Detailed city project

[Pingyao]

Well spotted 'GuyfromtheBurgh' It did strike me a little strange that peds would keep having to crane their necks up to see when to cross. Anyway I shall put it on my list of things to update.

Over the weekend I started creating some buildings. The construction technique I'm employing is a little different from Sta Fee, which was simply extruded boxes with a facade texture applied. With this city I'm going for detail, which means the old style of modelling & texturing really dosen't cut it.

Basically I'm still using textures, but creating separate window, door and wall textures and applying them to a more detailed building with recessed windows, cornices etc. The window textures have a seperate reflection map, while the stone has basic bump settings. It takes substantially longer, but the result is a much more detailed building which can be rendered a close street level without any texture problems, a cause of frustration with Sta Fee.

First test building.



A highrise using the same textures as above.



I should gradually end up with a large texture library of windows, doors, stonework, brick etc, which can be chopped and changed between one another so randomising the facades and avoiding repetition.

[Aleks]

wow, this is amazing. will it be a 'large' city (obviously not in the scale of ny)? or a smaller more 'local' one?

[Pingyao]

Cheers Aleks - well NYC is certainly my main inspiration. I am focussing on that great city more than any other in the States. I want to try and achieve NYC's density and urban fabric, if thats even possible remains to be seen.

Building update - placed in context.



Working on the crown. This is a simple mid1930's era highrise, around 65m.



The completed building. The blank wall will have an adjoining building next to it.

[Flamesrule]

Nice! I like it!

[Pingyao]

thanks flames. Bonus pic.

[Tolbert]

I liked the grey building better whith only two floors. It looks to modular now Beside that its stil great

[Pingyao]

thanks tolbert, good point and one i was aware of when making this building. I'm hoping that the reflections will help to reduce the modular window effect. With future buildings I want to add 2-3 different window versions to reduce this effect further i.e with & without blinds.

[Pingyao]

Context shot, I realise I still need to reverse the ped signals on the traffic lights, add curb detail, road camber, takes a long time to update everything. Using an area shadow, which gives a more realistic shadow.



Finally I have modelled US style postbox, the first of what will eventually be a number of street furniture objects.

[Tolbert]

I am speachles, love your lowrise buildings and your textures are amazing!!!

I'm hoping that the reflections will help to reduce the modular window effect.

The windows work great on that building, what i meant where those lighter grey stripes that sepereate each level from the next. It makes it look to much like if you just put the same building several times on top of each other. I know you actually did that, but without that "cut" in the facade it would come out far better i think

[Pingyao]

Cheers Tolbert, I agree those do appear as stripes. I may amend that texture to try to reduce the effect slightly.

General view showing the low rise from previous. A production line of benches in the foreground ready for placement.



I have made some newspaper stands. Based directly off New York style models with source textures grabbed from photos.



Detail of the 3 basic models. As with all the street furniture I am making sure these can be instanced and copied for the rest of the city.

[Pingyao]

HAve been constructing a new building. This will become Harpers, a department store. Spot the public trash bin in front.



The shop windows are particularly a concern. I don't want to end up with just a blank texture. So I am recessing the texture and then adding a pane of glass to give the shop front a degree of depth. Test render.



And before anyone asks, yes I still have to reverse the pedestrian signals!

[Flamesrule]

Nice! How long does it take you to finish a detailed skyscrapeR?

[Pingyao]

Cheers, too long I fear, Harpers department store has taken the best side of about 6 hours and I just have the roof rear walls to do, I'll post more pics tomorrow.

[Flamesrule]

Ok, can't wait!

[Pingyao]

External walls done. I'll finish the rest over the weekend.

[Pingyao]

Harpers is now complete. Took me a good day and a bit's work, hopefully I can get quicker. One of the annoying things is tweaking. when I render I notice things that need improving or parts I forget. The render below threw up a few minor issues involving the canopies, pediment and shop window brightness.



Not that you would notice, but things like that bug me. Here is the final render of Harpers.



Render of the rear facade.



Render with 'Harpers' added to the brickwork. I hope to place a fire escape on the rear at some point, but I'm planning on making the fire escapes as modular components that can be copied to reduce work load, so that's another days work!

[Flamesrule]

Looks amazing!

[toyota74]

Just class!!....Im wondering will you be doing street scenes with loads
of people and cars etc.....like as if you took a photo of a real city street
..that would be amazing.

[Pingyao]

Thanks peeps. Yes eventuallly I will add cars, probably have to import them as another layer or something to keep thing sane. People would have to be added post production I think.

[Pingyao]

Curb detail, road still needs a camber.



Finally I have reversed the pedestrian signals on the traffic lights to the correct direction. Here is a standard junction layout.