topic Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase in ArcGIS CityEngine Questions

CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

ScottGowan — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:04:24 GMT

Greetings,

I'm just getting into the trial of CE 2012 and am having an issue getting my data into a project.

I've gone through data prep and created a fgdb (CityEngine2013.gdb) with various 3d feature classes of points, lines and building polygons for creating a our city. While importing the fgdb within in a new project and selecting the correct coordinate system of the fgdb (NAD 1983 UTM Zone 17N EPSG:26917) hitting 'ok', CE simply crashes without any sort of error provided. I've checked the coord system of all feature classes within the fgdb and they are all the same and are system available, not custom. For testing, I've now removed all but one point feature class with very few attribute fields to be sure it wasn't bloated data causing the problem; got the same result.

When I re-open CE, the project has actually been created with all it's folders appearing in the Navigator, however in the data folder there is only the "images_CityEngine2013.gdb" subfolder; nothing is being imported. In the error log there's no actual error simply the message "The workspace exited with unsaved changes in the previous session; refreshing workspace to recover changes." This is added each time I try.

Note: I've changed the workspace from the default to another drive's folder which should hardly matter since I have all permissions on the drive.

I've attached the fgdb witih the one feature class that I've been testing. Any clues would be greatly appreciated.

Scott

Machine Specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 CPU @3.10GHz
Installed memory: 4.00 GB
System Type: Windows 7 Professional SP1 32bit
Display Adapter: NVIDIA Quadro 4000

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

JoanneO_Brien — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:21:22 GMT

Are you using the Advanced trial version? you can't import gdb with the basic I think. Also your inernal RAM might be a little low for running CE, although the file you posted is so small that it shouldn't matter.

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

ScottGowan — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:18:34 GMT

Are you using the Advanced trial version? you can't import gdb with the basic I think. Also your inernal RAM might be a little low for running CE, although the file you posted is so small that it shouldn't matter.

Yes, I'm using the advanced trial and I agree that the file is so small that can't possibly be the be the issue.

Scott

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:47:35 GMT

Hi Scott !

I can import your points just fine.. strange.

Though I would recommend more RAM. At least 6 GB. Me personally, I'd never go again less than 16 GB ( also for the reason if you want to sell the machine again in 3 years ).

Try :
- Create a new WS on your main drive
- Close CE
- In your user account �?? usually �??C:\Users\userName\�??, there�??s a hidden folder called .CityEngine. Put it in the trash
- Restart CE
- The .CityEngine folder was now recreated. Contains some metadata which sometimes may get corrupted.
- Try import again.

Do you have access to a machine with a little more RAM ? Can you try there ?

Let me know ..

Matt

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

ScottGowan — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:43:50 GMT

Thanks for the advise Matt.

I tried as you suggested but got the same result. As a workaround, rather than importing to a new workspace/project I simply copied the test fgdb into an existing workspace data folder, opened that project and then added the data from the newly added test fgdb. This method worked without a problem so I then added my initial fgdb which has many more features classes and that worked also.

So I've managed to get around the issue and start working with my own data, just not the way I thought it should. CE still doesn't "import" into a new project.

It's all good for now I guess since I've got it working and won't be spending more time trying to force it to work correctly just to prove to myself that it will.

RAM: Yes, hopefully that will be increased soon. Will the addition of RAM as well as moving to 64 bit Windows improve the actual visual quality of screen rendering? On my machine I've tried to recreate one of the screen shots in the 3D City:Create City Features tutorial and the quality of my scene doesn't look nearly as good.

Scott

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

MatthiasBuehler1 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:58:51 GMT

Hi !

Glad you found a workaround.

Not all is good yet with the GDB import/export. Some things also need to be fixed in the libraries we have access so far. This will gradually become better. 🙂

RAM : Nope, the visual quality is independent of that.

What makes CE screenshots look good is usually :
- Ambient Occlusion
- Shadows
and especially:
- setting the Scene Layer settings, such as :
* sun direction
* AO settings
* shadow intensity
* ..

Additionally, setting your materials you create with CGA, such as specularity or reflectivity.

Hope this helps. 🙂

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

JasonBalmut — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:18:13 GMT

Matthias,

When I try importing data from a file geodatabase I am seeing a window that does not look like the one in the manual. It is missing the section where you can decide what comes over in the process.

File Geodatabase Import window (File-->Import)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21069[/ATTACH]

CE Manual - Importing data from a file geodatabase
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21070[/ATTACH]

It allows the user to import the data, but there is nothing displayed in the Viewport and attributes are stripped off of the layers. As a test, I took one of the FGDB layers, created a shapefile out of it, and tried to import that. It worked but you could only view the layer from underneath the polygons in the Viewport.

Dragging and dropping the file geodatabase folder from Windows Explorer to the Viewport opens up the File Geodatabase Import window with all of the functionality. The resulting shapes and graphs have all of their attribution but they are still invisible in the Viewport until a rule is applied to them.

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

ScottGowan — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:57:46 GMT

Hi !

Glad you found a workaround.

Not all is good yet with the GDB import/export. Some things also need to be fixed in the libraries we have access so far. This will gradually become better. 🙂

RAM : Nope, the visual quality is independent of that.

What makes CE screenshots look good is usually :
- Ambient Occlusion
- Shadows
and especially:
- setting the Scene Layer settings, such as :
* sun direction
* AO settings
* shadow intensity
* ..

Additionally, setting your materials you create with CGA, such as specularity or reflectivity.

Hope this helps. 🙂

Thanks for the info. I'll make the adjustments that I can and see if I can get my RAM boosted.

Scott

Re: CE crashes while importing file goedatbase

MatthiasBuehler1 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:59:39 GMT

Matthias,

When I try importing data from a file geodatabase I am seeing a window that does not look like the one in the manual. It is missing the section where you can decide what comes over in the process.

File Geodatabase Import window (File-->Import)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21069[/ATTACH]

CE Manual - Importing data from a file geodatabase
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21070[/ATTACH]

It allows the user to import the data, but there is nothing displayed in the Viewport and attributes are stripped off of the layers. As a test, I took one of the FGDB layers, created a shapefile out of it, and tried to import that. It worked but you could only view the layer from underneath the polygons in the Viewport.

Dragging and dropping the file geodatabase folder from Windows Explorer to the Viewport opens up the File Geodatabase Import window with all of the functionality. The resulting shapes and graphs have all of their attribution but they are still invisible in the Viewport until a rule is applied to them.

Hi Jace ..

Is it possible you can send me a gdb with non-sensitive dummy content with which I can use to reproduce the issue here ? I remember that a person has reported an issue that the gdb importer GUI does not adapt if there's a big bunch of feature classes in there, but I'm not sure if that'd be the only issue. If I had data to test, I could also attach it then to the bug ticket.

Let me know ..

Matt