AntigOne's Projects: ArizOna, State Of Mind.

[Badsim]

New species brought to SC4:

Giant reed, Arundo donax:



Very common where I’m living (named Cannes de Provence in french), invasive along rural roads and railways, dry soil like wildernesses, sand beaches … used as wind breaker hedges and, once cut, fence material.









I spent about 12 hours on this damn little thing… 

Giant bamboo: Phyllostachys pubescens
Black bamboo: Phyllostachys nigra
Yellow bambou: Phyllostachys aureosulcata spectabilis







Those 3 bamboo species are the same 2 models duplicated 3 times each, then resized differently and modded with new FSHs. The scene above was made in a few seconds, here another picture to focus on my MMPs capability about density:



I’ve finally re-done the corn mature version: 



… at first ,I found them too dark, but looking at some real pictures…



... it seems that’s rather the ground which is too dark. Antoine, that’s not a texture, but an old  timed prop from Vincent for harvested plants…



Have tried to rework it but that kind of plane prop has several inconveniences; shadows of other props are more or less hidden and the result is perfect with an absolutely flat terrain only… So, finally I opted for a base texture, even if the 128x128 pixel format limits the definition.





Thanks for the comments and Likes.

Kitsune, Hope we’ll see some pictures from that monster project.

Funny thing as I was looking at finishing the rapeseed and working on some tractors and trailers (plow, plant, roll belt...) to complete a LOT



 

 

C.

[art128]

I think it looks fine with a base texture.

[Girafe]

Great work Cédric as usual 

I did not remember Vincent did this kind of props but definitively textures are more manageable and they are perfect in this situation 

Where are the catenary poles from?

[BartonThinks]

The corn looks spectacular! (Well, so does everything, but I'm very excited about the corn.)

If I can make a tiny suggestion -- the brown/orange trunks on the one set of bamboo strike me as a little too bright and saturated. They stand out a little unnaturally against the rest of the greenery.

[belfastsocrates]

Superb work. Very exciting indeed!

[Badsim]

Her green plastic watering can
For a fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic Earth …

… one train skin and four Agave americana examples, it has been a not so bad week in my fake virtual earth.

If I can make a tiny suggestion -- the brown/orange trunks on the one set of bamboo strike me as a little too bright and saturated. They stand out a little unnaturally against the rest of the greenery.

Your comment reminds me my favorite Radiohead song; Fake Plastic Trees.
Well, it wears me out, like for Thom, but I do agree with you, so, I’ll rework them…

And if I could be who you wanted
All the time
All the time.

 

C.

[Girafe]

 

I was too lazy to do this OuiGo livery  moreover I tried it few weeks ago and what a bad experience, you can really experience the low cost of SNCF whose regular service is already quite poor. Did not know they could do worst 

There is a third livery, livrée Carmillon but I don't like it much

Anyway this OuiGo livery is top 

The plants are nice too 

Regarding the poles, I did not know Citymax did greyish version 

Keep up to good work 

[manga rivotra]

Your "Cannes de Provence" are exceptional: each feather looks different from its neighbor and bend with the breeze: it is a striking realism! 
And your TGV Ouigo proves that, finally, it is possible to integrate brightly colored objects in Sim City with a great and accurate result. 
I don't know if this is possible by duplicating the Girafe model, but I think it would be very interesting to make a PROP version as well in order to allow loters to have both versions of the TGV at the station at the same time .

[Une_ame]

Your "Cannes de Provence" are exceptional: each feather looks different from its neighbor and bend with the breeze: it is a striking realism! 
And your TGV Ouigo proves that, finally, it is possible to integrate brightly colored objects in Sim City with a great and accurate result. 
I don't know if this is possible by duplicating the Girafe model, but I think it would be very interesting to make a PROP version as well in order to allow loters to have both versions of the TGV at the station at the same time .

BRAVO to both of you for the train and the flora. I would like to add my com to Manga Rivotra's : LOTing the train sets on specific locations (lone rail, stations, ...) and having them rolling free on rails in the same time add to realism.

Thanks again for your work.

[Badsim]

Hi,

Just a teaser pic, passing by there,  about the switch to UHD flora.

August 28, UHD Giant reeds  and Agaves;



August 30;



Now  accompanied with UHD lettuces, UHD wheat ( If someone knows a better irrigation system prop than Maxis one… ) and my very first 4 UHD trees ; Almond tree, Acacia, Populus nigra and young Fraxinus (Ash tree)

I’m currently working to create more UHD trees, bushes, grass to add to that rural scene, but also collecting a lot of material for palm trees, pines and  all kind of exotic species for botanical gardens...

See next time for results, closer views, replies… 

C.

