Rocane - a sketchup city - Page 4

marsh_124 · #61 Posted **Feb 3, 2009, 11:32 PM**

this city is sweet!
i like how you made just a small town & are just making a timeline for the city, very uniqe

BoiseAirport · #62 Posted **Feb 4, 2009, 3:23 AM**

I would HIGHLY look into using "smart trees" for trees in your city. They look amazing, and have had little CPU effect on my computer! Just search Smart Trees on 3D Warehouse.

Anthony

Vellu · #63 Posted **Feb 4, 2009, 4:31 PM**

Friends George Wright and Eugene Wellington arrived from Louisville, Kentucky, in 1836 in search of new opportunities. They started a hardware store, and being the first hardware store in the newly founded Rocane, the business was very good, and Wright and Wellington got wealthy. In 1840 they decided to expand to banking and with a few other succesful Rocane entrepreneurs they formed the Wright Wellington & Company, Banking and Financing.

By 1960's Wright Wellington was one of the wealthiest banks in North America. They had moved their headquarters to Chicago in 1925, but now they wanted to return to the city where they were born. Well, that was one reason, the other, the more important but less advertised one, was that they smelled the beginning of a real estate boom and wanted to be a part of it.

Their new headquarters, the Wright Wellington Building was finished in 1967 and stands at 830 feet (253 m), being the first building in Rocane to crack the 200 meter mark. It has 56 stories and was Rocane's tallest building from 1967 to 1973.

This building at 240 North Main Street was named Thomas Morgan Building after its main tenant, Thomas Morgan Advertising. The company was founded in 1954 and in the 60's they grew fast with the with the rest of Rocane's advertising industry. The Thomas Morgan Building was completed in 1969, has 36 stories and is 495 feet (151 m) tall.

Vellu · #64 Posted **Feb 4, 2009, 4:41 PM**

I guess that those of you who have given me improvement suggestions like "check out 'smart trees'" etc., have noticed that I have pretty much ignored them all (expect for Aleks' "photoshop a real sky in those shots" and Dac's "better names" suggestions as these are done in post-production). I hope you guys don't think, that I won't follow those suggestions because I thought that Rocane is already perfect or something like that.

Quite the opposite, actually: I think Rocane is not worth the work improving it would take. There would be so much to fix (Rocane being all finished and all - all the way to 2020) and the result still might not be worth the work.

I will rather start modeling a whole new city - which I've already actually done (it'll be a while before there's anything to show you guys). Rocane won't be my Staunton. But thanks for those suggestions anyway and keep them coming. They will help me make my next city better.

I've checked out those smart trees. I didn't actually try them in action so to speak - that is, I didn't try to replace Rocane's trees with smart trees. I did some math and I came to a conclusion that it would explode my computer. There's a total of 537 tree entities in the final Rocane model. Those trees have 2 faces and approx. 13 edges. That adds up to 1074 faces and 6981 edges for all the trees. The smallest smart tree has 850 faces and 7110 edges, so those would add up to 456 450 faces and 3 818 070 edges (the final Rocane model has a total of 76 342 edges and 26 072 faces with nested components included!). I know that it's not that straightforward, since they're all components, but every component instance slows the model down a bit, and it was already too slow for walkabouts for example (which was one my goals: to make a model so light I could walk in it).

marsh_124 · #65 Posted **Feb 4, 2009, 9:31 PM**

sweet!
I like how the tallest building is next to the smalles building(the church)

Mocholate · #66 Posted **Feb 5, 2009, 7:54 AM**

You're right the maths is useless. I have put hundreds of the smart trees in a model all at once with hardly any effect

huggkruka · #67 Posted **Feb 5, 2009, 10:27 AM**

Just put the smart trees in your new city on a separate layer. That way, you can always turn them off or get rid of them if they do slow it all down. I haven't used them large-scale, but they look nice.

NeoExelor · #68 Posted **Feb 6, 2009, 1:07 AM**

This is really great. I like the overall grid and especially the small details like the roads.

Aleks · #69 Posted **Feb 6, 2009, 2:29 AM**

The WW Building looks awesome and so does the city! But I feel like it resembles the Metlife and since it does, it seems like it would have a nice location in a block that terminates all roads around it. Just like the Met!

And maybe change a little of the color and add some grand entrance to the podium. Other than that it's fine!

Austin55 · #70 Posted **Feb 6, 2009, 2:33 AM**

Hehe, One shell plaza.

Anyway looks great, just remember you wont get better till you try new things.

