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Modern Supermarket

Started by Sarlock, November 04, 2012, 04:18:05 AM

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Sarlock

Been playing with blender and ended up creating this... I wanted to add some "life" to one of my creations by adding people and other little details that makes it look more "alive".  I also created a bunch of different cars (that takes a while!) and wanted to create something with a parking lot in order to put them together to adjust scale, etc.  As these are blender cars, I can easily add them as road vehicles with 8 rotations (and scale them up which is super easy with blender) if we feel like we want some more vehicles on the road.



Let me know what you think... this is a modern supermarket, probably 1980+.  I know we already have a supermarket, but another for variety can't hurt... and this one will have 4 full rotations and snow, of course.

I am also testing a proof in concept... if you notice that this isn't a full square, it has a tile missing in the top right.  One thing that I don't like about the urban factory design is that deliveries have to be made out on the street with the traffic... so what I've done is created a section for a loading bay that leads to the actual loading bay doors of the building.  This allows you to put a dead-end freight delivery station here that is connected to the main street so that trucks actually deliver right to the delivery doors of the building.  I am also contemplating making a freight station design that fits nicely in with the loading bay.

Now that I am getting more experienced with blender I am having sooooo much fun with it.  And it allows such freedom in making creations... you are no longer stuck with an initial design because of the amount of work it takes to change things.  Want to move that car over there?  Click, done.  Want to stretch the roofline a bit?  Click, done.  Want to raise the building or lower it a bit?  Click, done.

I am going to try and model snow so that even that part is automated.  My goal is to have my creations require very little GIMP post-render processing in order to be ready for simutrans.

I think I will also create some parking lot extension addons that can be added to buildings like this to make larger parking lots.  I am going to create another 3-4 cars as well so that I have lots of variety (and then can also vary colours for added differences).

The supermarket took me about 5-6 hours to create.  The cars took another 6 hours to create (they are waaaay more detailed than they had to be, you can't tell from this far away in the picture).

I can really see that once I get even faster with blender I am going to be able to pop off new buildings at a rapid rate.  Put your requests in!

[EDIT]

Cut the image up and put it in to simutrans.  What a PAIN it is cutting it up... is TileCutter still useful in a situation where my building isn't a full 3x3 size?  I haven't tried using it (yet).



I made a quick loading bay idea where it's just yellow lines going up each side of the sidewalk and going to the end of the tile to cover the sidewalk against the loading bay doors.  I'll have to adjust the supermarket loading doors to line up better with the loading bay... I'll probably just remove the northern door and have just one door.  I may raise the door up as well so that it's at the right height for the back of a trailer.  Ideally the ramp would be lowered below ground level but then the trucks would appear to be floating over the loading bay.

See what you think of the concept.  The art is just quickly slapped together, the asphalt is a bit too light and the yellow lines aren't perfect... but it demonstrates the idea I have.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

greenling

Sarlock
The Supermarket looks super out.
But i have get now a idea.
Can you try to make some shops they are only one Tile big it?
In pak128 are shops for Innercity very rar.
Opening hours 20:00 - 23:00
(In Night from friday on saturday and saturday on sunday it possibly that i be keep longer in Forum.)
I am The Assistant from Pakfilearcheologist!
Working on a big Problem!

Vladki

Sarlock, this is really execellent. I love the idea of having a free place for loading bay. I was always unsatisfied when I had to destroy some city building to make space for loading bay, or cargo extension and dropping off the goods at nearby bus stop. Also I often like to play as if the coverage area for cargo is only 1. Ehm a bit off-topic, is it possible to have different coverage areas for passengers/post and cargo? I have an idea for loading bay, just make the loading ramps U - shaped, the same width as the sidewalk - but higher, probably to the same level as railway platforms, so it blends with them as well. Just the back side will be full, right and left will be only half tile long ramps (or 2/3), then end with steps and join the sidewalk. Perhaps join VS and make a something like this http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=9984.msg101962#msg101962, just modified to be used on the end of road.

Fabio

I wish we could have factories (producers or consumers) with public built-in loading bays for trucks, they would look much more realistic.

I can't judge the supermarket on my small smartphone screen, but it looks nice. I'll come back on it later.

Vladki

Quote from: Fabio on November 04, 2012, 10:46:57 AM
I wish we could have factories (producers or consumers) with public built-in loading bays for trucks, they would look much more realistic.

Oh, that would be even better. And the really big ones (mines, steel mills, refineries) also with railway stations ;)

VS

Non-regular buildings didn't work until a short time ago, so it's nice to see more :) Visual variety is nice, too, no buts there, either.

