JBSimio Inc.

JBSimio · October 13, 2007, 12:47:33 PM

Meinhosen: Thanks! Glad I could help!

Fledgeling: Oh this is going to dominate alright... it's about 13 stories tall! (Oddly enough, it's the tallest building I've made to date actually) No canals? Which part of the midwest are you in? My house in Akron (when I lived there) backed up to part of the Erie Canal. This was specifically built for a canal, and I have no plans of changing that. I may make a non-canal version, although I'm not sure what I would do with the barge loaders in that case. I really don't want to make two models of this if I can avoid it. So we'll see.

I did some more work on the lights and was all set to show you an update, and then "disaster" struck... twice. First, I'm at work now... so much for putting an end to my 17 day streak. Second, I developed a massive light leak somewhere that I haven't been able to pin down yet. It's extra strange because it's in an area that hasn't changed since the pictures last night. So... I'll have to hunt that down when I get home. Hopefully I'll have something to show tonight.

JB

JBSimio · October 13, 2007, 08:33:41 PM

Alright... I know I'm double posting in my own thread, but I figure if I'm not allowed to do it, then who is?

So... the cancelled day off kind of sucked, but y'all don't really want to hear about that anyway. The good news is that I fixed the light leak. I still have no idea why it happened, but I did manage to work around it anyway. I'm pretty happy with most of the lighting effects on this one. There are still some things to tweak and do, but this is getting fairly close to done. Here's a couple night shots... medium quality renders for anyone keeping score at home.

Before anyone gets too excited by my phrase "fairly close to done," I should probably clarify that a touch. The modeling is pretty close to done. I then need to break it apart into (probably) five pieces and get them all rendered so that they'll fit back together. That doesn't include rendering the rail and barge props. Then there's lotting to do. As I've never done industrial before... that could take a while! So... fairly close could take some time.

In other news... two SHUR projects are now in testing. Lockwood Arms will probably come out first... maybe another week or two. The SHUR Brownstone Set is also being tested now. This will probably take longer as there is a lot of stuff in it... 14 lots, maybe 30 models... but it's on its way.

Adios... Guten abend... um... actually I'm out of languages already, sorry
JB

threestooges · October 14, 2007, 12:11:20 AM

Well, despite the list of things left to do, it's looking great so far. I like the lighting on the walkways. Speaking of lighting... I think I might have figured out why no lights were showing up on my little project... it figures that it's always the easy solution: the lights were turned off (dang it) though I'm not sure how they got turned off. So that should take care of that problem. Getting back to the topic at hand, that building should look pretty good on a lot. Are you planning to put the canal right down the middle or on the outer edge? If in the middle, have you thought about a bridge between the two sides aside from that walkway?

Andreas · October 14, 2007, 02:36:50 AM

Guten Morgen!

Is this the Christmas decoration, or do they actually have this kind of lighting around the top of the silos and the pipes?

The interior and door lighting looks awesome, though.

JBSimio · October 14, 2007, 08:14:29 AM

Matt: Thanks! I'm glad you were able to get your lighting issue sorted out. My plan is for the canal to run along the left side of the second picture. Rails will run through beneath the two conveyor systems to the right of the main silos in that same picture.

Andreas: Guten Tag! Wie gehtes Ihnen? (sorry if my spelling is a bit rusty) To be honest with you, I don't know if that lighting scheme is "normal" or not. I put it along the pipe initially because that's also a catwalk and I thought there should be some kind of light there. Then I just extended the idea to the other building as well. I guess we'll wait and see what others have to say. It is easily removed if the idea is voted inappropriate.

Nothing else to look at just yet... more to come later though (unless I get called into work again!)

JB

Fledgeling · October 14, 2007, 08:29:01 AM

JB: heh, the Dakotas... its fine though. The Dakotas we have all road and rail, so i thought it wouldn't hurt to ask hehe. The barge loaders would work for filling trucks too!
Eh, I tried, lol.

As for the lights, I have to say I have never seen any lighting like that on the 100+ grain elevators I have seen. Normally people are not allowed on the catwalks at night.

These structures are so common out here, but the high structure is almost always sparsely lit, but there are often bright floodlamps in the lower base to illuminate the areas for loading\ unloading, and it seems you have done a pretty good job of that. I know in simcity we love spectacular structural lighting, but that is not common on these structures in real life, because, well, theres nothing up there you need to see at night!

'cept the top, which might have blinkey lights 'cause they are the tallest buildings in the state.

PS. the login problem is solved.

Zaphod · October 14, 2007, 01:15:24 PM

I have a thought for perhaps making some striking night lighting

what if it had a company logo(perhaps a bit faded and old fashioned), and that this logo was illuminated a bluish green vapor light. To be fair, that may seem out of place in a rural enviroment. But for large grain terminals found in urban areas, like near ports, something like that may not look that out of place.

JBSimio · October 14, 2007, 04:43:04 PM

Fledgeling: Ahh... I suppose there aren't too many canals there, huh?

Thank you for the lighting answer... that was exactly the information I was hoping to get. I can't promise I'll use it just yet, but at least now I know what the correct thing to do would be! The other loading areas will probably be lit in the lotting process to avoid goofy looking prop issues.

Zaphod: Actually, I have a thought fairly similar to what you're saying that I'm toying with. I'm not sure if I'll get it to work or not which is why I haven't shown it just yet. With a canal set up, I'm kind of picturing this in a semi-urban setting anyway... so we'll see.

While I ponder the lighting situation, ADD struck again! Try not to act so surprised! So here is the beginnings of another SHUR building:

Nothing overly special, but it should make another nice filler building. It's based (very loosely as usual) on a building I saw in Fort Worth, TX last month. Did I ever mention that's where I was right before my return? Probably not... but I was. I digress... sorry. This should end up as a 2x2 W2W midrise. I'm not planning to make it a corner building, so I'm trying to decide if I should "dumb down" the sides a little or not. The textures aren't final, but they're close.

