Seven

New stuff in the works! Check it out! 5 new city blocks/3 office towers on their way

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:17:00 -0500

Hello all!

I haven't been gone, just been lazy. But I have a boatload of new material now.

Remember, click the links for full resolution. This is for your sake...I won't try to sell you cheap meds or anything.

So...I suppose I should show you what I've been working on, eh?

Overview:

Concert hall:

My attempt at making an ugly groundscraper:

Library: based heavily on the Minneapolis City Library.

Finally, a closeup of the tower: it is the new tallest building in the city at 301 feet!

That's all for this update! Hope you enjoy!

Computer issues drive me nuts! Hope you're all still here

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:13:00 -0500

The title says it all. The good news: I have been able to get a lot of work done in sketchup! And I daresay I will be around regularly once again. My lappytop seems to be running stable at the moment. I suppose, without further ado, I should get to the show?

I hope you're all still out there, it's been a couple months now! But I am back nevertheless, and if lappy crashes, I got a backup laptop. So it's all good!

Now, it may look similar, but it has undergone a lot of experiments, and a lot of little details have changed.

Again, apologies for being gone so long! I hope I can make it up to you guys somehow. Anywho, I hope you enjoy the update!

NIGHT in Camden! SC4 Night update (part 1 of 2)

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:46:00 -0500

Hello subordinates! The night update is here. Since I'm posting this for the 3rd time, I'm gonna cut the crap and go right to pictures. The best lights are at the end. Enjoy!

Keep in mind that the posted images are .jpg, but if you click them they will take you to a larger, higher quality .png image.

First up...main street, power plant and arch bridge. Personally, I'm annoyed that streetlights aren't showing up. Help?

Next up, a rather dark cable-stayed bridge (at least it has some lights)

A nice shot of a neighborhood by the south side bridge.

East side neighborhood near two main arteries intersecting...

Washington Park neighborhood with the football stadium still illuminated after an evening game.

Moving into downtown. Note the steep density transition...this was done to mimic Minneapolis and was just an experiment.

Finally, the CBD in its full glory! I absolutely love that plaza with the yellow and red structures...for those curious, it's Raysorra Square by the MIA Cerulean (CARCH). It may be available on the LEX at SC4D...but no promises.

Enjoy, y'all!

New from Sketchup! More, more, more!

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:04:00 -0500

Hello all! I must say I was surprised when I logged on and noticed I had almost 500 views for my last update. I hope it wasn't a fluke and will attempt to earn it by posting more updates.

But first, this evening I went to a preseason Vikings-Chiefs (American football) game at the Metrodome...first game with Brett Favre as a Minnesota QB! Interesting to see, I wonder how the teams (Vikings, Jets and Packers) are reacting to this? Green Bay surely must not be happy, nor could the Jets be, but I bet Minnesota has mixed feelings. On one hand, he's on their side now, but on another hand, he's been playing against them all these years! Personally, I wish to give him a fair chance and see what he does. What do you all think?

But anyway, I got a little time after the game to dink around in Sketchup and came up with some new stuff. But tomorrow I expect to post shots of my newest city, Camden (like...the 4th city I've had named Camden in the last 3 months.) This is the first city I've truly finished in a long time; as you can imagine I am very excited! But now for the show...

First up is a shot of a new warehouse and some detailing I am working on...

Next up a shot of the bordering office block viewed from the viaduct...pardon the poor editing. I don't have photoshop installed yet.

And I'm posting this last shot since I keep forgetting to finish these stairs...if you notice I've forgotten in a picture showing them, please remind me :) thank you!

That's all for now. Expect a SC4 related update tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Maybe this is a return...?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:24:00 -0500

OK, so I might have lied in the title of last update...computer issues and a few vacations made it hard to update. But whether these new updates will be frequent or sporadic...you get the idea. So here's a little shot taken a while back...click for full res.

That's all for now, but expect more soon! Enjoy

I have returned!

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:00:00 -0500

As you have noticed, I havent updated in a few days. I've been doing some maintenance around the house and theres a sort of summer festival going on in my city so I've been doing that. Anyway, I've got a few shots from Sketchup today...here goes.

First up is my newest neighborhood, one that I am currently making for a friend who is writing a story and needs inspiration for the setting. So I figured I'd try my hand at modeling it to great detail. Here's an overview:

Here's a closeup of that intersection...the building is going to be a Caribou Coffee, the red thing in the foreground is the (rather flamboyant) entrance to a pedestrian underpass. A pedestrian overpass is in the background, just in case the underpass doesn't fit the story.

Now on to previous neighborhoods...remember this one?

Well it's my best neighborhood as of yet. So I decided to combine it with my first neighborhood ever to inspire me to gentrify the area a bit...

After connecting the two via a small bridge, here is the result:

I despise the result...good thing I made copies of both sections standing alone...

Enjoy, mates!

New sketchup neighborhood-Riverside Park

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:33:00 -0500

Hello all! Today I'd like to show a neighborhood I started long ago and have been working on it on and off. This is by far the largest neighborhood I've made so far, and the file size of 6mb proves it. I got a lot done on it yesterday while downloading the citiesxl beta, so here we go.

