Spa's Atlantic Retreat

[girlfromverona]

Congrats on the newspaper write-up! Even if one person reads it and gets interested in SC4, well, that's got to be a good thing!

San Fran is a very cool city. I was there in 2004 for a couple of days, but I would've liked to have stayed longer. It was cool driving around and seeing places I recognised from one of my favourite movies - Vertigo. And the shopping was great.

[simdad1957]

I've been to San Fran several times SPA. It's a very interesting city. I agree with most of the suggestions above. When you are doing the city itself, it makes sense to ditch the automobile and take the street cars. Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street and the Embarcadero are good suggestions. I would definitely drive up to Napa and take in some winery tours. The small towns in the Napa Valley are interesting in their own right. You should also definitely consider driving out to the Monterey Penninsula and up to the giant redwood preserves north of the city.

I remember walking along the waterfront in Sausalito and casually looking at a menu posted in a window of one of the restaurants. The menu prominently featured P.E.I. mussels! It's a small world isn't it.

[Fledgeling]

I agree, redwoods are a must-see.

[ky72x]

 

I'm sure you'll really enjoy San Fransisco, it's one awesome city.  If you like baseball, you might want to consider going to a Giants game (if they're at home when you're there, that is).  Can't really think of anything else besides that! 

However, like Skyliner mentioned, you may want to drive down to Santa Cruz.  My mother's side of the family lives around that area, and my sister goes to college there (UC Santa Cruz) so I'm pretty familiar with the area.  The boardwalk there is a pretty lively place, with plenty of rides, an arcade, and of course, the beach.  It's basically a West Coast version of Coney Island. 

As for Yosemite, the falls should be running quite good as this years storm season has been very productive.  It is a fairly long ways away (3-4 hours) but it'll definitely be worth the drive.  Plus, you get a taste of the region where I live in, the Central Valley.

- Kyle
 

[Hogmeister]

There was a time when I had to go to San Fran a lot with work and there was always so much to see, so remember to take lots and lots of pictures, it will give you some great inspiration in the small to mid size range, both residential and commercial.

[spa]

As usual, lately just a few replies.

Skyliner: Thanks for the suggestions. We're actually thinking of doing Sausalito by ferry just to take a ferry somewhere. We're still thinking of the car though. We would really like to go see some red woods and I gather there are some big trees near San Fran!
Three Stooges: Thanks. What can I say, I'm a slave to detail. It works for Sim City but I'll probably have to learn to take it more in the years ahead as city simulators move into 3d (my models can be pretty poly intensive). I don't know if we'll get all the way to Yosemite. I have seen pictures from it and it certainly looks impressive. I'll put Lombard Street on the list. While in San Fran we'll be moving around by transit primarily (we just have the car for a day). We have the city pass which covers most transit... Michelle knows the details, I find the San Fran transit system is confusing since it's not all one system!
GirlfromVerona: Thanks. I'm just looking forward to walking the streets.... of course the weather should be an improvement. It's still snowing off and on here in Calgary! I can't believe I traded 15 degrees (25 yesterday from what i gather) for the negatives and snow.
Simdad: You read our mind about the red woods. I don't know why you were surprised about the P.E.I. mussels. San Fran is a wealthy area so it makes sense that they would have only the best
Fledgeling: Check
Kyle: Thanks. I'm afraid I'm not much of a baseball fan. Being a Canadian if it doesn't involve ice (curling or hockey) I don't have much interest. Getting that far out probably isn't on the agenda this time around but maybe next visit. Thanks for the suggestions.
Hogmeister: I was thinking that. I'm going to have more free time then I have had in a long, long time when I get back so I'm sure some San Fran buildings will find their way into my collection.


So just a few comments today and, even, a little preview of a new bat. First, I'm now done as done can be. I defended my thesis yesterday and passed with flying colours. The needed revisions were very minor so I completed them yesterday afternoon and I have sent it back to my supervisor. As soon as she signs off and I see to the bureaucratic side of things I'll be in the clear. So with the U of C and Dal now done, I'm a free man. Things are also looking good down at the old office so it looks like I'll even have career when I get back to Halifax in May. For now though I'm just going to enjoy being on vacation and free.

Part of being free means I have the time to tinker around in gmax on Michelle's laptop. Long story short, I have a new small-town Halifax bat underway. It's a beauty from Barrington Street. I'm thinking I'll spend some time batting Barrington Street this summer. The street use to be Halifax's main street, but it has struggled since the era of malls and suburbia began. The city is considering enacting some tax incentives to try and spur restoration of the heritage properties. They have been musing about it for years though which has actually made things worse. If you're a property owner/developer, why invest when at any time there could be a tax benefit for the work you were planning on doing anyway? Hopefully the city will finally get itself together because there are some buildings on the streatch that are in real need of a little love and all they've done so far is make things worse.

