Mikeseith's Modular Parking Garages

[SimFox]

If you intend this piece to be a "central" module you would need to address the shadow issue.
Look here you see that light shines into the structure:


if you plop them in game you have this:


you have a shadow on the left and they it suddenly disappear...

[joelyboy911]

Aye, and it's easy to fix. You can either extend the floors out past the LOD box, or you can make a copy of the LOD, delete the faces on the outer (as in... the bit where you want the sun to shine in) and upper sides of the LOD. So you have something like this:



Then apply to it a texture with 0% opacity. This should stop unwanted shadows from showing themselves.

Hope I'm not telling you something you already know. 

Best of luck with these garages. They look great.

[mikeseith]

Hope I'm not telling you something you already know.

I didn't know this at all.  I have 0 experience working with LODs.  Extending the floors is not an option, so I'll have to start looking for tutorials on working with them(LODs).  That sunlight/shadow thing was becoming a distraction for me.

I have been working on the garages and may have some pictures posted Friday.  Stay tuned.

[mikeseith]

Hello everyone.  Its progress report time.  As you may know, I have gone back to the drawing board and started from scratch.  I like the results so far. 
The night lighting is less jarring and more natural. 
The walls are a little higher and more interesting. 
There are light poles. 
The building is now set back a half tile from the road.

One major problem has popped up.  The wall pieces have a shadow/lighting issue and I have not worked out a good fix for it yet.  More pictures below.

[RebaLynnTS]

Looking really good there.

[mikeseith]

A progress report...
Made more family props to add variety.  Made a building with elevator and stairs.  Made outside corners with stairs.

As always, some pictures...

[jpj_starfleet]

The stair case elevator parts are very realistic, I think I have parked in this garage!    are you still planning on doing bridges?

[mikeseith]

Yep, I'll be doing the bridges soon.  Right after the entrance and straight ramp pieces.  Then its on to the 8 level garages again.

[Jack_wilds]

....liking the progress  , will there be two level p.garages too  ...also those access towers opportunity for a couple three differant looks different roof profile and color, windows clear or windows frosted, and parking ramp vehicle entries could also have some sort of 'architecture' appearance too... color, texture whatever... just some thoughts for cents  ...

your project, your call its looking good so far 

... lighting issues I'm sure your aware of and I'll leave that to someone who knows better what to do than I can add...

jack

[cubby420]

Really cool project with lots of applications. I'm already imagining where these garages would be perfect for my cities.

One concern though. In all of the pictures I see the outlines of each modular lot. I imagine this is something that will get smoothed out eventually, and my experience with such things is woefully shallow. Great progress though. The buildings are very cool additions and as someone already said, I feel like I've been to your garages before. 

[j-dub]

The funny thing is, at night, those look like a real picture.

[mikeseith]

Here is my latest update:

I decided to make 2 level garages to start off with.  This way I can make mistakes on a smaller scale.  The pictures below show the work so far (the ramps still need work). 

The most interesting thing about them is what you can't see.  All the garages act like the Maxis garages.  They allow sims to come in, park and walk through to another transit option.  The best part is, each lot does not have to be on a street...no street access zot!

Expect the 2 level garages within about 2 weeks.  I still need to work on the ramps.  render a few more parts for variety.  Then some menu work.  Then, continuation of the 4 level garages.

[tag_one]

Great work Mike! love the fact they are functional 

[jdenm8]

Is there going to be a version of these (4 floor) carparks flush against the side of the tile (ala, 2 storey)? I ask this because it's common over here for only half of the carpark to be multi-storey and the rest to be open-air.
And another question/request, is there going to be a version of the entrance instead of being on the corner of the carpark, but on the straight side?

Thanks in advance,
Jdenm8

[mikeseith]

jdenm8:
The 4 and 8 level garages will be set back from the edge, half a square to be exact.  The 1st post has some pictures of the 4 level garages in the game.

I have been thinking of making straight side entrances available but did not make them.  I have been trying to make these as simple as possible in order to use fewer menu spaces.  The 4 and 8 level garages will have about 12 lots each.  I know my menus are full and things are harder and harder to find anymore.  I don't want to clutter up everyone's menus unnecessarily.

Thanks for the input jdenm8 and everyone else.

[travismking]

Great job I do have a small problem though, people seem to be getting off the train and converting to cars, is there a way around this? shouldnt they just be driving to the garage in the morning and getting their car at night ?

[Terring7]

It looks that the garage could also work as a taxi place


(Not a problem, just a little odd. But still will be useful )

[travismking]

your right, not so much of a problem, but not what i expected, i expected them to drive to the garage, walk to the train station and take the train. but instead the take the train, walk to the garage and drive :p

[mikeseith]

Great job I do have a small problem though, people seem to be getting off the train and converting to cars, is there a way around this? shouldnt they just be driving to the garage in the morning and getting their car at night ?

Hi, That's not what I would expect either.  I don't know if its just the way the game does things or if I made a mistake there.  How does the evening commute go in that situation?

On a side note, there has been progress on the other garages.  The progress has just been a little slow.

[SC4BOY]

It seems kind of a matter of perspective regarding the "X" (ie train) to "car" transition. This seems perfectly normal.. if it's a parking lot, then a pedestrian should certainly be able to find his car and drive away! On the other hand if you wish to FORBID this behavior it is in the "inside to outside" conversions for transit enabling.. simply don't allow that transition.. up to you. If you don't allow it though, those who "park" there and take the train may not be able to return commute home. A round-trip commute must be possible or the commute simulation will fail and you'll get "no job" zots.