JP Schriefer's BATs

[Swordmaster]

Great work JP!


Cheers
Willy

[romualdillo]

Planalto Palace and Great Southwest Life Building look amazing!! 
The residential building looks interesting (I'm sorry it isn't so amazing  ). It's a stand-alone building or it's part of a bigger complex? We have similar buildings in all Spanish cities, they became the best (and fastest) solution to the population increase during the 1960's.

[c.p.]

Wow, lots of new buildings since I was here last   I like them all, but the Planalto Building is especially unique and interesting

[belfastsocrates]

As I mentioned on ST I'm absolutely delighted your creating the modernist masterpieces from Brasilia. I really look forward to showcasing them, they are things of beauty

[noahclem]

Quite a few interesting projects you have going right now! The palace especially looks like a real challenge with the water and grass surrounding it and the underground parking appearing through a slope--will be amazing if you can get it all to come together perfectly 

[mattb325]

The Great Southwest building is magnificent - it will really complement the magnolia building

[JP Schriefer]

Vizoria: thank you! It will be W2W

romualdillo: thank you! It is part of a big complex indeed. There are two kind of buildings in the complex, the one I'm doing and other with just 4 floors. I'm planning to do the little one also.


c.p.: thank you! Niemeyer buildings are always unique 

belfastsocrates: thank you! As Rio Project, there's a draft about a Brasilia project after the Olympics...

noahclem: thank you, I hope everything goes fine when rendering. I'll do 2 versions, the reduced one is done and SimCoug is lotting it, the complete version I've to work a little bit yet.

mattb325: thank you, I'm glad you like it


The Maracanã is almost ready, I just need to do the lights in the roof. The only problem is that I have to split the model into several parts because Gmax won't accept LODs so big, then I still need some time.

I'll introduce another landmark from Rio I'm doing for the project, the Copacabana Palace Hotel and its annex:
Click in the images to see it in zoom 5:

[romualdillo]

The Copacabana looks fantastic!! Perhaps you could give a try to the 1923 version... 
I'd really like to see it with the Burle Marx mosaics in front of it!!

P.S: The complex looks exactly like the one where my aunt lives... 

[reddonquixote]

I missed that update - lovely modelling work JP 

[JP Schriefer]

romualdillo: thank you! I'll think about the old version, and the mosaics are being done by Flunight

reddonquixote: thank you!

I have several projects in the final stages. The day verison of the Maracana is rendered and I am finishing the night lights. The smaller version of the Planalto Palace is ready and SimCoug is doing the Lot; the full version I'm having trouble, but I must solve soon. The Solar das Paineiras is ready but I also had trouble after rendering, I just need to export again. Anyway, my classes will return on Monday, but I hope to release some BATs in the coming weeks and stop for a while to dedicate myself to the university.

Last days I decided to do some German appartment blocks from Erlangen. Each building will be a prop as SD and HD versions.




HD view, click to full size it:

[c.p.]

Looks good so far.  Very close to the original

Also, the Copacabana Palace Hotel model looks amazing 

[JP Schriefer]

c.p.: thank you very much

I released the Solar das Paineiras on the LEX: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3348

[kelis]

Thanks for your last models !! I especially like the new one from Germany. I Can't  wait to see more progress 

[mattb325]

The Solar das Paineiras looks great - it's a very unique building (almost reminds me of the Asian tileset on SC3000) 

[vester]

Great work on the Solar das Paineiras.

The materials is a little to clean for my taste.

Maybe next time to look into improving the materials:
Composite Maps in 3DS Max
Its a way to dirty up the materials, without doing a lot photoshop work.

[bombardiere]

I agree with Vester. Solar das Paineiras is too clean for my taste. Even if you do not want to dip it into a mudbucket, some subtle shading and grime would liven up those.

Same with the German houses. I understand the roof textures may be just a test, but at the moment those are too bright for the game environment. Too saturated.

Sorry, I don't try to be negative. I have just learnt so much about saturation and texture effects lately that I look at the Bats with new mindset.

Those German houses are nice models and would be useful. There are similar houses here in Finland too, although I am not personally fan of this type of architecture. Yet sure beats the concrete boxes which came after during 60's and 70's

[reddonquixote]

Yeah... IMO textures aren't really all that bad but... your modelling has become just sooooo AMAZING.. we need to get your textures even better to do your models justice and then you will be top of the game 

Definitely check out the composite maps tutorials Vester posted.. probably have a look at the procedural grime tutorials Darn42 posted on Simtrop, and if there's anything I can help with at all let me know as well. (and I'm absolutely sure others will be happy to help as well)

...But if even you do nothing.. your BATs are still amazing, this one is no exception 

[vester]

Yeah... IMO textures aren't really all that bad but... your modelling has become just sooooo AMAZING.. we need to get your textures even better to do your models justice and then you will be top of the game 

Great point. Your modelling skills has come a long way.


Had an extra look at the apartment blocks. The tiles on the roof may be the right size compared to real life, but this is going to be displayed in a computer screen and on top of that, in a game.


You will need to give way on the 1 to 1 ratio, model to real life.
Try to do a few test, multiplying with 1.41 (square root of two).
(The 41 pro cent extra is about the smallest difference you can see without using a ruler).

My guess is at least 1.4 time the size, maybe even 2 times or more.

Here is a few Ceramic tiles textures:
Textures.com: RooftilesCeramic0021
Textures.com: RooftilesCeramic0058
Textures.com: RooftilesCeramicOld0097
Textures.com: RooftilesCeramicOld0089
Textures.com: RooftilesCeramicOld0095
Add a few multiply (darken) layers on top, to add some life to them, combine an alphas (opacity) can make a lot of different:


Here is a texture in 3 different tones. It was used on one of my first models, I still sometimes still use:






They are not very high resolution, but they do the job.

[mattb325]

I mostly use composite maps on my walls - but one thing I do differently is that start with a wall texture that I have already applied a gradient and dodge/burn to. I then use some of the alpha decals from textures.com  http://www.textures.com/category/decals/52338 to make each result slightly unique. For me, I find that this speeds up the texturing process and also starting with a texture that has a slight gradient - usually 10% strength -  ensures that new buildings blend in with the old-timers in the game. (Of course, you can use the gradient options in 3ds, but I find it quicker to use the gimp/photoshop).

[JP Schriefer]

kelis: thank you very much!

mattb325: thank you! This link you sent is amazing!!!! It's going to be very usefull!

vester: yay thanks for the tutorial and textures! I'll take a look soon. Next preview from the appartments I'll test that.

bombardiere: thank you! And your tips are always welcome, don't worry about that.

reddonquixote: thank you very much! I'll try to improve this model.


So after all your comments all I have to say is thank you very much once more
I'll try to improve the Solar das Paineiras using all the tips you said here, but it may take a long time because my semester at the university will come back this Monday and I've to finish other projects as well.

So in my last day of vacation I have a little surprise 
Unfortunatelly I'm having errors when I try to upload it to the LEX as I posted in the LEX forum. While it's not fixed you can take a look on Simtropolis if you want to: http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/30987-tiradentes-building/