Spa's Atlantic Retreat

[spa]

Hello everyone. With SCdevotion taking off and my decision to upload here it seems only appropriate to start a thread here as well. For those of you who check in at my Simtropolis and BSC board threads you won't find much new here in my project updates, besides addressing whatever specifc comments come up here... but then again who knows what discussions might get started. The internet is a wonderful thing and in the right atmosphere (which I think we have on this site) conversation can easily take on a life of its own. The primary point of this thread, however, is to provide a place for SCdevotion members who otherwise might not come across my work to comment on developing projects or on any of my releases.

Since this is my inaugral post here I'll just quickly sum up my batting interest. I typically bat small and medium sized buildings located in lively urban settings. This has meant that most of my buildings are commercial buildings, but I have done a few residental buildings and I'll no doubt do some more in time. Two things that I haven't batted and I'll probably never do or at least make very few of are skyscrappers and sprawl type developments. I base my bats on real life buildings, but I'm not usually a slave to reality and will often wander away from what actually exists, especially on the sides or backs of buildings. All the real buildings that I have been batting are from Canadian cities, specifically, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax.

Anyway, before this gets two long-winded I'll post photos of the bats of mine that are currently in development (if you've followed my other thread you've no doubt seen them already).
Canadian Broadcasting Centre: (click the thumbnail as it's too big for the forums)

Biggest bat I'll probably ever do. 8x8 tentatively CO$$$ and is an exact replica of the real-thing in downtown Toronto
Mills Brothers:

2x2 or 2x3 CS$$$ from Halifax's Spring Garden Road
Sovereign Building:

A 3x3 CO$$ from Spring Garden Road

And these two are in BSC internal preparation and testing phase and should be released in the next two or three weeks.
Foreign Affair:

A 1x2 CS$$$ building from Spring Garden Road.
Winsbys:

A 2x2 CS$$$ building, also from Spring Garden Road.

So that's what's in the works. From here on out I'll be making specific updates in this thread about whatever I'm up to. Looking forward to being a more active member here on SCdevotion.

[kwakelaar]

Spa is here as well, great to see that you have opened a showcase for all your followers.

[JBSimio]

Spa finally made it!     I think the only one I haven't mentioned yet is the 2x2.  I really like it... I think it's the shutters.  I need to start spending more time on the alley side of my buildings...

JB

[M4346]

Yay! And welcome! 

Glad to see you here, and your stunning work too. Those look really interesting and I will be looking out for them! Good luck! 

-M-

[bat]

wonderful buildings, great work!

[Fred_Ginger]

Hello Spa, the 'Mills Brothers' building reminds me of "The Old Tavern" a bar I use to frequent in my younger (wilder) days, can't wait to see it and the other buildings in the game!

[rooker1]

Spa, welcome here and great work.  I love this style.  Lower income, real down town feel.  The alleyway looks great as well!

If I may suggest,
On the Winsbys building, if it were a little smaller so a one car wide alley could be on the side of the building, I think it maybe a nice touch of detail.  So many other's lots don't line up and leaves no realistic entrance or exist to the lot. Also this way you could add the fence to the opposite side.

Anyways, what ever you decide I will still down load it.  Great work.

[spa]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! Just a few specific replies.
Fred_Ginger: I'm surprised actually. Mills Brothers to me is a piece of England dropped into Atlantic Canada. You're the second American, however, that has said it resembles a building they know.
Rooker: Thanks for your suggestion. I know what you mean about not having access to the back. Rather then add a side alley (I like w2ws) I have applied a different solution. If you use any of my lots that are two deep and combine them with each other or most of JB's small town set you'll actually have access at the cross-streets and an unblocked back alley along the entire block. The same goes for my 3 deep lots. Together my 3 deeps, when placed next to each other, make one long continuous and unblocked back alley that can be accessed at cross-streets. Thanks again for your suggestion.