Here is an overview: Click all pictures for full size!

One feature that I find handy (and neat) in sketchup is the xray tool. This allows you to see through multiple layers as if they are translucent. Here is a shot from the base of the PPG Tower:

DBS Bank and Police HQ:

Here's an interesting vantage point: out the window of the 20th floor of the PPG Tower.

Finally, a bakery on 47th street: (not visible in overview)

Enjoy, mates!

Back to SC4

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:33:00 -0500

Hello all! Today I decided to go back to SimCity4 and got 7 more pictures to show. These are from the same city as the one with the bridge in the first update. So, here we go! Off to East Camden.

First up is the city hall park:

Next up is downtown...or rather uptown, since downtown is 3 miles east. I like the mix of low to medium density here.

Now on to High Street: notice the houses atop the embankment.

Facing north:

A bit further west we find the sprawl:

Finally, a shot from Whittier, 5 miles north of East Camden:

Enjoy!

Hey hey hey! More from Sketchup

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:00 -0500

Hope you all had a good weekend! I know I did. I had family over for a couple days and went golfing on Saturday (I'm pretty bad, the course was par 36 and I shot a 77, haha!) Oh well, practice makes perfect (although in my case I better practice much more often!) Hopefully I can get out to the driving range this afternoon and hit a bucket or two. Anyway, that was my weekend, and now on to the show.

Today I have a new neighborhood (untitled as of yet) that I would like to share with you. It's in its preliminary stages so don't expect what I had last time. But it's a couple new concepts I have going inspired by my own hometown, Minneapolis, including skyways and a pedestrian mall (inspired by Nicollet Mall, also known as Nicollet Avenue, a ped mall that runs through downtown.) Perhaps if I work at it I can insert a light rail line like the one right here in the Twin Cities. Most of my work is inspired by cities in the metro area, so if you're from around here it may look familiar.

So, without further ado, here is a rough outline of what I've been working on:

I know, there's nothing to see yet, but I figured I should post something...

Anyway, enjoy!

Sims 2-Palm Coast

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:47:00 -0500

Today I'm gonna post a little neighborhood I've been working on for a long time but recently restarted, Palm Coast. It's a tropical (I guess) neighborhood so it's pretty easy to keep a theme. Take a look...clicky for full size.

Not too shabby, eh? Still got a long way to go, and this is in my spare time.

Enjoy!

Random junk from Sketchup

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:13:00 -0500

I've had Google Sketchup for quite a while now, and while I'm no expert, it's definitely better than most other programs I've used to try my hand at modeling. I must warn you, I'm not very skillful at Sketchup either, but I still find it fun to dink around in it every once in a while, creating small portions of larger cities that I will refer to as neighborhoods out of convenience.

The neighborhood I'm showing you today is my most recent one, though it is now unusable due to a height bug where the parameters are all set 30 feet off. No matter, for I can always build anew. Today's neighborhood is called Merriam, and I made it mostly to test a few new concepts such as the depth tool and using components. (if you've ever used Sketchup you'll know what I mean.)

So, without further ado, here is a general overview of Merriam: (once again, click for full-size images)

It's not too friggin fabulous, I know, but it's fun. As you can see, I have labeled the office tower (mainly for scale), the bus station (to test components), and the sunken highway tunnel.

Here's a closeup of the tower...if you can call it a tower. 8 floors is about the height of an average water tower, no?

Now to the bus stop. As you can see, there is a nice seating area bordering the bus lane. These benches are all components either made by me or downloaded from the Google 3D Warehouse (clicky). The tunnels are clearly visible in the background.

Here's a general overview of the sunken highway tunnel. It actually turned out pretty well in my opinion. The only thing I'd like to change about it (and probably the whole program in general) is add many, many more texture options. My favorite part of this complex is the pedestrian walkway on the highway divider.

Finally, a closeup of the pedestrian walkway...

Enjoy, mates! Please comment and tell me what you like/dislike, etc., and what you think of the general format.

Bridges, anyone?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:45:00 -0500

Some shots from East Camden, a midsized suburb right outside downtown Camden.

To quote Haljackey, click the pictures for full resolution! They look much better when they're full size, trust me!

Eastern embankment:

Western approach:

Overview of eastern approach:

My favorite...houses as viewed through the trusses:

From the opposite side:

I absolutely love that bridge! It looks so good anywhere that I have to admire its versatility (and you'll probably see me use it a lot.)

Enjoy and please comment!

Numero uno

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:25:00 -0500

I'm not really sure why I made a blog...but I did. So this is gonna be about my "adventures" in programs such as simple structures in Google Sketchup, Sims 2 houses, Simcity4 and Simcity 2000 cities, and anything else that I feel like posting since I will probably never make another city journal. This is mostly for me but I'd like to know what you'd all think too. So don't be shy...if you say something stupid I won't make fun of you for too long...nah. Anyway...away we go!

By the way, I should add that 7 is my favorite number (3 is runner-up) hence the blog title.