The University of Clayhurst

[peter007]

Nice Progress.

[Sciurus]

Ok, I'm glad you haven't forgotten me
Very nice progress as said peter007

Guillaume

[bodek]

  where's the other building??

[Andreas]

EP1 is still with Andreas at this point.  I'll give progress updates as I get them, but until then I'll simply refer to the NAM motto:  "It will be ready when it's ready." 

RL is keeping me busy lately, I haven't touched SC4 at all since at least two months. Hopefully, march will bring some more time, but then again, there's also "wonderful" stuff to do, like making your tax return and similar joys.

[JBSimio]

Jack:  Thanks!  Yes, I did plan on mounting a hanging light fixture inside the archways... although I'm not sure how much it will show unless I put a "false floor" in (which I'd rather not do, since it will then cover up the path texture of your choice).  I may also mount some lights on either side of the arches.  For the rest, I think I'm leaning towards the flood/spot light look, but we'll see.  My parents had (probably) the same storm as you in Michigan although it "only" produced about 9 inches there.  The snow hype here in the Bay area amounted to nothing, although it was certainly cold enough the last few mornings.  Even had it snowed and stuck, it would have only lasted a few hours past sunrise anyway.   

Garrett:  Thank you!  That's the direction towards which I'm leaning.

Peter:  Thanks!

Guillaume:  Thank you!  I still haven't forgotten!  My apologies for the delay.   

Bodek:  I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific... there are dozens of buildings in this topic.  It's kind of like going to the RHW thread and asking about "that one texture."     (Unless you were referring to this one, in which case... you're in luck!)

Andreas:  Thanks for the update!  As you well know, I certainly understand RLS.  On a positive note, my taxes have been done for a while...

Didn't have a whole lot of time this weekend.  And I really didn't feel like messing about with tedious lighting tests during what little time I did have.  So... I tinkered a bit more with the Field House instead.  I added all of the roof trim pieces, along with the roof junk and some satellite dishes for broadcasting purposes:



The real life Yost Ice Arena (University of Michigan hockey, which is where this building came from) still has a large chimney which I've been debating since day one.  I'm leaning towards leaving that off on my version.  I still have a few more mechanical type things to put around the back of the building and then go back and add any other exterior lights for doors and such that I've missed.  Beyond that, I should be able to start texturing this fairly soon.

Until then,
JB

[knuckleball]

Ah, an old fashioned arena. Love it.  Can't wait to see it finished!

[Cali]

Those are some really big satellite dishes....I Really love the detail. Great job thus far 

[huntingfire]

Fantastic work ! Hope it is not too late to speak my idea !
How about incorporating the Advanced Research Centre and Medical Research Centre into the pack?

[threestooges]

Didn't have a whole lot of time this weekend.

Yet you're able to add exceptional details like that. Nice bits there Jon. If possible, can you show a close up of the HVAC models without textures? Did you put those together yourself from scratch? Also, I just noticed the old satellite dishes up there, nice touch on those.
-Matt

[Sciurus]

Excellent! And no worries for the delay, I can wait a bit more (but not so long anyway! - I joke of course )

Guillaume

[peter007]

Very nice. Updates. How much buildings did you create since you began posting here?

[Meastro444]

That could be a real nice railway station as well.

[XiahouDun]

I thought that looked familar. Of course you'd do the Yost Arena Looks fantastic.

Go Blue

[Jack_wilds]

Thanks for the field house update...    I particularly like the brick work, the red entry doors and the hvac stuff... its really coming into its own...

concerning the sat. dishes I'd take one 'em out and replace it with a smaller one as there is more than one transmit frequency...

and with that in mind perhaps a reception ariel and a short radio tower -could double as the campus radio station too (wuoc, kouc) placing a sign nearby or on door   

no weather report this time round...  

[JBSimio]

Knuckleball:  Thank you!

Cali:  Thanks!  Yes, they are definitely larger than normal, but I justify that by saying they're meant for broadcasting and not recieving signals.  (I don't know if that actually makes a difference in reality, but it's the excuse I'm using!) 

Huntingfire:  Thanks!  It's not too late, although I think I'll be holding off on any new classrooms until the following expansion.  That could still change... but it's the direction I'm headed in for now.

Matt:  Thanks!  I did make these particular units from scratch, yes.  Your request and more explainations follow. 

