choco's attempts at BATing bridges

[choco]

well, ya hit on a couple things i was pondering as well....

to learn the BAT, i grabbed some pics of bridges with varying geometries to give myself a goal....thus forcing myself to explore the various tools to accomplish something.  i do realize this is not a rail bridge, and was considering what to do about the model in the end.  i have been building on the Amazon region with an extensive rail network, and much to my chagrin, found the selection of light rail bridges, well...non-existant.  kinda the inspiration to pick up the BAT, but i think i get your point. 

regarding the model, a pic will help.  you can overextend the 16x16 rule for pieces in the width of the bridge (x-axis in BAT) by about 4 meters (tiles) without causing graphic problems., but you cannot be larger than 16 meters in length (y).  these limits are the red and blue lines respectively.  jeronij posted about this a bit more here.   to keep the proper proportion for the rail, that was as large as i could go.  otherwise, to make it accommodate a 2-tile network, it could be cut in the middle and flipped since this bridge has good symmetry.  i wrongly thought it'd take another ID.         



something else i am facing is the complex LODs....you can see what they do to the props.  same happens on the rio model.  it makes all the pieces have higher poly counts in the end. 



i see that autovino made a tutorial for the antialiasing, thats quite a bit of work.  one set of cables already weighed in at 132kb....how much more would it add?  if someone has Max and wants to have a go, thats great!

how do you add a cone?  T21, or in the model?

     

[choco]

couple more in preliminary design....

ghsr truss bridge


hsr truss bridge

[Toichus Maximus]

those truss bridges are awesome!

[choco]

thanks TM!

im starting to get this BAT figured out....when i made my first 4 bridges, i didn't even know what a spline was.  multi-materials....modifiers.....mesh's....compounds.....i only used boxes and planes for the first few.   thus, unfortunately, i need to go back an revisit all my previous work to get it anywhere close to release.  i may hire my gf as a texture artist.....

not to let the cat outta the bag, but i have 11 bridges functionally working, but all need re-textured and some select re-modeling to correct visual glitches that i was unaware of solutions for.  The 4 that have been submitted are full of LODing faults, but im getting there.  i think i bit off a bit more than i can chew....

[scottott999]

Wonderful Stuff! Are all 11l rail bridges?

[nerdly_dood]

Wow! Those are excellent! Good luck fixing the bugs

[choco]

most, not all, are meant for light rail.

the original intent of this project is nothing more than to add a few options for light rail bridges for a bit of flavor and variety, that is really lacking with these networks.  having been following a few other development threads, i realized that there will be other areas to address as well.  so i broadened the scope of this project to include some other networks as well.  more about that later.....

to date, i have only been working with rail; ELR, GLR, Monorail, HSR, and GHSR (my very first BAT, which was a street bridge, and my latest, which im still modeling).  these networks have a fundamental similarity in the modding of the bridge files, so i am keeping the scope of my work to these 5 networks at this time.  ultimately, i would like to have 3 unique bridge models per network, arriving at 15 separate bridges.  these could then be further modded to work with other networks.  there is still one technical challenge that needs to be ironed out, otherwise, 3 models i have created would be useless. 

so yeah.....basically, this is all about light rail bridges.  trying to create a nice variety of concrete and truss bridges.  unfortunately, im only getting very limited feedback from very few folks, so im not quite sure whether or not all the toiling will be worth it. 


i do appreciate the kind words!  if you have any suggestions, requests, or comments on the work, please feel free.  i welcome the criticism.      

[sim-al2]

Oh, yes, I certainly like more variety in the rail-type networks, because there never seems to be quite the right bridge for a particular spot, especially when flat plains meet a river.
With the GHSR, I think there's too much tiling on the piers; the HSR, I have no idea what our going for, but the textures don't seem compitable i.e. brick with concrete and painted steel...

[superhands]

choco, i think your work is well worth it

[FrankU]

Yes, great work!

[BigSlark]

Your work is great, I tested your first three Light Rail bridges and I'm very impressed. Keep up the good work, you're improving with each model and I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

Cheers,
Kevin

[choco]

thanks all!!  getting closer....

something i wanted to pose to y'all....

there's a difference during construction preview of the track model with some of these bridges.  didn't know if anyone was opposed to leaving them as such, or if there's a way to get T21's to preview.  if i am missing something here, i would love to fix all the props before releasing them.  thoughts?


made some progress on the RUL thanks to Tarkus help.  complex light rail bridges on the horizon...

[Swamper77]

There isn't a way to show the props placed by a T21 in a preview, as you are asking for. I know of a way to add the monorail tracks to your bridge models. Drop me a PM if you want it done. And, no, it will not require you to re-render your models.

-Swamper

[choco]

^^^^
YGPM

i have been thinking about how to package these bridges, and would like some input as to the best method.  all my rail bridges use the maxis tracks as props.  currently, there is a prop exemplar in each bridge for this purpose.  it could just as easily be done to consolidate all the prop exemplars into an "essential" file.   considering im sitting on about 15 bridges in this project, it may make a difference in the end.  dunno.....one benefit is that anyone else that chooses to build a bridge in this method could use the bridge essential file rather than make new prop exemplars.  thoughts? 


and another thing.....
here's a pic of an old revision of a glr bridge.....i wasn't quite sure about the glass roof, but i just wanted to show it to see what anyone might think.

[rooker1]

A GLR Bridge, this is fantastic. 
Might you be able to do an elevated version as well?
This bridge looks awesome and I am so glad that there are a few members making them again.

Robin 

[choco]

thanks rooker1!

you do bring up a good point, and it was something i considered when re-writing the scope of this little project.  at this point, i am doing a unique bridge for every network....ie, the glr bridge above (which i dont actually have anymore) would only be a glr bridge.  however, its very easy to convert bridges of the same network to its ground/elevated counterpart......which, i may do later on if there is a demand.  i have no idea (other than threestooges) who else is making bridges, so im trying to leave ample room in the NAM for other peoples works as well.

ill talk it over with the NAM team and see how they feel about it though.....currently, i have 3 bridges complete.....and 10 in various stages of BAting (yup, i started 2 more  ).

thanks for checking in....more updates in the near future, so stay tuned.  im working in Taiwan this week, so i have alot of downtime in the hotel.

[Kitsune]

and another thing.....
here's a pic of an old revision of a glr bridge.....i wasn't quite sure about the glass roof, but i just wanted to show it to see what anyone might think.

I like that a lot, allows for a subway to stay covered while crossing above a body of water.

[choco]

^^^hmmm....never thought of that.  maybe i'll redo that one with a cover.....a bit of variety per say....

thanks for the input.


so after i got done with a scooter tour of Hsinchu City, Taiwan, i had ample time to sit an BAT.  my mouse hand is killing me, but im fairly pleased with the results.  since i haven't posted it here, i thought i'd post a preview of an STR bridge....

i give you, the untextured Saltash Bridge.



hope y'all like it.... 

[Meastro444]

Amazing!

i hope it has the same colorscheme as you have made it now, it looks awesome!

[sim-al2]

yah, it actually looks really great without any textures! I wonder what it will look like with textures?