JBSimio Inc.

[JBSimio]

Yay!!!  I exported the final building this morning!   



I'll find some way to cover up the path sticking out behind the steps, nobody panic! 

Gotta go for now, but I'll catch up on replies later,

JB

[Diggis]

That looks fantastic man.  I would suggest a couple of columner English Yews to hide the path.  Something like this:

[Bluebeard]

Dang JB you really are amazing.I think a few bushes will hide the path and if you can't well I think we can overlook it.
    What happen to the Swan family?.Didn't they donate enough to the University to get there name on the list.Thanx for the update.

[JBSimio]

Now that I'm safely at work... 

Matt:  Thanks!  I meant more that the driveway picture didn't look all that different from the previous driveway shots... but point taken!   I'll keep an eye out for your new thread.  My humble advice would be to start small and plan on learning a lot as you go.  Every new project I take on teaches me something new... but I'd have given up long ago if I tried to start with something on this scale!

SC4Boy:  Thank you!  I thought that if the elementary and high schools rated translations, then a university definitely would! 

Diggis:  Thanks!  I actually had something very similar to that BATted in, and then removed it in the hopes I could get away without it.  If need be, I'll just have to put it back and render again.

Bluebeard:  Thank you!  No one ever suggested the Swan family for a university name... I'm sure the Malhoney's (I think that's the right name... I'll have to review notes now) will find their name on something eventually though.

Got some people to feed.  Next on my list is finishing up any props I need to use for the path lots.  Then it will be time to finalize all of those.  Since I still have a bit of "behind the scenes" type stuff to prepare before I can really start lotting, there may or may not be anything to see for that tonight... depends on how the evening treats me when I get home.

JB

[Bluebeard]

Rumors have it the Swan family cut a large check for the New Library but I'll have to check with the University President.
    You should be a Game Designer not feeding people.

[oldrogue]

Wonderful progress here jon....the little pink bushes on the paths are the perfect accent.  Sure looking forward to the next installment...

[simdad1957]

It's Herbert Maloney who owns the Swan Group of Companies and yes, rumour has it that the Swan Group did donate significantly to the last university endowment campaign. Now Herbert does not necessarily expect to have a building named personally after himself but he would not be adverse to having a building named "The Swan Centre" somewhere on the campus. Good advertising for the corporation!

BTW, I can't believe how quickly you came up with the driveway puzzle pieces for the campus. Excellent work! If your cooking at the camp is only half as good as your Batting skills you should be paid twice as much!

[Pat]

LoL simdad and BB you to are all to funnie hehehe.... Jon looking real good there!!!!

[rooker1]

The paths look great and it was a very good idea that you moved the lamp post to the outside corner.  Small detail, but it will look better in the end for sure.
That building looks great and as for the path , I have no worries that you have something great in mind to hide it.

Have a Happy New Year.
Robin 

[JBSimio]

Bluebeard:  The family did in fact make a pretty sizable donation recently.  It is earmarked for future construction at this point... (read "something in the next pack")

Duane:  Thank you!

Simdad: Ahh darn... I was off by one letter!    It probably comes as no surprise that I sit on a couple of the university boards, and I believe the Swan donation will be used for the "Swan Centre for Business Studies"... or something to that effect.  I'm thinking a newer classroom building to house the "school of business" but who knows what that might look like just yet.  Thank you!

Pat:  Thanks!

Robin:  Thank you!  I hope your New Year goes well too.

I worked on all the path pieces this evening.  There are now a total of 14 for this part.  I ended up making the normal sized paths even though they're repeats in a way.  I thought it would be easier to keep the campus feel that way.  Here's a look (two views of the same thing just because of the trees)





Seeing them all together like this, I saw a couple minor changes to make.  Too many of one tree and not enough of another... things like that.  The "main" prop family for these includes the notice board, trash can, bench, security phone (which didn't show up on any of them, naturally) and a news paper box.  I'm still on the fence about adding shrubs or flowers of some sort along these.  I'm afraid that if I "line" all the paths, it would be a bit too much.  Maybe just at certain corners as accents?  I don't know...

My other big question at this point (and I'm sure it will be brought up anyway) is the lamp post placement for the wider paths.  I imagine a lot of people may not like that, and it's still very much open to debate at this point.  Now, before you accuse me of being completely nuts, there is a method behind why I went and stuck them in the middle of the paths like I did.  My reason for doing it this way was to keep the spacing of the lamp posts consistent from one tile to the next.  If I put them on one side of the path, many of the wide path junctions wouldn't be able to have any lamp because of this spacing.  So that's my thought process explained... and now I'm open to any other suggestions.