Guillaume:  Thank you!  Your wait is also over below. 

Peter:  Thanks!  How many buildings?  Oh boy... let's see...    The university Starter Pack contained 10  different buildings (plus quite a few prop models) and 56 lots.  EP1 contains 14 buildings and 28 lots.  So far for EP2 I have 3 buildings (including this current one) and 2 entry sign models.  And that's just for the University stuff!   

Meastro:  Good point... I agree.  I rarely recycle buildings, but this one could be worth the extra time.   

XiahouDun:  Thank you!  I've always loved this building although this is definitely not an accurate recreation.  It's actually my second attempt... the first of which was years ago for the Barry Sanders Project long before I had any business taking on a building like this! 

Jack:  Thanks!  I could easily alter the size of one satellite dish to break up the monotony a bit.  I was thinking about an ariel or radio tower as well, but we'll see how it looks first.  I don't want to get too carried away and risk distracting from the rest of the building. 

This is not a proper update at all... I'm here to fulfill a couple requests instead.  Guillaume had asked me (via PM) about my methods for making glass doors/window walls.  Since I made a mini tutorial to answer the question, I thought I might as well just post it here on the off chance that it might help others as well.

But first, Matt also wanted a closer look at the HVAC units from the Field House.



The unit itself is simply a box (although I made each side a seperate piece) with some holes cut into the top for fans and one side for venting.  The fans are three small rectangles on angles for fan blades with a "hub" piece to tie them together.  The ducting is simply a series of boxes with 90 degree sliced tubes for elbows.  Each "joint" is made with a simple rectangle using mesh settings of 0.15 thickness and 4 sides.  After the "edit mesh" modifier, I also add the "smooth" modifier to give them the nice, crisp edges.



And that's a look before any textures (which I haven't done yet anyway).  If you need more details, Matt, just let me know. 

Now... for Guillaume, we're going to go into a bit more detail about making a glass wall with entry doors.  Here's a look at what we'll ultimately end up with:



We'll start with a simple wall (ignore the extra openings... I just used an exsisting building for this demonstration) and make an opening for the glass section.  In this case, I'm making a full window wall with a double door in the center.  I generally make my single doors somewhere in the area of 1.3 - 1.5 meters wide and 3.2 - 3.5 meters high for commercial buildings.  (Slightly smaller for residentials.)  In this case, a single door is 1.4 x 3.4 meters.  I'm going to have a double door, plus two additional windows on either side.  This gives me an overall opening that will be 8.4 meters wide.  Since I also want this to have extra glass above the doors, I've made the opening 4.8 meters high (my ceiling will be at 6 meters) and left it 0.2 meters off the ground to leave room for a floor inside and a stoop outside.  I've also made the wall 0.3 meters thick which is my general standard for "normal" walls.  None of these measurements are necessarily essential, but I include them here for the sake of discussion. 

Now lets get started on the doors and windows themselves.



By snapping to the corners of the wall opening, I simply draw a rectangle for the main frame.  Notice the Mesh Settings.  The thickness and number of sides can be whatever works for your building, but these are the ones I'm using here.  Now for the pieces that will divide the glass into windows and doors.



I'll simply snap lines with the same mesh settings and move them into place.



After moving and cloning the line, I wind up with 5 dividing lines.  As I mentioned earlier, my doors will be 1.4 meters wide and I've kept the windows the same as well.  So in this case, I have my lines at x= -2.8, -1.4, 0, 1.4, and 2.8.  Now I'll do the same for the cross members.



My upper cross member stretches the full width of the opening and also forms the top for my "doors."  Since I want my doors to be 3.4 meters tall, I've placed this line at z=3.6 (the bottom of my frame is 0.2 meters off the ground, don't forget.)  I also placed two cross members across the flanking windows just for the heck of it.



All these pieces make up a completed frame.  I've gone back to our first rectangle, added an "edit spline" modifier and attached all the individual lines to it.  I then added an "edit mesh" modifier (which is essential for the piece to show up in renders) and my UVW Mapping (I used the box mapping) just so I don't forget later.  The other key thing I've done is moved the frame back so it is center inside the wall.  Since the wall is 0.3 meters thick, I've centered this piece at y=0.15.



