ESRI.lib is a CityEngine project that contains a library full of useful resources, such as CGA rules and assets. It is automatically installed in your CityEngine workspace and can be found in the Navigator window.
You can apply rules and use assets as they are or import the rules into your own rules. For example, applying the Plant_Loader.cga rule to a shape in your scene inserts a plant model on that shape. In the Inspector, you can adjust attributes for that shape, such as plant species and height. Alternatively, you can import the Plant_Loader.cga rule into one of your CGA files, and use CGA to control the insertion of plant models and set the species, height, and other attributes.
Buildings
You can create different types of 3D building models when you use the building rules. Apply the Building_From_Footprint.cga rule to 2D building footprints to generate plausible 3D building models. The Building_From_OpenStreetMap.cga rule is automatically applied to 2D polygons downloaded using Get Map Data. This rule is the same as the Building_From_Footprint.cga rule but also uses OpenStreetMap data (height, building:levels, roof:height, roof:shape, building:colour, roof:colour), when available, to determine the building height, roof form, number of levels, building color, and roof color. Apply the Building_Mass_Texturizer.cga rule when you have a 3D mass model as your initial shape.
Plants
Insert vegetation models into your scene or model. The ESRI.lib Vegetation library is a Webstyle shared across the platform. The library contains a variety of species including broadleaf trees, conifers, and palms available in realistic, schematic, or fan representations. Use the Plant_Loader.cga rule to insert a single plant model, or use the Plant_Distributor.cga rule to scatter multiple plants over an area.
Streets
Apply rules to dynamic street shapes to generate textured streets. The Street_Modern_Simple.cga rule textures streets with lane markings, while the Street_Modern_Standard.cga rule also adds stop markings and crosswalks.
Text
The Text.cga rule inserts text you can use for labeling 3D models. Text is inserted in the xz plane of the scope.
Fences
Fence rules generate fences along street shapes or along polygon edges. You can apply the Fence_On_Graph.cga rule to street shapes to create fences that follow the street shapes as they curve or go over hills. Apply Fence_On_Polygon.cga to polygonal shapes to create fences along the edges of the input polygon. You can control which polygon edges have fences through attributes and local edits. Preset styles are available to create a variety of fences from picket fences to highway barriers.
Urban
Use the urban rule to visualize zoning regulations and automatically generate buildings following the regulations. You can input zoning regulations such as setbacks and sky exposure planes, lot coverage, and FAR limitations, as well as building dimension constraints. Additionally, you can add building configurations to the rule, specifying footprint shapes, number and heights of floors, and a mass distribution policy. Using these constraints, the urban rule fits a building mass model onto the parcel. You can also use this rule to visualize 3D zoning envelopes given by setbacks and sky exposure planes.
Materials
Materials are a collection of cgmat materials for CityEngine. The materials are organized by application, such as Architectural/Cladding, and are optimized for seamless tiling and performance. The file name indicates the real-world size in meters, such as 10 m by 10 m.
Components
Components are ready-made CGA rules that can be combined into complete VCGA designs for single buildings or city blocks.
Available component categories include the following:
- Site partitioning
- Allows to encode setbacks from zoning code
- Input: Parcel
- Output: BuildableArea
- Massing
- Allows for quick generation of the most common block typologies
- Organized by block type
- Input: BuildableArea
- Output: Mass, Yard
Webstyles
Webstyles are collections of 3D assets that are shared across the Esri platform. These collections include 3D assets such as vegetation models, vehicles, street furniture, and recreational equipment.
Manage ESRI.lib
To update ESRI.lib and Webstyles online, do the following:
- Click File > Manage ESRI.lib in the main menu.
- Select the desired packages.
- Click Update.
The packages are downloaded and directly installed in your current workspace. The Webstyle assets are located in the ESRI.lib/assets/Webstyles subfolder.
ESRI.lib considerations
Consider the following when working with the ESRI.lib:
- When opening a workspace with a new version of CityEngine, ESRI.lib is automatically updated.
- Each workspace has a different copy of ESRI.lib unless you have a special setup.
- When working with different versions of CityEngine, it is recommended that you match the versions of the ESRI.lib and Webstyle libraries. CityEngine usually maintains compatibility, but if the versions do not match, the rules may produce unexpected results.
- To keep the size of the installed ce.lib and ESRI.lib (including webstyles) minimal, you can set the CITYENGINE_LIB_MINIMAL environment variable to 1. This minimizes disk space consumption in workflows in which there are automatically generated workspaces and projects.
Custom edits
Editing files inside ESRI.lib isn't recommended because updating ESRI.lib or CityEngine causes the files to be overwritten. To make custom edits to a rule, first copy the rule to your project folder and then make the changes to your copy. Any references to assets will still refer back to ESRI.lib, and therefore, the assets don't need to be copied to your project folder.
Note:
The usage and distribution of ESRI.lib is governed by the Esri Master Agreement (EULA) located in the CityEngine installation folder.