JBSimio Inc.

[oldrogue]

Hey Jon...Look who's back.....it's been a long year, but am feeling better....just wanted to say hello to you first...now will go and spend a whole lot of time seeing what you've been up to

Hope your world is going smooooooooth

Duane

[JBSimio]

Mom:  Fireworks probably would have been a pretty cool idea... but then Dad would just complain about the noise anyway! 

Pat:  Thank you, my friend!  I hope you're summer is going well in the northwoods.

Joan:  Thank you!  It was definitely a long wait... I think I need to quit trying to outdo myself for a while. 

Jack:  Thanks!  There are times where it would probably be nice to have that extra zoom for some of these buildings... but then I wouldn't be able to cheat on some of the details as easily either.  I'm not sure about the technical term for "roof fence"... crenelation, or something like that, maybe?     I was never very happy with night views in general until I got Gizmo's night mod last year.  Most of my lighting is now geared towards that, to be honest.

Kimcar:  Thank you!  I'm glad you like it.

Duane:  So nice to see you back!  I hope things are going well for you... and have fun catching up! 

Still tinkering with the FAB lots a little bit.  I just realized that I never updated the first building I showed... so I'll have to come back to that one.  In the meantime, I made another one that looks something like this:



It's not quite finished yet, and there are a few tweaks needed here and there... but you get the idea.  I borrowed another original Smalltown, USA facade (Hamilton's Jewelry) and then made the other storefront based off of a corner grocery store here in Occidental.  This will actually be a 2x2... I'm thinking ahead to corner lots.  More on that next time!  I just didn't want people to think I'd left all together... 

JB

[meinhosen]

That's some nice work JB.  I'll be looking forward to seeing these on the roadfront.

[SimGoober]

Nice work, and interesting concept. I especially like the roof on the taller unit; very realistic, and unique.

[JBSimio]

Meinhosen:  Thanks!  I'll be playing with these off and on when I need a break from the bigger projects. 

SimGoober:  Thank you!  The upper roof is a texture from Jestarr which I really like.

Speaking of interesting concepts...

While in France last week, there were some small shops that got me thinking.  They were built into a hill, and while the "front" of the shop might have been 3-4 stories tall, by the time we got around the switchback to the other side, the same building had another entrance in "back" on what would now be the top floor of the building.  Shaun (Diggis) and I got to brainstorming and decided this was certainly a doable idea and might be a fun little thing to have.  So... here's a quick little proof of concept test:



Obviously, there are a couple glitches and things that need fine tuning.  But the idea seems to work out pretty well.  These are basically done by using the 15 meter hole digger lots to get a proper alignment.  Then it's just a matter of overhanging lots and other nifty little tricks to bend the game to my will.     So what do you think?  Would anyone else be interested in such a thing?

JB

[M4346]

Would anyone else be interested in such a thing?

Oh yes, definitely! Especially if one can have multiple colours and styles in a neat little row!   

'

[thundercrack83]

Not only do you put together some of the greatest BATs known to the community, but now you're putting together some of the most cutting edge concepts known to the community, as well!

You put new meaning to the word "pioneer," Jon! Excellent work, my friend!

Dustin

[metasmurf]

I think it's a great idea and I would love to see lots of buildings like that 

[jmdude1]

i would love to see more buildings like that. ive often thought of this myself but ive never tried making a bat before. 
they would look great when building on slopes. excellent work!

[metarvo]

I have seen split-level buildings in the U.S. as well, so this is a welcome development.  Nice work, Jon! 

[projectadam]

Not only am I interested, I AM PUMPED for the lot. I was actually just thinking about this concept for waterfront lots. Sometimes you do not have the room for a road to be level with a waterfront lot and I was thinking it would be great if the building could be multiple stories with the front of the lot connected to the road at around 265.5m (I believe that 250.5m is the height that most water lots are placed) but the backside is level to the sea level. I am thinking about restaurants mostly that usually have an outside deck kind of like the ones below (not the best picture but somewhat illustrates the idea) and I know I have come across these kind of lots all along downtown Chicago (not the ones shown below but the ones I am describing).

[Leodido]

Nice work, I like the house with different height of entrance.

[io_bg]

That's a cool idea, I've seen such a building in my country.

