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Aradhana residential - a new BAT

Started by callagrafx, September 09, 2008, 12:29:06 PM

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callagrafx

Thanks all....

Robin: this one was sheer indulgence  :D  ....I added the base details cos I'm crap at LOTing, and would have spent ages trying to get textures to fit..

Daniel: This would probably be more for the Bollywood crowd  :thumbsup:

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

rooker1

#21
Cal, there have been a few BATter as of late that have gone this route as well.  And I'm sure you heve seen them.  BUt my point is that this looks really good.  The only problem that I have incountered with this is the LODs.  Sometimes I want to add other props and can not.  Does your have the same issue?  Adding props to your base...

At any rate, I really like it no matter what and I look forward to seeing (testing)  ;) this one grow in my city.

Robin  :thumbsup:

Call me Robin, please.

callagrafx

Heh...the LODs are custom, to allow placement of props on the grass areas and around the building itself...I tried to add models of flora but the render time went postal.  The hedges were pushing it but within acceptable limits.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

callagrafx

*bump

Well that seemed to work...apart from a gamma issue with the bitmaps.  LODs seem to allow placement of props on the grass areas, so LOTing will become easier.  This lot is temporary to test the LODs.  PIM-X puts this at growth stage 6, so even with CAM it'll appear, which is good news.


The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

BarbyW

Very nice, Lee. This will go well with the Celestia etc appartments.
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. TP



Barbypedia: More alive than the original

art128

I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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SimFox

#26
OMG! it's way too dark... I mean the day view...

The problem with Gamma is that to save image with gamma settings (those that you have set max to apply) it has to be specifically ordered. But the script that runs the export doesn't do that.
Solution would be to add the line instructing script to apply gamma before it saves the TGA's. This would be prolly the miost efficient way to handle it. You can take a look at MaxScript ref file. I know you told that you are not to keen on MaxScript. But learning a bit of it would do you a world of good! And it sin't all that difficult, really, just takes some time to get used to the logic of it.

Another solution, if for instance you're more at home with Photoshop is to make a little Action and batch with it to apply gamma to already created bmp slabs. It also would take a few seconds.

Third solution the longest in time overall, but probably the easiest as it doesn't call for anything new would be to apply the gamma correction to your bitmaps used in materials and remove gamma in Max settings and... re-export it...

another odd thing is that persistent "shadow" glitch. You have had similar on your Hospital and it is very loudly manifests itself here as well. I mean, of course the thing on the right "ark". It may be coplanar from skin too tight lod, or something along those lines. moving it away by a 1 cm should solve this issue (in case of coplanars) and wouldn't make any difference for game.

there is also an issue with you concave (or is it convex -never remember which is which) surface on the left "ark" - that line running top-don. You say you use Max2008... I though that this issue had been fixed there already. It is a result of the "arbitrary" Z position of the ortho camera (Z in camera space). Internally it is kept at some ridiculous distance -like hundreds thousands of system units from the center of the scene. As a result the accuracy of MR FG calculations isn't heigh enough. Or this is how it was explained to me by a guy who actually runs development of MR.  He said it is a MAX, not MR problem. Although it only manifests with MR and when you have you system units large enough. if you switch to inches, for instance, it will go away. But that was in Max9... I  didn't see it anymore in Max2008. And though that my and my "associates" letters to Autodesk were actually answered. To get around this problem you can try to change all the cameras in the rig to the target ones, hopefully precise Z depth will resolve it. Or, in case this wouldn't work, you could try to switch to inches as system units and to generics to the display units. And model everything like it would be a tinny models. GMAX would be fooled as it relays on simple numbers of system units and so will be BAT scripts as well. THe only issues would be with any physically correct lights and some such, But as I understand you don't care to use those with BAT...

That was purely technical issues...
on the artistic side... I think you need to exaggerate a bit your balconies railing - it is invisible now (prolly need to make you AA a bit more sensitive as well). so it a bit disturbs the perception of the scale and function.

And may be give some very slight pattern to the white expanse of the walls.. slight enough not to stand out but just be on the border of perception.

Roof looks too dark for the white building and for an indian building. Under Mumbai sun it shall be glowing hot. And esthetically it rips away from the building.

Normal (preview) day render look to have too strong turquoise cast (from MR Sky, I presume) it doesn't really marry into the color scheme of the game too well. I've been tinkering with it for quite a time but wasn't able to get rid of it all together with MR Sky, So I've turned back to the IES Sky.

Also you may think of some solution for the definition in the shaded areas. As now it all looks a bit too flat.

Architectural "arches" look a bit flimsy... given the size of them and the wind stress they would have to bare they prolly should be either a bit more massive (thick), or had some support system. At the moment the wall around the stairs of the main (?) entrance is thicker then them, it doesn't really look right.

those are all nit pickings, I know... but your level is such that one goes for those details - you are the one to blame! would you make simple boxes there wouldn't be any of it $%Grinno$%

Would you care to tell how you have made those hedges? with Particle system?

kimcar


callagrafx

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
OMG! it's way too dark... I mean the day view...
I know, I know...but if you look at the preview image on the previous page, the exposure is spot on...and it was throughout the render process.  Not until it got to the game did it get screwed up, which suggests an issue in either the tga save or FSH conversion.

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
another odd thing is that persistent "shadow" glitch. You have had similar on your Hospital and it is very loudly manifests itself here as well. I mean, of course the thing on the right "ark". It may be coplanar from skin too tight lod, or something along those lines. moving it away by a 1 cm should solve this issue (in case of coplanars) and wouldn't make any difference for game.

