Talking from experience, I can tell you that simpler cheaper models are not the right way to go.

The reason for that is that they simply don't sell well.

So even though you spend less time making them, your income per hour is decreased because you have less sales.

My advice to you is, don't worry too much about the time you spend on a project. Just concentrate on making a stunning product, no matter how long it takes.

These "wow" models sell really well, and even though they take months to make, in the end, you will see that these models actually increase your hourly wage.

Another thing to keep in mind is that making stunning models will rapidely increase your customer base, and people will come back to look at your future products. You will not get this effect with average  models.

Quality is the way to make money in this business, even if it takes longer.
Shortcuts will only hurt your income and your reputation.

I hope this helps :)

Use a "dense" noise node and plug it into displacement, and you'll get 3d grass (increase the bias on your lights for best results)

The objects you import have to be triangulated (quads or polys won't work)

Thanks Martial.

I grew up surrounded by villages pretty much like this one. I just had to remember how it was.

Thanks!
There might be a compilation pack down the road too, if you'd rather wait a bit.

The new pack is coming out now if you want it. (I haven't even posted the advertising thread here yet)

Hi Dave!

A new item comes out every friday, and stays on sale until the following friday, when another pack comes out. (So basically you have a week to get something on sale)

The prices you see on the website are Canadian dollars, so a pack on sale for Canadian $8.00 is really around US $7.20

The regular price of Canadian $10.00 equals about US 9.00.

Thanks jan-scrapper!

New parts come out every Friday.

I'm working on putting the final touches to friday's package: "The road pack" (roads, sidewalks, road signs, lighting, power line etc...)

AS3Design has a tipi and some other native structures (a wigwam and a chikee) here at Renderosity.

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=267763

Thanks guys!

How many models will this set contain?

The quick answer is : A lot!
Already modeled and ready to go are:

The Book Store
The Church
The Road Pack (roads, city squares, road signs, traffic lights, street lighting, power lines etc...)
Nature pack 1 (treees, bushes, flowers...)
Nature pack 2 (park, hedges, benches, kiosks etc...)

That's just the beginning. In the works are Rows of Buildings (most likely easy-posed, so you can make your busy street as curvy as you want)
The City hall, the Gendarmerie, the School, the Cemetary, the River are all either in the works or in the plans.

In the plans as well (but I haven't started work on this yet), will be a pack of low-poly people and cars, so you can really fill up your scenes with life without killing your machine.
Since the village is pretty much outside of time, I'll make both people and cars from various eras (around WWII, in the 60-70's, today)

As for making another car... There are quite a few excellent models out there already, I don't know if it's really necessary to add more, unless it's very different from what already exists.

Anyway, that's what's in the plans...

Thanks again for your great support!

Merci pour les compliments Martial!

The streets, sidewalks, street signs, street lights, street lighting, powerlines etc... are all part of the upcoming "Street pack".

Just un peu de patience, Martial.

Maybe a couple of weeks before they're released.
Next week's store will be the Pharmacy.

Thanks!

Yes, there will be some.

This set is composed of about 15 packages, one of which, the road pack, includes all the streets, sidewalks, city square, road signs, traffic light, street lighting and electric poles.

I'm not sure exactly when this road pack will come out. I release one pack a week, you'll have to keep an eye on www.rawart3d.com