Anyway, the building I have started, the Wright Building (aka as the Marble Building) is one of Barrington Street's success stories. It is one of the more impressive buildings on the street. It is fully used and has been restored and modernized. Below is a picture of the real building:


And my version.

There won't be any texturing until I get back since it's just not worth doing on the laptop but it's a start. I still need to put the exterior lights on at street level, but other than that modelling the front is done. I might get the sides finished up before I leave for San Fran. If I end up with something more I'll post it.

[rooker1]

Awesome start.  Not sure but the windows don't look set back enough.
Robin 

[spa]

Thanks Robin. You've got a good eye. The windows would be a touch more setback, especially the top arched windows. I decided to move them forward a little bit though because the angle of the sim city meant that the details disappeared and they looked funny. So they're inched a little bit closer than the real thing.

[girlfromverona]

Looking good! I love the awning. Could it maybe come out a little more, though, for visibility's sake?

[Pat]

Spa that is looking real sweet there the Marble Building!!!

[ACEfanatic02]

Honestly, I think it needs to be stretched vertically a bit.  Just doesn't look narrow enough.

...though, that might be easier to do once you've finished the entire shell.

-ACE

[tag_one]

Great modeling work there Samuel  It's already nice and detailed

[spa]

Well there is a lot of dust to blow off around here. I guess should start with some replies regarding Wright's Building (aka the Marble Building).

GirlfromVerona: I could inch the awning out a bit more. I'm kind of trying to keep it short enough, however, so that you can see some of the door.
Pat: Thanks. In my opinion it's one of Halifax's best heritage buildings.
Ace: Maybe. I think it's kind of the result of Sim City's orientation versus the street orientation of my photo... The fact that all w2w buildings have to come in increments of 16 is also a factor (encourages narrow buildings to become wider). There isn't really a whole lot that I can do. From the street to the top of the lower parapet is almost exactly 27m. It's pretty standard that floors are between 4-5 m in Sim City with an additional few meters on the ground floor. So with 4 upper floors and one ground floor, 27m tall is pretty much dead on. If I stretch this one up vertically by much, it'll start to be out of scale with everything around it. Maybe when I'm done I could scale it up a little, but it really can't change much.
Tag: Thanks.

So I'm back in Halifax and starting to settle into my new routine. Schools is now completely done. My thesis defence went fine and I passed everything at Dal so I have two master degrees coming my way in the next month and a half. Pretty sweet. It's really nice to just have to worry about work and have my off hours actually free. Things are looking very promising at the government and it looks like there is a very good chance I'll be signing some paperwork this week that'll have me on full-time. I'm quite happy about that since I like my job J and I do need to start paying down my student debt.

The vacation was great as well (things are really going well really). For anyone who hasn't been to San Francisco it's definitely worth visiting. It's an amazing city. Five days was pretty much perfect. Not too much time but enough to really explore. We ended up cancelling our car rental because there was so much to do in the city. I'll probably eventually post pictures over in the artist's forum. The quick highlights, besides just walking around, was the Aquarium of the Bay, the San Fran Zoo, the Japanese Tea Garden, China Town, Telegraph Hill, Yerba Buena Park and the San Fran Museum of Modern Art. I found Alcatraz overrated (the audio tour, however, is really good) and the De Young Gallery the most pretentious place I have ever been. Oh and on food, we had lunch one day at the Ferry Building and to my ruined northern palette grapes never tasted so good. Who would have thought packing them up and putting them on a truck for hours would make so much difference It was a really great trip. One thing I noticed was how polarized the city was. We stumbled into a sketchy neighbourhood and every single face on the street was black. Some of the scams that were being tried on tourists were also way more sophisticated then the "spare some change" request that is the norm in Canadian cities. People though were generally pretty friendly. I was surprised to exchange minor chitchat (almost all of it innocent) with so many strangers in such a large city. Just for kicks here a photo of Michelle and I up by the Legion of Honour with everyone's favourite San Fran landmark in the background.

