Wavy Roof Tutorial by missroxor (Work in Progress)

[missroxor]

This tutorial shows a really easy way to make wavy roofs. It should work on any size of building, just remember:

1. Always flatten the lot before you begin
2. You should create a level specifically for the roof if you want to be able to place doors and windows under it.
3. If you want to place any type of fence around the top of the roof do it before you start making waves.

Edit: I decided the silent movie version was a bit crap so I did a little bit of narration with a bit of Mumford and Sons in the background - not the sweet, sweet tune I had on the very first version but an equally good song :) ...I had no idea I sound that Scottish :rofl:

I'd love to hear your feedback if you have any:) feel free to post your wavy roofs too.

http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab154/missroxor/Wavy%20Roof%20Tutorial/?action=view&current=Narrated.mp4

(3 and a half mins long)

[JadedSidhe]

Oh, I love this!!

I never clued in on tweaking the ground like that until I actually saw it.

Thank you.

[cutsocks]

Very cool.

[Ive]

Thank you :)

[The Shoveler]

I'm way ahead of you, but you beat me to it with a tutorial. So I'll just add a few comments to yours. :gjob:

Something that viewers might miss is that missroxor not only used the Raise & Lower tools to modify the terrain, but the Soften" tool as well. If you limit yourself to using only the Raise/Lower tools, you limit yourself to the 12-16 clicks between the ground and a full height wall. The Soften tool is essential for creating smoother, more subtle waves. For example, by Softening the terrain between "zero" and "one click up", you can create elevation points in between. This will, of course, require lots of experimentation, so the "Undo" feature quickly becomes your best friend. ;)

Second, the curved roof in the tutorial basically consists of "flat (bottom)-> angle (up)-> flat (top)-> angle (down)-> flat (bottom)" to create the shape of a wave. This gets much more difficult if you wish to create something like "flat (bottom)-> shallow angle (up)-> steeper angle-> shallow angle-> flat (top)-> shallow angle (down)-> steeper angle-> shallow angle-> flat (bottom)". This sort of design requires that you constantly think at least two tiles ahead of the one you are currently leveling. For example, start with a flat section of roof on the far left (#1), and then move over exactly 2 tiles and raise the terrain slightly. Now level this strip (#3). The left edge of this new strip will raise the right edge of the #2 strip. Now move over one tile to the right and raise the terrain slightly again. By leveling this new strip (#4), you will be raising the right edge of strip #3. By continuing like this, you can create more gradual waves. The key thing with this method is that your final leveling will create a strip of perfectly flat tiles at the far right. If you don't want a perfectly flat strip at the end of your roof, you will have to plan ahead at the very beginning and create an extra strip of tiles at this point that you can later delete.

Third, it is possible to place fences, etc. on the finished curved roof, but you may require the MoveObjects cheat (and make sure that CFE is reset to "true").

Finally, if you create a curved roof for your home, save it immediately as a "failsafe" if you plan on continuing to use the CFE cheat on other things on the lot. This is important, since you can be so focused on using the cheat on something on the ground level that you fail to realize that you've completely screwed up your nicely curved roof until it's too late! And by too late, I mean after you saved it that way without realizing it. :faceslap: So before you save, zoom out, and make sure everything is OK first.

I'd point to an example of my own curved roof design, but it's currently sitting in the moderation queue for upload. I'll post a link if it gets approved.

PS: I'd kill for your accent. All I inherited was a Scottish family name. :p

[missroxor]

Shoveler, thanks for the additional comments. I didn't go into any detail about creating a gradual slope because I intended for this tutorial to be suitable for even beginners so tried to make the wave cycle as simple and basic as possible but as you rightly pointed out I might've perhaps made some assumptions about what is obvious and what needs further explanation (like with the smooth tool)

With that in mind I was thinking of doing a follow on mini tutorial showing how to make a gradual curve more like in this example:
http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab154/missroxor/Build%20to%20Plan/th_StreetView-1.jpg (http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab154/missroxor/Build%20to%20Plan/?action=view&current=StreetView-1.jpg)
Since I accidentally stole this tutorial out from under you I wouldn't mind stepping back if you wanted to do the follow up? :) Let me know if you do otherwise I'll keep it on my to do list.

Also, I didn't know you could place a fence afterwards, though I didn't actually try it.

[The Shoveler]

I love that example you posted! Is it one of your own creations? Very similar to the old Shotgun homes in the southern USA -- but with a Twizy!

Since you've already created a "basic" tutorial on curved roofs, I think it's only fitting that you continue with an "advanced" one. :D I was going to do a "still images" one but your video approach might be better at capturing the subtleties of creating gradual curves.

Creating the perfect curve is more like sculpting: "curve the roof a bit... nope, a little too steep (undo)... try again... d'oh! (UNDO!)... try again... that's better... on to the next bit..." Hard to show that in a "still images" tutorial.

