Workflows

The basic CityEngine modeling workflow is similar to using the City Wizard. Create a scene, create a layout, and use the City Wizard with the following workflows.

Create a CityEngine scene

After at least one CityEngine project has been created, the first step is to create a scene.

1. Click File > New > CityEngine > CityEngine scene.
2. Provide a scene name.
3. Click Finish to create the scene.

Create a city layout

You can create a city layout consisting of streets, blocks, and lots with the Street Growth Wizard. Click Graph > Grow Streets. to open the wizard. In this wizard, you can select several growth parameters, such as the intended number of streets or the street pattern. When completing the wizard, CityEngine creates a Street Network layer (or extends an existing street layer, if selected) containing the graph network, blocks, and street and lot shapes. Later, the resulting shapes can be used as a starting point for the grammar-based modeling.

The following shows the created layout in the Viewport window (generated with the default growth parameters):

Viewport shows street network and blocks.

Viewport shows street and lot shapes.

You can also edit street networks manually using the graph edit or transform tools on the main toolbar. You can press Delete to remove selected streets. Using the Inspector window, you can edit attributes such as the width of the selected streets.

In addition, street networks can be designed in an external application such as Autodesk AutoCAD and then imported into CityEngine. To access the import wizard, click File > Import > CityEngine Layers > DXF Import for .dxf files (see Import DXF). Alternatively, CityEngine also supports data from OpenStreetMap.

Similarly, arbitrary polygon meshes can be designed in an external application such as Autodesk Maya and then imported into the CityEngine. To access the import wizard, click File > Import > CityEngine Layers > OBJ Import for .obj files (see Import OBJ). The imported shapes can be used in the same way as shapes generated by CityEngine: you can edit them and you can assign CGA rule files to generate building models.

Use the City Wizard

The City Wizard allows you to generate your first city in seconds. It integrates the above steps—creating street networks, streets, and lot shapes—in a single user interface step and uses predefined parameter sets for the algorithms. It also assigns selected rule files to the created shapes. The created city is stored in a CityEngine scene file and can be explored, modified, and further extended.

1. To access the City Wizard from an existing workspace, click File > New .
2. Click City Wizard, and click Next.
3. Follow the wizard pages.

The four City Wizard pages guide the generation of different city types.

The schematic city type is shown.

The sci-fi city type is shown.

The textured city type is shown.