hi !
The workspace is the folder, where your CE projects sit. The default WS is 'C:/users/username/CityEngine'.
Note there's a hidden folder called '.metadata' and a project called 'ce.lib' (a special helper project which is hidden in CE by default) in there. So CityEngine starts with this project folder. Now, the projects within that workspace may or may not be linked in CityEngine. This means even though they sit in the workspace folder, they may or may not be visible in the Navigator.
You can LINK projects into CityEngine with 'import CityEngine project'. ( deleting the project folder in the Navigator deletes the link. IMPORTANT: note the 'delete contents on disk' option. do not check this unless you're certain to kill the project.)
So if you have a project on which you work, e.g. 'C:/users/username/CityEngine/myProject', which is linked in CE, so you see it as 'myProject' in the Navigator. If you want to use a certain file (let's say a GDB) in your scene, you can either:
1] In windows explorer : copy the file to C:/users/username/CityEngine/myProject/data/. If you do this with copy paste, then you won't see the GDB directly in CE. You need to refresh the workspace in CE (File> refresh WS) to see the GDB in the Navigator.
2] Copy the file directly in CityEngine's navigator to the 'data' folder ( select the folder > paste ).
Now comes something important :
- Importing a project in CityEngine into the Navigator just makes the project available for work.
- Importing files into an actual CityEngine scene, e.g. that GDB, for this you can use drag-n-drop into the viewport or right-mouse-clicky>import> .. > until it is added in the 3d scene.
I know, the workspace concept is a bit special - I've had some time to adapt to it - but there's positive sides to this too. You even can have multiple workspaces and link projects into different workspaces.
Play a bit with this knowledge & let me know if it works. 🙂
good luck !
matt