Thingfishs is having a B.A.T Downunder (wanna take a look)

[dobdriver]

 G'day things

Looking good,

i'm sure you've already thought about them, you haven't finished  off in in the area have you?

because looking at the pix they still look a bit sterile, perhaps a few more pipes and whatnot. also I don't know if you've noticed but the vats look very squared up. Is there any way to round  the walls onto the tops? or is it too late to change them?

take it easy
dobdriver

[thingfishs]

Hey Dobs,
thanks for your thoughts. Wanna rephrase that one? 

Obviously you're referring to the tank and/or empty concrete areas. I am going to do some more there. If you look at the photo there's still some half sized tanks and my brother's office (converted shipping container) to go. I have also been pondering learning how to make a prop family so I can create a few things, hoses, buckets etc, the kind of things that get moved around all the time, and have them periodically changing. (I think that's how a prop family works, or if it's not, whatever will allow me to achieve this.) I'm also going to have some automata customers & hopefully workers.
As for the tanks, you are right, they are too square on top. No it's not too late and I will have a crack at that.

   

But today I needed a break from the winery so I've had a go at something else, some Australian street props.

I've made two versions of the standard Australian phone boxes (of the primary Australian telco, Telstra). These distinctive orange topped phones aren't as common as they used to be (because of mobiles) but they are still a very familiar sight. I've also made an 'Australian Post' post office box. I had a go at the half red half yellow express post one but it didn't come out right. The phones can also be placed in rows, as is often the way.
I think I will make these MMPs (mayor mode ploppables), and as one menu item that will cycle through the different options as you click. "Aussie street MMPs", to help give that Australian character to your towns. Any ideas for other things that could be included?

       

The models are so/so but once I realised how little detail is captured in game I stopped worrying so much. Can I improve the level of detail being captured in the render? Are small non functioning items like these candidates for being done in HD?

(and in case you were wondering, yes, we do have lawn growing in all our phone boxes.)

[adroman]

Excellent work, thingfishs! 

Those look fantastic! they'd look great in a Street Mod...

Though, I think the roof texture needs a bit of darkening, to be honest.

Keep it up!
Adrian.

[joelyboy911]

Very nice. I think they certainly are candidates for being done in HD. Maybe you should tone down the red on the top. It looks very bright in-game.

And though MMPs are a good idea, you can't place them on streets, so that might pose a challenge.

As for suggestions, you could do some NZ ones...



They have these sort of basic markings, but generally come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so you could do them on your model.

[thingfishs]

 "And though MMPs are a good idea, you can't place them on streets"
Bugger, of course. I will still make an MMP version because often you will still be able to place them (in smaller towns when they're on grass etc), but what are the other options? Adrian you mention a street mod, how would this work? Thanks for your thoughts guys, yeah it is too orange. I will have another go, especially knowing I can make HD versions. I'll also do the NZ version. Can you post a couple more pictures (of the different ones) if you've got them. (particularly a booth version)

[dobdriver]

Here's a few more postboxesto go on with

[thingfishs]

OK, have had a bit more of a play. Dobs I have created one of those postboxes, and this sort will most certainly look at home on grass next to a road. Also I had a go at the NZ box, although what's showing in game leaves a lot to be desired. So how do I do HD versions?

   

I also thought of another addition (that will also work for the MMP version) which are the Australian road signs...

   

 

Still look average in game of course, HD advice please...

[joelyboy911]

To do HD you need the HD exporting scripts made by SimFox. I can't remember the exact location for it, but  maybe you could PM him.

[dobdriver]

is that bat4maxV2.6HD or V3? this is a link to V3

http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=1992


V2.6HD hides on the stex but but simtrop has been offline for a couple of days now.

take it easy

[Sciurus]

Very nice props, but I think you should do it in HD

Guillaume

[thingfishs]

Thanks for the info there guys, and thanks guilliaume for the compliment.

