Spa's Atlantic Retreat

[spa]

Bat: Thanks
Jacqulina: Thanks
Pat: Thanks
Rooker: Thanks. It was a great trip! Lots of fun and beautiful scenery in Newfoundland.
Simdad: haha I'm afraid I wasn't brave enough to go for the cod tongues... although I considered it at a few places. St. John's is definitely a neat little city. The heritage has been really well preserved, the old wooden houses are really unique and Water Street looks quite alive. I actually came to the same conclusion you have: St. John's would be a great place to live if it were on the mainland and not so isolated.


So I haven't done much batting lately. My time in Newfoundland was pretty filled. I did start an old wooden rowhouse from the city though that likely will be the first in a Jellybean Row set. No eta on that though and nothing really to show yet. I have, however, moved along on the Family Vision Centre. Below is how it has turned out.

I'm thinking Cs$$$ growable on the houston and euro tileset. Should fit in with the small-town set.

[rooker1]

Those look fantastic.  I love the details on the back of the house.  It looks like a bed and breakfast place I once saw.

Robin   

[spa]

Rooker: Thanks. I like the back too. I think the transition from the very decorative front to the back came out fairly well. I'm going to pass this one to Barby shortly. So it should pop up on the exchanges sometime in the next three weeks.

So I haven't done much lately. Been busy with school and I have been busy taking care of Carthagians in Rome Total War. That said I have done a little bit more on Attica. The changes to Attica are minor and amounted to some slight adjustments to the glass and the addition of some decorative stone work at the roof top.

I adjusted the stone that juts out from the wall to eliminate those strange shadows. I think it works a lot better now. I still need to adjust the glass in places to be a little lighter. The left side door and the first three windows on the top section on the right need to be lightened. Still not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the rest of it. Broadly I have three options; 1. make the whole building stone 2. have just a stone facade 3. some kind of combo of stone and brick. Still time to figure it out.

And the CBC now has an almost complete, but still untextured, roof top.

Need to add the roof junk which will be complicated because there is a lot up there and add some variety to the beige windows. People who know this building will also note the big Barbara Frum Atrium still hasn't made it on. It's coming on the right to that big empty spot.

[rooker1]

The Attica store front looks awesome, we can never have enough BATs like this.  And the CBC building look very nice as well.  How big do you think it will be when it's done?  Awesome work.



Robin   

[simdad1957]

Long live the CBC, it's about time that quality public broadcasting makes it to SimCity!! Looking good.

[bat56]

I like really much the style of your BATs, and the CBC is announced even more imposing. 
Good luck for the continuation.

Sam!

[Madeira aka Constantina]

i looks very nice perhaps it could  even be seen by the cbc themselves.

[jacqulina]

beautifull work and great progress

[Yoder7652]

great work spa...I've been wanting this building ever since you first showcased a partially completed wall  can't wait till your done!

[spa]

Rooker: Thanks. I can't remember exactly off the top of my head how big the CBC will be but roughly it'll be on something like a 6x8 or a 7x8 lot.
Simdad: Thankd and indeed! It's just too bad that successive governments have starved the CBC of funding. Personally I think we should move to a system like they have in Britain; Provide the CBC with a generous and stable funding base and eliminate the commercials. Unfortunately it's not likely to ever happen as the Liberals are luke-warm friends to the network and the Conservative are positively hostile.
Bat56: Thanks. The CBC is definitely an imposing building. It has quite a presence down on Front Street in Toronto.
Maderia: Thanks.
Jacqulina: Thanks
Yoder: I know and I'm sorry for the delay. I didn't mean to tease I remember you went looking for it on google earth. I think it'll be done in the next few months. I took a long break from it but I'm motivated again. Although right now I'm in Calgary for five days so I'm making other things on the laptop.

So as mentioned I'm in Calgary right now. The girlfriend's brother is getting married so there is a bit of family hoopla. I have some time to myself though which is, of course, nice. School has been a little busy lately, but I have made some more progress on the CBC. Below is where things are at now.

With the Barbara Frum Atrium complete, the basic roof is now done. The Atrium took a lot of time because of all the angles. It wasn't really hard, just time consuming. I still need to add all the satelite dishes, hvacs, vents and other dodads, but other than that the modelling is coming down the home streatch. I won't have any updates on this one until sometime next week since I'm on the road. However, I do have the laptop with me and I already have another building under way that I'll no doubt showcase when I get back. I'll update again in a few days.

