choco's attempts at BATing bridges

[un1]

Amazing work here! 
I wonder if I can be a tester... 

-un1

[art128]

I will say the same like Robin, can't wait to play with it ! 

[cogeo]

@cogeo:  i BAT'd some ties; 2 wooden sets, 2 metal, 2 concrete, and 2 composite.  im going to do some testing to see how they look, and ill post some pics once i get a test bridge built.  the rail texture i made looks pretty bad, so unless someone who is photoshop literate wants to lend a hand, the learning curve of texture editing will greatly delay any work for removing ballast from rail bridges....

I think I didn't say model these, I meant make textures for use with the flat track model (prop). So the development cycle would be Photoshop (or whatever) -> SC4Tool (convert to FSH) -> Test; (assigning the texture to the model needs to be done only once). That is BAT should be avoided (because of its known problems with resolution and its tendency to "lose" texture details), that's the whole point of all this.

[choco]

got the str bridge workin......kinda.....



time to get RULin.....

[Kitsune]

wow that bridge looks amazing.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Awesome bridges Choco, is just going to be HSR and EL bridges ,or are you going to have regular rail?

[BigSlark]

Amazing bridge, choco! Keep up the great work, I look forward to testing this one...

Cheers,
Kevin

[choco]

@kitsune: thanx.....its gettin there.

@nexis: thanks for the kind words and for stoppin by...    i do have a couple heavy rail bridges planned.....this bridge was made for the STR project in 3RR, and im presently exporting another undertruss bridge for regular rail.  im trying to get a light rail bridge pack together first, but i have early models for quite a few bridges that started as experiments.  there's a few new overrides that may need some models as well....

kevin: thanks again, sir!  i finally got the other 3 pieces modeled, so its at least on the horizon.....the RULs are not cooperating though....

here's another shot of the Saltash Bridge.....i found better textures for much of it; just another notch on the to-do list.....



pics of some new work comin soon'....

[un1]

Comments from the tester... 



Your bridges are very good. Some of the bridges could have better textures, but they aren't the official bridges...
When I zoom out, some of the textures don't show, such as the tracks on the GLR bridges, and EL bridges.
You are off to a good start. 

-un1

[choco]

thanx un1!   a valient first try i guess....  

i agree with you assessment as well.  most of the texturing was rather quick.....i didn't take alot of time to taylor the textures to the piece.  thats something im really going to focus on for the betas, once i get better at running an image editor.  im getting confident in the BAT/reader, but that aspect of creation is definitely a weakness. 

you identified another part im have to explore further.....the track that dont appear in the outter zooms are T21'd, so i have to tweak the properties there as well.  the list of work is becoming quite extensive   

thanks for havin a looksee  .....should be more on the way really soon....


got the rail version of the new/old hsrp bridge from awhile back started.....

[FrankU]

Choco,

Your bridges are great!
I'm really eager use them, but can wait.

[Nexis4Jersey]

OMG i'm drooling a river for your excellant bridges to cross

[choco]

@Frank & Nexis: i appreciate your kind words.  thank you again...   i'll try not to take too long..... 

here's another bridge i just started.....i didn't customize the LODs yet, so you can see what happens when the LOD is a standard box.  thru-truss LODs are a pain....



however, i found an issue that i can't figure out.  im hoping its just something i overlooked.....



the pillar piece is intended to be a mirror image of itself......however, i cannot get it to mirror no matter how i modify the bridge exemplar.  1 piece, 2 pieces, multiple and single model exemplars, single and multiple orientations.....

like above, when i get the piece to mirror correctly, it adds a third piece for some reason.  i even browsed all the bridges i have (mostly maxis) and couldn't find an answer. 

if anyone can help, i would greatly appreciate it. 

[Jonathan]

I believe you need to rename this thread from "choco's attempts at BATing bridges", to "choco BATs bridges"., see a much better suggestion by Un1 below.

Great work on all of them
Especially the STR bridge

Jonathan

[io_bg]

You're improving with every new bridge! Great work!

[un1]

I believe you need to rename this thread from "choco's attempts at BATing bridges", to "choco BATs bridges".

I think it really should be renamed "choco's Amazing/Awesome Bridges". 
They new bridges you sent me are really nice too, I will get some images soon.

-un1

[threestooges]

Yeah, I know all too well what problems the basic box LOD can cause with bridges like that. Just be careful not to make it too complex. The more polys, the more work for the game to draw and therefore the longer the bridge, the longer to draw. At any rate though, it looks great. As for the mirroring of the pillar piece, I can think of two options offhand. Model the pillar piece to encompass both angles of the frame (comes down in the middle making a V) and have the repeat piece draw the rest of it, or make a custom rul for it ensuring that the second instance of the pillar section has 'rev' in front to reverse it (though I believe you would need to specify the setup for every possible bridge length, not too tough, just takes time). Hope that makes sense, and good luck with this one.

[Pat]

daaaaang Choco that bridge is looking good and I hope you can fix that problem there... I think I got a name that fits well for you what about "Choco's Extreme Bridge Marvels!!!"

[choco]

wow y'all.....thank you......nice to see business boomin'    never imagined such a response....

@matt: i was trying to avoid doing both those, since it causes the bridge to weigh in even more.  i thought if the mirror would work, i could save an ID and about 25% of the file size.....given the sheer number of models i've produced (see below), im trying to cut any corners possible to reduce the overall size of the files.  also a reason why i made the common file.....reduce redundancy....

for alphas, they'll do.  once i get the set complete, then i'll beta them for release.  i may have spoken a bit about my intentions, but i think i finally determined what im going to do.

4 bridge packs:
- concrete pier pack w/ 2 monorail, 1 hsr, 1 ghsr, 1 glr, 1 elr, and 1 street bridge
- truss pack w/ 1 each hsr, ghsr, elr, glr, heavy elevated rail, heavy ground rail
- stayed bridge pack w/ 1 monorail, 1 elr, 1 hsr
- both str bridges (yup.....both) w/ 1 el-str and 1 ground str

if i count right, thats about 18 new bridges.  i have 9 alphas done, 6 development bridges, and 3 left to model.  insofar as getting these out the door, i will be needing to have a small discussion with some of the gatekeepers here soon to work out how to proceed with upload and release.

maybe a poll to determine which one's to release? 


anyway.....here's the early big brother of the GLR truss bridge above.....he's also suffering from a pillar mirroring problem....no textures, cause i was to lazy to finish before rendering. 


back for more soon.....

[rooker1]

 ......

They are all so great, it will be very hard to pick which ones should be released. I think you should release them all, will that be one of the choices in the poll?   

Robin