JBSimio Inc.

[sebes]

Well, I can honestly say that I have understood almost none of the messages betwee my last one and now .....

Dito 

But I do know that this is going to be a great campus lot. I do agree with Vicki that the paths are too bright (they hurt the eye!)... so looking forward to find out what you will be cooking there

[SimFox]

Callagfafx, Marc:
lighting rig in GMAX (or for that matter in MAX bat) is a joke, a bad one, but I still see no way how it may be responsible for this. Simply saying that you don't know why it is and that's why it has to be lights, or saying that you have similar problems before still doesn't explain it, and neither does it point the finger at the rig.

To my eye it looks the most like  polygons (faces, normals) are missing. This could be result of many things. For instance if you forget to tick  Capping in extrusion or due to some reason even if it is capped normals get turned/flipped so that on both sides they point to the same direction. If this is a case face would be invisible. 2-sided materials don't work even then you tick them in MatEd, because script explicitly orders backface culling during the export.
So if you wanna fix it check this option as well, cause I don't believe that putting any other texture will help. If I'm correct it isn't simple dark, itis invisible - and black you see it is something behind it. And faint line is  top the edge of it.
Normals do sometimes get messes when polygons are created from splines and this have happened in MAX as well.
here is my "recreation" of the problem:


Anyway the problem is minor and the model is superb!
The only real reason to dig into it is to learn what exactly is causing it so to be prepared if the same will show up in something big...

[EDGE4194]

Wow JB- you are amazing  . Each building looks fantastic. I continue to patiently wait for this entire set. 

[Sim Shady]

hurray!  i thought you had disapeared from the BATing community JBsimio.  I had fun reading all 12 pages of your thread   Your new building looks AWESOME!!!

[JBSimio]

Oldrogue:  Trust me... I know the feeling!  There's been plenty of times I don't really understand something until I get home, open up the program and then get that, "Oh that's what they're talking about..." reaction.

Irfox:  Wow... people are just coming out of the woodwork lately!  Nice to see you.  Thanks for all the kind words.  For the brownstones, they were never intended to be completely wall to wall.  The apartment I stayed in which inspired the whole project had a sidewalk between it and the next building... so they were close, but not quite together.  That's the effect I was going for.  The "gap" ended up being a little wider than I intened because the scale I used in the beginning was off a touch, but it's close.  About the only way to make them truly wall to wall would be to arrange several onto one larger lot... much like Spa did with the set he made a while back.

Sebes:  They really hurt?  I thought they were kinda pretty... but probably not appropriate just the same.

Simfox:  Now I'm not entirely positive if I simply cloned and moved the crenelation or if I rotated it 180 degrees in the process.  I'll have to check, but if I did in fact rotate it, you might be on to something!  You're talking about modifiers that I frankly don't have a lot of experience with, so it may take some time for me to find/figure it out, but I'll go have another look.  Thanks!

Marc:  I'm told that boolean can mess with the texturing in some cases, so I rarely use it outside of making LODs.

Edge:  Thanks!  And thank goodness so many people are patient around here!   

Sim Shady:  Nice to see you again as well!  Thanks!

OK... this next shot isn't quite the finished version, but it's close.  I finally got most of the lighting done for the athletic building last night.  There are a couple places where it is too bright (the pool for example) but it gives you the general idea.  I will say this is by far the most intricate lighting scheme I've ever come up with (probably why it took three nights to do)!  Peace Church and School still holds the record for the most lights I've used, but this one just has a lot of little things going on beyond what I normally do.  Hopefully it was worth it!



JB

[rooker1]

It's absolutley worth it!  The building looks outstanding. 


Robin   

[oldrogue]

 All I can say is....see Rooker1's comment

[lrfox]

This looks fantastic. That athletic center is very realistic looking. also, wanted to try out one of these new expression faces-  ... not sure what it means, but cool

[sebes]

Great night shots!   

Forget about the hurting: it's a dutch expression that might not be translateable...

[eljacko]

This looks very cool, but I have one suggestion, about the lot.  When you finish it, could you make it BSC Parks compatible?  I know it's not actually a park, but I do think it would be helpful for those of us who make our own paths (or want to connect it to a park).

[Sim Shady]

dang! did i mention your BATing skills seem to have improved!  And your stuff was already so good.  I mean the nightlighting and glass is absolutely topnotch.  looking forwards to seeing this baby in my cities

[Fred_Ginger]

JB, I don't think that the pool lighting is too bright!   I love the blue glowing out of the front window!    I have a couple of questions though; in the picture of the front of the building (the one in the upper left quarter) the pool windows glow blue, but 2 of the three skylights glow amber/yellow.  In the upper right picture the one skylight lit is the one that's dark in the front view picture.  Is that normal?  Then in the lower left picture, the one skylight that is lit glows blue?  And the picture of the back, none of the skylights glow at all?  I'm sooooo confused!!!!!

[JBSimio]

Robin:  Thank-you!