I think your style (or process?) gives a bit fuzzy and non-colourful images. If I had to do two things to this, I'd sharpen and expand histograms. But this needs consensus on the overall colourfulness (?), which depends on more than just my opinion :) Such as existing things, which are that way, though...

Re doors etc. - Fabio's roads (nearly) all follow a single template, so you can count on width being the same. Bus stops already take advantage of that, the new cargo stop too, and I hope anything future will, too. So it's something you can count on, when placing doors and ramps :)

Cutting this must be hard, I can tell :D




Built-in stops and stations sound really nice graphics-wise, but there might be some problems with multiplayer etc. But that's offtopic here anyway... Leaving holes works, too.

My projects... Tools for messing with Simutrans graphics. Graphic archive - templates and some other stuff for painters. Development logs for most recent information on what is going on. And of course pak128!

Sarlock

Thanks for all the comments, everyone.

VS, a lot of that colouration can be resolved with light intensity.  Here's an example of the same picture with a 50% stronger light source.  Some of the "fuzziness" is inherent to a blender 3D render because of the high amount of anti-aliasing.



Here's another example with 50% more light and different anti-aliasing approach.  It gives more of a "jagged" effect more comparable to hand-drawn graphics.



This is a balance between the two:

Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

mEGa

hi Sarlock,
More better. You have my respect ! I prefer 2nd proposition.
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

paulo francis PF20

hello, this market is very well done, it is available for download?
PF FRANCIS

greenling

paulo francis PF20
Then Supermarket gives at moment not to download.
the Supermarket it under devlopment.
Opening hours 20:00 - 23:00
(In Night from friday on saturday and saturday on sunday it possibly that i be keep longer in Forum.)
I am The Assistant from Pakfilearcheologist!
Working on a big Problem!

Sarlock

Not yet, it's on my list of unfinished projects... but I am getting back to them very soon :)
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

greenling

Sarlock
Was you in Holyday?
Opening hours 20:00 - 23:00
(In Night from friday on saturday and saturday on sunday it possibly that i be keep longer in Forum.)
I am The Assistant from Pakfilearcheologist!
Working on a big Problem!

Zeno

Quote from: Sarlock on November 04, 2012, 07:13:02 PM
Here's another example with 50% more light and different anti-aliasing approach.  It gives more of a "jagged" effect more comparable to hand-drawn graphics.
Heya, can I ask the difference between the two anti-aliasing methods used to render the images? I never paid much attention to that stuff :-[

paulo francis PF20

I'm looking for new add ons of industries and businesses ... :)
PF FRANCIS


mEGa

Quote from: paulo francis PF20 on January 11, 2013, 10:17:16 PM
I'm looking for new add ons of industries and businesses ... :)
You can try french addons here :
http://www.simutrans-france.fr.nf/doku.php?id=en:industries
For example :
- Industry of cheese
- Wine chain
- french food... or covered market chain...
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks

paulo francis PF20

PF FRANCIS

Sarlock

Quote from: Zeno on January 11, 2013, 06:33:37 PM
Heya, can I ask the difference between the two anti-aliasing methods used to render the images? I never paid much attention to that stuff :-[

I'll have to re-run them to see which ones I used, this was two months ago... but the method that seems to look the best as a match to the crisp pak128 graphics is usually the Catmull-Rom method.  That's the one used for image #2 of the 3.  It gives a sharper define on the colour boundaries between sections.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Zeno

Cool, I'll try some experiments. It can be useful in certain cases, thanks! :)

Sarlock

It may prove less useful for making vehicles but for buildings it seems to replicate the pak128 look better.  There are several anti-aliasing methods available, just play with them and see which one(s) you like the best.
Current projects: Pak128 Trees, blender graphics

Zeno

Yep, I know. That's why I wanted to test a bit more; I decided long ago that Catmull-Rom was best for vehicles, althugh there were really few differences. I was surprised to see such a difference between them after a long time without paying attention to that...

mEGa

Quote from: Zeno on January 13, 2013, 08:34:32 AM
Yep, I know. That's why I wanted to test a bit more; I decided long ago that Catmull-Rom was best for vehicles, althugh there were really few differences. I was surprised to see such a difference between them after a long time without paying attention to that...
It's quite interesting, because I didn't know this mathematic approach (Catmull-Rom) to make antialiasing. I just used simple rules :
- 50% transparency of each value of colour (ext and internal)
or
- 33% transparency of value of one colour


Otherwise, when it's possible, I use too special tools of Gimp like smothing brushe.
I mean it is sufficient for building... But I understand now  what my vehicles missed.
Current projects in progress : improvements of few designed french paks