Latest Contributions by NathanStocker

‎09-27-2015

Hi Alexandru, Not sure if you're still looking for responses on this, but I just stumbled into it and have been doing some large scenes and wanting to use multiple terrains in LumenRT, which means I've had to do some similar things. If you're just using one terrain, you should be able to export straight from CityEngine and just select 'Export all visible terrain layers'. Otherwise, if you're keen to use a mesh or multiple terrains, you can export the terrain as an obj, then re-import it into CityEngine. Then you just select it along with your models when exporting to LumenRT. Unless you want to sculpt the terrain in LumenRT, it's probably more hassle than it's worth to try the shape proxy route. In terms of general findings of using LumenRT, I've also found it to be buggy and frustrating at times - however it's also good and simple when it works. Hope this helps. Nathan

‎07-30-2015

Oh I see - it's always frustrating that aligning shapes only does the vertices! It causes me the same headaches. Short of cutting the shapes up small, or extruding them up enough that they are totally above the terrain (which looks funny), I don't think there's much you can do. Matthias would certainly know more though! In the picture, it looks like shapes are turned on and are overlapping with the models. I presume it doesn't help just turning shapes off?

‎07-29-2015

Could you just set an offset when aligning the shapes to the terrain? That way they'd sit just over the land and not overlap (causing the flickering). Alternatively, you could apply a basic rule that extruded the shape and apply the texture to the resulting model - that would sit over the land as well. Either way, it would just be a very small offset/extrusion, so it would still look like it was on the ground.

‎07-29-2015

Hi Jeff, Sounds like a cool idea what you're trying to do. Have you seen the 3DCity workflows? The one on analysis has a workflow to put points onto facades in CityEngine, which can then be used to perform 3D analysis in ArcGIS. http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=84a432d1b26d4fbfac3b0feb3359fa12 Not sure how it would work with taking neighbouring buildings into account, perhaps it could work if you made a raster from the 3D building dataset on top of the terrain. Not sure if this will help, haven't done this myself yet. Thanks Nathan

‎07-20-2015

No worries, happy to help I had included a cleanupGeometry in my rule, which worked 99% of the time but not quite all of time (even turned all the way up to 1). In any case, it wasn't too big of a deal to remove the envelope operation - so it's all fine now. Thanks for the help! Nathan

‎07-20-2015

Hi Chris, Thanks for taking an interest in this. I've created a simplified project with a couple dozen shapes, one of which causes the crash (Shape 55402). I also simplified the rule to remove extraneous parts. I've included two different DEMs, although neither of them avoids the issue. The project's saved here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ifzf5ixoq7k8qpc/CrashTest.zip?dl=0. Unfortunately I don't have anybody to test it on their computer, so let me know if something doesn't work with the project. It also means I can't test the issue on another computer, so it could easily just be my PC rather than CityEngine! Thanks again Nathan

‎07-19-2015

As a follow-up to this (in case anyone's interested) - it turned out to be an envelope operation that was crashing CE for particular aligned shapes. No idea why that's the case, but I've taken it out of the rule and now everything seems fine. The strange this is, there's another envelope function at another place in the rule that works fine! All's well that ends well I guess

‎07-15-2015

Hi, I'm having some issues with aligned shapes in CityEngine 2015.1. Everything generally works fine, but when I try to generate models using my rule on certain aligned shapes it crashes CityEngine instantly. This is only on a handful of shapes out of 55,000, so finding the actual shapes which are causing the crashes is like finding a needle in a haystack! I've found them, but there's nothing really special about them - but they often have an astray vertex or two, which can be deleted to fix the shapes. However, the issue keeps popping up for new shape layers and I don't want to have to find and fix the shapes every time. I've tried to pinpoint the cause and discovered that it only happens if the shapes have been aligned to the terrain - if they're flat at y=0, then they generate fine. They also generate fine with other rules applied. However, my rule is pretty long and complicated, so it's hard to pinpoint what in the rule could be causing the issue. I'm wondering if it's a bug in 2015.1 around aligning the shapes. Does anybody have any thoughts about what could be causing the crashes? I've attached the error log in case anybody can make more sense of them than I can

‎06-08-2015

Thanks Ben - you're on the mark. It was good just finding out that the problem was just with my own CityEngine. I've reinstalled CE and it's working fine now

‎05-25-2015

That doesn't work either unfortunately - it just takes me to the generic import window. I'm not sure if it's related, but I'm also having an issue with textures - in that none of them work! Even a simple rule like the one below comes up with unknown texture. I've tried downloading example scenes and they come up with the same thing (no textures). attr Texture = "/CapacityModelling/assets/g_f001_t006_Residential_036.jpg" Lot --> extrude(world.y, 12) split(y){4 : Lot2}* Lot2 --> setupProjection(0, scope.xy, 3, 3) texture(Texture) projectUV(0) Lot3. I've tried deleting my .cityengine folder, but that didn't help. I've attached an error that seems to come up every time I open CityEngine (not sure if it's related).

‎05-24-2015

Thanks for the help guys. Strangely, neither IMG nor TIF are showing in my 'select heightmap file' options. I think either I'm doing something silly, or I'm missing some options that appear for you?

‎05-21-2015

Hi All, Is it just me, or has TIF disappeared as an option for importing height maps and textures in CityEngine 2015? I had always used TIF to export from ArcMap and import into CE, but now it looks like I may have to change. It's slightly annoying, since the other file types don't seem to work for exporting my 32bit DEM, so I guess I'll just have to make a CityEngine-compatible version of it. That said, I think I'll survive Nathan

‎03-16-2015

Hi Patrick, I have the same question - did you find an answer or solution to this problem? Thanks Nathan

‎02-26-2015

Hi all, I've been wondering about when I should use CGA to create shape components and when I should use textures? For instance - after splitting building facades between wall, window and door components, would it be better to insert a window texture or to split it further into the window frames and glass panes? This latter approach drives up polygon counts, but means there's less images being incorporated. Another example is where I've split up wooden walls into planks to give them more sense of depth (which looks nice but really drives up the polygon count!) As a bit of context, I'm making models and scenes to export to LumenRT for rendering and would like to minimize stuttering and generally overloading my graphics card. Any advice would be much appreciated! ThanksNate

‎01-28-2015

Thanks Chris, that rule is wonderfully useful! I managed to add options for vertical and horizontal alignment and it's working great.

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My Ideas

Latest Contributions by NathanStocker

Re: Exporting CityEngine Terrains to LumenRT

Re: Align shapes (river) to terrain

Re: Align shapes (river) to terrain

Re: Calculating solar radiation values for vertical surfaces

Re: Certain shapes crash CityEngine when generating models

Re: Certain shapes crash CityEngine when generating models

Re: Certain shapes crash CityEngine when generating models

Certain shapes crash CityEngine when generating models

Re: TIFs in CityEngine 2015

Re: TIFs in CityEngine 2015

Re: TIFs in CityEngine 2015

TIFs in CityEngine 2015

Re: Sun shadow volume

Polygons vs Textures for Rendering

Re: Text or Labels in City Engine

Re: Certain shapes crash CityEngine when generatin...