BAT Showcase

[mattb325]

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments!

@art128 - the 3dsmax is 2013 and it is simfoxes bat4max that I am using
@c.p. I think that's it - I'd actually forgotten the bump map all-together  and would always give roofing a very slight bump-map....

Anyway, I have got the station into the game - there are no night-lights (yet)





I'm quite pleased with it. It's substantial enough to make a nice sized impact without overwhelming a city tile.

Now all I have to do is remember what the transit values need to be for these sorts of stations and get the nightlights sorted 

[Tarkus]

Matt, this is amazing stuff.  The station looks amazing--especially like the roof texturing.

-Alex

[noahclem]

Beautiful work indeed on that station! If the night lights turn out any where near as well as the textures have than this is exciting indeed. It's a bit late and you make a good point about its size making a nice impact without overwhelming a tile but imho it could be a little bit longer. Most smaller SC4 stations are relatively small compared to their RL counterparts however, so the current size would also have the advantage of matching them better. Again, it's really lovely to see you back at it 

[art128]

Wonderful station, it really looks great. The level of details is incredible. I would add to Noah's suggestion, but only about the platforms.. Maybe extend them a few tiles after the station's cover? Of course in the end the choice is yours and I know how long the render for such a building is going to be.

[Girafe]

modeling and texturing looks really good 

[romualdillo]

Wonderful work Matt!! 

[FrankU]

A beautiful station and I think it is a very good addition to our list of stations.
I do think like noah and art that it would be nice to make the station a bit longer.

[Simcoug]

I'd say you picked up right where you left off, skill wise.  This looks fantastic!  It will certainly leap to the top of my favorite 'terminus' style stations... now I need to build up the towns infrastructure to support this beauty.    

[mgb204]

Welcome back, always nice to see a new station in the works. You mentioned transit values, you can find the latest info on that here.

[Dantes]

Impressive work mattb325 I like the details A station of brick has a very special atmosphere.

[SuperMessi]

Looks very nice Matt. In my opinion, this is the type of station that blends in very naturally with any architectural style. I may be wrong, but I have that perception.

[mattb325]

Thanks for the comments! 

@mgb204 - thankyou for the link....I had that bookmarked but wasn't sure if anything more-up-to-date had been done since I last made a station.

In terms of size the lot is 9 tiles and the platforms take up about 6-6.5 of those tiles.
Given most trains are 6 cars long and one train car is approx. 18m in length (i.e. 108m for the train), the 6.5x16m of the platform (104m) will easily accommodate most 4 and 6 car trains....those arriving on an 8 car train will have to jump onto the tracks 

Here is the night shot - quite straightforward nightlighting with nothing too flashy.



While the station works in Vanilla mode, I'll need to test it with the NAM installed & in a few different tiles/cities which can take a week or two, so it will be a little while before it is released.

In the mean time, I whipped up a little clinic "T & A Health" 








This one should be available for release very shortly 

[art128]

That little building is a beauty! Can't wait to put my hands on it. As for the station, I understand your reasoning and I agree with it. The night light is well done, but I thought it would get some more effects to it. But still nice nonetheless.

[seraf]

I can't believe I didn't comment on this building! It looks great, very nice work  The nightlights could be a bit less flashy but are still nice.

As for the "T & A Health" ... very 90's-ish

[compdude787]

That's a nice looking clinic! It will be a good step up in size from the GooberGen clinic that I typically use in my cities.

[Girafe]

while I pretty like the lighting of the train station, I am not convinced by self illuminated windows of the clinic.

I find them too big to be lighted with this method.

But I love the day render and the idea of a small clinic, something that is drastically missing in the game 

[mattb325]

.....I am not convinced by self illuminated windows of the clinic.

I find them too big to be lighted with this method....

Fair enough, but I would say take a look at these pictures. I found these by typing 'night windows' into google.

Hotel window:


You can barely make out the creases of the curtains, just amorphous blobs of furniture behind it, but because they are not heavily lined, 'block-out' curtains, they are brightly illuminated.

Same is apparent in this photo, where the curtains are drawn:


Even in the modern offices, the areas with the opaque anti-glare blinds (about 3 rows down on the left-hand side) show just illuminated shapes:



Now, I've seen it as 'on trend' to model the interiors for a night shot, and that may work for large offices where the blinds are up and the offices are largely empty (yet lit), but it is actually unrealistic for smaller applications which tend to have curtains or venetian blinds which are closed when the lights are on.

Additionally, so many wonderful bats languish unfinished because of feeling the need to bat interior furniture, so I would always go for the self-illumination option first and foremost unless there is a very good reason to illuminate an interior (such as an atrium-style space or a piece of architecture that really calls for it).

But thankyou for your post - it is always good to have the option of exploring differing views 

[reddonquixote]

Additionally, so many wonderful bats languish unfinished because of feeling the need to bat interior furniture

So true! Exactly what I was thinking  Nightlights have an extreme irony attached to them... there's an intense demand for them to have 'perfect realism' but they are rarely actually used in-game  Absolutely nothing wrong with these nightlights in my opinion (that's my 2c worth anyway)

The train station is magnificent. It's great to have an old master back on the BATing scene 

[manga rivotra]

I love the clinic. It fits fully with a suburban environment.
And thanks for your houses too, a great addition to the game ! 

[vortext]

Great to see you back at it, the train station is a stunner!!