Spa's Atlantic Retreat

[spa]

haha nothing so elaborate as that Matt. These are just photoshopped. I did a preview render for each to get the usual building on a black background shot that gmax presents. I then took the image and dropped it over top of a screenshot of the yellow one on the lot I made (the yellow version was actually rendered) and voila, pink, green, brown, blue and red in game

[spa]

Well as mentioned earlier, I have another bunch of old time Maritime residential buildings underway (started over Christmas). They're a set of duplexes from Church Street in Halifax's South End (just around the corner from me actually). Here's some pics of the real things to give you a sense of what I'm making.









I really like them. They're nice and colourful, have some great little details but don't scream for attention, and have been generally well maintained (a few exceptions of course). These bunch are all clustered aroung the intersection of Church and Harvey Street, but the style is a little more widespread. I have noticed a few of these on other streets in the South End, up near Spring Garden Road and even across the harbour in Downtown Dartmouth. In a particularly Halifax type quirk, they're detached. A lot of Halifax's older neighbourhoods that have survived had density without rowhouses. Very thin gaps were left between buildings that today, where wide enough, have been turned into a place to stash the family car.

Anyway, here's what I have done:

I'm planning 6 different variations. Just the yellow finished so far, but I'm planning to retexture the model to make a red version. I'm done modeling the green version and I'm still working on the models of the others. These will be almost wall-to-wall like Don Miguels Multi-family homes. Anyway, more to come (likely after the weekend).

[girlfromverona]

Those duplexes are beautiful! Good job. 

[Orange_o_]

good bat  but I think that the roof is much plane

[simdad1957]

Well as mentioned earlier, I have another bunch of old time Maritime residential buildings underway (started over Christmas). They're a set of duplexes from Church Street in Halifax's South End I really like them. They're nice and colourful, have some great little details but don't scream for attention, and have been generally well maintained (a few exceptions of course). These bunch are all clustered aroung the intersection of Church and Harvey Street, but the style is a little more widespread. I have noticed a few of these on other streets in the South End, up near Spring Garden Road and even across the harbour in Downtown Dartmouth. In a particularly Halifax type quirk, they're detached. A lot of Halifax's older neighbourhoods that have survived had density without rowhouses. Very thin gaps were left between buildings that today, where wide enough, have been turned into a place to stash the family car.

Yes, I'm familiar with these Halifax "driveways"; there's lots of room for the car, as long as you don't try to open the car door to get out! 

[Howling]

Wow Spa, I cannot - I stretch cannot - wait for all the buildings from the past pages to be released! Those W2W city buildings - i'm aching for them. As always, your bats are class 1 in realism. 

[spa]

GirlfromVerona: Thanks
Orange: Point taken. I ended up lifting the roofs a tiny bit, adding a gradient and putting on a few more small vents. They're still pretty minimalist but they're just duplexes after all so I wouldn't want to put too much up there.
Simdad: Yeah they can be a challenge. Open the door and crunch, new paint needed for your car and house! A lot of people have to park on the street which is causing a lot of trouble right now. The winter parking ban is back so overnight parking is banned again in Halifax until Spring, regardless of whether or not it's snowing. Seems a tad much to me.
Howling: Don't worry they're coming soon! I'm just going to finish up the Imperial Theater so that I have a full batch of 7 commercial buildings. Thanks for the kind words.

I have been fairly occupied as of late and haven't been spending much time batting. I have done some texturing though on the other Church Street apartments. If you don't like yellow they now come in green and red and are in game on a lot. Check them out.

I really like the green one! They're a building family so all of them will appear on the 3-4 different lots I make to add variety. The trees in back are a prop families so, as you can see, they randomly change too. I'm now about halfway done the set. There are still 3 more to come, but they'll be plainer in style. The brown and blue one I posted earlier, plus one more variation. I do have one thing for your consideration though. The Church Street apartments ended up being small enough to squeeze on a 1x1 so I tried them out to see how they would fit. Below is the result.

In general, they work, but there is a small problem with the rear steps. They end practically on the fence and there is no room to do anything about that. So how dumb does that look? Can I get away with it or should I just junk the 1x1s and leave them all as 1x2s?

[simdad1957]

I would say 1x2 is preferable. Knowing how these houses are really lotted in Halifax (I used to live in one), they almost always had a deep backyard to compensate for the dense street frontage.

If you do choose to keep a 1x1 option, I would lose the picket fence. It just looks weird. Why would you have a fence when you don't have a backyard? 

