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Batch export of many building models, using one model file per building

AndrewBasile

When I export a selection of multiple modeled buildings to Wavefront OBJ or Collada DAE format, all of the buildings get lumped together into a single OBJ or DAE.

For our application, we would like to be able to export a large number of buildings at once, and use a separate OBJ or DAE for each building model. Is this possible in CityEngine? We do not want to have to manually select and export the buildings one at a time.

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MatthiasBuehler1

aah, somebody did not look at the manual first .. 🙂

just change the Exporter's Granularity setting from "Use file size limit" to "Create one file per shape".

AndrewBasile

Okay, thanks! I missed that.

However, I'm running into another issue. I exported a couple of CGA-generated buildings to OBJ format, but not all of the textures were exported. Only the roof textures got written out. The generated .MTL file (goes with the .OBJ files) actually references texture files for the parking lot and floors, but those files are missing. So, when I attempt to import the models into another program like ArcGlobe, they show up with blank walls.

MatthiasBuehler1

hi !

did you check the 'Collect Textures' checkbox in the Materials tab of the Exporter ?

btw.. there's export presets on the very top of the Exporter window which should set everything correctly.

let me know ! 🙂

AndrewBasile

Yes, "Collect Textures" was checked by default. The roof textures exported fine, just not the side/wall textures.

MatthiasBuehler1

then I assume you have invalid characters in the file names.

check them for any spaces or anything 'non-letter' or 'non-number'. 🙂

let me know ..

AndrewBasile

No, the filenames contained no spaces nor special characters.

Actually, the problem of missing files when exporting to OBJ seems to be intermittent. In some cases that I've observed when exporting multiple models, no .MTL file gets written, but all of the texture images are there.

MatthiasBuehler1

hmm.

do you see any regularity in this behavior ? what does the export log say ?

can you test this with one of the downloadable Example cities ?

did you find a reproduction procedure for this ?

please let me know !

DanielBraun2

Sorry for reactivating this old thread, but i have exactly the same problem.

I try to export the Modern Street example with the one file par shape option. I got a file for every shape and every texture, but only one Material-File which has only two materials (Pavement_141, Curbs_123). (Same Problem with any other model)

The export log:

export started at: Tue Feb 25 18:16:30 2014
export completed at: Tue Feb 25 18:17:22 2014
export duration: 52.0 seconds

EXPORT SETTINGS
    format:                default
    location:              C:\Users\Test\CityEngine\Example_Modern_Streets__2012_1\models
    base name:             ModernStreets
    export content:        1 (0 = models only, 1 = fallback to shape, 2 = shapes only)
    file granularity:      1 (0 = single file (or split by file budget), 1 = file per initial shape)
    file size budget:      524288000
    mesh granularity:      1 (0 = as generated, 1 = mesh per material, 2 = use instances of inserted assets) 
    vertex precision:      0.00100
    normal precision:      0.00100
    texcoord precision:    0.00010
    merge vertices:        1
    merge normals:         1
    merge texcoords:       1
    triangulate:           1
    reproject texcoords:   0
    vertex indexing:       0 (0 = allow shared vertices, 1 = force separate vertices)
    normals type:          0 (0 = use vertex normals, 1 = use face normals (flat))
    normals indexing:      0 (0 = allow shared normals, 1 = force separate normals)
    write texcoords:       1 (0 = no texcoords, 1 = first layer, 2 = all layers)
    write materials:       1
    collect textures:      1
    file type:             0 (0 = ascii, 1 = binary)
    embed textures:        0
    write master file:     0
    master group name:     CityEngineSceneRoot
    write cam data:        1
    batch behavior:        0 (0 = normal, 1 = skip existing files, 2 = dry run)

INPUT STATS
    number of initial shapes      = 1012
    number of generated shapes    = 26150
    number of generated meshes    = 26175
    number of generated materials = 26175

OUTPUT STATS
    written files: 1012
    written materials: 3846
    written meshes (total polygons): 3846 (630407)
    mesh names (polygons):
[...]

Any suggestions?

MatthiasBuehler1

Hi,

try using the export dialog's preset 'default' settings and retry ..

lemme know.

m.

DanielBraun2

I tried it with a fresh installation of CE 2013 and the default preset.

Same problem. Only one Material file with only the materials of one object. Looks like a bug in CityEngine.

MatthiasBuehler1

Hi,

I'm on medical leave and thus cannot look into this this week.

Meanwhile, can you confirm that the 'file size' option works correctly ?

Matt

DanielBraun2

Same problem here:

If I choose the filse size big enough (=> only one OBJ file is generated), everything is fine. If I choose the file size smaller and the model gets splitted into multiplte OBJ files, only one material file (that does not contain all information) is generated.

MatthiasBuehler1

Hi,

Can you please create a very simple minimal repro dataset with no textures that you can send me to reproduce here ?

E.g. a simple scene with many copied shapes and many boxes stacked on top of each other in CGA

Would that be possible ?

Lemme know ..

matt

DanielBraun2

Hi,

I've attached a minimal example:

Rule-File:

attr myColor = 50%: "#ff7777" 
               else: "#58FA58"
 
Lot  --> extrude(10) color(myColor)

Material-File with filesize option:

newmtl Lot_1
    Kd 0.345098 0.980392 0.345098
    Ka 0 0 0
     d 1
    Tf 1.0 1.0 1.0
    Ni 1.0
 illum 3
    Ks 0 0 0
    Ns 0
newmtl Lot
    Kd 1 0.466667 0.466667
    Ka 0 0 0
     d 1
    Tf 1.0 1.0 1.0
    Ni 1.0
 illum 3
    Ks 0 0 0
    Ns 0

As expected, two colors.

With file_per_shape option I also got only one material-file with content:

newmtl Lot_30
    Kd 1 0.466667 0.466667
    Ka 0 0 0
     d 1
    Tf 1.0 1.0 1.0
    Ni 1.0
 illum 3
    Ks 0 0 0
    Ns 0

objBugMinimal.zip

MatthiasBuehler1

Hi,

with the 'per file' option, I correctly get:

newmtl CityEngineMaterial
illum 3
Ka 0 0 0
Kd 1 0.466667 0.466667
Ks 0 0 0
Ns 0
d 1
Tf 1.0 1.0 1.0
Ni 1.0

newmtl CityEngineMaterial_1
illum 3
Ka 0 0 0
Kd 0.345098 0.980392 0.345098
Ks 0 0 0
Ns 0
d 1
Tf 1.0 1.0 1.0
Ni 1.0

Can you post a screenshot of all your export settings ?

Hmmm...

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