Needless to say, at some point, there will likely be a few San Fran bats. My trip wasn't all San Francisco. I did spend a good week in Calgary, which has inspired this new bat. It's the first in what will probably be a small collection from Calgary's Stephen Avenue. First up an expensive restaurant, Fantino Fusion:

See the Calgary Tower rising behind it? And my version:

As you can see I took some liberties, as usual. It ended up being a lot taller than I planned to accommodate all the front details and the arched windows. I wanted Fantino to be a stand-alone w2w, which meant it had to be 16m wide, which seems to have been wider than the real building. The result of that is that I had to go taller too to avoid turning it into a rectangle. I kind of over did it a tiny bit, but I think have saved it since those are big windows and the roof dips back to a normal height for most of the rest of the building. It seems to work. Anyway, it's pretty much done now. Unless there are some big suggestions I'm ready to move on. I'm going to try and finish up Pier 1 next. If things go according to plan, my next batch of five will be Fantino, Pier 1, the Wright Building the Imperial Theater and one more from Stephen Avenue or Halifax's Barrington Street (haven't decided yet). Now that I have free time again, hopefully I'll be updating a little more frequently.

[tcx]

Hi, Fantino Fusion looks great and Marble Building too.

I red about your vacation time and it seems you had a great time, I've never been to the US, well, I've never been out of my country, México, but it's nice to read about the experience other people have when they travel.

[superhands]

nice! i like the air vat that runs down the building
did you have dinner there?

david

[simdad1957]

Glad you had a good trip to San Francisco. I understand why you chose to stay in the city but perhaps next time you'll have the opportunity to see some of the surrounding countryside. It's a spectacular region.

Looking forward to your next set of releases.

[spa]

Tcx: Thanks. I'll probably post a more detailed summary of my trip with pictures later in the artists forum. I have never been to Mexico but a friend of mine just came back from a few days in Mexico City and Veracruz and spoke very highly of it. The Azetec and pre-Azetec ruins really impressed him! Maybe I'll get down there one day.
Bighead9999: Thanks. I actually didn't eat at the restaurant, I just took its photo
Simdad1957: Thanks! Indeed after having been to San Francisco I would definitely like to go back and explore more of California... although I have zero interest in LA!

So nothing much new to report. It has been a bit of a grey day in Halifax... but that means perfect weather for picture taking so after work I took the camera out on Barrington Street to snap some more photo for future projects. Nothing to show yet of course. I did, however, get Pier 1 done last night. Check it out below.

It didn't turn out too bad. I'm not completely happy with the windows on the sides, but at this point I'm pretty much done tinkering with them. I'll probably tinker with something this evening.

[Sim Shady]

nice looking  You really have got your BAT making down to a science 

[ACEfanatic02]

Pier 1 looks great... but I'm not quite a fan of the front windows.

Could I suggest maybe darkening the texture for the window frames (relative to the rest of the building.)  It'd cut down on the contrast between the glass and frames and make them look a little less busy.

-ACE

[spa]

Sim Shady: Thanks.
Ace: You don't like the busy look eh? I actually started off with a version with less contrast except it was with lighter glass. I found it didn't really work because without a high degree of contrast the windows begin to blur into one blob (the little squares are just too small for less contrast). Thanks for the comment though.

So it was a long weekend up here in Canada. Michelle and I went to a cottage with some friends yesterday and spent the rest of the time watching Desperate Housewives on DVD (free from the local library). Not a bad way to divide up the time since Sunday was the only sunny day of the three. On the two days that I was home I started and have pretty much finished another bat (I need to start posting them as they develop but this one just kind of sped along). The new building is from Halifax's Barrington Street, the Tramway Building. Check out the real thing below.

The Tramway Building is probably the only real modern neo-gothic structure in Halifax. It is also interesting because it was a bit ahead of its time. It was built in 1916 to house the Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company (operator of Halifax's now defunct streetcar system) and is primarily made of concrete, a material that hadn't quite caught on back then. It houses Venus Envy (upscale and not "dirty" adult store), Frozen Ocean (clothing?) and the upstairs space is occupied by an animation company. Locally, it's well known as the building with the faces. I have heard through local gossip that the building's faces came about in a dispute with a property owner across the street. One face appeared, the neighbour didn't like it and complained which then resulted in them multiplying. I don't know how much truth there is in that rumour. Anyway, below is what I have made.

For the most part I have stayed pretty true to the real thing. The only major change I made is that I moved the office entrance to the back. This building just isn't enough of a corner building in its architecture to actually make it a corner building in Sim City. So I moved the office entrance so that it doesn't have to be a corner. I'm basically done at this point barring any suggestions. The only thing that I see that I may change is the glass on the sides, particularly the east side, may be a little too dark. I don't know though.

Anyway, I have had a request from a friend to make some modern mid-rises so I'm thinking of taking on the Canada Permanent Insurance Building next. It's right across the street from the Tramway Building and was one of Halifax's first modern office towers (recently converted to residential). Below is a photo of the real thing.

I haven't started anything yet, but I'll probably get at it tomorrow evening.