JBSimio Inc.

[calibanX]

Wow JB. The textures are fantastic. I love the foliage too. I'm excited to see this come to conclusion.

Geoff

[threestooges]

Brilliant work Jon. Might I ask how you modelled/textured the hedges (the ones with the little white flowers around the edge of the patio)? Amazing work. This will certainly have a place or two in my cities when it's ready.
-Matt

[Scarton]

That building is beautifully, majestically marvelous! Great work.  I admire those roof gardens, it is positively beautiful. You should create some parks.

[vester]

Wonderfull progress. The wall texture is a little too green for my taste.

[rushman5]

Very historical appearance. Perhaps, a little darker or more pronounced red along the top of the balcony though.

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thank you!  Now please take another breath...

Geoff:  Thanks!  It's getting ever closer...

Matt:  Thank you!  The hedges around the outer edges (heh heh... that kinda rhymed!) are modeled using the same technique I use for ivy.  Basically... they're a bunch of very small boxes scattered around within the outline of the hedge.  SimGoober actually wrote a little tutorial about this long ago... I'll have to see if I can dig it up for you.  At that point, I actually copied the same hedge... removed the middle pieces... and enlarged it just slightly.  The first hedge gets a darker texture and the copy gets a lighter one.

Citycapitalizer:  Thanks!  To be honest... I really hate modelling plants, so I don't see a lot of parks in my future. 

Vester:  Thank you!  Can you be more specific about which walls please?  I presume you don't mean either the black or the red marble... but that still leaves the lower walls (with the arched windows)... the upper walls above the arched windows... or the cream colored walls around the lightwell and roof garden.  I'm guessing you mean number two (which I'm still not completely satisfied with either), but just to be sure I'm not missing something else...

Rushman5:  Thanks!  I bet that's what I meant when I said, "I will definitely make some adjustments to the marble wall surrounding the roof garden." 

Alright... I still don't consider the texture I mentioned last night and now to Vester to be perfected, but I think it's a little better anyway.  In the meantime, I couldn't help myself and decided to light this section up before moving on to the main tower.





There are definitely some adjustments to be made here, but I'm pretty happy with it for a first try.  I'll tone down the light from the lamp posts a touch... fix some repetition behind the large arched windows... and possibly add a few lights to the darker areas of the roof garden.  I really think that should be it for this section though!     Maybe I'll actually start on the tower for real next time... but then again, who knows?!? 

JB

[Pat]

oi who knows only you Jon lol.... Any ways about the lights on the lamp post what about a more yellowish color? otherwise Jon daaaaaaaang!!!!!!!

[rushman5]

love the "there but not extreme" amount of lighting on the atrium. Its subtle and just enough to notice, but not too much. In other words, perfect!

[SimNation]

I love the way this building looks. I hope (if CXL is good) you will move on over to that game when it releases 

[Scarton]

I agree with the lighting situation, nearly perfect .

[iamgoingtoeatyou]

I love all your creations! Keep up the great work

[kimcar]

Mmm , nice baby that you have done . I find the nightlighting just perfect.  Nice choice of building too.

[benvoliothefirst]

Fantastic looking stuff, there. I really, REALLY like the nightlighting on the roof... this building is a great example of what can be done with a roof to make it exciting. No doubt about it, this building will stand out!

And thanks for the explanation... very helpful!

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thank you!  I'll come back to the lighting tweaks later... I just got ahead of myself for a minute there! 

Rushman:  Thanks!

SimNation:  Thank you!  I don't really see myself ever moving away from this game, to be honest...

Citycapitalizer:  Thanks!

Iamgoingtoeatyou:  Thank you!

Kimcar:  Thanks!  This building has been on my list for quite some time... it will be nice to finally finish it though! 

Benvoliothefirst:  Thank you!  I'm glad the stuff from the other day helped too.

So, I've spent the last couple days making more textures than I think I ever have.  This has been a tough one for me because most of those textures needed to be from scratch... never my strongest ability.  I usually have premade brick textures that I can then tweak to the right colors or whatever, but this building is mostly stone and marble faced so... I've been struggling a bit.  I've managed to get three sides done up to the 19th (I think) floor.  I'm mostly happy with it so far... a couple things to fix here and there, but all mostly minor.  Here's a look:



More to come...
JB

[tag_one]

Wonderful work Jon! Both the textures and the nightlights are wonderful. Rendered separately the small building with the garden would make an excellent CS$$$ shopping mall...

[serebii666]

Me thinks I LOVE IT! I can't wait to see this baby finished!