JB

[Sim Shady]

  That looks like that will be a lot of spaces on the landmark or park menu.  I hope this is gonna have that menu management lot thing.

About "over-doing-it" with flora, I would just hold back, and if people really want more flora then what you have included right now, they can plop extra flora in the game.

Everything is coming along amazing! 

[cammo2003]

Simdad: Ahh darn... I was off by one letter!    It probably comes as no surprise that I sit on a couple of the university boards, and I believe the Swan donation will be used for the "Swan Centre for Business Studies"... or something to that effect.  I'm thinking a newer classroom building to house the "school of business" but who knows what that might look like just yet.  Thank you!

JB

Business studies would likely look either brutalist or modern. It'd be fairly utilitarian. Besides, you need to work out a way to include that one "ugly" building that EVERY University campus has... 

Sim Shady: I do believe that an MML set is going to be made for this, if not a menu mod thingy (Daeley's been tinkering again...)

[EDGE4194]

jon- you continue to amaze, and my anticipation is going to cause something to burst! 
I love the trees you chose for the paths, and and the color-coded orientation arrows you put on the parking lots.

[oldrogue]

Hmmmm goooood!  I would vote for the hardly any shrubs or flowers, looks good the way it is   As far as the lamposts, perfect, I would think they would be at the natural gathering and meeting points, where they would be the central feature (next to the co-eds ).

[SC4BOY]

I agree with the minimum floral decorations too.. no matter what you put in there, it will be wrong for someone's setting.. either they are too warm, too cold, etc.. similar to the "palm tree debate"

[JBSimio]

Sim Shady:  Menu management?  Hmmm... why didn't I think of that?!?    I think you're right about the flowers and I probably won't include much for this part of the set.  Thank you!

Cammo:  My imagination tells me that the business center will probably be a more modern style of some sort.  There will be some of the required ugly buildings too.  But don't lead me astray or we'll get ahead of ourselves again!  

Edge:  Thank you!  Don't burst anything now... we're finally starting to get close on this one!  

Duane:  Thanks!  While we're on the subject of central features, let's not forget about sorority row... (do I detect yet another hint of things to come?   )

SC4Boy:  Thanks!  And I agree... that sounds like the right way to go here.

Well, nothing to show at the moment.   (Stupid work anyway!)  I can say that all the driveway pieces made their way across the ocean last night for translations.  Andreas is also remaking the menu icons since I didn't quite get them right and my imaging capabilities just aren't that great.  I'll probably tackle the quad lots this evening.  Hopefully you can see those later.

JB

[calibanX]

This is just fantastic JB. Everything is top notch. I haven't posted in a while, but I've been lurking. I'm looking forward to building an awesome college campus with this. I'm already thinking about posting to a possible new forum topic... 'Show us Your College Campus!' Thank you again for this!

[JBSimio]

CalibanX:  Thanks!  I'm looking forward to seeing what other people come up with on this one myself.

Well, I got the two 5x3 quads done this evening.  Here's a look:



If anything, I think they might be a little too busy... but I'm not sure yet.  There isn't really a whole lot else to say about it at this point, so I'll move on.

Speaking of building, I thought I'd take the idea out for a mini-spin, just to see how things were coming together.  It may look a little odd since half the lots are unfinished, but it showed me a couple minor things to reconsider:



This picture does do a pretty decent job of showing the prop family in action along the paths.  The crowds disappeared just before I snapped the picture, but I realized that I have them placed way too often right now.  So I'll have to fix that either by taking them off certain lots or making another prop family to randomize whether they show up or not.  Beyond that... it's just a picture to show how things fit together.

I have a wedding to cater tomorrow, so I doubt I'll get a chance to do much here until Sunday.  Have a good evening!
JB

[threestooges]

The lots looks like they are coming together nicely. The triangular ones do look a bit busy. I would suggest thinning the trees a bit (1-2). The round, flowering bushes look out of place there. They're either too formal for the surroundings, or just that there aren't any others nearby. It's all looking pretty good though. Good luck with the wedding. Catering is always an interesting experience. I'm sure it will go well.
-Matt

[oldrogue]

Have a good time (?) catering tomorrow....would join you, but am seriously alergic to weddings ...and I am now (officially) starting to get excited about putting together a university in my capitol.....hmmmm good