Slow BAT steady - Rady's first BAT attempts

[Badsim]

Ok, I finally accepted that my Barn is lost. OTOH this opens the opportunity for a second BAT training, this time in 3dsmax.

What a pity !  I was following the development of that appealing little barn with a major interest ...  I hope you will resurrect it ASAP indeed ! (I'm really a sucker for that kind of BATs ...  ) 

Cédric.

[Rady]

Thank you cedric for your kind words of encouragement!

Well, only because there's a setback doesn't mean there's cessation ... that's how far I have come meanwhile:



Good thing is: when I created the barn for the first time in gmax, it took me a week to proceed so far. Now, this has been one nights work.

So at least I can measure some improvement in my BATing knowledge ...

Glad to hear that there's someone out there who might actually download this BAT sometime in the future ..

[Gringamuyloca]

Good thing is: when I created the barn for the first time in gmax, it took me a week to proceed so far. Now, this has been one nights work.

So at least I can measure some improvement in my BATing knowledge ...

It's amazing how age can allow such satisfaction!    

Glad to hear that there's someone out there who might actually download this BAT sometime in the future ..

You can add one more to the list!   
I'm sorry for the loss of the barn, but looking forward to the opportunity it creates!   

[Rady]

Hi folks, I'm here again. Two months went by surprisingly fast, but now that I mastered the first steps with 3dsmax, I can provide the first images of my "new" old barn. I'm sure I still have to work on the wall textures, since they look somewhat plain. But I'd be interested in your opinion of course!



Most of the stuff that is assembled around the barn will be added in the LE, only those things under the garage roof will be added in 3dsmax. I haven't found a nice 3dsmax trailer model for free on the web right now, so adding that might take some more time if I'm forced to model the trailer by myself. Summer is coming, thus work in the garden comes up reducing my time for BATing ... on the other hand, this would be another nice modelling "tutorial" for me. So let's see.

Gringamuyloca, thanks, you have been added!

[RickD]

I like the little barn. How about some ivy growing up the back wall?

[Rady]

I like the little barn. How about some ivy growing up the back wall?

Yep, thought about that also, but still have to find some nice texture .. 

[Girafe]

Or checking my tuto:

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=11656.0

[Rady]

Or checking my tuto:

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=11656.0

Glancing at the BATing olymp ....  thank's a lot, this definitely will be the next addition to my barn!

[Rady]

Hi folks, here I am again .. unfortunately the titel of my thread is more true than I would like it to be ...  but also slow progress is a kind of progress!

So here we go with what I would call the final version of the barn's textures. The ivy on the back wall will be added in the next step, but I wanted to get some kind of "clearence" from you for my wall textures before proceeding with the ivy.



Well, it's your turn again! Looking forward for your ideas!

[Silur]

This is very attractive for me ...
May be some dirty grey color for walls ... or may be no ...
I think - this is very fine  !!!

[Aaron Graham]

looks good to me.

Silur- those gray walls are dirty.

[jmyers2043]

No ideas from me. A compliment instead ... I like the shadowing on the white walls.

[Rady]

Thanks for your replies, I take this as a basic clearence to proceed 

[Lowkee33]

I like the light that comes through the door being visible in the window (the upper-right rotation).  However, I think that it interferes with the window frame.  At first sight it looked like the window is broken (which would be a cool detail if you ask me).  Since it isn't, maybe you could throw a contrasting texture on the barn floor.  Another thing I've found is that 3dsMax previews are much better quality than you actually get in-game, you might want to do some test renders and see how that light will actually look.

[Rady]

Lowkee, thanks for sharing your ideas!

At first sight it looked like the window is broken (which would be a cool detail if you ask me).

That's a nice idea, maybe I will dwell on that, also ... however before that I need to learn the "glass texture" part of BATing ....

[...] you might want to do some test renders and see how that light will actually look.

By "test renders" you actually mean real ingame shots? Or just exporting the sc4model and saving the images with Ilive's reader?

[Lowkee33]

however before that I need to learn the "glass texture" part of BATing ....

3dsMax comes with a bunch of materials.  In the various 3dsMax directories (Mydocs/ProgramFiles)  you will find a "materiallibraries" folder (I actually have 5 such folders installed by default).  One or more of them will have a bunch of stuff where you can find a glass material I am sure.

When you first make a new material, the default type is "Standard".  Once you've set the lights, you will find an "Arch-and-Design" option if you clicked on that Standard button.  Arch and Design has a bunch of templates with many types of glass.

As a side, I have a 3dsMax Tutorials folder in MyDocs.  In it is a Scene Assets folder, and in that is an Images folder.  Images is full of things you might find useful.  (And if the prefab materials aren't working properly, they are probably trying to reference those images but can't find them).

BAT actually comes with a few textures, but nothing outstanding.  There is a simple glass texture, which might be a good starting point to at least see what makes glass work (not much, you will find).

By "test renders" you actually mean real ingame shots? Or just exporting the sc4model and saving the images with Ilive's reader?

Both, I guess.  You wouldn't necessarily have to share those images with us, just for personal reference.  Maybe this is just on my computer, but I've often been discouraged when the 3dsMax preview doesn't look like what I actually get.

[Rady]

Lowkee, thanks for a second thought on the glass issue ...

Trying to follow your advice to export the model, I happened to realise that I also seem to need gmax for exporting the model to an SC4-usable format. I happily uninstalled gmax a few month ago when I happened to get hold of a 3dsmax copy  So I'm gonna "undo" that now and reinstall gmax ... which doesn't make me happy at all since I'm running out of space on my PC right now ... will need to invest in a new one soon.

So next on my list is installing gmax again and try to master the export process ....

Edit: Now this has turned out to be easier than expected :-) so here we go with the first render extracted from the model file with Ilive's reader:




Not so bad from my point of view ...


Edit #2: Lowkee, as for your comments on the light shining in the barn through the open door: what I don't understand is that there isn't more light inside? I Mean, there are two large windows, but obviously no light shines in through them. Shouldn't it? Why is there a shine of light through the door, but not the window? I'm not aware of anything special that I did with the windows ...