[metasmurf]

I would say 1x2 is preferable. Knowing how these houses are really lotted in Halifax (I used to live in one), they almost always had a deep backyard to compensate for the dense street frontage.

If you do choose to keep a 1x1 option, I would lose the picket fence. It just looks weird. Why would you have a fence when you don't have a backyard? 

I agree. 1x2 would do Wonderful buildings by the way!

[Howling]

1x2, definitely.They're looking maginificent!

[rushman5]

I agree completely with simdad on the 1x1 issue.

I also thing that you should make some 1x3 or 1x2s with that parking space between the buildings someone mentioned before.  Perhaps a 2x2 version that works like that would be very reasonable IMO.

[threestooges]

I would say that, if you intend to keep the 1x1 (neat to see a large building for a small lot every once in a while, and this is one of those times) I would see if you could mess with the occupant size parameters and has it extend on to the sidewalk just a wee bit more to give some bit of a backyard. I like the 1x2s. Big trees in the backyard. They fit the lot though, and balance out the bulk of the house. Nicely done.
-Matt

[rooker1]

I'm going to agree with Matt on this one.  I like the 1x1, maybe you could get rid of the picket fence, make the base texture concrete or pavement.  And if there was a way to move the model forwards some how, it might make a great LOT for crowded cities.  That would be my prefrence for the 1x1.
The 1x2 looks great just the way it is.

Robin 

[fantnet]

Meta: I didn't end up hitting on that colour but I have four others besides the pink and yellow. That building is definitely not like anything around Atlantic Canada
Tag: Thanks
JB: I toned down the pink just the tiniest bit

So I have 4 other colour variations to add to the mix.

I think of the new batch the brown and green are my favourite. I'm planning to mirror 3 of the alternate colours and leave the rest as is. I'll then make two building families (one for the 3 mirrored and one for the 3 unmirrored) to maximize the variety on the lots. At this point, I think they're pretty much ready for the render.

Nice! :

[spa]

Simdad: I agree the 1x2s are the best fit. I have kept the 1x1s, but I took your advice and ditched the fences.
Metasmurf: Done and thanks.
Howling: Thanks
Rushman: They're now gone. I had a request for 1x3s from the bsc crew so I'll make a few lots. I actually tried to put a parking space between the building's, but they don't fit. I don't think it's really worth it to make some props just to have a version parking.
Matt: Not a bad idea, but the 1x1s also have to line up with, or at least come close to, the property line of the other buildings. So I don't want to edge the 1x1s any further forward. Check out the picture below of 1x1s on the corner alongside the 1x2s and you'll see what I mean.
Robin: Thanks. I have kept the 1x1s, but I removed the fences and made corner versions. I think they work better now.
Fantnet: Thanks. Dundas Terrace was a beastly model so I'm glad you like the results.

The yellow, green and red Church Street Apartments were lonely so I added 3 more variations, a blue, a beige and a brown. Check them out.



I think it works fairly well. The beige and blue are plainer than the rest, which I think mixes things up nicely. You can see the difference in setback for the 1x1s and 1x2s. It would be nice if they lined up a little more but there just isn't the room and I would rather the 1x2s were consistent with other rowhomes. The 1x1s will either fill a streatch by themselves or will fill in the corners so I don't think it's a big deal to have them a little closer to the street than the rest.

And at night

Unless there are any last minute suggestions I think they're finished.

[rushman5]

The only thing is that the yellow one looks backwards.  But then it looks correct at the same time.  I dunno, maybe I'll take that one out my plugins folder. I looove that green one, and very nice lots BTW; they fit in well with CP's lots. One detail I've noticed is the slight encroachment in the front of the house on the 1x1s; I really like it too!!!  I suggest you make these as medium density buildings, low density will looks very out of place Congrats on your Trixie at some other unheard of site 

-sean

[threestooges]

I see what you mean about having the fronts line up. I think it turned out quite well, especially with the corner lots. Good call on that one. The additional gray and blue versions are also good to have. You seem to produce these things so effortlessly. Any trick to it for us aspiriing BATters, or is it just repetition, repetition, repetition? Either way, this place is always a source for inspiration (and good buildings to play with too).
-Matt

[SimNation]

These look fantastic man. I cannot wait to get my hands on these. Also Congrats on your Trixie Award over at Stex.

[iamgoingtoeatyou]

Nice homes! They remind me a little bit of San Francisco

[c.p.]

Nice. I like the way they sort of emerge from the trees in the back (like in the first picture).