JB School Packs - Because school shouldn't be boring!

[wes.janson]

My old highschool had two gyms as well, one for the girls and one for the boys. The second story had a 200m indoor track running around both gyms. Needless to say, whenever we ran around the girls gym we all ran a bit slower.

[allan_kuan1992]

Hmm... floor plans... here we go xD

Attached below is my proposed symmetrical floor plan. Feel free to maybe make an adaptation of the school with this design...

- Allan Kuan

[XiahouDun]

My old highschool had two gyms as well

3 Gyms, a pool, and a weight room

[allan_kuan1992]

lucky... we don't have a pool xD

but enough off-topic i think xD

- Allan Kuan

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JBSimio,  Jack wilds here... I've been a fan of your work for some time now and figured that with the anticipated release of the next school pack I'd chime and give my kudos  on all the good work. 

The attention to detail and quality is amazing, you'll have to have a a few webcast classes to share your methods and 'tricks' to getting such cool looking properties.  The means to creating the layering to getting such textures that appear to have a depth to 'em -really cool.  I also like the nostalgic-aged appearance of the structures too. 

The next pack looks very promising... I'd keep the Novak elementary as is, just add some detail and texture here and there... the concern about the right side vs the left... I think it makes since with this type of structure and its design, it lends to its architectural and depth characteristics.  Besides there is school here in the valley similar in appearance so its not an odd thing, there is precedent.

I was looking at the other JBSimio pages(?) and saw a 'component-ized' college with dorms and instruction halls, plus there is bus housing-parking facilities... what ever became of these projects?  are they available?

See you the halls of campus...

Jack

[JBSimio]

Arthur:  Thank you!  I'll be looking for it...

Andreas:  Thanks!  But you've always been good at "reading" these as I recall.  Yes, the gym is definitely too small for reality... but, as you also pointed out, some of these things are just dictated by the game.  I really think at this point that anyone who is adamant about realistic and consistent scale recreations should probably just stop playing this game and consider model railroading instead.     I keep getting comments about these outbuilding gyms... and yet I've only seen a few pictures of them.  I still have never been to a school with that arrangement anywhere.  I guess it's one of those things that just doesn't happen in the upper midwest (maybe due to the winters?)... I don't know.

Paul:  Thank you!  I guess I need to get these finished up so I can start seeing them in MDs sooner! 

Allan_kuan:  Small gym... already covered that part... and since this is indeed an elementary school, apparently it's all OK then. 

Wes.janson:  Geez... my high school had (well, still has actually) one gym with a mezzanine!

Xiahoudun:  Wow... no pool either, although we did have a weight room.   

Allan_kuan:  I appreciate the thought, but if I had really wanted to make the back squared off and symmetrical, I wouldn't have spent as much time making what I made.

Jack_wilds:  Thank you for all your kind words!  I don't really see myself doing any webcasts anytime soon though.    Just to clarify, none of the wall textures have been added to John Novak Elementary yet... in fact the only textures that are there so far would be the glass, window frames, and the sloped roof sections.  The University of Clayhurst is available on the LEX DVD right now (and will be uploaded publicly sometime in the future, although I haven't decided for certain when).  The bus garages that you mentioned are part of an add on pack which also included some (American) football fields, and a few other things.  I never really finished that one and I'm not even sure where it might be at the moment.  I'd have to look around, find it, and try to remember what still needs to be done with it.

I haven't had a whole lot of time for these in the past week, but things are progressing.  The big hold up at the moment on Novak is really its design.  Because of the angles I used and the way I made them, I actually need to light this building before  I take it all apart and start texturing it.  Then, after it's textured, I need to go back and adjust all the lights to compensate for the actual textures.  (Usually I texture everything and then do the lighting as the absolute last step)  Anyway, I have gotten a start on the lighting... but there just isn't anything worth showing until the textures are on and the lights are actually finished.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get an update here sometime in the middle of the week.  In the meantime, I just wanted to pop in lest people start to think I'd gone off on some kind of unauthorised vacation. 

JB

[Andreas]

I keep getting comments about these outbuilding gyms... and yet I've only seen a few pictures of them.  I still have never been to a school with that arrangement anywhere.  I guess it's one of those things that just doesn't happen in the upper midwest (maybe due to the winters?)... I don't know.

Well, this is just what I am used when I went to school, and it's certainly not a standard, since it always depends on the actual location. I made two screenshots of my former schools in Google Earth and commented them, so you might get an idea. The first screenshot shows my elementary school, located in a village of about 2500 residents.



As you can see, there's also a kindergarten right next to it, and the soccer field is used by the local soccer club. When I went to school there, we also used it for some sports, but these days, there's a fence around it. I assume the gym teacher has a key for the doors, though. The school gym on the left was built after my time there, so I always went to the old gym at the bottom of the pic, which was also used as multipurpose room for the local gymnastics club, the community, for exhibitions and more. Today, most, if not all sports activities were relocated to the new gym, which is also used by the local clubs now. BTW, my old home where I grew up is on the pic as well, just right of the kindergarten. Man, was that great to go just across the street for school.

The next pic shows my old Gymnasium (one of the school types after elementary school in Germany, not to be confused with "gym" as in "gymnastics", but similar to high school). The lot is actually used by all three school types, the Hauptschule (lower secondary school), the Realschule (more advanced than Hauptschule) and Gymnasium (grammar school; most advanced of all three school types). There's no fence in between the lot, so don't be confused by the colored lines - I just added them to show the different school yards and such.



As you can see, the gyms (labeled "Sports") are not connected to the school buildings, except for the Hauptschule (to a certain degree). The gym for the Hauptschule is rather new, and it's also used by local sports clubs, as far as I know (the same goes for the Realschule gym). The local soccer club stadium is located a bit north, across the river (not shown in the pic), which also features facilities for athletics and such.

