JBSimio Inc.

[kant01]

Sorry about the troubles. But it looks great thus far

[girlfromverona]

That must be so annoying. 

This building is looking terrific, though, and I can't wait to see the finished version! 

[JBSimio]

Joan:  Yeah... I was definitely a bit bummed, but it's all taken care of now.   

Kant:  Thanks!

Girlfromverona:  Thank you!

So I spent most of this afternoon fixing what I screwed up... and then finishing off the back portions of the penthouse floors.  Here's a look at where things are at now...




Who ever said mosaics are just for Mayor Diaries?    If you're just checking in for (hopefully) pretty pictures, feel free to stop reading now... that's pretty much the entire update in a nutshell anyway!  If, on the other hand, you're curious about what went wrong and why, the rest of this post is for you... 

You may be comparing today's image with the one from last night and thinking, "But Jon, I really don't see a difference there!  What was really so terrible that needed to be redone?"  Well, in all honesty, I probably could have fudged a couple other sections and just moved on.  But it meant losing some details that I really didn't want to lose.  Here's what happened:



The main issue stemmed from the way this corner fit together.  I originally spent a fair bit of time just making sure things matched up on the front and the sides, but neglected to take the back into account... which is when things started to fall apart.  There are a number of elements in play here... the columns need to match up with the lower floors on both facades, there is a small set back between the 19th and 20th floors, and there are 3 different sized window "clusters" to take into account.



The red lines show where the innermost edge of my corner columns originally ended up in relation to the corners of the lower floors.  The green lines show where they were supposed to be.  Actually, I knew this even when I started making this area, but I didn't think it was that important since all three sides were lined up anyway.  It wasn't until I got to the north facade that I realized how finely tuned this would need to be.  So the question became, how to get those upper columns where they belonged without ruining everything else.  I couldn't just make that little corner bigger because then there would be no room for the windows labeled as A...  I couldn't just slide things around because then the other columns wouldn't line up.



And this is the trouble section on the north facade.  Column B and C needed to line up and Column A cannot move any further to the left than it already is (at least not until I make all the changes I ended up needing to make).  In addition, I needed to keep the single windows between columns A and B, which there wouldn't have been enough room for by simply sliding things closer to A.  So... what did I end up doing?  First, I made the 20th floor setback slightly smaller which gave me a little more room on that small window in the second picture.  Then I made all the columns slightly thinner (a difference of only 0.2 meters) which also added some space to the right of that same window.  Finally I was able to nudge the wall on the left closer to the small window.  All these things combined bought me an extra 0.65 meters... or just under half the width of a single window on this building... which was just enough.  It actually still isn't quite as accurate as it should be, but it was enough to make the pieces fit.  Then it was just a matter of going all the way around and making the changes to all the columns and corners.

Anyway... that's the long version of the story.  You know, in case you were ever curious about what goes into these things.  (Or in case, heaven forbid, you think there are things to be learned in this thread!) 

JB

[Jmouse]

Glad to see you were able to work through the misfit - I knew you could do it. It's very interesting to see those views in progress and to read about the creative aspect. I wondered about the windows when I first saw three windows on that upper floor taking up the same amount of space as two on the floors below it. I noted the different shapes as well which, IMO, speaks of an older architectural style.

I've no doubt this will be yet another highly-anticipated and widely-used BAT.

Later...
Joan

P.S. Love the roof. I had a Formica counter top that same color in my kitchen one time - we moved not long afterward.

[girlfromverona]

P.S. Love the roof. I had a Formica counter top that same color in my kitchen one time - we moved not long afterward.

LOL! Classic. 

Glad you managed to fix the problem, JB. This is one magnificent looking building! 

[JBSimio]

Joan:  Thanks!  The 19th floor (with the triple windows) is unchanged... its' one of those features that always seem to make these types of buildings interesting.  God bless bright yellow formica! 

Girlfromverona:  Thank you!

Switching back for just a moment... I think this is about as good as the lighting will get.  I've been tinkering with the circular staircase for the last couple days (off and on, of course) but this is about the best I've come up with.  I think the problem is that there is no floor to shine light onto.. so I'm shining light on a wall that isn't visible from every angle...



Either way... I'm going to set this up for exporting when I go to bed toninght.  Hopefully, there are no last minute demands...

JB

[Alfred.Jones]

That looks fantastic JB!

No last minute demands from me

[JoeST]

That is awesome 

[kant01]

Wow, that was some impressive "nudging" to get all that to fit right. It looks beautiful. I hadn't noticed the details before of the people on there. It looks incredible!

As for the other building, I think the circular staircase lighting is sufficient and I sort of like that it is subtle. But on the off chance that you still wanted to make it brighter, would it be terribly tedious to go ahead and model floors for the entire thing?