Now for the glass itself.  I simply draw a new rectangle (be sure to uncheck the mesh settings) to the outer most corners of the frame.  This will overlap the glass slightly inside the wall and help prevent light leaks later.  Notice how it's all nice and centered in the frame?  Then we'll simply add a "Planar" UVW Mapping for the glass.  Pick your texture and the appropriate opacity, specular level, and glossiness settings for whatever you usually like for window glass.



All we still need are some handles.  I always put crash bars and interior handles on my glass doors.  They're not always noticable during the day, but the will show up and/or cast shadows with proper night lighting so I feel it's worth the extra moment.  I start with the crash bar, drawing a simple line with the same mesh settings as the frame.  I place it slightly below the center of the door (z=1.7 in my case) and just behind the glass (y=0.25 here).  I also add the "edit mesh" modifier at this point again.



For the interior handles, I simply make two small rectangles (0.5 meters wide by 0.3 meters high) and place them just to either side of my center divider.  I then join the two as one piece with an "edit spline" modifier and attaching one to the other.  I then extrude them as thin pieces away from the glass.  At this point, I would select the crash bar with these handles and have them both share the same UVW Map.  (It's such a small piece that it seems pointless to texture them individually anyway.)



For the exterior handles, I turn the mesh settings back on and simply make two lines on either side of the center divider again.  (My lines are 0.5 meters high for it's worth.)  I attach them again, add the "edit mesh" modifier, and UVW Mapping.  And of course these will be placed slightly forward of the glass to be seen from the outside.



Add some textures, and there you have it!  Hope this helps, my friend!

Until next time,
JB

[Sciurus]

Thank you for this very helpful tutorial my friend!! I'll show you what I wanted to do soon
And HVAC unit is very well done!

Guillaume

[thedonclark01]

This is my first post and i want to say im totaly amazed at the dedication and interest of JBSimio.  You really have made our enjoyment of the game take flight.  i've always hoped for a more in-depth university in the game; one that can be expanded and fully functional and you answered the call, so for that i thank you!

After reading all 18 pages of this thread and i wanted to add a couple suggestions from a local university near where i currently live.  please forgive me if i mention anything you have already said or are currently designing.

1. i know you're working on sports facilities and i'm sure you've already considered a stadium, baseball and an arena, but have you considered a Rec Center?  Something similiar to a building used for exercise/swimming/weight rooms.

2. i've already read posts about culinary, frat and soriorty houses, and a growing medical school, which i think are incredible ideas, but how about:

college of education (used for education teachers of tomorrow)
college of Fine and performing arts (Dance/Theater/Music/Art) - could include some auditoriams
campus bookstore/campus newspaper/parking garages/dining halls/admin office (where students register)
college of criminal justice that can also have a police academy
College of economics, religious studies, computer science, or a college of science (physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy w/ planetarium)
graduate school

i hope i've offered something new to your already incredible list.  thank you

[threestooges]

Thanks for that Jon! That's something I'd been pondering for a while. I've never had much chance to poke around actual HVAC units before, so that was an excellent indication of how to put one together. The fan was the most helpful. I've tried several variations, but they all seem to mess up on preview/export. Simple is indeed better here. The joints are a nice detail too. I'll see if I can incorporate some of that into my future works. Thanks again.
-Matt

[peter007]

Wow thanks for the tutorial, I used it immediatelt on one of my buidlings.
And it's a very good method

[JBSimio]

Just a quick hello to everyone.  Things have been quite busy here the last several weeks and I haven't had a whole lot of time to dedicate to anything.  Last weekend, I did finally have some time... so I got all settled in to start textures for the Field House.  Imagine my chagrin (good word... doesn't get used often enough) when 5 minutes after starting up the desktop it decided to shut itself back off!      

Long story short... I'm fairly certain the motherboard died and I wound up with a new desktop which arrived on Tuesday.  I'm hoping to finally get that set up later today.  Then the big question becomes the hard drive (although I'm pretty sure that it is still readable) and transferring everything over to the new machine.  If that doesn't work, I'll lose a couple months as my last full backup to the laptop was just before Christmas.  I think all will be well... but we'll find out this afternoon.     In the meantime, it will still take a little while to get things back to normal one way or the other.

With any luck, I'll be back later this weekend with some updates and personal replies.

Until then,
JB