[Pat]

cough cough wow!!!!!!! Jon that is looking sweet me likies!!!! Even though I got my new toy now and just did a little relotting yesterday, even though playing is a different story well I too will never leave SC4 its my first love 

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JBSimio, Jack wlids here...

Trust that all is well and good for you in RL.  Exceptional texturing, -like the tweeking done on the roof    Its really coming together. 

So then, what is this building again  - didn't find the post that intro'ed this project...

...what is it, where is it, was it built for, how old is it,  why is the lobby low building built like it is, -is because its built alongside other structures and is it historical 

Its still chilly in the northwoods having had another hard freeze and another next week over the full moon, it'll be summer here eventually 

Jack

[Pat]

LoL Jack don't hold your breath too long about having summer here in the Northwoods lol hehehe well at least I aint as I am in Rhinelander 

[JBSimio]

Tag_one:  Thank you!  I'm still hoping to render this all as one building... but it is very possible that I may have to split it in two pieces.  I like your idea, but the only problem would be the two "back" sides where the buildings meet.  I don't really have any intention of going back to remodel those sides as stand alone buildings.  I suppose I could just slap a different texture on to make a mural of that wall though... 

Serebii:  Thanks!  This one has been going for so long that I frankly can't wait until it's finished either! 

Pat:  Thank you!  I've been with SimCity since the very first one came out while I was still in high school.  Sure there have been a couple affairs on the side... but they always leave me unfulfilled and I find myself crawling back to my only true love.  Thankfully, she always welcomes me home! 

Jack:  Thanks!  Things are going well here.  Summer is a bit slow to arrive here in the redwoods this year too.  It must be hot somewhere in the interior valleys, because the fog has been rolling in off the ocean every afternoon for a couple weeks now.  Definitely still sweatshirt weather in the evenings here.    I had to do some digging back to where I introduced this building, and you're right... I really never said much about it:

The Hunter-Dulin Building is an oldie from San Francisco and has been on my list for quite a while.  I figured now that I live here, I ought to go ahead and do something with it!  

So here's the rest of the story... gleaned mostly from information provided by BSC's "resident researcher," Hogmeister.  Incidently, Hogmeister is a fine example of some of the wonderful people I've gotten to actually know since joining the BSC.  We've had many conversations via MSN and he's a great guy who has sadly gone quiet again recently.  I hope he's doing well...

The Hunter-Dulin Building itself, which is the tower seen above, is in the heart of downtown San Francisco on Sutter Street at the corner of Montgomery.  It opened in 1927 and served as the west coast headquarters of NBC for the next 15 years.  At 24 stories tall, it was one of San Francisco's tallest buildings upon completion.  The steep roof is still a defining and prominent feature in the bay area skyline.

Now the second building was actually a bit more confusing.  I had originally thought it was a later addition to the Hunter-Dulin building, but in fact it was at one time another completely seperate tower.  Originally the Crocker Bank Building, it later became the administrative headquarters for Wells Fargo bank at the corner of Montgomery and Post Streets.  In 1921 the base of the building was extended north along Montgomery Street where it ultimately met up with the Hunter-Dulin Building.  The tower was remodelled (horribly) in the 1960's when original sandstone facing on the upper floors seemed to be in danger of falling away from the building.  Sometime in the 1980's... Crocker wanted to build a new tower and galleria further west on Post Street.  The city gave him air space in exchange for dismantling the upper 11 floors of the remodeled building at the original corner location.  The banking branch was then topped by a roof garden with the new tower and galleria joined to the west side of the building along Post Street.

I actually had a chance to visit this site a couple months ago.  I'm not entirely sure, but I think the galleria took the place of a former alley or narrow street, as the entire block is fairly long now.  The Hunter-Dulin building sits at the northeast corner of the block and the new Crocker Tower is on the southwest.  Between the two, running the entire length from Sutter Street (on the north) to Post Street (south) is the three storied galleria topped by a barrel vaulted skylight.  It's basically like a small urban mall with shops and a staircase to the roof garden.  The main lobbies of both the Hunter-Dulin and the Wells Fargo buildings are exquisitely decorated and both very beautiful examples of 1920's granduer.  It's one of the few "SHUR" buildings that I've actually been able to visit in person and it was really cool to be walking around on that roof garden right before I started to make my own version here.

Anyway... there's a long historical post about the real buildings.  I had kind of a lazy day yesterday, so I have nothing new to show at the moment.  I'll probably continue texturing later today when I get back home... so maybe I'll see you all again tonight!

JB