autoVino's bat projects

[zero7]

This looks really good - I'm looking forward to seeing it with textures.

For the batted lot - would it be possible to render the building and lot as separate models so that the building can still be used with conventional lotting?

[autoVino]

yeah, it is possible.

I yesterday refined an old building (the "cooling" towers from the hotel) as an industrial building and rendered it.  I turned out okay, but that is all.  The lod was off for about 3 to 4 meters and the night lights for some odd reasong became heavily overwashed.  As if the white alpha files were mixe up with the color files (that's not it, but it was all white).  I don't know what happened so I'll just try another export tonight with a slightly toned down brightness see if that gets me anywhere.
Here is an approximation of what it looks like, but parts of it are very different:

edit: didn't quite get to it tonight, maybe next time.

[Pat]

Auto that is looking good though and cant wait to see it further...

[autoVino]

thanks! 

anyway, I got the render going, I gave some procedural texturing (blending) to the roof, you can kind of see it in this render.  I love how the left side of the render turned out, but the right side, the column turned out like it's glowing.  This is also taking a long time because I'm using area shadow calculations.

oh yeah, this is a screen capture during the render, and the background was artificially added to be more balanced and less extreme than pitch darkness (needed for good alpha files, I'm experimenting)  Also now that I think of it, I forgot a ground plane for better ray tracing.  Since I probably won't be happy with the night lighting anyway and I'm curious to see how this will turn out I'll be doing another try render of this and add a ground plane for raytracing (Most of the materials here are semi-glossy so they do reflect a tad bit, but it's heavily blurred)

and the following is just relavent news copied from simtrop:
Also my computer didn't like me and it decided to crash.  It got really hot, started to get very laggy, and then gave me a memory error.  Some fatal system error occured and the computer requiered mandatory shut down withing 60 seconds.  Works fine now, except the cooling fan is kind of broken .  I can only be on the computer for about 10 minutes before it turns itself off again.

later that day...
I think I fixed it, I just removed the old one and taped on a new one for a makeshift fix.  I don't know if my computer will be able to handle rendering right now, but It should be able to handle internet and microsoft office.   I don't know why alll of a sudden it broke though, I'm not to computer smart...

so, that's the current news folks 

[Shadow Assassin]

Well, cooling fans can break for a variety of reasons, most notably particles getting stuck between the blades and preventing them from working correctly. After all, computer fans are made from plastic, so, sometimes they don't work.


I love how the textures on that turned out!

[autoVino]

glad you like it!

How's this look?





I think it goes pretty well with the surroundigs, but there are a still few things that are getting to me and I would like to work out.
Please give me an opinion on what you think. 

[BigSlark]

Looks good, autovino. Just make sure its CAMpatible to make everyone happy and it looks like it'll be ready to go.

Cheers,
Kevin

[zero7]

Very nice looking industrial.  I've no suggestions about the model, but when you start getting it ready for lotting you'll have a choice of anchor, out and mech - make sure you make it mech.

[jmyers2043]

Boy am I glad I had a look in here. This is very creative. I like the model and the concept. The rusty brownish texture at the top of the cooling tower looks like it went a bit off. I am thinking about the one on the left where the brown streaks criss cross rather than up/down. You may want to do a bit of UV mapping on those surfaces to create a little blending. It doesn't look like it simulates metal plate or look like rust streaking down the side. Definately not a show stopper but something to try if you want.  In fact - if you don't mind - I like to know where you got that texture. I am working on some small industrials myself and I'd love to have it in my textures library.

How does this compare size wise ... oh say ... next to the Maxis MPR Metals, Grudstrums Cooper, or perhaps SimGoobers auto manufacturing plant, etc. The white Maxis tank next to it is a 14X14 so your building looks very big in comparison. It looks like it requires a minimum 2X3 lot minimum.

I'm going to concur with what zero7 said. I'd also like to see this as an industrial mechanical building as well but it is probably more industrial anchor because of its size right now.

[cleaner475]

its looking really cool, good nightlights too

great textures,

Richard

[Pat]

WoW Auto its hard to belive that this at one point in time was for the Casino project, its great to see some heavy progress here where you got to go ingame view.... Other then that wonderful job here - pat

[SimFox]

Here few places that I would suggest to take another look at. Nothing major, but could stand improvement, or to be precise could be made more logical and hence believable...

