdillo

What do you think? I added a water tank and a chimney, and oversized the other roof details. I worked on the textures and the relief (texture change is only visible on the brick walls, but I think the details in the facade look better)









This is the original model in sketchup:


romualdillo

Greetings to all!!!
I've been working on the relief and texture of my buildings. I added some chimneys and water tanks trying to avoid the boxy appearance, and this is the result. I see the details more defined, but if you think there's still something I can improve, change, correct or do, please tell me!!!  ::)
Remember that my tolerance to saturated colours is very high, so please tell me about the colour too!!  ;D









I hope you like them!!!

FrankU

Oh yes, I do!
This is becoming a beautiful set. As I am not a BATter I will not go into details. I am stunned already.  :thumbsup:

P.S.: you should rename the thread....

vortext

Very nice!  &apls

With regard to color: imho the facade of the smallest house (on the left in pic1) is too washed out, too bright. Other than it looks pretty good, I like the roofs in particular. Do you also plan to make mirrored versions?

time flies like a bird
fruit flies like a banana

noahclem

Great work on these buildings  &apls  You had a very nice start and have already improved significantly since then :)

Quote from: romualdillo on May 24, 2014, 04:43:17 PMI've noticed that roof details get lost when rendering. I don't know if oversizing them (x2) will be useful to avoid the boxy appearance. Perhaps adding some water tanks or chimneys will help...  ()what() What do you think??

I think x2 would be too much. Maybe try x1.33 or x1.5 to see if you end up with a better result. Have you considered HD rendering? You'd certainly lose less details that way ;)