WIP: City Section 3

[alienwar9]

Here is the third of 11 sections of my city project.

Once again, I decided to finish the entire section before posting .

When I said the previous section was the most complex, I was lying. This section had to be one of the biggest pains, only because I expected it to work in LDD 4 and it didn't. The top 6 floors would not save, and with the advanced graphics, I had to delete the entire support underneath AND keep only the first 7 floors. I was left with 14,000 pieces working in advanced, and 22,000 maximum. That is the WORST I've ever seen LDD run, since I've had 45,000 pieces work before in 3.0, and 30,000 in 4.0. It seems like LDD is running worse and worse.

Sorry, had to rant there. Anyway, this section includes the largest building from the whole city, building 30. I decided to keep its design (I'm in love with it and don't want to change it) but add an entrance to the first 2 floors.

It might be hard to notice, but the entrance is lowered so the sidewalk has a "sunk" part, inspired by the Hancock building's entrance in Chicago. Its all I could fit, so its not that dramatic, but I think it will look better in real life. That was another hard part, as I had to rebuild the support specifically to adapt to the height differences. (and my support is really complicated underneath. It has to be, holding up that huge building )

But back to the section. It includes a parking lot, half of the lower "wacker" street, the highway (lake shore drive), and the double deck highway draw bridge.

I wanted to include my favorite aerial shots, because this section has the "best view". I can't imagine how I will get when I get to take these pictures of the whole city in real life

Here are a couple of detail pictures. You can get the "feel" of this part of the city with the flower light posts and flags.

Finally, The Bridge.

Bridge building description (If you don't care how its built, skip this, it'll be boring )

This bridge was the hardest build in the entire process so far. Its unique offset lower deck road, extra wide highway street, and large tile plates made the construction painfully complex. I had to make the bridge extra light, using tile and as little pieces for the lower road. The entire engine sits off the side, and has one less gear set than the other bridge because of the little space it has from "wacker" street. This means that I really have to test this beast in real life and see if it doesn't lean to one side or just fall apart. It also had to meet at 3 different points, as the highway sides were of different lengths because of the "motor". This meant adjusting the pivot point to just the right place and all the pieces so that no pieces would hit each other when raising. Finally, I had to build the lower level to allow it to adjust when raised. This was because as the bridge lifts, the lower level would hit the other side of the bridge, so it needed to pull back. Making is as automatic as I could, the road slides back on its own weight as the bridge goes up, retracting itself, and gets pushed back into place once the bridge closes. The other side of the bridge will also have to be a different length since there is 1 lost stud (making the distance odd stud length), so I can't copy paste. Not that I could anyway, since the lower road is offset....YAY

Anyway, here is the bridge (for some reason I only got close ups of it in the up position). My favorite part is the control tower, which I built long ago and thought I'd not have room to place it. Conveniently, since I need space for the actual controls and motor, it sits on the lakefront sticking out.

And a cool street view

Piece Count: 26,428

Here is a little more detail on the biggest building in the city.

Its 15,737 pieces, has a central core of 3 elevators and staircase, and has 20 floors + rooftop. The floors are of varying height and separate just like corner cafe, the first floor is 2 floors high, and there is a engineering/mechanical floor half way up. I also built in gear points to add in working elevators if I get the chance.

Here are a couple shots of the upper floor details

Here you can see the central core and elevators, and the control floor where one elevator stops.

Hope you guys enjoy!

[Vincent Kessels]

Wait, wait, are you saying that you're actually going to try to build this?

[DLuders]

This is great! Do you have any of your buildings built with real bricks for this weekend's BrickWorld near Chicago?

[alienwar9]

@Vincent Kessels: Yes, I am going to build this

@DLuders: Unfortunately, I have not finished every section in LDD, and until I do, I cannot estimate the cost properly. And I need to figure out how many pieces everything comes up to in order to see if anything needs to be taken out if I'm over budget (especially if I'm way over). I have enough $ to build one section, but I still have to wait.

So in short answer, no. nothing is built in real life

[Brickdoctor]

You never cease to amaze. Never mind the piece count (we expected that already ), the detailing is fantastic. Love especially the lampposts, bridge control booth, and center divider on the roads. Plus there's the nice big building with those curved sections around the entrance.

[cimddwc]

Really amazing! Nice streets and bridge and a huge building that's taller than most people looking at it (when actually built)...