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JP Schriefer's BATs

Started by JP Schriefer, August 10, 2015, 07:04:46 PM

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Andreas

I really like those models as well, and since I have a thing for the NY/CHI tileset stuff, those would be a great addition alright. I agree about the textures looking a bit too clean here and there, and what I really miss is a slight gradient from the bottom to the top (darker at the bottom, lighter at the top). I think it was gascooker who explained this technique in his excellent BAT tutorial, and the effect adds a lot of depth to the buildings. I'd say it's the icing on the cake, and definitely worth a try to make your lovely work truly excellent. :)
Andreas

JP Schriefer

manga rivotra: thank you! To be honest I'm awful with Lotting, but the lots won't be so big so maybe I add just some restaurant tables or gardens, I don't know yet. :)

bombardiere: thank you! Different opinions are always welcome. I understand what you said about the roof texture, actually I did several tests with it using dirty textures there but it wasn't looking good and I didn't find a good image from the roof to use as a reference, so I decided to keep it clean as it looks on Google Earth. I believe that roof was cleaned recently because it's really clean from GE and the surrounds buildings were not. :)

Simmer2: thank you! :)

Andreas: thank you! I also miss this gradient effects on my own building, but I've no idea how to do it without photoshopping a gigantic image. I looked for this gascooker tutorial you said and I didn't find it :/


Yesterday I released Castelo del Mar building in the LEx: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3490

I always avoided doing Brazilian residential buildings because almost all of them have very complex bases and I was too lazy to do them, but finally I got tired of this perfectionism and I decided to do only the towers, it's even better for whoever wants to edit them in the Lot Editor. So I intend from now on to come with a lot of Brazilian residential buildings, probably from other countries from South America as well, the first one was Castelo del Mar. :)

This one is Saint Thomas Building from my home town. Now I'm testing the textures and after that I'll just need to model the solar panels and add some stuff near to that pool.


Girafe

It looks good but I think you can still add some details on the textures and on the BAT itself.

Keep going the good work  :thumbsup:
The Floraler

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Andreas

You can find gascooker's tutorial here: http://community.simtropolis.com/omnibus/simcity-4/batlot-editor-tutorials/using-photoshop39s-dodge-amp-burn-to-fake-ray-tracing-r61/ Actually, there's no need to "photoshop giant images", it's just a little gradient on the wall texture, which can be applied with any graphics editor that supports layers and such. :)
Andreas

bombardiere

#164
Quote from: Schriefer on March 02, 2017, 08:37:13 PM

bombardiere: thank you! Different opinions are always welcome. I understand what you said about the roof texture, actually I did several tests with it using dirty textures there but it wasn't looking good and I didn't find a good image from the roof to use as a reference, so I decided to keep it clean as it looks on Google Earth. I believe that roof was cleaned recently because it's really clean from GE and the surrounds buildings were not. :)


Andreas: thank you! I also miss this gradient effects on my own building, but I've no idea how to do it without photoshopping a gigantic image. I looked for this gascooker tutorial you said and I didn't find it :/




I understand that you aim to a clean look.  :) However, a slight tonal difference and make a huge impact to how the eye sees it.

I am not an expert here, but I can explain what I do. I agree that a ready grunge / dirty texture may not look good in SC4. I usually use a clean texture and then add my own effect with a paint program.

I have downloaded brushes, such as streaks or grunge and I use these to make effects on the clean texture. This way I can control how strong the effect is and with well planned changes I can use the same texture on a different Bat house and make it look totally different.

Off course this does not work well with the tiling in the 3D program. So I do make a single continuous texture picture for the wall or the roof. And yes, this applies to grading with a paint program. However, I don't think that a picture must be overly huge. I know that you love HD, same as me, but I think that a slight fuzziness is actually good in SC4 environment. I have been thinking that even in HD, it would be better that not a every single brick can be seen. But just a slight colour variation that makes you think that it is a brick work texture.

I use GIMP, but I haven't yet fully learned all the tricks it can do. Burn and Dodge tools can be used for to create subtile tonal changes, but I need to better master this tool. That is why I use ready made brushes.