1. I think you should get rid of this reflectivity. It feels all wrong. I can't think of material that would be that color, used in such a place and be so reflective. Only I know of would be some natural polished stone fitting more into some upscale residential/commercial.
2. This gradient is really bothering me.. it is so strong that it just couldn't be AO – there is nothing there to block sky to this extend, and at any rate sun is many times more bright then sky and place is in direct sunlight so maximum what you could see there is hue change not a brightness one. And it is(gradient) so artificially smooth and even that it couldn't be any dirt or things like that . It looks been it has been painted on. True that many use those, but I'm sure you know better...
3. These walls... First of all what material is they made of?? Am I correctly guessing that it I a brick?? If I'm right then I think it is a bit odd to see brick construction in place like this – too heavy I think... Some corrugated metal sheets would be more appropriate... Also the thickness of those wall... particularly when you look at it in-game with parking lot in the background and some other building in foreground. What is it, 1 m thick?? looks more like some fortification rather than something perched on those metal beams above some rather unpleasant (I'm just guessing here) chemicals
And generally as I've said before it could use some more contrast between sun and shade and some appropriate and game themed coloration in both.
About night lighting. I think that is one area where use of basic spot lights is very justified. The structure is HUGE, and in industrial installations like this very directed (spots) lights are commonly used. You on save on Area onmis and get it look more realistic and interesting wit without flooding they entire lower part in light it's not on busy commercial boulevard now is it?? So, IMHO, lighting should be more to the point and more sharp.
The model (apart from the brick thingie) is top notch I just want that quality be maintained in both texturing and lighting as well.

PS
all that said, it is possible to improve something till the end of days and still have some left to do... Art some point it is really necessary to say it is good enough and be done with it. And it is you who should decide this. We all here just to give our opinions, but that is YOUR work!

[autoVino]

BigSlark thanks, but how do I make it campatible?  I'm not much of a custom content user so I don't really know what CAM does or how it works.
zero7 Thanks for the tip! 
jmyers2043   Those lines that you're talking about are probably are probably reflections that didn't come out so well.  I removed them in this update.  Also, the textures I used in the image that you see so far are completely procedural, they have no bitmap attached to them (except that maxis roof texture and the brick, which too are partialy edited by the computer, color correction, etc) which also means that a uv mapping will not really change anything.  The size of this building is actually pretty damn big (it's a building with large smokestakcs and chemical tanks stacked atop eachother to save space in an industrial setting, hence "dense industrial"), and it is ment to be this way  .  The thing that's probably throwing you off about size, and sometimes even me, are the windows on the brick sheds atop the tanks, they are way too big to be realistic, but I fixed them.
Here are some textures that I quickly made in photoshop using some high resolution textures form www.mayang.com
   
(I know, they're pretty big)
cleaner475 Thanks!
patfirefghtr Wow, to tell you the truth I almost completely forgot about the casino project, that's bad...  I'll have to find time to start on it again.   
SimFox 1.  Fixed  2. yeah, that gradient isn't going too well, I just didn't know how to get a good roof texture going, bit I think I hit it pretty well on this one  3.Once again, a good point, I replaced the texture on them.  On a final point, what you say is true, and I hope I'm approaching this point where it is good enough, too me personally it is looking pretty nice right now:


and here is an oldie:
(some perspective shots:


and here are some normal shots:


finally, working on the back, making it a more fancy inside glass plaza:

enjoy this really long update :-D

[BigSlark]

autovino,

Great update. Send M4346 a message when you have the model (or any model) exported and ready for lotting. It will then be run through the X-Tool to make it CAMpatible, which means it will grow at a more appropriate development stage, use correct amounts of water, power, and garbage services, and employ a realistic number of sims.

Cheers,
Kevin

[autoVino]

okay, I'll do that, thanks.

here is a stair prop that will be used inside the building, at the back, to go along with the ritzy glassy look:

[Pat]

Auto that is sad lol btw and this updates are wonderful... I reallly love the stairs, just wondering how well is all that detail going to show up??? either way you are doing a wonderful job here...

[autoVino]

well, in these preview renders you can see some of the detail.

here are some more shots:


here are the zoom fives:

[zero7]

The amount of work you've put into the stairs is completely over the top ... but the night view of that interior should look fantastic!

[nova vesfalo]

WOW !gorgeous work !  the work on the stairs is so "detail"adict !!

[SimFox]

Those aren't really light leaks but the issues with FG. You samples are spread to far from each other and to much of interpolation going on... get density up and number of interpolation points down - this may be noisier but in Game scale it would be totally invisible. To speed up also reduce number of rays to something like 100 - it is next to irrelevant at the game scale..