Theres' a part of the building that protrudes, which is causing that shadow...it's just at the same angle as the view plane.

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
there is also an issue with you concave (or is it convex -never remember which is which) surface on the left "ark" - that line running top-don.
That whole panel is getting remodelled...it was a bit of a botch job to be honest.

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
That was purely technical issues...
on the artistic side... I think you need to exaggerate a bit your balconies railing - it is invisible now (prolly need to make you AA a bit more sensitive as well). so it a bit disturbs the perception of the scale and function.

()what() There are no balcony railings

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
Roof looks too dark for the white building and for an indian building. Under Mumbai sun it shall be glowing hot. And esthetically it rips away from the building.

Again check the preview image...and this building is designed for more western style cities...so a more western style roof texture has been used...SC4 is a rooftop game after all

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
Also you may think of some solution for the definition in the shaded areas. As now it all looks a bit too flat.
That's what shadows do...flatten.

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
Architectural "arches" look a bit flimsy... given the size of them and the wind stress they would have to bare they prolly should be either a bit more massive (thick), or had some support
system. At the moment the wall around the stairs of the main (?) entrance is thicker then them, it doesn't really look right.
See previous comment

Quote from: SimFox on September 13, 2008, 01:55:17 AM
Would you care to tell how you have made those hedges? with Particle system?

Are you talking about the ones on the grass or the ones around the LOT?  The latter ones are maxis props.  The ones on the grass are models from 3dplants.com

Kim: thanks...may be a little longer yet  :thumbsup:
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

SimFox

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
I know, I know...but if you look at the preview image on the previous page, the exposure is spot on...and it was throughout the render process.  Not until it got to the game did it get screwed up, which suggests an issue in either the tga save or FSH conversion.

FSH conversion has nothing to do with it. That's the problem with Gamma correction not getting saved with TGA. If you enable Gamma/LUT Correction in preferences then during the render (or past it) you see gamma corrected presentation image, it happens in the fly, but actual data is in gamma 1 and that what is getting saved. If, on the other hand you don't enable it MR Photographic Exposure still applies it (Gamma 2.2) but that happens during calculations. That means that What You See Is What You are actually Getting. But, of course you MatEditor is screwed (not showing accurate colors).
As I've mentioned before it could be fixed by enabling Gamma setting in script.

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
Theres' a part of the building that protrudes, which is causing that shadow...it's just at the same angle as the view plane.
That whole panel is getting remodelled...it was a bit of a botch job to be honest.

yeah, I though that was a co-planar

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
()what() There are no balcony railings

Hm... I think I saw them on the larger presentational renderings... just checked. Yep I did and I do. Did you delete them??

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
Again check the preview image...and this building is designed for more western style cities...so a more western style roof texture has been used...SC4 is a rooftop game after all

I do talk about the "properly Exposed" preview. Still think it's too dark. That is under the full sun so it must be pretty dark/black, just take a look at the photographs...
I don't think western style has anything to do with it... Take a look at the NYC/LA rooftops, or even the game
As for the game being rooftop game it very much depends on the hight of the building and it's cross-section. For building like yours roof is clearly secondary and subservient to the facade surface that is far larger and more striking. I'd say it's a good idea to keep that compositional "hierarchy" and not overemphasis the roof, otherwise choir becomes cacophony.

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
That's what shadows do...flatten.

Not really. Lighting within shadow isn't constant and flat, crevices never getting same amount of light as parts exposed to the open sky. I have 2 letters to you - AO! and, may be, better FG.

Quote from: callagrafx on September 13, 2008, 08:32:54 AM
Are you talking about the ones on the grass or the ones around the LOT?  The latter ones are maxis props.  The ones on the grass are models from 3dplants.com

Yeah, those that are part of the BAT itself. There is a very good way to make this sort of plants with Particle systems since you an make them of any shape you may need and be very flexible with polycount. I sort of know of it, but never actually made it myself... Thought that you did and was wondering if you have any pointers...


callagrafx

After mucking around for hours with trying to render it direct, I decided to manually treat the renders to correct the gamma issue...




Happier now...Barby has the model for LOTing so at least people will be spared my crap LOT  :D
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

Pat

Lee by far was that a crap lot!!! Simple is good and other then needing to add some people I think you had damn good lot here!!

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art128

#32
woooo   &apls very nice tower, I like the grass at the bottom  :thumbsup:
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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callagrafx

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

XiahouDun

 :o First model in a while to get that kind of reaction from me. Fantastic job :thumbsup:

A side: Great Jeff Dunham avatar :D
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You may have meant to search for Houdini. (result of searching for XiahouDun on SC4D)

jacqulina


SimFox

Shadows had improved, and markably so!
But the left side of the tower is still somewhat like seen through the dirty(greasy) glass.

BTW would you care to give the model to me to try to pull out details??

Lee, when you say you've gamma corrected the files manually.. what do you mean? did you open all of the bmp's and applied gamma to them in Photoshop?
I'm sorry I didn't look into it right away but the very simple solution would be to add this line

outputBmpCP.gamma = displayGamma (where ouputBmpCP is a name of variable that holds the actual image that has to be gamma corrected)

before the save command in CPBuildingMill.ms It should ensure that what you see during preview or render will be saved.



art128

#37
you change the roof  and the grass :thumbsup: very nice I like it  &apls
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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MandelSoft

I thought: "let's take a look here!", and what do I see? A wonderfull building. It looks very realistic. Keep it up, callagrafx!
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Simpson

This bat is looking very fine, great work  :thumbsup:
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