After I have done the effects I apply the gradient. I like to do it last as it kind of fade the effects and in my opinion makes those blend in better in the texture. At the moment my attitude is that to use only a slight gradient. 10 % or maximum 20 %  depending on the original texture. I think I used too strong gradient on my first models and now I want to lessen the effect. I think that the gradient is more important on the roof than the wall. Some general overall effect and some smudge on the lower part of the wall together with a modest 10 % gradient  can make a nice overall look.

JP Schriefer

Girafe: thank you! Actually the building is very clean so I just made textures a bit darker to look good in game. :)

Andreas: thank you very much, I'll take a look and try to implement this technique. \o/

bombardiere: actually I also do roof textures the same way as you do, you can see that in Magnolia Hotel, Museu da Inconfidência and Great Southwest Tower. I just don't use the gradient thing but I'll start to use it as you guys suggested :)


Saint Thomas Building is now on the LEx: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3491

For some weeks I want to start to model the Acaiaca Building, from my hometown. It's a famous building in the city and to be honest I do not think it's so beautiful, but it has a rough and heavy look despite being an art deco. Buildings like that are not very common in SC4, so I decided to do it because I think it would be interesting for dense cities. The building is not so complex to model, but these effigies will be really tricky.
Link to Google Maps.




Simmer2

I like it! I can already see that building on a nice lot with a side parking lot, some shrubs and greenery around and a nice sidewalk leading to the front entrance!

Nick
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manga rivotra

Residential towers are rather rare in sim city, especially for the middle class. So it's a great addition, as always!  :thumbsup:
And thanks for the Castelo Del Mar and Saint Thomas Building, very modern and very interesting shape.  :)
Moreover, since these buildings fit to the architecture of many cities in the world, it might be interesting to make several versions with different facades colors to add diversity in our cities ?  &Thk/(

JP Schriefer

Thank you very much, Simmer2!

Thanks, manga rivotra, and that's a good idea indeed!

The three buildings from Cidade Jardim are almost ready. I'm looking for someone to make the lots since I'm definitely not good with it.



Can you guess which building is this one? :P


deora

Hm,it looks really great so far,but right now i have no Idea what Building this could be or where it is....it has a somewhat New York-ish Vibe...

Simmer2

Hi Schriefer Looking good so far  &apls

I could definitively help you with lotting if you wish.

Let me know.

Nick
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JP Schriefer

Wow that would be awesome, Nick! As soon as I export them I'll contact you then. Thank you :)

eugenelavery

Great to see you still churning out BATs!

JP Schriefer


praiodan


JP Schriefer

#175
Thank you, praiodan :)

The Capital Building, Park Tower and Continental Tower, from Cidade Jardim Corporate Center, are finished. I sent them to Simmer2, who will do their lots :)

I was looking for nice buildings from other cities in South America and I end up in Santiago de Chile. I decided to do 3 buildings from there by my own, but Matias93 gave me a suggestion that made me very excited. So I'm doing several buildings very similar to the ones around the Palacio de La Moneda that will be W2W pieces, so people can set up some complex buildings with it.

The small pieces are 2x1, the corner piece is 2x2, those big mirrored buildings are 3x4 and the one in the middle is 3x2.
There is a big gap on the mirrored buildings with 16 meters wide, so I'll make it possible to add a road there - probably doing the building as a prop. Also, I figured out a way to make seamless roof there so it can perfectly work as W2W, it's going to be laborious but I think it will work.

Preview in zoom 5, click here to see it full sized.


Vizoria

What a great idea! More W2W buildings are always useful.

praiodan

Wonderful work, I really like the idea of the slight geometric variations! Also, these remind me a little of a couple of buildings along Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin. &apls

kbieniu7

Wow! Excellent work! Idea to split the building into several W2W's puzzles is fantastic, a possibility to create unique complexes!  :thumbsup:
Thank you for visiting Kolbrów, and for being for last ten years!

reddonquixote

These are cute little buildings. The renderings are nice and crisply detailed.. are they HD or SD?

Curious to know how you will do the roof junk though?

Look forward to seeing these progress  :thumbsup:
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