Collaborate on same project in CE

Question

I would expect that it's not really possible to work together on the same time in CityEngine. How do you collaborate on projects, sharing the same rules, updating on the same rules, updating on the same scene and such?

Sometimes we just need to have the flexibility of not transferring files from machine to machine.

Right now we are using a synced SharePoint folder in different workspaces, but I'm interested in hearing any thoughts, best practices that I could use.

Thanks.

KennethLindhardt1 · Answer

Thank you Elliot, it seems like we are doing the same 🙂 I have created Teams and added workspace in there, which actually has been working fine, as long as we are not working in the same CEJ. Recently when I change the workspace to a team folder it's empty, and I can't add a project since it's already existing. I can't tell if this is 2021.1 or if I can't remember how I did it in the pass.

Thank you Elliot, when you are also working like this, it can't be all bad 😉 But yes it would be nice to have small subparts of the project area and those linked into a master CEJ.

ElliotHartley · Answer

Hi @KennethLindhardt1  it is possible to work collaboratively using CityEngine (i.e. a shared project), but I would recommend careful backup procedures!  I've been using CityEngine and Onedrive/Teams/Sharepoint (all same thing ish really) successfully with a team.  Top tips: do not all work on same CEJ file ever. Rules shared seem to work okay although the binary files created (that are often hidden) can get out of sync with multiple users.   It is possible to work together in a shared CityEngine project but everyone must understand potential issues because it seems CityEngine has a few hidden files it likes to create.   TBH the CityEngine development team could really improve usability of CityEngine for teams here as often larger projects are worked on collaboratively.  Start small is my recommendation so create something like a 'rule library' (similar to Esri.lib) that people(or just yourself) can connect to and use, whilst still retaining their own CityEngine workspaces and project directories. If you drag and drop a directory into the Navigator from Explorer you get a choice of copying or linking the folder, I use link for dropbox/onedrive folders. Basically start with simple consistent file management 🙂 Perhaps @TaishaFabricius could provide an idea of the development roadmap for collaborative working in CityEngine? 🙂