Zach's BATs

[Zacharuno]

Thanks Thingfishs. There's still a lot of work to be done. I need to redo the maps for the bricks throughout, which wont be fun, lol. But I want it to be done so I'll do it.

I actually need help with my next task. I want to add lights to the stadium. I've yet to grasp lighting in Gmax, and I've googled and search SC4D and SimTrop and I can't seem to find the answer that I'm looking for. Here's a picture of the issue:

This is a bus station that I'm making to go along with the stadium complex.





The first two are day renders, one sans lighting and one with lighting. The same goes for the second two, but at night. I also attached the front view within Gmax. As for the locations and sizes, those are far from set, but I don't want the lights on during the day, and the night lights seem to be "boring" or at least really dull compared to the lights during the day, if that makes since. The light used is a TargetSpot light. There are no other lights beyond those eight. I'm going to add in more lights, in more places, and fix several other things that I don't like and that need to be fixed, but I want to get ride of the lights during the day. How?

[thingfishs]

You need to give all your lights the prefix "nitelite" - this tells gmax that's it's only to display light at night. Then, rather than adding more lights, try increasing the strength of the ones you have currently. In can also be good to make the shade of the light not quite white. Although an omni in under the roof is also worth trying. Night lights take a bit to figure out and don't work like lights in the real world (no reflection), just take your time and experiment. You should probably add a ground layer so the light can shine off it - either in the scene itself or as a separate prop afterwards (just make sure it's under 20cm otherwise props won't be able to be placed on it).

[Zacharuno]

Thanks. I spelled the nitelite as nightlite, lol. So now it's all fixed. I've been working with different lights, omni and spot and different things. Youtube has been real helpful with understanding different aspects of the lights, I'm still working on them. Now I have a question. Here's what I have so far:



I don't like the triangles that are appearing under the lamp lights. I'm not really sure how to get rid of them. I've tried having three rows of omni's at 4,0,-4 and that was too bright. I then tried two rows at 4.-4 and that was still too bright, so now I've got just the one row, and it's okay. I'd still rather have two rows so the light comes out a little more from under the roof. When I put the lights directly behind the columns then I get a shadow from the omni even though there's a spot right above it. Does anyone have any insights on how to fix this?

[Tyler]

I LOVE the football stadium...There is a disappointing lack of fictional sporting venues available. Good work 

[SimFox]

I don't like the triangles that are appearing under the lamp lights. I'm not really sure how to get rid of them. I've tried having three rows of omni's at 4,0,-4 and that was too bright. I then tried two rows at 4.-4 and that was still too bright, so now I've got just the one row, and it's okay. I'd still rather have two rows so the light comes out a little more from under the roof. When I put the lights directly behind the columns then I get a shadow from the omni even though there's a spot right above it. Does anyone have any insights on how to fix this?

There is no way to fix it altogether in GMAX - since there are no accurate lights or shadows in that program. You could minimize the effect by having more lights with smaller multiplier. I would also recommend all lights to cast shadows.
Generally the biggest challenge is that light interception simply multiplies that effect of light and the borders of area affected are very sharp, You can tinker with decay and attenuation settings to control this issue.

And I would do something about the color of light, imho at the moment it is both too saturated and of a bit odd; poisonous hue. May be slightly warmer(redder) yellow if you want yellow light? Still the saturation should be decreased quite a bit
On the modeling side you should check the roofs over those small towers. You have wrongly applied smoothing groups on them. You should remove all and every one(smoothing group that is) to recover proper sharp corner look. Also the "side lamps" are hugely over-sized. Both the lantern and holder parts

[Zacharuno]

Tyler Thanks man. I appreciate it. Although I actually don't like that stadium at all. After much thinking and research, looking at many college stadiums, I've come to the conclusion that it just sucks and I need to start over. Which I've done. But I've set that aside for the time being.

SimFox It's an honor to have you comment on my stuff. I've tinkered with lights enough for the time being, lol. It sounds like I'll just have to get over the shadows being there or tinker some more. If I remember correctly, the lights all had shadows enabled. As for the color. Do you happen to have the RGB numbers that would produce the light you're talking about? That could be quite useful.

As for the dormer things. I don't know what you're talking about with regard to smoothing groups. I used a simple box and then edited the mesh and dropped down the edges. Would doing that somehow apply a smoothing group? The lamps, the arms do look a little awkward and large looking back at it, but the shade, looks fine to me. What size would you suggest? My opinion of it could always be changed.