[Diggis]

We have a similar arrangement back home too.  This is my old school.  In NZ, in the rural areas we have Area Schools.  They go from age 5 to age 18 and draw from the surrounding community.



It's not too clear, but the red is the primary school classes, except for the centre of the upper left one, which is Admin.
The green is the intermediate classes (ages 11-12ish) and the blue is the secondary school.  A lot of the blue classes are multi aged.  There is the Art Room, Science Lab, Home Ecomnics and Wood work classes in there.

The school functions very much as a focus for the community (the pub is over the road so you can drive in with the kids, leave at the pool and get smashed  ) and a lot of the 'school' buildings are owned jointly with the community.  The Gym, community room and pool are all like this.  The squash Courts and tennis club rooms are owned by the clubs I think, but the school have some access to them.

If you get bored of doing traditional american schools let me know and I can supply photos.  I would love to see this in game.  (and yes I know you can't do mixed age schools but there is a good break to the school so it's not a big issue.

[JBSimio]

Thank you both for showing those... it's very interesting.  To me, these are set up more like full fledged campuses which is pretty unusual, at least to me.  I've seen similar arrangements beginning at the high school level, but rarely (if ever) in the elementary schools.  But there again, this is just based on what I've seen, and I'll be the first to admit that my list of palces visited is pretty limited.  While I've been to a fair number of different schools, most of them have been in the upper midwest... or an area that only covers 4-5 states.

Well... I finally had enough time to get John Novak Elementary lit up and textured.  This is a first pass on both so there are a number of things that will definitely change, but I'm also looking for feedback on the things I may have missed at this point.  First, a look at the daytime views...









For starters, I know that the bricks are definitely too small and don't show up very well... so I'll make those bigger.  I already fixed the piece of roof trim I missed on the gym.      I'm wondering if the plaster and/or roof textures are maybe a bit too dark?  It's supposed to be a newer school, so I don't want it to be too weathered... but I don't want it to be so clean it looks like a cartoon either.  So I'm not entirely sure about the brightness levels just yet.  I'm also still a bit undecided about the little logo on the back.  (I didn't put it on the gym wall because I figured that was so close to the loading dock, it would probably be more of an out-of-sight area anyway.)  I'm not sure if maybe I just need to clean it up a bit more and paint it in a different color... or maybe just get rid of the idea all together.   









For the most part, I'm pretty happy with the lighting.  I need to get the upper window over the front entry to light up better and fix a couple spots where the light spills a bit too much (like near the back entry)... but I think that's about it as far as I can tell.

Depending on what I end up doing tomorrow, I may have time to take a second pass at all of this before another group arrives and keeps me at work for too long.    But if not, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it in your part of the world)... or just a great day tomorrow!

JB

[wes.janson]

Wow.. this is looking quite fantastic. I love the green roof texture, it works really well with the colour of the bricks.

[threestooges]

I think the plaster and roof textures look fine as they are. I've seen a number of buildings that look like that and they are fairly new too. I think some exterior lighting at the front to light up the cental section might be neat (if not a bit impractical/luxurious). Not sure about the logo, but it is a nice detail. Quite an impressive building.
-Matt

[tag_one]

Wonderful building Jon

[tooheys]

JB, that's looking pretty damn good.    That green roof just screams school, what is it with that colour. I think you could find a school in any country in the world with a roof that colour. Must have a suppresive value   

Dave

[FrankU]

Great school here. Very nice.
And the green roof: my guess is that it is copper.

[Diggis]

And the green roof: my guess is that it is copper.

Nope. as copper is.. well... copper coloured when new.  It doesn't go green till it's aged some. 

[Pat]

Jon wow looking very good!!!!

[art128]

very excellent school, as always, great work 

[Vandy]

Hello, Jon.

It has been quite some time since I've had the pleasure of commenting on a JBSimio work of art.  Your latest "school" building is beyond beautiful and pratical.  It has entered the world of master arts.  Jon, I am so impressed with this beautiful model you've created.  it is going to be such a joy to use it.

Thank you so very much for sharing your talents with the SimCity Community.  You are truly an artist.

Regards,

Gary (Vandy)

[JBSimio]

Wes.janson:  Thank you!

Matt:  Thanks!  I tinkered with some flood lights aimed at the main entry, but I didn't like the look much... so I just made the necessary adjustments to the lighting in that area and moved on.

Tag_one:  Thank you!

Dave:  Thanks!  I don't know why green seems to be such a common trim color for schools... but I've noticed that as well.

FrankU:  Thank you!  Not copper (although admittedly the texture is very close to the one I use for aged copper), just that nifty metal roofing.

Shaun:  Yeah... what you said 

Pat:  Thanks!

Arthur:  Thank you!

Gary:  So nice to see you around again!  I hope all is well.  Thank you for such kind words and thoughts!

Alright... I made a bunch of small adjustments here and there.  Fixed the bricks... fixed the lights that I didn't like... added a few more things here and there... and whatever else I did.  I'm also including a look at two color ideas for the logo in the hopes that I can decide which one to use.





And now I have to get going before I burn the turkey that I'm not cooking for the huge Thanksgiving feast that I'm not preparing... 

JB

[Pat]

Jon whats that I smell did you burn that bird that you wasnt cooking lol hehehehehe.... OK my honest thoughts here Jon and well not that often I give it but the color in the logo in the circled version is soo much better then one you have on the full version... I believe it looks like a brownish version in the circle right? If that is the case it gives off the right feel of the building and matches the brickes honestly... OK enough of my babbling see you in Waterfalls lol...