So today I was out wandering around in the suddenely warm weather (instead of -10 it was above 0 for the first-time in weeks!). I snapped some photos of the Sovereign Building's back and Mills Brothers back so that they can move along. This evening I put some more time into the Sovereing Building. I added on the front entrance, some window ads, and the mounted signs. I also tweaked the texture on the pillars to be a little more noticable. The front is now basically finished. Below is how it looks.

I think it turned out fairly well. If you look on top of the Sports Nova Scotia electronic sign, you might notice a mess on the top corner. It's not very visible as to what it is so here's a photo

Seems the damned pigeons have been busy  Anyway, I probably won't have time to do much again until the weekend. I'll probably update again with more on either the Sovereign Building or Mills Brothers then.

[goin2chicago]

haha. nice little detail and nice bat.

[Cali]

thats a really big nest for a really big bird ...awesome work

[spa]

Goin2Chicago: Thanks!
Cali: Thanks. What can I say, it's Halifax so it could be a crow or a seagulls home or maybe an Osprey (there have been a few that have drawn significant attention when they built their monsterous nests on top of power poles in the city).

Well I put down the Sovereign Building for now and picked up Mills Brothers today. Mills Brothers has been stalled because I lacked photos of the side and back. I corrected that the other day though so it's moving along again. Below are photos of the East and North sides (new).

Not much to say. I'll be moving along to the buildings other major section in the next few days. This one could move along fairly quickly at this point and might be ready to hand over to Barby on the weekend or next week. I'll update again when I have more accomplished.

[rooker1]

Interesting looking building.  I'm having a hard time telling if I will like it before you put on the textures.  But time will tell, I guess.

[spa]

Thanks Rooker. I have pretty much finished Mills Brothers so you can make your judgement now

As mentioned Mills Brothers is done. Below are the pictures:

Don't worry about the splotches on the left and right sides. That's just my inferior graphics card. On the whole, I think it turned out fairly well. Old buildings like this are great in that they have a lot of interesting shapes. The back isn't exactly like it is in reality, but it's loosely based on it and includes much from the real thing.

One thing that I did differently with this bat is I spent a little more time than usual on the window glass textures. I went back and read and reread Jasoncw's window tutorial in his bat thread at simtropolis and put it to use. I think it worked out fairly well. It's tough to see if you don't look closely, but there is variation between individual windows for the first time on any of my bats. This will probably become more common for me as I'm pleased with the result. In any case, it was good practice as the CBC really needs lively windows since it has so many of them. Before I sign off I'll just quickly show you a night shot.

Nothing special, I just like how the small window frames on the 2nd and 3rd floors stand out. Before I sign off, if anyone has anything to suggest by all means let me know. Still time to make changes yet.

[pvarcoe]

Some very nice stuff in the works!
I've always liked your stuff Spa.
Looking forward to these being released.

[jeronij]

Hello Spa,

this one is looking excellent, indeed 

The only thing that hurt my eyes is the too big (imo) potted orange tree....it is even bigger that the parked cars... I dont know if such a big tree could grow potted...but this is not part of your model. Your model is excellent as said 

[spa]

Pvarcoe: Thanks!
Jeronij: Thanks. I will get rid of the orange tree prop for you I'm also considering redoing the bushes by the back stairway. A simple fence might go better there.

[cammo2003]

It's looking great...

However, It just needs a *smidgin* of wear and tear IMHO. It just doesn't quite look like it'll fit in the streetscape properly. It doesn't need to be a ridiculous amount, just a bit to make it look like it's been "worn in" so to speak. Also, this is just my opinion, but parts of the roof are a bit purple. Again, though, that's me.

Feel free to ignore my advice though, it's your BAT, and it's a matter of taste. 

[Cali]

wow, this looks amazing, i think you need to put this on a bigger lot, allowing a sidewalk to go all the way around it
and also on your four picture spread, the top right on the bottom the texture doesn't seem to line up, but i dont care.   and one more suggestion, on the bottom left pic, maybe add a couple more windows along the bottom to round it out. but all in all, a very beautiful masterpiece

[jacqulina]

wonderfull work excellent progress

[rooker1]

Now that looks excellent, great work.