Vellu · #71 Posted **Feb 8, 2009, 11:40 AM**

In 1970 the biggest building boom in Rocane's history was still going on strong. Architectural firms were working overtime, and the result wasn't always that innovative. Many architecture critics criticized the architects eagerness to copy from other cities landmarks. The critique seemed to fall on deaf ears, though, as yet another skyscraper inspired by a more famous building in another major city, was constructed. The VanAlen Tower, Midwest headquarters of the East Coast banking and financing enterprise, VanAlen Corporation, was completed in 1969. It has 44 stories and stands at 696 feet (212 m). At its opening its architect just shrugged and replied to the critique: "Well, what can you do - it's already built and you can't go back and change the history".

Main Street looking north in 1970.

Rocane's skyline in 1970.

Downtown from southeast.

P.S. I really wish I had started presenting Rocane here last summer when I was still modeling it. It would have ended up being so much better, when I could've capitalized your suggestions.

It's possible, though, that it would've never been finished...

Patrick · #72 Posted **Feb 8, 2009, 7:27 PM**

Just incredibly realistic, I think you should show a picture of the bridge, I don't think we've fully seen it. I'm very excited for the 1980's postmodern boom!

Austin55 · #73 Posted **Feb 8, 2009, 9:04 PM**

Awesome cluster in that last shot. Yaya postmodern!

toyota74 · #74 Posted **Feb 8, 2009, 9:25 PM**

luvin the time travel an a bit of history along the way ...excellent su work...when you get to 80's n 90's are some of the older building to be taken down to make way for the new...will old lowrise buildings and streets be bulldozed as in life.
one more thing ,if this is a american city it will be flooded with the irish,so you will have to open the first irishbar in a su city .

Aleks · #75 Posted **Feb 9, 2009, 9:43 PM**

Those last two pictures are really really good! Some of the best I've ever seen in sketchup! If I did an unrendered shot it would look bad cause there's so much glass in my city!

marsh_124 · #76 Posted **Feb 10, 2009, 12:56 AM**

love everything!, the buildings all seem to blend in together so good

Vellu · #77 Posted **Feb 10, 2009, 5:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by toyota74

one more thing ,if this is a american city it will be flooded with the irish,so you will have to open the first irishbar in a su city .

There are actually several Irish bars in Rocane, but because of the low detail, you can't spot them

I will put a more detailed one in Navaho Springs, but I don't know what to name it. Any suggestions? Or else it will end up being "O'Malley's" or something like that.

Vellu · #78 Posted **Feb 12, 2009, 4:04 PM**

Thanks again for the comments, guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick

I think you should show a picture of the bridge, I don't think we've fully seen it.

I'd like to show the bridge, but the problem is, that it is right on the edge of my model, so I can't take a shot that wouldn't require a lot of photoshopping.

* * *

330 South Main Street was the most forgettable product of 60's and 70's building boom. With the height of 371 feet (113 m), it didn't stand a chance in the competition. The fact that almost nobody else besides the people who worked in the building, didn't know it's name or even that it existed, let to it being nicknamed the "John Doe Building" by the people who work there.

330 South Main Street has 24 stories and was completed in 1971.

The development of Rocane Center started in 1967, when its developer, the Delaware Development, chose the same Japanese architect, who at the same time was working on the World Trade Center in New York, to develop the building. He employd the same structural design as in the WTC, and the result was very similar to the Twin Towers. Rocane Center was the winner of 60's and 70's height war, so Delaware Development renewed their title of "developer of the winner of the height war" from the 20's 30's war. In 1999 Rocane Center was rented to the rapidly grown communications company connect.world Inc. and was renamed the CWI Center. connect.world survived the dot-com bubble, and still operates from the building.

With the height of 1089 feet (332 m), the CWI Center was the first building in Rocane to break the 300 meter mark. It has 75 stories and was Rocane's tallest building from 1973 to 2011, being the longest holder of that title.

marsh_124 · #79 Posted **Feb 13, 2009, 4:14 AM**

till 2011?
interested to see what will happen till then...
and by the way, i would love to see the bridge, even if it isnt photoshoped, just to see what it looks like

Vellu · #80 Posted **Feb 16, 2009, 6:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by marsh_124

till 2011?
interested to see what will happen till then...
and by the way, i would love to see the bridge, even if it isnt photoshoped, just to see what it looks like

Ok, I'll give you an unphotoshopped shot of the bridge when I get to 1980.