autoVino's bat projects

[autoVino]

hmmm... now that the exmams are over (for the most part) I have tons of free time... until I go to Russia.
another update from a render I just did.  I think it turned out a pitch too bright, but nevertheless it still doesn't look too bad:

what do you all think?  I should be ready for night render soon and hope to see this baby released finally (if I can properly combine the images together...)

[bat]

These buildings are looking really great, autoVino!
Nice work.

[autoVino]

haphazardly modelling the interior:

not at all what it's going to look like (this is just a doodle)  , I now have a better more structured idea.  It's going to contain three main columns, two for elevators/stairs and one for servicing.

some more renders [1] [2] [3]

[Pat Riot]

 

drop dead sexy. The desk in the corner makes my day...

[autoVino]

leather seats with a glass table

anyway I'm back from russia.  here are some renders:



the interior has been quickly modelled, not sure if I'll keep it that way.  I'm planning to make a swimming pool below the "mall" (with a glass ceiling, speaking of which the current ceiling needs some truss beams/arches, the current one doesn't look convincing).  Behind the mall will be a parking garage (which will extend underground).  Current plank white walls will have some sort of generic geometric design in them (stone textured).  May make a batted lot for this. 
Some more renders I saved while modelling:



opinions? 

[autoVino]

I'm trying to learn maxscript... my first useful piece of code:

Code Select Expand

--a utility that will allow quick and easy renaming of selected objects, inludes a nice UI, number of zeros does not work yet.
macroScript renameObjects category:"myScripts" toolTip:"rename" icon:#("AnimLayerToolbar", 7)
(
    rollout renamer_objects "Renamer" width:232 height:152
    (
        --constructin the UI
        label baseName "Base name:" pos:[8,8] width:60 height:16
        editText baseNameLable "" pos:[64,8] width:160 height:16
        groupBox optionsBox "Options" pos:[8,32] width:216 height:88
        radioButtons prefixSuffixNone "Placement" pos:[16,48] width:200 height:30 labels:#("Prefix",
            "Suffix", "None") default:0 columns:3
        checkbox number_yesNo "Number" pos:[16,96] width:96 height:16
        editText zeros "" pos:[120,80] width:96 height:16
        label numberOfZeros "Number of zeros" pos:[16,80] width:104 height:16
        button rename "rename" pos:[8,128] width:216 height:16
        --end ui Construction
       
        --event handelers
        on rename pressed do    --when executed
        (
            if baseNameLable.text != ""then    --if the base name is valid
            (
                if number_yesNo.state then      --if the number box is checked
                (
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 1 then--if the prefix radio is checked
                        for i in selection do i.name = uniqueName (baseNameLable.text + i.name)
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 2 then   --if the suffix radio is checked
                        for i in selection do i.name = uniqueName (i.name + baseNameLable.text)
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 3 then   --if the none button is checked
                        for i in selection do i.name = uniqueName baseNameLable.text
                ) else      --if the number box is not checked
                (
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 1 then--if the prefix radio is checked
                        for i in selection do i.name = baseNameLable.text + i.name
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 2 then   --if the suffix radio is checked
                        for i in selection do i.name = i.name + baseNameLable.text
                    if prefixSuffixNone.state == 3 then   --if the none button is checked
                    (
                        --This set of options can be dangerous! make a warning
                        if yesNoCancelBox "Your current set of options will rename your selection
                            set to the same name. Are you sure you want to do this?" beep:true ==
                            #yes then               
                            for i in selection do i.name = baseNameLable.text
                    )
                )
            )
        )
    )
    --create ui
    createDialog renamer_objects
)



to run, copy and paste the code into the listener (can be found under utilities-->maxscript-->open listener) and press enter.  Then goto Customize --> Customize User Interface --> toolbars.
Under category choose myScripts.  Drag the rename macro script onto a toolbar and press the button once you have selected objects to rename.  It's self explanatory from there.

and here are some renders of a large concept CO-$$ building I'm making:

 

 

[autoVino]

 

 

[superhands]

this is some stunning work autovino. nice idea's and concepts 

[SimFox]

Interesting structure... May be you could make those stairs that lead down (in semicircular bit) a bit wider...

What do you plan for that huge roof? A garden?

[autoVino]

Widening them should not be a problem.  since I'm modeling in game scale I can get sometimes confused with my scalings.  the stair height was an example.  At first I made them their real height and noticed how there were too many stairs.  there still are a considerable amount of them, but not as bad.

Actually for roof I was going for something with less decor:

maybe like the lexmark international office roof (which I can assure you that from the outside, and more so from the inside, the buidling looks great  )

but garden sounds interesting.

[autoVino]

a little bit done at the below-ground plaza.  Have been kind of busy (and probably will be) so work on batting is moving slow.

[autoVino]

a real quickie bat (45 min).  Just trying to put together a few industrial looking bats for the game, b/c the maxis ones are beginning to pop-up too much.
Not really going for super quality here either, trying to make it look unique yet interesting (not to mention quick).

The coloration and modeling is pretty much done.  May add a couple of props here and there (and a front door :-p) but that would be all.  Needs night lighting too, maybe a couple of quickie people if I have time.  I will probably be making many of these 4x4 industrial buildings.

[CasperVg]

Looks great, maybe you should give a more rusty colour to the tanks. Other then that, can't wait to use it

[autoVino]

ingame:

currently on working on a good night lighting rig... not the easiest thing to try to get it to match... here's what I mean (a few attempts)

got it more or less, need some more tweeking though:


6x6 concepet:

[autoVino]

(this page is heavily tolling on my photobucket bandwidth  )

[CasperVg]

Looks very nice! I really like the CCC; maybe you should not use a BATted base for it, as it makes the building very hard, if not impossible, to relot.

[SimFox]

I think CCC is absolutely brilliant!

[autoVino]

Looks very nice! I really like the CCC; maybe you should not use a BATted base for it, as it makes the building very hard, if not impossible, to relot.

the only reason for the batted base is to hide underground structures.  These are better seen in this render:




the two cooling towers and chemical tanks extend below the ground into a small depression.

although I have been doing some experimenting with creating a 3ds max lod "mask" that will help hide unwanted parts of the render (hence hiding the alpha and removing the underground shadow problem).

in short the biulding is masked by a transparent ior=1 object that will not include any offending underground structures.  The object will be very slightly larger than the buiding itself and the buidling/scene will all be hiden from camera view (except for the mask).  This will render everything that can be seen in the mask, but not outside.  There is a downside:
Normal render:



masked render:

the masked render is much (+20%) slower and its quality is lower (the shadows are less acurate and it looks a bit more cyan/brighter).  I have posted more on this in the 3ds max think tank thread at simtropolis.
The other way around would be tedious manual editing of the alpha output files... 

[autoVino]

fixed the AA tutorial, here is the direct [link]
here are some ideas for the ccc:


these renders are somewhat old, I haven't been saving them lately 
so the exact coloration isn't 100% correct, it actually is a tad bit darker on the bricks.

[freedo50]

I love coming to this thread and seeing a few new pictures from you, because they're always so beautiful. I'm not so bothered about how these will fit into the game, for me it is enough that they are beautiful to look at.

Fred