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alienwar9

WIP: City Section 7

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Yes. Here is the fifth of 11 sections of my city project.

section7-14.jpg

And I should note the word finally. This has been the longest time between sections, partly because of me being so busy, and partly because of me being creatively dry with the city. I didn't like the last building I made, and that really dragged things down. Thankfully, it seems I got my....mojo? back. :look:

section7-12.jpgsection7-8.jpg

This also happens to be one of the most dynamic sections, with 3 levels: street level, El-line, and underground street trolley. A staircase brings people to the El-station, and two "San Francisco" style roads lead down to the rest of the city.

Also, here is my necessary aerial shot.

section7-7.jpgsection7-10.jpg

Here is a great street view, and the second favorite part of this, the El-station. Note that the pieces don't come in that color....so look away if you are weak stomached, but I am painting the pieces. The only time I will do this. I found reference pictures that I HAD to get right, and no piece in the proper color creates the feel that rusty orange colored beams do.

section7-6.jpgreference-2.jpg

section7-5.jpgreference-1.jpg

(By the way, I created that street lamp and designated it to that street location BEFORE I saw the reference picture. How perfect is that!)

Building 7 was the most fun I've had with this in a while, and I think it shows! Designed after the iconic One Times Square building in New York, I melded it together with another creator's inspiration building, and my original narrow bottom design to create a multi-styled building with numerous advertisement,TV, and scrolling text signs (and a neat New Years dropping ball!). (all to be covered in stickers or lit).

section7-22.jpgsection7-21.jpg

Buildings 3 and 4 are my most heavily "borrowed" designs, as you might be able to see the similarity.

section7-16.jpg

And finally, one of my initially most favorite buildings is finished: building 2. (I really want to make the neon sign glow!)

section7-19.jpgsection7-17.jpg

Piece count: 27, 565

On the down side, I've realized I am once again way over my estimate for piece count. I've also been in a bit of a rut trying to get enough money for the project, and I'm scared I might miss my target finish date.

Not all is lost however. My near future schedule is going as planned, and I don't have much more to go. The CC town hall purchase no doubt has helped things, and I've got a new partner who might be helping me with everything. OH, and I've decided the city will be ****lit!****

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But the BEST PART OF THIS IS ----------> The upper city is DONE!

EDIT

And with that, I'm going to post I have posted a compilation in the town forums of what is done so far. I've also signed up for brickworld, and plan to bring one section built IN REAL LIFE! Yeah I know, what a crazy concept. :laugh:

Anyway, you can get a good look at all sections and vote for which one you think I should bring. (I might even be able to bring 2).

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As always, more pictures are on my brickshelf; thanks and I hope you all enjoy!

Edited by alienwar9

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"San Francisco-style roads". Haha. :laugh: I guess I only find that funny because I live on the West Coast and have been there more than a few times.

The whole thing is gorgeous, as usual. I like Buildings 3 and 4 the best. :wub: Can't wait to see the rest of the train, too, as my interest in trains has increased since you started this city. I'm sure it'll look awesome, just like the rest of this. The addition of a subway to this city has me convinced that once you are done, there will be no point to anyone else's trying to build a LEGO city.

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Over 27k piece count? Is that all in single file or split across multiple files? LDD tended to stutter at over 5k and rarely works good at over 15k piece count even on a good computer.

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@ alienwar9: Have you considered attending the Brick World 2012 convention, and bringing your computer to show off your Chicago-styled cityscapes? There is a "Brickworld Film Festival" where you could possibly connect your computer to the projector, and "fly" over your cityscape LIVE. I'm sure many AFOLs would enjoy seeing it. Not everything has to be displayed in REAL BRICKS -- virtual bricks are fine too! :classic:

header_chicago.jpg

Edited by DLuders

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@Brickdoctor: the funny thing is I never intended to build the El-station. It was just going to be the tracks. Now there are 2 stations in the city! A subway station on the other side of the river and this El-line station. The streetcar is a 3rd completely different system running in the city that goes underground here. Unfortunately the way the city is designed and the issues with adding curved tracks and the size it takes up, there is no closed circuit for any train. Alas, little bumper stoppers will have to do :tongue:

@Lego Otaku: yes, it just barely worked and started to slow down with the last additions. I did have advanced shading on and all the way up when I took the pictures but it was stuttering (but piece outlines definitely doesn't work). The key is that everything is in a separate connection. I had to take out the bottom bricks connecting the El-tracks so that there was no connection between buildings. LDD doesn't like large connected pieces. Still, I've managed to get 40k pieces running in this version of LDD, and 51k in LDD 3.

@DLuders: I've signed up for table space already, and I'm planning on either having some pictures up of the rest of the city or having a laptop out. Honestly, bringing/moving my computer anywhere is a pain so I never considered it, and the other issue is with loading the LDD files. With the film festival, I don't think a live flyby would fit. also the time it would take to show off all the sections might be a little too long (and I'm not the best camera-man in LDD :laugh:). I might bring my computer anyway though, since most laptops can't run the files. (I might need more table space then :oh:)

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WOW, I have just started using LDD, so it takes me ages to get something small right. I even cant imagine the amount of design and time you put into these. Great work there. My hat goes off to you

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