Freedo50's BAT Thread [Modelling n00b wants some help]

[freedo50]

Hi all, ive long been telling myself that i will one day get down to finally BATting something as i have so many ideas. However, i am completely useless with GMAX and have no idea where to start. I can however use Sketchup proficiently and was wondering if there is a way to export sketchup models into GMAX for rendering? Can anyone help me with this? I think i will cry with joy if someone says yes!

[freedo50]

YES!!!! You rock! 
thanks very much for the speedy reply and helpful hints, ill get started right away. I have to do something to stave off the boredom induced by studying

EDIT: A teaser of the first BAT ever by me. This will be a warehouse, that I am modelling from a picture in my head  Any suggestions?

[freedo50]

Thanks for the advice marc, i moved the topic. The columns and windows etc all have depth, so they look fine in GMAX, cos i checked last nite. Thanks for the tip about the windows too, i will get onto that and have a look at the results.

[callagrafx]

One other piece of advice for GMAX...Name and colour your objects, otherwise it can be a real nightmare keeping track of stuff in a large mesh.  Also try to name materials, but be careful as there is a bug in gmax that will blow it to desktop on occasion if you rename one.  Make sure you save before any renaming in the material editor.

[jacqulina]

looking good so far

[freedo50]

calla, when u say advice for GMAX, is that once im in GMAx or before i get there, in Sketchup?

[freedo50]

ok, so another little update before i go to bed: i restarted the whole model after some major problems with my windows on the first version. now here is the second version of the same:



and a quick version for shadowage:



So, whaddya think? Any more tips or ideas for using the space, i cant think what to do with all that wall space. I will probably get rid of some of those windows and put a nice entarnce doorway on that end i think.

[kwakelaar]

Here is an image of an old(er) warehouse from Rotterdam. Take a look and see if you can find some inspiration for your own design and how to treat the facade for this kind of buildings.

Warehouse Santos, Rotterdam, NL

[freedo50]

thanks very much kwak! thats given me some great ideas. you know i looked on google for warehouses and all i got were horrible prefab steel boxes.

EDIT: Ok guys, an update for y'all! I think im finished with the modelling on this but i would like your opinions please, four views for you today 







... and a close-up of the text above the door.



So, what thoughts do you guys have? Please share, because frankly I'll be amazed if this is truly finished (in mine and your eyes). 

[kwakelaar]

It is always quite difficult to say much about a bat before you start texturing, as the textures will make or break the finished product.
Still I have a few comments about this building as it is now:
Windows and doors can be set deeper in the wall to give more life to the facade. Above windows you can have a different material /pattern of stones for the loadbearing and/or as watershed and under windows you will have windowsills (look at the photo of Santos)
Your building has a crown but not really a base, also there is no difference from the rows of windos above the doors to the rest of the windows. For such a large facade you can easily add some more interest without being in danger of overdoing it. The crown can also do with something more.
The corner pieces seems far too small for this huge building.
The boxes in the corners on the roof, what are they?

I quite like the side with the fireescape and the loading bay, and I think you are off to a good start but there is quite a lot to do still IMO.

[freedo50]

Hey guys, I'm back on the BATpath  . I have been wanting to BAT something from RL a lot recently, and then on the train coming home today, I had an idea, I should do train stuff, because I feel there still isn't enough about. So I searched on Google, and found a fantastic site, which was absolutely what I was hoping to find. The final results of it are this model of a 1950's signalbox, modelled from the RL one at Crabtree Crossing in South-east England:











I had to use a bit of artistic license for the stuff that can't be seen in the photos, but I think I captured the essence of it pretty well. What do you guys think?

Fred

[kwakelaar]

I had to use a bit of artistic license for the stuff that can't be seen in the photos, but I think I captured the essence of it pretty well. What do you guys think?

I think so too

[HabLeUrG]

i think you can take some google earth models to sim city, thats possible but the problem is the textures...

will try marcszar idea about using rhyno  :thumbsup 

excellent work in those models! 

[freedo50]

Hi everyone! Thanks for the positive feedback.

Hableurg: What do you mean "will try marcsazr using rhyno"?

Ok I have exported the building as a .3ds and imported it into GMAX, but there are some problems:

1. Its tiny! I made it to RL size which was about 9m x 4.5m, but thats less than half a SimCity tile! It needs to be scaled up I think, but I need some advice; should I double the size of it, or should it be less/more than that?

2. Textures, I have found some great textures on the internet, but I have a problem in applying them. Because of the way that Sketchup exports the file, the main building is one big object, not 4 separate walls and a roof. This means that I can't just apply the textures to the whole object, so is there some way to apply textures to just one face of the object fro example?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Fred

[callagrafx]

Hi Fred

1. Its tiny! I made it to RL size which was about 9m x 4.5m, but thats less than half a SimCity tile! It needs to be scaled up I think, but I need some advice; should I double the size of it, or should it be less/more than that?

When you imported it, did you leave the "Convert Units" checkbox on?  Might want to try again with it checked off.  Also bear in mind that a sim is 3m tall...so adjust the scale of the building accordingly.

2. Textures, I have found some great textures on the internet, but I have a problem in applying them. Because of the way that Sketchup exports the file, the main building is one big object, not 4 separate walls and a roof. This means that I can't just apply the textures to the whole object, so is there some way to apply textures to just one face of the object fro example?

There is, but it is complicated and long winded and UV mapping is a real PITA and not even sure just how supported it is in GMAX.  Does sketchup export any other file formats other than 3ds...Autocad DXF would be a better file format, as it should retain the integrity of the elements but you will lose texture references, but that's no biggie.

Hableurg: What do you mean "will try marcsazr using rhyno"?

I think Hableurg meant he would try Marcszar's idea of using Rhino. 

[jeronij]

2. Textures, I have found some great textures on the internet, but I have a problem in applying them. Because of the way that Sketchup exports the file, the main building is one big object, not 4 separate walls and a roof. This means that I can't just apply the textures to the whole object, so is there some way to apply textures to just one face of the object fro example?

Hello Fred, you can use a multi-material object for this purpose. I think the GMAX supports this feature as well. However I have to admit that I never used this type of materials... 

[callagrafx]

Multi-textures only work if you can select the face to be textured and assign a material ID channel. I would say the model has come in as a single editable mesh and the amount of faces to assign would be unworkable, plus all the backfaces as there are windows.

[bat]

That is looking very great, freedo50

[Patriots1228]

wow freedo thats an awesome start. what program are you using?

[freedo50]

Hey Patriots, thanks. I was using Google Sketchup Pro as I find it easier to work with than Max, but it turns out that Sketchup treats its models in a really weird way, and all of the bits get joined together into one large object. This makes texturing nearly impossible when you import it back into Max for rendering  .

Fred