Since my last post, I haven't touched the Townhouse, or the Stadium, or the Bus Station. I have however played around with another stadium. Trying some different things out, attempting to become a better BATer and planner. I tend to just start and not have a plan. Which creates issues down the road... Anyway. Here's what I'm working on now. It's far enough along to ask for help now. I 'think' the sides are all done, but the roof is where I'd like help. I'm not sure what to do with it. The roof textures are by no means permanent. I'm thinking of doing shingles on the slopped part. The building is meant to be a part of a University. At my school most buildings on campus don't have much on top. Just the occasional vent. Every building on campus is hooked up to the district heating and cooling system. So there's no need for AC units on top. That being said. I'm not sure if I should add some to the top or not.

[Aaron Graham]

Lookd nice.

[Sciurus]

Nice, I wait for more

Guillaume

[madhatter106]

Trying some different things out, attempting to become a better BATer and planner. I tend to just start and not have a plan. Which creates issues down the road...

This is part and parcel of the business of it, especially when you're just starting out.  Learn the program, learn the interface, learn different ways and approaches to doing things to get the desired result; even if the end doesn't justify sharing or uploading, the process and "probing" is what is important.  I have been BATting for three years, and I still do this occasionally - those "happy little accidents" (as painter Bob Ross used to put it) help to inform your work down the road.

At my school most buildings on campus don't have much on top. Just the occasional vent. Every building on campus is hooked up to the district heating and cooling system. So there's no need for AC units on top. That being said. I'm not sure if I should add some to the top or not.

Yeah, I think the roof is barren, and looks like it needs something - even if it's not big hvacs or ducts or anything, some form of vent or nub or something of interest.  Right now, my eye scans it and my brain says "wow, that's empty, shouldn't there be something there?"

The model is interesting, and it's a nice building.  You will need to stretch the circular detail in the pediment, because right now gmax is applying the "squish" to it (which it does to all BATs).  It will look weird in the front view, but when it goes to render, it will compensate for the squishing that gmax does.  Also, no window sills seems strange to me, in a building like this, but then I am just reacting (I haven't done the research to see if this is commonplace in this type of building).  If I were to improve on the textures present on the walls, I would add a slight gradient from the bottom stretching slightly upward, to help with the shadowing visually.

[Zacharuno]

Aaron Thanks sir.

Guillaume Thank you to you, too. I'm attempting to create something that complements JB's work. As of yet, I'm failing.

Madhatter Those "happy little accidents" need to happen more often! lol But the whole of point of me showing my work is so I can get tips to improve. From my perspective I can only get better. As you can see from the image below, I've changed up a few things, most notably the roof. I'm trying to go for a 'green' roof; that's supposed to be grass up there. I've also stretched the entire model a little bit, so that it's roughly the same height as some other buildings in game, and it doesn't appear to be awkwardly smooshed now. As for the window sills you're referring to. I also attached an image of the building I'm 'copying'. This one doesn't have any, though I'm not opposed to trying something different for the windows. As for the wall texture. If you want to do it for me then I'd be willing to retexture it, but I have no software on my laptop, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it, lol. I've attempted Photoshop in the past and I've gotten nowhere.



I've made some changes to the building, most notably the roof. I'm going for a 'green' roof, it's a bit of a cop-out, but what can I say? I've also changed the windows a little, and then I've made it taller. I'm not too sure if I like the taller aspect or not. I did this because it felt a little short before, and the detail in the pediment was being distorted. I can always restore the building and then just change the window there. I'm not sure. Something just feels wrong with the building, but I can't put my finger on it quite yet.

[Zacharuno]

I've been working on a few things, nothing too impressive as of yet. But thanks to a tutorial JBSimio posted regarding curved walls and windows. I've been trying that out to see where it takes me. I've started work on a true scale baseball field, and stadium for the game. I'm not a big baseball fan, more football, and a lot more basketball, so I could use as much help as possible from baseball fans here. I've used several different sources for inspiration on this. I'm liking it a lot, but it just seems to be missing something, and I'm not sure what. The outside looks too sad and empty.

[Aaron Graham]

Looks great, keep it up, can't wait to see more.

[supremec]

It's Beautiful  , a beautiful baseball field