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Nemesis94's TheSmiler13

Nemesis94

TS Member
The story so far...

About 15 months ago, when the plans for SW7 were released, I created this quick No Limits recreation of what the ride appeared to be like:

The MK1:
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I've never thought of myself as an amazing No Limits designer, and I didn't have a clue how to do custom scenery, but the overwhelmingly positive comments for all of you persuaded me to keep going with my recreation to see how far I could get on my limited talents. Over the following week, lots of supports to represent fencing and so on gradually evolved the recreation into this:

The Mk2:
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The rather crude station building in the MK2 was my first ever venture into 3D modelling, and must have taken me about three or four days to do! A couple of months later more drawings for SW7 were revealed showing the theming elements, and was starting to get a grasp of the basics in 3D modelling and custom scenery, so I thought of having a go at modelling the rest of the X-Sector. I cheated a lot as I didn't want it to take over my life, downloading lots of models from the internet so that I could get it done. In the end it took about a couple of weeks to turn the recreation into this:

The MK3:
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Ten months later...

In January this year SW7 was revealed to be The Smiler, the artwork had changed as well as much of the landscaping and theming elements for the ride. But I had a serious case of CBA with regards updating the recreation to suite, as it would pretty much need to be started from the beginning again. So when the extra inversions were 'revealed' I just tweaked the MK3 to suit, creating what I like to think of as The Smiler - SW7 hybrid.

The MK4:
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Now to this week...

Over the past year I have actually been doing lots of 3D modelling work for a few family business enterprises, and as such my modelling skills have sky-rocketed compared to where they were a year ago. But in need of a break from my current modelling work I thought I'd pay The Smiler a visit. I'd given myself a week to get as much done as I can and what follows is the the progress so far. It's nowhere near finished, but I thought I'd share some sneak peaks at my latest recreation.

The MK5:
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As you can probably see I have had to start from scratch with the whole thing. Most noticeably the supports are all gone. These will be added once the 3D model is complete. At present this was just a test to see how it was all working in No Limits, and I was amazed to find it runs perfectly smoothly even on my antiquated PC.

Unfortunately I have other 3D modelling commitments at the moment, so I don't know when (or if) this will ever be completed. As with the MK3, I don't want this taking over my life. It might be something I do a little bit of work on from time to time, so I shall use this topic to update you all on its progress. In the meantime, here are a few more shots of the 3D model being built in Trimble SketchUp.

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I must give thanks to Rob for all his photos of construction, these are proving to be a great help with what I've done here. If he reads this, a nice square on photo of the ride info panel would be nice ;) Also thanks to JAMMYD777 for his videos of the MK2 and MK3, which I'm sure many of you enjoyed watching, if the ride is anything like those videos we are surely in for a treat. That is, if it ever opens...
 
Wow, it's almost akin to reality! The only thing that looks slightly odd is the gap between the maintenance shed and the station on the second to last picture - it looks less than that in real life.

Still, incredible job so far :)
 
Alastair said:
The only thing that looks slightly odd is the gap between the maintenance shed and the station on the second to last picture - it looks less than that in real life.

I actually thought the gap was too small! I think the angle doesn't help, but the front of the maintenance shed appears inline with the fire-escape doors for the main building.

Having done so much on this project already I feel compelled to continue it, for at least a couple more days. Here's the progress from today and the Marmaliser is about 95% complete. It's not completely accurate, I could only do that with proper drawings. But I like to think it is 'inspired' by the real thing.

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Just a couple of the Hypnotiser discs to complete, and the logos on the giggler and inoculator barrels.
 
I think I've said before how useful and impressive your Smiler model is...

... but the new one is something else entirely! It is amazingly detailed. I truly am blown away.
 
Wow that is incredible! I'm glad my photos have been of use as well. If you still need one, I'll try and get you a square on photo of the ride info panel when I'm next on park.

:)
 
Rob said:
Wow that is incredible! I'm glad my photos have been of use as well. If you still need one, I'll try and get you a square on photo of the ride info panel when I'm next on park.

:)

That would be great ;D I think I already used one of your photos for the height stick panel. The queue entrance signs I made from scratch in publisher, and I could do the same for the info panel but it would take me ages to write everything out. So a photo would be very much appreciated!
 
Progree update.

The marmaliser is now finished. Well, sort of. I was originally going to leave of the equation symbols for the lower legs, but warrenaschroft posted some great images of them from the game (in the Smiler Game topic). So I only need to add a little bit of yellow before sticking them on. Oh, as an extra Thanks! for your comments, you'll find a few avatars on the marmaliser's screens ;):
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I've also completed the boundary fencing and paving, though it will need a little tweaking later.
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And that's about as much progress as I can make in SketchUp at the moment. I can't do the queue yet, I think that will have to wait until I've been myself and worked out where each of the lines go. Unless somebody who's been can provide a sketch...