I very much intend to do them in HD. I've had a play around with bat4max but it seems I need 3ds max for it to work. There is an installation for gmax, but it seems you have to export the LODs as .3ds which gmax can't do. I read about the tempest gamepack which, in combination with something else, can make gmax export .3ds files. At this point it was enough learning. Is this what has to be done? Is there another way? I have a mate with the full program so I could take these to him, but would prefer to be able to do it all myself, any help much appreciated.




I've continued with the winery. I've rounded the tops of the tanks, as suggested by dobdriver. The white, insulated tanks actually have flat tops so I've left them. I've also added my brother's office, the portable smaller tanks and my first poor impression of some winery hoses (the red tubes).
The colours/textures on the office are odd, I'll keep playing with it. Also the smaller tanks, though they look as expected in this first shot, when view from the next angle they seem to be as high or higher than the large tanks, almost as if they were floating (I've checked to make sure the model is flat on the z axis). Is this some kind of unavoidable optical illusion or is something wrong here?

The garden is slowly taking shape. I spotted cp's excellent cherry tree in a LOT under construction by wes_janson here http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=5590.40 and though they aren't eucalyptus they look very similar to eucalyptus leucoxylon & it's variants.

       


Because these are seasonal trees though they are disappearing when summer's over. These are supposed to represent gum trees (evergreens) so I can't use the leafless version. Is there a way to make just 1 or two of the 4 seasonal versions last all year? Also I presume not, but is there any way to lower props. In the case of the "gum trees" they are still a bit tall, but if I could just lower the prop underground I could make it right. Can this be done?

[hooha47]

Hey thingfishs, the winery is really looking good.  There are some nice looking eucalyptus trees in BSC Mega Props JRJ Vol05 and BSCBATProps MattB325 Vol01.  MattB's are probably too big, but Jeroni has some smaller ones.  If you want to use the cherry tree, you would need to modify it so it's not a timed prop, or if you want to use 2 of the props, modify the timing on the 2.  I'd be happy to do that for you.  I don't believe there is a way to lower props below ground level.

Also, earlier you mentioned you had a car that was disappearing and reappearing.  This is also most likely a timed prop.  Again, you can either make it so it's not timed, or change the timing, and again, I'd be happy to do that for you. 

[thingfishs]

thanks a lot hooha  ,
really appreciate the specific pack recommendations. Thank you also for your offer to play with the timing of the props for me, and as far as the car goes, I am going to take you up on it.
The trees are an ongoing search. I looked into jeronij vol 05, which made me confront something that's been bugging me for a while. Of the 5 or so small eucalyptus models within that pack, which themselves range in size from small to large, even the smallest one is too big.



The thing that's been bugging me, I haven't done the winery to scale. To SC scale. The only measurements I used on the winery were the original width & lengths of the two main buildings. I entered this into gmax as is, and everything else has been gauged from there. I've read about the need to add about a third to game objects. Which brings me to the question.
Should I change it? I'm not going to go back and remodel the whole thing, but was thinking there might be a way to import it as a completed model and then simply increase the scale? Am I dreaming?

[joelyboy911]

I think you could leave it how it is. It looks good from here. 

[kwakelaar]

Nice small street models there.
Just to clear a few things up:
Prop families, are props attached together in a family, and you add it to your lot for a more random look. The game will choose one of the items (from that family)for each lot that is plopped or grows in game. You can make 3 different colour variations of one house, make into a prop family, even when these grow side by side on one street you still get variation.
Timed props will show up at different times, seasonal trees are made this way.
For your street furniture, it is possible to mod them into the game. The game will then use your props instead of the normal Maxis ones. I do not know how to do this though.
Changing the scale is quite easy, you can rescale in gmax before you render. What I mostly do is rescale the height somewhere between 20-33% a bit depending on the building, and how it looks compared to other buildings and to the sims in game.
When I rescale I always save my model with a new name, just in case something goes wrong or I change my mind later.
Easiest way to do it is to group everything in your model and then you can use the rescale non-uniform function.
I don't think the trees look bad, I do not know how high your building is but trees can be quite tall, 15-25 m is not uncommon.
One small thing about your tanks, I think you should darken the white texture, it is now a little too bright in game.

