From CityEngine to Unreal Engine: the journey from first design steps to high-quality real-time visualization (part 1/3)

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05-23-2019 02:59 AM

From CityEngine to Unreal Engine: the journey from first design steps to high-quality real-time visualization (part 1/3)

We are excited to present an example project from first design steps using ArcGIS CityEngine, to high-end visualization using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 game engine. Our motivation for this project is to show the new possibilities that come along with the latest releases of CityEngine and Unreal Engine, and explore the creative potential that is revealed by linking these two engines.

Our workflow consists of two parts: procedural design, with CityEngine as the main tool and visualization strategies with Unreal Engine as the main tool. For each part we discuss our approach conceptually and then give technical details for the implementation of our ideas, along with tips for best practices and links to relevant pages for more in depth exploration of the various techniques.

Update (2021-09-21): this document was originally written using CityEngine 2019.0 and Unreal Engine 4.22 (Unreal Studio version). We have now split it into 3 parts and will provide updates for current CityEngine versions soon.

 

South Boston CityEngine project now available on request! Are you interested using the CityEngine project presented in this document? Please send an email to Stefan Arisona‌ and we'll send you a download link.

 

 

 

 

Part 1:

Background: a plan for redevelopment of Dorchester Avenue in South Boston

 

The project for the redevelopment of Dorchester Avenue in South Boston was carried out by the Boston Planning & Development agency in 2017. It consists of a zoning framework for future growth of an area in South Boston in a manner that is consistent with the community's vision. Their vision describes a walk-able mixed-use neighborhood with improved public transportation, big sidewalks and cycling routes, that favors green spaces and view corridors along the main transportation axes.

 

> More information about the plan for the redevelopment of Dorchester Avenue by the Boston Planning & ... 

 

Inspired by this plan and informed by its main guidelines, we went on to design detailed buildings and public spaces for the area using procedural tools. Our main goal was the creation of abundant green spaces on the street level as well as on the buildings in order to create an interconnected network of natural spaces serving various purposes and achieve integration of green and grey infrastructure.  As a result, we focused on creating green corridors and building types that accommodate green spaces on the ground level as well as along their height. We were also interested in accentuating the view corridors that were proposed in the plan by specifying detailed setback rules for the buildings that are located on those corridors.

Continue reading: Part 2 - Procedural design with CityEngine 

Comments

Nice update Esri folks !

All those latest tweaks and additional functionality in 2019 make this process a whole lot easier. 

Kudos to all involved.  

I agree with Alan. Having Datasmith export working nicely again is really good but posts like this make a big difference. 

Great job!

Thank you Alan and Zorko. We plan to make the CityEngine project used in this document available for download in the coming days.

And it gets even better! Is that going to be an example project?  

The CityEngine project is now available on request, see above.

great guide! just one question, is the content still available? i can't seem to find how to email Stefan Arisona. 

Hi Stefan, many thanks for sharing these insights. I am a beginner in this area and was wondering if you would be able to share the above mentioned project with me for my learning. Would highly appreciate. I have seen you creating 'planting/vegetation' on the parking lane (after every 3 parking space). This is something I have been trying to do as well while using complete street rules. I hope to learn tricks like this through your project.  Cheers! 

Hi Wali, sure thing. I'll send you a message with the download instructions.

Hi Stefan,

This is par excellence. Please I am interested in the project. Kindly send link to acekundayo@gmail.com I'll appreciate it.

Regards

Hello Stefan,

I am trying to learn how to use CityEngine and I came across your post about Unreal Engine. As an Unreal engine user, myself I am trying to replicate what you have done. I have been following your post step by step but unfortunately, I am getting errors in my CGA file. Is it possible for you to send me the CityEngine file o CGA file for me to better understand what I am doing wrong?  My email is tjmatsuku@gmail.com. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you. 

Regards

Hi Stefan, many thanks for sharing these insights. I am a beginner in this area and was wondering if you would be able to share the above mentioned project with me for my learning.Kindly send link to xytgis@gmail.com I'll appreciate it,thank you very much.

Hi Stefan, thank you very much for seeing this article, thank you very much for sending the file to huang2020hgy@gmail.com

Hi Stefan, many thanks for sharing these insights. I am a beginner in this area and was wondering if you would be able to share the above mentioned project with me for my learning. I hope to learn tricks like this through your project. My email is gisrao@163.com ,Thank You! 

Hello Stefan,

Thank for this post! could yous end me the project ?

heres is my mail : vmadelain at luxcarta dot com

Thank you!s

Thank you so much for posting this great work and walking through your process.  I am excited to dig in to the CityEngine project on it.  Please send the file to pvickerman@maplegrovemn dot gov.  

Thank you!

@StefanArisona Amazing article. If still available, I would appreciate a project download link at nicholas.a.pryor@gmail.com.  Thanks and let me know if you need any more information. 

@nicpryor sure... sent you an email with the download link.

@StefanArisonaits a great article and I would like to follow through to improve on my CE skills. Kindly share with me the project download link. Email address is mbaabubrian@gmail.com. Thanks

Hi~@StefanArisona 

My English is not very good, I really want to learn this project you did, could you please send a copy to my email evilnaive001@163.com  thank you very much

Hi @StefanArisona ,

Thank you so much for this!  Could you send the download link to pvickerman@maplegrovemn.gov ?

-Peter Vickerman

Hi~@StefanArisona 

My English is not very good, I really want to learn this project you did, could you please send a copy to my email 1178871664@qq.com  thank you very much

Thank you very much @StefanArisona for this post. I'd really appreciate if you could send me the project link to lauragarciarq@gmail.com 

Thanks again.

Hi @StefanArisona ,Thanks for this post. I'd really wanna see more detail about the project,  could you send me the project link to 326734431@qq.com

@StefanArisona  This is a great article and I want to continue to improve my CE skills. Please share the project download link with me.  Email address is mosemo4377@gmail.com. Thanks

@StefanArisona Found this to be a very helpful walk through. Is it still possible to get a link to download the project? If so could you please send to sewalljman@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Hi @StefanArisona ,

Nice tutorials! I am super interested in trying this project out. Could you send the download link to ydzhang12345@gmail.com? Many thanks!

- Ben

Hi @StefanArisona ,

thank you very much for seeing this article!

Could you send the download link to yi821281036@gmail.com?  Thanks!

 

Hi @StefanArisona

It is a great tutorial. Could you please share with me the download link? My email is ngocanh8408@gmail.com

Many thanks.

Anh

Hi Stefan,

This is par excellence. Please I am interested in the project. Kindly send link to leng730732@163.com I'll appreciate it.

Regards

Hi @StefanArisona , 

 

This is great ! I am a beginner and would love to see this project. Thanks for sharing! 

Could you please send the download to challiday1997@outook.com

Many thanks 

您好!感谢您的分享,您的项目跟我目前学习的内容十分一致,对我很有帮助!能否请您将下载文件发送至985593147@qq.com

非常感激~

G'day Stefan,

Please I will appreciate it if you can send the South Boston CityEngine project to my email acekundayo@gmail.com. I'll appreciate your help. Thanks

Hi @StefanArisona and team,

Thank you for this article series and for making the aforementioned project available. I’d be interested to learn more from it - please share the link with me via DM or on my email beeam09@hotmail.com. TIA. 🙂

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Last update:
‎09-21-2021 09:37 AM
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