[missroxor]

I have no idea what you mean by a shotgun home with twizy :lol: but, yeah, I just made this for the build to plan contest (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=417308&goto=newpost) that's running on here. It's still open untill Tuesday I think if you're interested? ;)

Yep, it is a lot more difficult to do the gradual one, it took me forever to do the one in the pic (which is why I figured it wasn't suitable for a basic level tutorial). I still wasn't 100% satisfied with the end result but I got to the point where I was just sick of up a bit, down a bit, no up a bit, smooth it, even it :rolleyes:

Well, if you're sure you don't wanna do it I'll have a stab at a movie version and you can let me know if I've missed anything again or anything needs further explanation. This is the first movie I've ever made and to be honest it felt a little weird talking into a mic which is why I wasn't over-talkative....I'll try better next time :lol:

I might also look at re-doing the voiceover bit on this one to add a few of the points you raised.

[The Shoveler]

Shotgun homes were popular in New Orleans back in the late 1800's to early 1900's, and consisted of a long, narrow structure where the rooms connected to each other without a central hallway (although your entry "sorta" does). Wiki article on shotgun homes --> here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house). Yours differs from the typical shotgun because your plan has the entrance in the middle, but this also means that you've virtually eliminated the need for corridors (except to get past the bathrooms to get to the bedrooms). Very good use of space! I'll definitely be downloading the finished product. :D

As for the Twizy, it's the car shown in your screen cap and is a concept vehicle by Renault.

My own curved roof took me the better part of a Saturday of fiddling, before having to restart from scratch on Sunday. That was a weekend I'd like to get back. :rolleyes:

The "Build To Plan" contest sounds fun, but the entry I would submit is the very one featuring the curved roofs we've been discussing. The good news is that it just got approved this morning! The bad news is that I don't think it would make a good candidate for the contest since I was forced to build most of the house using only a dozen or so photographs, and I didn't find floorplans until I was nearly finished! It's called the "Singapore Fish House" and you can find it --> here (http://nene.modthesims.info/download.php?t=419871). :bunny:

[missroxor]

Wow, that is stunning! I'm in love with that roof, especially the way you made it look like a useable space, I've never even thought of doing that. Would it be ok if I used a still of the roof when I'm doing the other examples bit at the end of the tutorial? Obviously with full credit to you and a link to the download (though it won't be clickable)....or maybe just say ' by The Shoveler @ MTS'?

lol, I didn't realise it was called a Twizy, I don't pay much attention to cars in the sims :p and I can't really take credit for the layout of that house sice it's entirely from plans, lol.

I've decided that I'm gonna update the basic video since there's quite a bit I want to add to it including maybe a couple of stills showing the wave cycle kinda similar to the way you described it in your first post. I guess I also need to do a bit more explaining if I want complete beginners to be able to use it easily. I've changed the title to WIP since I'm not nearly as finished as I thought I was. :faceslap:

[fragglerocks]

missroxor, I am SO glad you are doing this tutorial. I had many "how did you do that?"'s after submitting the water park, and I never could find the time to do the tutorial for it. So THANK YOU!

My only issue, and it may just be my computer, is that even after turning my speakers all the way up, I still could barely hear you speaking in the video. It could be my speakers, but they seem to be loud enough for most everything else. So I don't know....Okay I looked into it further, and its just photobucket in general that does low sound videos. Hmmm. Are you planning to YouTube it afterward? That would be fantastic if you did! ;)

[missroxor]

That's a really good point :) I've never uploaded to youtube but I've seen there's a tonn of other tutorials on there. My original plan was to upload to simsupply then link to it but I had issues with their site for some reason. I'm glad I didn't now anyway since I've realised it still needs more work :)

Last night I was playing around with windows movie maker and discovered you can alter the audio levels so that's another option. I'll work on finishing the tutorial then look into youtube :)

[The Shoveler]

Actually the curved roof doesn't just "look" like usable space, it is usable space. Sims can walk all over the fenced in green area, and there is an area 9x2 near the "crest" that is totally flat and allows players that don't know about the MOO cheat to place a few objects. A minor bonus when creating a subtle curved floor such as this is that a sim's feet don't completely disappear into the floor when walking around on it, like they do whenever a sim attempts to walk up steep terrain. And that just makes for better animation! :D

Feel free to use any pics you like in your tutorial! I understand that including a text link to MTS would be a little awkward to read in a video tutorial, so "The Fish House: available at MTS" would be fine. I, too, cannot take full credit for the architecture, although I had to "fill in the gaps" in the beginning because I didn't find those floor plans until I was 95% done. Dealing with that little slap in the face was far more frustrating than creating those curved roofs. :cry:

[Island Girl]

Thank you for this tutorial; it is very much appreciated. If someone is willing to make a print version it would also be very much appreciated. I can not hear the audio too well and having a print copy to refer to as I go would be a big help. Thanks again for sharing this tutorial.

[missroxor]

Thans Island Girl :) As discussed above, I have plans to redo the audio, that's why it's a WIP, I just haven't got around to it yet. I can hear it fine on my pc but you're not the first person to tell me this (see above) so when I redo it I'll wack the audio up to max in movie maker :)