[Badsim]

Another couple of days later;







Seems like you don’t know what to say, but you shouldn’t doubt… this is Simcity4 and strictly Simcity4.

 


C.

[manga rivotra]

Seems like you don’t know what to say, but you shouldn’t doubt… this is Simcity4 and strictly Simcity4

We could also say Sim City 4 UHD Flora pack: the Add-On that Maxis should have done but probably never managed to accomplish with such brilliance! 
I think you have (and have always had) a big part of the future of this game in your hands and for our luck what you are doing is as superb as it was unexpected for a such old game.
So yes, words are lacking, but it's because of the excitement and the admiration for your work wich is immense. 

[Dublin]

Incredible, Awesome, Amazing. Love the German Shepard

[Krasner]

catching up what i missed here and this is all awesome

[Badsim]

Thanks ! 

Tens of UHD items later…





Thanks, Antoine for the irrigation system prop (... reworked to have a start, intermediate sections and a end…  )















Zoom SizeOf5 on UHD wheat,





… can’t avoid visual defects due to overlapping LODs…





UHD heather and Piceas (Spruces) ,






 And that last one about my secret garden…



While creating these UHD items, I was thinking about that last 17 years spent with SC4 as quasi-exclusive hobby, and the constant feeling to be at preparatory works, wondering at each step ‘Why has it been so long to get there ?’ while everything has been possible since the beginning…

That time, the finish line has been crossed.






Currently, I’ve got tens of png files like those above, waiting to be converted to FSH and MODed (MMP included). At the beginning I collected transparent png files from the Net, but since, I’ve improved my Photoshop technic enough to use from now my own production.

The bad news is that, how spectacular are these postcards, this isn’t the future of SC4    -  even though some of you had an interest in this level of realism - but the future of SC4 on my computer only. Sad.


C.

[alejogc13]

Absolutely beautiful!

Right now I'm working on trees like that so I'll export some for you to test. 





By the way, do you know if it is possible to make the grass receive shadows?

[mattb325]

Lovely stuff!

To make grass (or any model) receive shadows it needs to be less than 0.299m high.

Then set the 'Is ground model' (0x8A5E5DB8 in the prop exemplar) to false.
One caveat: the closer it is to 0.299m tall, the worse the shadows will appear - often being rendered as cross-hatched lines across the model

[Lilith]

Wow. ...very nice work, Cèdric. ..

 

[Badsim]

Hi,

Time to present you my current project; « Arizona dream », semi-arid HD Terrain Mod and UHD related flora …



Zoom 6;





CtrlX « SizeOf 4 »;



… not so obvious to distinguish what is ground texture, what is MMPed flora, so, the same area without vegetation;



Then the same vegetation with another ground texture planned for the Terrain Mod;





Done so far; 33 Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro) models,













5 Fourqueria splendens (Ocotillo) models,



5 Cylindropuntia bigeloviii (Teddybear Cholla) models,



5 Opuntia engelmannii (Engelman’s prickly pear) models,



1 Encelia farinosa (Brittlebush) model , a semi-arid grass cluster and a first dead bush model,



These collections will be enriched and completed with Yucca elata, Yucca baccata and Ferocactus wizlizeni ( Fishhook barrel cactus) and … other surprises.

*********************************************************

Thanks Matt for your reply to alejogc13, I knew this information since I’ve discussed that subject with David (Orange_o_) when working on The Triumphal Way (Place de la Concorde being a plane prop receiving shadows from others props on it …) David said « no more than 30 cm » , you’re definitely more precise though,  with « less than 0,299 m high… »  

Then set the 'Is ground model' (0x8A5E5DB8 in the prop exemplar) to false.

In that case (an item designed for a MMP) , the Isgroundmodel=false is going to be an issue, whatever this property is moded true/false or removed, MMPs always display shadows.

@alejogc13 , stunning grass model,   but considering the scale ( and the fact I’m currently the only one having any reason to use extra zoom levels… ) I woudn’t spend too much time on this kind of things if I were you (I mean; with hundreds of models waiting for being exported … ) not to speak that  FSHs from even HD rendered BATs can’t beat FSH replacement technic; here some of my grasses;



Ingame, extra zoom level « SizeOf 5 »;





Zoom6;



… and, of course, I will be honored to test your trees. The Pinus Halepensis set lately shown on your BATing thread is terrific.


Lilith… wow, so great to get a sign of life from you.   Like you said on your BSC thread, you’re always in my heart too , especially  each time I have to plop  swans and/or ducks. Was it 10 years ago really? … well your pond props have still no competitors. The  SC4 golden age has vanished since, but a comeback would be great, we haven’t yet seen it all.


C.

[Girafe]

this new Arizona dream terrain mod looks fantastic and the plants are lovely