It's been ported into No Limits no, and I've started doing the new support work.
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Finally a couple more shots from No Limits, it's a shame that you can't have the new Gerstlauer trains, but maybe they'll feature in an update or No Limits 2.

The marmaliser from the gate:
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Looking through to the Giggler from the entrance:
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Looking towards the marmilser from just inside the X-Sector entrance.
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I'm surprised with how well the CS has turned out in the simulator, it looks very nice indeed, the Marmaliser especially is fantastic! Just a tip for the plants, have you ever thought of using a custom environment to change their sizes?

Anyway, you've done a very good job so far, and I just hope that it continues. :)
 
I spotted the little tribute before you mentioned it :D That's amazing, thank you!

And agreed it looks stunning in NoLimits.
 
Stunning, absolutely stunning. If it wasn't for the queue line this would most likely be finished before the actual ride opens! :p

Great job and your sketchup skills have certainly become a fine art now.

Also thanks for the little tribute, it made me smile! :twirly:
 
This looks amazing! Fantastic work!

Only criticism is the mesh in the fences don't seem more like glass then mesh. maybe something wrong with the Alpha channel in the texture?

That is only a very small nit pick! It doesn't really need to be fixed, just something I noticed! Keep up the brilliant work!
 
Thanks for your comments ;D

Nick said:
Just a tip for the plants, have you ever thought of using a custom environment to change their sizes?

I am actually clueless as to setting environments, so didn't realised you could change their sizes. Does anyone know of a good tutorial anywhere that shows you how to do this?

Fredward said:
Only criticism is the mesh in the fences don't seem more like glass then mesh. maybe something wrong with the Alpha channel in the texture?

This was a result from my experiments in the MK3. I could do the fence mesh as a transparent png, but the resolution in No Limits is not strong enough and from any respectable distance you just get the patterning affect that is really distracting. Instead I use a gridded jpeg with about 35% transparency. I know it's not as good close too, but it gives the right look from most other distances.
 
Final update for a while now...

I have finished most of the external supports now, and thanks to Nick I have been experimenting with environments to make the trees and bushes look better. There's still lots to do, but I'm going to wait now until I've seen the ride for real. Then I can go back to the SketchUp model and add the queues, missing footers, catwalks and so on.

A few images No Limits images to leave you with:

Sea-Serpent Roll:
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Staffordshire Knot:
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The Marmaliser:
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SMILE!:
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Overview:
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A little fun - If The Smiler had been a B&M floorless....
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Oh, and I've also done a POV of the current progress:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxICoeDa8O4#
 
Once again, outstanding work. Shame about the problems with the fence textures however there are some limitations.

Still though, this is a brilliant piece of work and the overview shot really shows the magnitude of the project you've created as well as the real life counterpart. I'm looking forward to the addition of the smaller, subtle details that you can gather once you've ridden the ride.
 
Salivation levels would've been off the scale if this had been a B&M. Please release a POV of it with B&M track! :p
 
To be honest, after seeing it as a B&M, I think it looks better as a Gerstlauer. The Gerstlauer track makes it look more... Tangled.
 
It's been a while since my last update, but I've been steadily making progress with the cattle-pen and it's now complete. I've also added the finishing touches to the marmaliser, including the individual equations on the legs and lights on the flasher. All images from No Limits.

In No Limits, the interior mist always works:
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Completed Marmaliser:
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Smiler Arithmetic:
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If only the real Flasher was like this:
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You may get wet:
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Smile.Always.
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Cattle Pen!:
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The queue was incredible boring to complete, almost as boring as walking through it!:
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Should I update the shop with peeling stickers?:
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Supports still need a little tweaking to meet the footers:
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As I say, there's still lots of work to do. I haven't started the interior of the station (I shall only be doing the boarding area I'm afraid, no interior queue lines or shop) or Challenge the Smiler. Also, all the catwalks need working on and the first lift hill needs custom quad-track. Though I may wait to do these until No Limits 2 comes out, in case these are incorporated as new features. I'm still hoping they include the new Gerstlauer trains to...
 
AMAZING! This has got to be one of the most detailed recreations of a ride in No Limits ever. Seriously well done and your hard work appears to have paid off. The marmaliser leg effects definitely look far superior to their real life counterparts as well. If No Limits 2 does indeed feature the new Gerstlauer trains, this will be as true to the real thing as possible, minus the peeling stickers and damage of course. Heck with NL2's weather effects, maybe this virtual pit will flood as well. ;)
 
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