[dobdriver]

Hey things
the gum trees look ok, I mean I know your after the replication of your winery.
Look at it this way while your sc4 gums won't grow the winery's will, so they eventually grow into them. A  little forward planning.

I agree with kwakelaar about the white textures though, wouldn't need night lights around those vats.

take it easy
dobdriver

[thingfishs]

Hi & thanks,

Dobdriver: I hear your point, the trees in actual fact are at least as tall as those jeronij models now. The photos I've been working from are old, but it's not everyday you have a plane taking overhead photos of your business. The reason I'm inclined to trap them in time is that back then they didn't conceal all the doors on that side of the winery. (and I want to be able to see all my hard BATting work!)


I was hoping for more this sort of effect. Trees that are thicker but not so high.
I know I'm a bit of a perfectionist in this aspect but I am a horticulturally minded guy and I actually planted a lot of the garden, so I really want it to be as close as possible (but this is making the job a lot harder)

Joellyboy: Thanks, I'm a bit torn between suggestions, I may just leave it as is.

Kwakelaar: Thanks a lot for your detailed post. Cheers for the info regarding the differences between the kinds of props, I get it now. The street furniture can be modded into the game - adroman mentioned something about this, it's a concept I am excited by and will definitely be investigating further. As for changing the scale it's even easier than I dared hope. This way I can keep using real world measurements and just convert it at the end. Excellent. I hear your and dobdriver's comment about the white tanks loud and clear, and will certainly tone them down a bit.

It's time for me to look into a couple of other things as well.



Red - Customer car park
Blue - Winery workers etc
Green - Cellar staff

My questions are regarding the traffic. There are two main traffic points (the areas circled in white) the customer car park & the access point for staff/workers etc. My thinking with the LOT is to ignore the road on the right at the back - maybe just put a wall along that side of the block. So the road at the back left will need to be able to join (at least visually) a street of some sort. At the moment my textures will be wrong. How does one go about making their roads fit in with the rest of SC?
And as for the customer car park, should I include this or not? (In other words should I transit enable both or either area?)

I have also continued with the street props, this time I made a simple Australian wheelie bin which can be easily turned into whatever colour scheme, the top row being the South Australia versions. I wont bother LOTting them until I figure out the HD thing.

[wes.janson]

I have also continued with the street props, this time I made a simple Australian wheelie bin which can be easily turned into whatever colour scheme, the top row being the South Australia versions. I wont bother LOTting them until I figure out the HD thing.

I've been looking for props like these!! Here in the Metro Vancouver region, a lot of places are making it mandatory to put your garbage/recycling out in these styke of bins. I look forward to seeing these when you're done.

[thingfishs]

Hi again,

thanks wes, I'll let you know when they're done. What colour are your ones?

Arrgh... problems and more problems. I went to the winery for the first time since I've been doing this (I no longer live in Mclaren Vale, it's 50km away) and though I've seen it a thousand times, it looked different (certainly more grimy) What I've been modelling is Shottesbrooke circa 2004 or so, instead of the two rows of tanks I have used there are now four and a half rows, and my brother's office has been moved. As the concrete area wasn't really working for me anyway I decided to add at least two more rows. This is where my new problems began. The new tanks are a prop to add in the LE. This is my fourth or fifth attempt. Instead of the perfect render of tanks that came out of gmax, it comes up like this, part of some completely different building from who knows where. 

           

I thought it must be to do with the LODS so I tried refitting them again, both automatically & manually without success.

1. - Does anyone know what's going on here?
2. - Just to repeat my earlier question, how should I go about making the gravel area fit in/connect to roads/streets? (at least visually), or just any thoughts on the transport enabling aspect of this LOT.

I have also darkened the whites a bit, is it enough?

Thank you muchly

[joelyboy911]

I've had this happen. You need to create a totally new scene, and merge the model into it, save as a different (but similar, obviously) name, and then render again.