I love these both these buildings and cannot wait to see them available!

[Jmouse]

The night lights look fine to me. As for last-minute demands, just let me know when and where to DL!

Later...
Joan

[thundercrack83]

Put me down for Joan's last-minute demands, Jon! Fabulous work, as always, my friend!

Dustin

[Jack_wilds]

Hey JBSimio, Jack wilds here...

Enjoy your work, barely broke in the last school pack, now I find more to observe.  You must have some sort of source to get all  those architectural details... to create them would have to be so time consuming. 

The 'encasing' for the spiral stairs is really good and I hope it does show up I'd like to study it further.  I am something of a frustrated architect gone mechanical designer technician. 

Seeing some of  the chosen subjects 'preserves' a number of architectural sensibilities of the past and making it alive in this new media.  Its kinda odd that a game would act as an archive of sorts, ya know? 

Jack

[Pat]

Hey Jon wow what a wonderful progress on the Hunter Dunlin!!! I see you had some troubles, but alas knowing you I knew you would solve it and kick it in the rear!!!

Now on the other building looking real nice there for sure dude lol    I couldn't tell if you gotten the turn doors to light up?

[girlfromverona]

I, too, like the subtleness of the staircase lighting. Great work! 

[JBSimio]

Alfred.Jones:  Thank you!  I'm glad you like it!

JoeST:  Thanks!

Kant:  Thank you!  All the nudging took a fair amount of time, but it all worked out in the end.  For the Rookery Building, there are floors modeled in everywhere except that circular staircase!    The reason being the way the windows follow the steps up as they go around the curved wall.  The only way to really add any floors there would be to model a staircase.  My past experience shows that modeled interior stairways usually just create more shadows, making the lighting just as difficult.  So... it will have to be what it is this time.   

Joan:  Thank you!

Dustin:  Thanks so much!

Jack_wilds:  Thank you!  The circular staircase is actually fairly simple from a modeling standpoint.  It has the window with a sill below and a header above, the wall, and a thin column between each section.  That's essentially it... then it was just a matter of stepping the windows up as they wrap around.  To be honest, I do end up creating most of the detailing for each building.  Trying to borrow pieces and then make them fit perfectly takes just as long as it does to make them from scratch, really.  The statue reliefs on the Hunter-Dulin building are an exception, though... I borrowed those from SimGoober. 

Pat:  Thank you!  Unfortunately, I didn't get much further with the lighting around the revolving doors either.  They're a little better, but not by as much as I had hoped.

Girlfromverona:  Thank you!

No pictures tonight, but I just wanted to stop by and catch up on replies.  The Rookery Building is finished, lotted, and shipped off to one of several top secret testing facilities operated by the BSC.  I ended up getting a little carried away with lot options this time around... it just seemed like such a versatile building!  There are CS$, CO$$, R$, and R$$ versions... sizes vary between 3x3 and 4x4... stages run from 6-11.  There are plop versions of the CS$ and CO$$ as well.  The CS$ version is probably a stretch in all honesty, but I thought it might be a good way to deal with the demand for that which never seems to go away!  If all goes well, you may be able to have this one for yourselves in a week or so.

Til next time,
JB

[Pat]

Jon good news and I cant wait for my copy    Sorry that you wasn't able to get the lighting the way you had wanted but I bet it does look good though knowing you!!!

Pat

[JBSimio]

Pat:  Thanks Pat!

Back to the RUSA Project for a moment... it took a while for the smarter people to teach me this, but I think I finally managed to understand enough about sloped lots to make an apartment complex work (sort of)







These are all the same lot.  The first two are different rotation of the same place... the third one is actually on a much gentler slope.  I didn't "prep" the land at all before zoning the lot (which is 6x5 by the way) simply because I wanted an extreme situation to look at.  I would expect that most people using a lot of this size would probably smooth things out some first, resulting in a parking lot you could actually park in!    It does show that a larger growable lot like this will work fairly well.  There are a couple issues with where the porch of the building meets the porch of the foundation... this is basically a design flaw on my part.  I'm still trying to decide how important of a problem that is (and whether it needs to be fixed or simply ignored)... so any input there is appreciated. 

JB

[SimNation]

Nice to see they can grow with such crazy slopes 

[Andreas]

Well, I have seen parking lots in San Francisco that look equally dangerous (see pic below), so it's not all too unrealistic, actually. The foundations look great, and I don't mind if the porch is a tiny bit off in certain places - even Maxis buildings look rather odd in certain places...

[kant01]

Those apartments look great! I am impressed that they do look so natural on the slopes. That is something I have been afraid to attempt. Nice work