[beutelschlurf]

moin JBSimio,

i looks like a good idea to me, having such buildings, allthought there don't seem to fit in my cities ... still think for european villages it's a great thing to have!

cheers
b_schlurf

[Scarton]

This looks like an interesting and unusual development. How about a 5 or 10 pack of these buildings with both residential & commercial?

[tag_one]

Looks very promising Jon! Now if we could only have these on a 1x1 lot... 

[Diggis]

We were considering ways of doing that.... something like having the min/max slopes being the same.  It's worth experimenting with.  We discussed this last week, as I have started work a similar idea for deep canals. 

[JBSimio]

M:  Well of course there will be different colors and shapes!  When was the last time you saw me do just one of anything?!? 

Dustin:  Oh my... thank you!  I'm not sure about pioneer or cutting edge, but I'm glad you like the idea, my friend!

Metasmurf:  Thank you!

Jmdude:  Thanks!

Metarvo:  Thank you as well!

Projectadam:  Thanks!  My thinking hadn't progressed as far as waterfront lots yet, but I think I know exactly what you're talking about.  I honestly don't know much about making water lots, but I like the idea and it certainly bears looking into!   

Leodido:  Thank you!

B_Schlurf:  Some of these may have a little bit more of a European feel to them.  I know that most of my stuff tends to be very American looking, but I'm going to try to make some of these a bit more "generic" if I can.

Citycapitalizer:  Thanks!  5 - 10 sounds like a good number so start with. 

Merijn:  Thanks!  Technically this is a 1x1 lot... but I'll get to a real answer for you in a moment. 

Shaun:  While reading through the comments (here and on the BSC board) this morning, I had a little brainstorm.

What kind of brainstorm, you ask?  The really scary kind.  High winds, thunder and lightning, torrential downpours, and the occasional tornado thrown in just for good measure.  Once all that was over, I came out of the house only to discover that it had landed on Ronald McDonald... and he was wearing a pair of Marv Albert's shoes.  There were little people there and they kept telling me to follow the yellow brick road...   

Sorry.  I may have gotten a bit carried away there.  What I was actually thinking is that I may have gone about this the wrong way.  When Shaun and I had talked this over last week, I kept thinking of the lower portions of the building as the "front."  Therefore, we decided that the best way to do this would be a flat tile at the lower road which would become the 1x1 lot.  The building then overhangs the "back" and buries itelf inside the slope leading to the upper road.  It all made sense and seemed to be the only way to be certain that the upper entry would line up properly and not just become a door floating 4 stories above the ground.  The drawback is that it also would make growables a bit tricky to control... to the point where I wasn't even sure it would be worth trying.

However... what if we made the upper road the "front" of the lot?  That entry will always line up properly and everything for the lower street level just becomes a foundation for the lot.  The lot can actually become 1x2 (and the 1x1's the Merijn mentioned would also be very possible) and you could even smooth out the slope if you so desired.  The hole digger lots would still be the best way to line up the roads for maximum effect, but if this were to grow in a different setting, it wouldn't look completely out of place.  (Actually it still might if the windows ended up halfway in the ground, but you get the idea.)  If I remember correctly, a building exemplar levels itself (within the defined building size) to the highest point of the lot (prop exemplars work a bit differently) which in my example would be the edge of the upper road.  I'm not positive about that part though... hopefully an expert can step in here and confirm or deny that theory.

I'll try to experiment with this method a bit when I have some time, although it may not be until early next week.

JB

[tag_one]

Oh no not torrential downpours, I thought we had enough of that last Thursday

The method you describes will probably work. The building will indeed line up with the highest point, everything underneath it can be a foundation. However, you do not have to make the foundation separately like you do with normal building foundations. For my slope friendly buildings I include the foundation with the building and render it as one piece. Everything under the z=0 line will be covered by the lot textures in the game unless the ground is lower as 0 feet. Benefit of this method is that you don't get annoying seems between the building and the foundation. However you have to make the LODs as close as possible on the lower parts of the building. Otherwise you'll get some 'nice' effects, especially if you use custom LODs 

[calibanX]

I could certainly put these to use JB. This could lend itself to all sorts of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings should you decide to run with the idea.

Geoff