Jsprewell talks to SimArchitect

Jsprewell is one of the best if not the best SC3URKer in the sim community. He is currently working on his own website which will contain his own work and an updated prop generator (you can read more about his upcoming site in the interview).

SimArchitect: Before we get into the SimCity questions, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Jsprewell: I am 18 years old and live in Carrollton, Georgia (USA). I am currently a freshman at The University of West Georgia on a pre-engineering degree and plan on going to Georgia Tech. When I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for four years I went all over Europe, Egypt, and Turkey. I have also been to all 50 states and lived in Canada for one year.

SimArchitect: Does what you do in the SimCity community affect you outside of the SimWorld?
Jsprewell: You could say so. :) I am making my current buildings in a program called AutoCAD which is really a mechanical drawing program. When I was in my senior year at high school my cad teacher, who was the first nationaly certified cad teacher in Geogia, said you do not become an AutoCAD master until you know more about AutoCAD, Architectural CAD, Mechanical CAD, etc than he does. Todate only two people have done this. So through all of the stuff I am doing with AutoCAD helps me in engineering. I would also like to be a graphic artist and make games and things.

SimArchitect: How did you get involved in SimCity?
Jsprewell: One day when I was in the 7th grade we had a free day in class. Well my best friend and I went over to the computer and started to play a game. Today that game is called SIMCITY Classic. We loved that game...especially the part when the big lizard came out and distroyed part of the city. Then about a year later in my 8th grade history class the teacher let me and some girl play SIMCITY 2000 when we got done with our work. When I saw it in the store one day I just had to get it.

SimArchitect: You have 13 buildings on the SimCity.com exchange, and countless other BAPs and SC3URKs on other sites. When did you get started?
Jsprewell: When I got SIMCITY 3000 I downloaded BAT and made my house. That was the first time I got started. I really did not do BAT that much because the buildings were too blocky. Then when I saw an article in my PC GAMER magazine about SIMCITY 3000 Unlimited I had to get it. Then I started using BAP. When SC3URK came out I dove into that because I could do buildings with my AutoCAD. No more blocks.

SimArchitect: Do you prefer BAP or SC3URK?
Jsprewell: SC3URK all the way. Nice smooth curves is better than blocks.

SimArchitect: Did you use SCURK for SimCity 2000 or have you never used it?
Jsprewell: I used it once or twice to do buildings. Most of the work I did in SCURK was to edit my titlesets and make cities.

SimArchitect: Do you release all your buildings to the "public" through websites or E-Mail or do you keep some for yourself?
Jsprewell: No, I have about 30 buildings that I never released to the public. Most of them (including a 20x20 piece with my house, barn, and sheds on it) got distroyed when my hard drive crashed.

SimArchitect: You've been planning a website for a while, what will it offer?
Jsprewell: When it opens the website will have 10 of my new SC3URK's. One of the buildings will be the famous Oriental Pearl TV Tower that I have showed everyone on the sc3000.com forums. Another one will be a castle that I showed MaxisDano. The other 8 nobody has seen yet. So far the site will have only my stuff on it, which may change in the future. The site will also be host to the .met file generator when that gets finished.

SimArchitect: SimArchitect is proud to host the first version fo your prop generator. How did you come up with the idea to make it?
Jsprewell: I had seen lots of complaints on simcity.com and sc3000.com about having trouble with making .met files. So I desided I would make something that would help the process. The next version which is going through extensive renovations and testing will actually make the file for you on your hard drive or to be able to download.

SimArchitect: What are you working on at the momment (if anything)?
Jsprewell: Hum, on all of my 10 projects. I have 3 ready to be rendered and transfered to sc3urk when I get AutoCAD working.

SimArchitect: Where or how do you get the ideas to create these fantastic buildings?
Jsprewell: My Oriental Pearl TV Tower is a real-world building. The castle I showed MaxisDano is a combination of several of the Louire Castles in France. I also have Lego that I put together trying to get something weard. I also look around at normal everyday things and think to myself, "I wonder what that would look like as a building?"

SimArchitect: Do you have any advice for somebody that thinks their buildings are plain or ugly?
Jsprewell: Well, my first buildings are plain and ugly. Then I just started taking the default paints and decals and imported them into my paint program and edited them some how. One of my latest projects, Sprewell Castle, I just took the default paints and edited them to make them look weathered and used. The only two things I used in editing were the airbrush and the smoothing brush. I just sprayed normal colors on the bitmaps and smoothed them into the rest of the picture.

Thank you for allowing us to interview you and good luck with your buildings