topic Re: Animating models from CE in ArcGIS CityEngine Questions

Animating models from CE

NicoleHanson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:18:21 GMT

How else can I animate my 3D model from CE, besides using ArcScene (it's still converting the format from CE and has been for a few days now)?

Re: Animating models from CE

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:13:09 GMT

Hi Nicole ..

What do you mean by 'animating' exactly ?

What's been going on for a few days ? An export ?

Please let me know ..

Matt

Re: Animating models from CE

NicoleHanson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:38:08 GMT

This is what I want to be able to do: http://video.arcgis.com/watch/732/cityengine-rules-create-modern-streets

That's what I meant by animating. When I called ESRI support they had mentioned that I needed to do this in ArcScene. I exported from CE a KML file, and it's currently importing/converting from KML file to Layer file in ArcScene.

Re: Animating models from CE

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:56:13 GMT

Hey ! My video .. that's me talking .. 😮

Well, that was all done in CE. I just moved the camera around and edited both streets and rule attributes.

The video itself then was recoded by using a screen recording software. ( a good one is camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html )

I have a 3d mouse by http://www.3dconnexion.com/ .. This is why the camera floats quite fluidly.

Do you need to make a presentation or similar ?

Let me know ..

BTW : Here's a new 1 hour CityEngine training video :
http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webcoursedetail&courseid=2567

Re: Animating models from CE

NicoleHanson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:09:42 GMT

Hey ! My video .. that's me talking .. 😮

Well, that was all done in CE. I just moved the camera around and edited both streets and rule attributes.

The video itself then was recoded by using a screen recording software. ( a good one is camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html )

I have a 3d mouse by http://www.3dconnexion.com/ .. This is why the camera floats quite fluidly.

Do you need to make a presentation or similar ?

Let me know ..

BTW : Here's a new 1 hour CityEngine training video :
http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webcoursedetail&courseid=2567

Yes! That's very close to what I want. I would just use the interchanges, to show what has changed and how traffic will flow due to that change.

Re: Animating models from CE

NicoleHanson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:04:28 GMT

I don't have the ability to purchase a 3D mouse, is it still doable with the normal mouse?

Re: Animating models from CE

MatthiasBuehler1 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:37:00 GMT

Hi !

You can do the camera animation somehow similar, with the default navigation via the 'alt' key and the left, middle and right mouse button. That navigation is shown in my first tutorial video.

Takes about 15 minutes to 'acclimate' to it, but once it's in, it's pretty handy. Though, the camera flights will not be as fluid as with a 3d mouse. [ Cheapest model of those 3d mice is about 99$ or so, which would do the job just fine. ]

Also very important for the navigation is the 'f' key and the 'a' key to frame objects. Framing sets the camera's focal point around which the camera spins.

The cars themselves cannot be animated in CE. So they can't drive around .. The cars are just created as a part of the Street Models. But showing some cars on the Models gives the impression of traffic. 🙂

Let me know if you have more questions .. !