Franklin Park Zoo Recreation

[Orkan]

Hi all!

I am a South Shore Massachusetts resident and frequent the Franklin Park Zoo. I have now decided to remake it in Planet Zoo! The project hasn’t started yet, I am just planning at the time of writing. I just made a terrain height map. (In Meters)

 

[Orkan]

Update: I am going to get started on the main (Zebra) Enterance so I will update with the photos in probably an hour or so

 

[Orkan]

Also, special thanks to @Captain Callum for helping me so much with this project!

 

[Orkan]

Update again: So sorry I’m spamming this, My computer can’t sync the PZ saved to the Steam cloud. Does anyone know what to do?

 

[Captain Callum]

Update again: So sorry I’m spamming this, My computer can’t sync the PZ saved to the Steam cloud. Does anyone know what to do?

I either just force it to run either the latest save, restart steam or check your online connection

 

[Orkan]

I built the main gate for the enterance!

 

[Orkan]

Sorry for the delay! I haven’t played in a while but now I’m back! Today I built the second gate that never opens for some reason as well as the sign and the valet parking area.

 

[Orkan]

Finished the enterance of the Franklin Park Zoo! The Twilight Sculptures are supposed to be Tortoises but I had to improvise. The resource center is also done.

 

[Orkan]

Made three habitats today! The Common Warthog, African Crested Porcupine, and Plains habitat with Zebras, Wildebeest, and Ostrich.

 

[Captain Callum]

Made three habitats today! The Common Warthog, African Crested Porcupine, and Plains habitat with Zebras, Wildebeest, and Ostrich.View attachment 363831View attachment 363832View attachment 363833

Tip for the x path - You can almost match the gray asphalt path by using the plaster flooring and coloring it to #999292

 

[Orkan]

Today I put in the Children’s Zoo Aviary! It’s mostly focussed on water birds, so I put flamingos as a placeholder and some of Drac’s models as well. I also used @Captain Callum’s pathway trick! Thanks!

Also, I have been really struggling with the mesh pieces. Is there an easier way anyone knows of? I’m going to have to do the mesh at least twice more, once for the condor aviary which is gonna be a real pain.

 

[Captain Callum]

Sees mesh

Yeah i expected as much, mesh is an absolute pain to work with. Align to surface your mesh on the ground and line the side of it up with the metal pole then advanced move-duplicate each piece so it lines up all perfectly.

Keep in mind that any aviary mesh that does not feature straight edges like a rectangle or square aviary will suffer a general messy look. Overlapping mesh especially for roofs is expected. Also I feel the square mesh (while not as realistic for birds) does not disappear with the camera near as bad , there's something wrong with the distance rendering with the circle mesh.

Another option is to ignore real life for a minute and make a square or rectangle aviary that will look much nicer in terms of mesh overlaps.

 

[ElectricMonk]

There’s a lot more than just squares rectangles the can be achieved fairly well but avlor depends on the shape you want… triangular mesh pieces would enable a whole lot more! In the end, it depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Some things are fairly easy (seven beyond squares and rectangles, but others are impossible…. Can you post an image of the aviary/aviaries you’d like to recreate?… from the image it looks like the one you’re trying will be on the hard end of the spectrum.

 

[Orkan]

 

[Captain Callum]

View attachment 364107View attachment 364108

Both feasible to do:

The first one looks like the standard pillar mesh process - place your pillars in the right locations, get your mesh lying flat on the ground and angle snap upwards then drag the mesh and advanced move to get into the position with pillar 1 to pillar 2. Repeat for all sides. For the roof again, angle snap till lying flat and do this for each side, you are going to have an overlap here, then fill. In the gaps with more mesh as expected. You can't mimic the curve of the mesh unless you are wanting to use hundreds of small pieces of mesh. Make the central pillar if wanting for realism last.

The second one is actually easier than it looks, I have experience with that kind of aviary from my san diego zoo build which features even bigger versions of that. Metal beam lying flat on ground, align mesh you standing up connected to the beam, angle snap 15 degrees and place, drag metal beam to the end othe mesh and repeat the same 15 degree mesh movement. Measure your width desired and try to use mesh piece sizes to match the width correctly. Once a half circle is complete, highlight all piece and advanced duplicate. Use more metal beams and mesh pieces for the ends.

 

[Orkan]

It’s time…

 

[Orkan]

Confused? Me too!

But seriously, because of the Gift Shop bug, I’m not gonna be playing on Eastborro until the bug fix, just in case. So, I’m going to resume construction on the Franklin Park Zoo recreation! Today I added the Red Panda (and normally Muntjacs too) habitat!

 

[RightWhale]

Can’t believe it took me this long to see this! Looks good so far, I like how you did the Savannah!

Just some good news: they are updating the Savannah exhibits soon and adding penguins!

Can’t wait to see how you tackle the indoor Jungle!

 

[Orkan]

Can’t believe it took me this long to see this! Looks good so far, I like how you did the Savannah!

Just some good news: they are updating the Savannah exhibits soon and adding penguins!

Can’t wait to see how you tackle the indoor Jungle!

Thanks!

I know! I'm soooo excited for it!

The Tropical building is definitely going to be a challenge.

 

[Orkan]

Shoot. I’ve messed up the scale on the huge bird mesh habitat. Now everything’s out of scale…

It’s fine! The bathroom block will just be off by 8 meters!