Hello everyone,
I have recently started working on BATs again and wanted to share the stuff in progress. :) I posted to simtropolis, but Tage kindly let me know that this is a batter place to get feedback, so I'm posting here too.
My two projects are a randomized small firestation with five versions and a model of the demolished Singer Building that was in NYC. It was the tallest building in the world from 1908 - 1909 and was demolished in 1968 :(
I have attached a few images of each of the projects. I am doing the modeling in SketchUp and then exporting to 3ds to import to gmax.
Singer Building:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh3.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2HoM4ZHGI%2FAAAAAAAAJMs%2FvVJmwn17HZs%2Fsinger_building_elevation_hl.jpg&hash=6c1e036657ec8ca6c2a1a02044ffad01177b0ea8)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2HoU4bufI%2FAAAAAAAAJMw%2Fn4KtkUe16k0%2Frender2.JPG&hash=8a86f3ad82080cba2e884a95ef281f70fc27f39d)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh4.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2KdRt5wyI%2FAAAAAAAAJNI%2FX5Cv2V1w9yA%2Fbase.jpg&hash=8942d1c256edeb1173fb586ba881aa9126d0be3e)
And here are some pics of the firestations. I have always wished that simcity would randomize the buildings for the civic structures. I also like the idea of not creating a lot more menu clutter, so I want to do these as a randomized plop, similar to SimGoober's bus stations. I think I might like to do more civic buildings with varieties as well later on.
Please comment on these projects if possible, I want to make them as good as I can.
Thanks for looking!
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh3.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2MjqZfPgI%2FAAAAAAAAJNU%2FQoFJLHe1FHU%2Fs512%2F1.1.jpg&hash=676923d90d1fe7f7309c6d8cdf8ea998690a27fd)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh3.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2Mj7iyVhI%2FAAAAAAAAJNY%2FePTkzjOcfsg%2Fs512%2F1.2.jpg&hash=c2b95ec0196fb1eb5b84babc1abf699426dddd80)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2Mj8koMjI%2FAAAAAAAAJNc%2FCuEXMqiiWhE%2Fs512%2F1.3.jpg&hash=308e8a7aa1c36ab7821ed732a1b3f2456e16f473)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh3.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2MkNgZcnI%2FAAAAAAAAJNg%2F_XhSSyr9qDg%2Fs512%2F1.4.jpg&hash=b40bf718911fca7a52d347ebf8400e6416cf6569)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2F_Mld0OM70PcA%2FTI2MkIIDdDI%2FAAAAAAAAJNk%2FtRgZi7MlGoE%2Fs512%2F1.5.jpg&hash=4cc14380f17ae430e055d243e8139e9b60c950ea)
looks great :) You can indeed "randomize" the buildings by adding them to a prop family, using an invisible building as the building on the lot, and then adding the prop family as a prop to the lot. Im not quite sure the proper way to do it as I'm not too great with LE or LE-X but im sure someone can tell you how
OMG! These look wonderful! I cannot wait to use the Singer building! It's a shame it was only months away from being protected by that landmark protection policy, sad, sad. But, please continue you have great talent! :thumbsup: &apls
That Singer Building is indeed a beauty! :)
And welcome back, yticmic! :thumbsup:
This is looking very promising, and welcome back after all this time. :)
Wow! Fantastic work on all these bats! It's a shame the Singer building was destroyed, hopefully now it'll have a new life in SC4 ;D
It's wonderful, very good work &apls
Guillaume :thumbsup:
Wonderful! &apls I'm excited about random firestations! :thumbsup:
Nice buildings. The random fire stations are indeed a great idea!
As for comments, I'd say your fire stations textures need to be dirtied a bit. Right now, they look a bit to clean, which gives them sort of a cartoony look.
I would say it is too early to give comments on textures, the model would have to be seen at game resolutions first. But the very idea of getting back to the proper game stuff and add variety there is great one.
As for the families, I don't think there is a need to go through all that invisible building business. One can simply create building family and it's members will be randomly placed on a lot.
Zinger looks great but SketchUp is tricky that way... I mean many SketchUp renders rely a lot on outline for delivering shape visual impact. Once those outlines are gone a lot of visual impact, definition goes with them. So it is necessary to pay more attention to the textures (particularly when final exporter will be GMAX as it has terrible lighting that simply destroys detail). You would need to simply paint in the contact shadows/occlusion to help rescue the beauty of your SketchUp model.
Quote from: SimFox on September 16, 2010, 12:30:18 AM
As for the families, I don't think there is a need to go through all that invisible building business. One can simply create building family and it's members will be randomly placed on a lot.
As far as I know, building families only work for growables, so you'll have to use said invisible building and a prop family for a ploppable lot like this.
Oh, I see... Good to know
Your fire stations and Singer Building are looking great. I can't wait to see them in game.
Cheers,
Kevin