Oldrogue: Thanks to you also!

Irfox:  Thanks!  I think the smiley means I freaked you out and you're running away... but I'm not sure either!   

Sebes:  Thanks!  The translation made perfect sense (we say it too)... I was just teasing back.

Eljacko:  Thank-you!  I'm not sure precisely what makes a lot "park compliant" but I can look into it.

Sim Shady:  Thanks!  I'm going to get shy and embarrassed if you don't stop soon!   

Vicki:  Thanks!  I did dial it down just a little, but not too much.  The different colors and light levels are caused by the viewing angle.  The blue is the pool (which doesn't take up the entire room, btw) the yellowish is the lighting for the room itself.  You see different parts of the room depending on which angle you're looking at. You might see parts of the pool, people in the bleachers watching a swim meet, or just the wall along the side (which is usually where it's darkest).  Part of the tinkering is to try and make the dark areas not so dark... but there's going to be variation either way.  I hope you're not more confused now than you were before!

Nothing to show today, but I do have good news.  The crenelations on the main school are fixed.  (Those who get nervous around BAT tech-speak should leave the room for a moment... go freshen your drink, reassure your wife that you'll only be a few more minutes, use the bathroom, whatever you need to do)  For starters, the cloned pieces were actually rotated 180 degrees from each other.  The faces were warped and actually noticable in the perspective view... although I had to zoom in and squint to see it, it was there.  I tried to find a couple of the things Simfox mentioned, but didn't really get very far.  So I just started trying things I knew.  Fortunately, one of the first things I tried worked.... which was to just add a "smooth" modifier on top of the "edit mesh" modifier.  I left auto smooth unchecked, and that was all there was to it.  Now, don't ask me why that worked or even exactly what it does, because I'm not entirely sure of either answer. I use the smooth modifier quite a bit on concrete trim to crisp up the lines better, so I thought it was worth a try.  (OK... everyone else can come back now)

I also got some of the lighting for the athletic building adjusted... couple more things to go and we should be there.

JB

[M4346]

Looking forward to the next preview!

About the BSC Park Base Texture, I'm sure you'll find some helpful information here -> Click!. I would also like it to be BSC Park compliant, if possible.

Thanks and good luck!

Marius

[oldrogue]

I want you to know that I ALWAYS leave my auto smooth unchecked....... It's so annoying otherwise!

[Fred_Ginger]

Thanks for clearing up the lighting issue, but I didn't leave the room when you told me to and got all confused again!  Fortunately I'm so old that I'll forget what I read in a few minutes!  

[JosefBrisko135]

Jon, I've missed much, your buildings I've seen thus far (haven't been able to download if there are any as I can not axcess the Exchange, however, I really enjoy them and I think you're making great progress.
I'm sure you've missed much on my BAT thread as I have 2 near completed towers and a 3rd semi completed. All inspired from you, if it weren't for you I would never have attempted the BAT and I would've never become decent at it, thanks for inspiring me.
Keep up the good work and I'm glad you didn't fall off the face of the earth.

[BarbyW]

JosefBrisko135 - you are not registered on the LEX. You need to register there separately please.

[sebes]

I didn't leave the room when you told me to and got all confused again! 

Same here.... dang, another nite without sleep thinking what the heck the guy was talking about   .

Next time I will listen better JB and stay out the BAT-talk part

[JBSimio]

M:  Thanks for the link!  Turns out, I had the right idea in mind, but it's good to know for sure.  Actually, that's the texture I've been considering for the paths lately anyway.  (I'll try to show and updated campus shot this weekend)

Oldrogue:  I'm not even sure what that means... sounds kind of dirty, though!   

Vicki:  I forgot most of what I said already too, so we're in the same boat.  Just stay on this page for a while and it will all be fine!

Jose:  Hey there!  Actually, there's been a lot of show and little to download so far, but that should be changing soon.  Get yourself registered and in on all the fun!     Sounds like I have missed some things over on your end... I'll have to go have a look sometime soon.  What a nice thing to say... you truly flatter me.  The legal team here at Monkey Around Productions also asked me to remind everyone that falling off the face of the earth could result in serious injury.  Therefore, please don't try that at home.  (I told them anyone stupid enough to try it at home deserves what they get... but as you can see, they made me say it anyway!)

Barby:  Not that your post requires a response from me... but I hate leaving people out.  So hi and welcome to the thread! 

Sebes:  You guys sound exactly like my employees!  "I know you said to do this... but I didn't listen and now I'm not sure how to fix it!"   

Even though I tried to warn everyone, I feel bad for confusing the likes of Sebes or Vicki.  So... here are some pictures that people can just look at with no thinking involved (if that's what you prefer).

I moved back to the main academic building and put some roof junk on top.  I also started on the lighting.  There is still quite a bit to do, but here is where things stand today.  (The ivy will be the last thing... so don't concern yourself with that just yet)

   

That's all for now... talk to you later!
JB