[spa]

Marc: I'll definitely darken the white. As you well know white is one of the more challenging things to get right. The blue though... well the real building has a dark blue so I'm reluctant to tinker with it too much. Maybe I'll try to add some more "noise" to it. Thanks for the comments.

So school has been really busy over the last two weeks and I have had virtually no time to do any serious batting. I do however have a little bit of new progress to show and I know Simdad's going to be thrilled because it's Mel's Tea Room form Sackville, NB. Below is a photo of the real building.

Next door to Mel's, on the right side, is a local Sears outlet. Locally run Sears affliates are actually a common thing in small-town Atlantic Canada. This particular one sells appliances. Below is what I have done so far

Mel's Tea Room will be another for the 1x2 collection. 

[Sim Shady]

looks awesome   this is gonna blend in perfectly with your bats and jbsimio's 

[simdad1957]

Yes JB, I'm very pleasntly surprised by Mel's Tearoom. I had no idea you were planning to BAT it. This will be a great addition to the game! Mel's by the way has not changed appreciably since the 1950's and still has a soda fountain if I am not mistaken. It is a very popular hangout for the students from Mount Allison University; also located in Sackville NB. 

[simdad1957]

Sorry for the double post, but I was just wondering if you were going to illuminate the neon sign in front of Mel's.

[Glenni]

Nice work on the CBC building Spa, and just for your information, BBC isn't all funded by the goverment, if you have a TV you have to pay a license to BBC each year to keep your tv, otherwise THEY WILL CONFISCATE it, you must pay it no matter if you watch BBC or not, the same way of goverment funded TV can also be found in Norway (NRK), and a lot of other countries.

[spa]

Thanks everyone. I have a back and sides on Mel's now but I'm at school right now so I can't generate any pictures (I'll post some tonight). For now just a couple of replies.

Simshady: Thanks
Simdad: Indeed. It is a pretty little building with a very lively front. I'm going to do something with the neon lighting.... I don't really know exactly what yet though. There are some tricks you can pull with lighting (like what I did on KOD) but they're limited and might not work here. We'll have to see how it plays out.
Glenni: Thanks. I think the distinction you're trying to make with the BBC funding though is a false one. A government tax on televisions is simply a dedicated tax for the BBC. Whether a government provides a direct grant from general revenue or a dedicated tax the source is still the same. All that's different is the manner in which it is delivered. I personally think it would be great if we had the same thing here, but the Canadian government is terrified of dedicated taxes and wants everything to go into general revenue so that they can spend it on whatever they want. Over the years the flashpoint here has been gasoline taxes which many motorists would love to see exclusively dedicated to road construction, but the government wants to keep in general revenue.

[spa]

So school is still really busy and isn't leaving me with much free time. I have been picking away at Mel's though in the evening when I have a few free moments and it's almost done. Below is how it has shaped up.

Not much to say really. The side door may still go, I'm not sure about leaving it there. Anyway, all that's left to do here is nightlight it and, obviously, produce a roof texture. I may do a render tomorrow. 

[Fledgeling]

  i think thats one of your best, plus... it looks just like what would be in a midwest small downtown street.... makes me like it even more because its gonna be used a whole lot 


Also, the windows are great, you are really getting good with those- it makes your bats so good, you are one of the, if not the best, producers of these kind of structures. Thanks.

[JBSimio]

I really like the brick texture on this one, Spa.  The back has a lot of visual interest as well.  I like the side door and hope you keep it.  Always nice to have if the lot next door ends up blank or has an alley of some sort.  Good luck lighting the sign! 

JB

[spa]

Fledgeling: Thanks. I think I have advanced quite a bit on windows in the last few months. I'm even starting to not hate them again.
JB: Thanks. It was a fun texture to make and work with. I don't know if it was what was available in the area or what but this seems to have been a common type in Southern New Brunswick. In comparison, in Halifax, I can't think of a single building that looks anything like this. Architectural geography can be fun!

So Mel's is all packaged up and ready for release sometime this week along with the Sovereign Building and Family Vision Centre. It's a mini-release party. Below is how Mel's ended up turning out with a roof texture and lighting.

The lighting was kind of fun. Nothing too special. Just enough bright lites on the sign letters to give that neon like effect and some lights on the Sears sign. The roof texture took some fiddling since not a whole lot was cooperating with the dark bricks but I'm pretty happy with this one (5th or 6th version of it). Everyone seemed to like the side door so I kept it. Unless someone spots a showstopper this one is fini since Barby has already made an installer for it. One final shot, below is Mel's on Sim Main Street next to Province House Credit Union, the Clay Cafe and some Maxis shop.