JB

BigSlark · October 14, 2007, 05:05:51 PM

Jon,

Great new SHUR building and I love the grain elevator.

I'll be watching the LEX...

Cheers,
Kevin

threestooges · October 14, 2007, 05:07:31 PM

If it's not too much extra work for you, I would suggest not dumbing down the sides. It is a taller building so if it was taller than a surrounding building, it should have something to show (especially so if it was standing solo for whatever reason). It's a good start and I'm always surprised to see how dast you can put these together. What's the back part going to look like where the roof line is open?

JBSimio · October 14, 2007, 08:34:26 PM

Kevin: Thanks! I'm glad you like it. It came together pretty quick, actually.

Matt: Actually, dumbing the sides down was more work, but I think I found a happy balance. I left the upper three floors alone and just trimmed back the lower floors. The back looks like this (I just didn't have that wall in place earlier is all)

So... um... yeah. I think this one is ready for lighting now. We'll call in the Stearns Building just for gits and shiggles. I have a couple very minor tweaks to make, mostly around the back with some trim pieces, but I think this is done.

Done unless I really missed something that I'm just not seeing. And we all know that happens... probably more than it should... but who's counting?

Have a great evening!
JB

Sim Shady · October 14, 2007, 08:51:59 PM

You're whole shur project is just amazing. The quality of content that you have introduced to the game is mind blowing. Can't wait to add this one to my collection

Bluebeard · October 15, 2007, 03:03:26 AM

JB thanx for the update.Your lots are well worth the wait.

JBSimio · October 15, 2007, 09:59:46 AM

Sim Shady: Wow... high praise indeed! Thank you! At the rate this one is going, you may not have long to wait (for once!)

Bluebeard: Thank you! I'm always grateful for the patience people are willing to give me around here.

So... I kind of played hooky today, but don't tell anybody! I think the Stearns Building is pretty much finished. I touched up a few things here and there, added a few more details to the store fronts, and then lit the whole thing. Unless anyone sees something that really screams for a fix, I may still get this rendered and on a lot before the day's over.

I'm still pondering the lights on Chelsea Mills Grain Elevator. I have a pretty even split on votes right now. So the big question is, "Should the lights along the railings stay or go?" One side says it's not realistic (which I completely accept and understand) while the other side says it makes for a nice effect anyway. Your input would be appreciated.

Thanks!
JB

rooker1 · October 15, 2007, 10:18:11 AM

Of coarse you have something new for us......it is after lunch, eh. First of all, the building looks awesome and the night do too as well. Great work my friend.

Robin

Andreas · October 15, 2007, 10:49:40 AM

Quote from: JBSimio on October 15, 2007, 09:59:46 AM
I'm still pondering the lights on Chelsea Mills Grain Elevator. I have a pretty even split on votes right now. So the big question is, "Should the lights along the railings stay or go?" One side says it's not realistic (which I completely accept and understand) while the other side says it makes for a nice effect anyway. Your input would be appreciated.

Try to get rid of every other light - maybe that does the trick and it won't look like a Christmas decoration anymore.

DFire870 · October 15, 2007, 11:37:35 AM

Perhaps you could have the lights show up like that from November to January? Because I've seen quite a few grain elevators that have lights like that for Christmas. Although if you can't have them appear for that amount of time I say just get rid of them.

Bluebeard · October 15, 2007, 12:02:03 PM

The only reason I can of for using the lights is for safety.Now unless folks are going to be walking up there I say it's your call.
JB it's your lot so time to step up and whatever you do will be fine.

JBSimio · October 16, 2007, 12:47:07 PM

Robin: Are you comparing me to Jestarr now?

I'm glad you like it, thanks!

Andreas: That was actually what I did the first time around before the pictures you've seen. The lights done that way looked too sparse to be of any use, so I doubled them to what you see now.

DFire: While it would be very possible to do that, it would be a ton of work because of the way the lights fit the building. I'd either have to include two complete models of the building (which would make for a rather large file) or render the Christmas lights separately and try to squeeze them in there somehow. Frankly, that option is more effort than it's probably worth.

Bluebeard: I know it's my lot... but I was hoping for some kind of definitive vote.

But, since that didn't happen...

The extra lights along the top of the grain elevator are gone. There is still one more piece to this that will hopefully up the "Oh wow... that's cool!" factor instead anyway.

In the meantime... the Stearns Building is lotted, which is never very tough for these wall to wall buildings, and off for testing. There are three versions for this one. R$$... stage 7, medium density; CO$$... stage 6, medium density; and a CO$$ Plop. The trees you see are not on the CO$$ growable version. Here's a couple ingame shots just to tide you over:

I'm not sure what I feel like working on next, so tonight's update (if there is one) will be somewhat of a surprise for all of us!

JB

Andreas · October 16, 2007, 02:09:09 PM

Quote from: JBSimio on October 16, 2007, 12:47:07 PM
Andreas: That was actually what I did the first time around before the pictures you've seen. The lights done that way looked too sparse to be of any use, so I doubled them to what you see now.

Well, I think the thing that bugs me most is that the lights appear to be attached to the handrails. That's why "Christmas lights" came into my mind first.

If I would design such a catwalk, I'd either put up normal lampposts that light the path from above, or I'd use lights that are mounted just a bit above the floor level (i. e. like the lights that you find next to the rows of seats in a cinema). But after all, it might be better got get rid of them entirely - for a rural setting, I don't expect that much activity around a silo at night, at least when it comes to maintenance (and that's what the catwalks are used for primarily, I assume).

Oh, and let me say that the new building looks most excellent in the game.

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