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Better drawing experience
- To draw 2D shapes with round corners, the Polygonal shape creation tool now allows you to create circular arcs by pressing A. The arc drawing handle allows changing the direction of the starting tangent.
- Added a new circle drawing tool. While drawing, you can use the scroll wheel to adjust the resolution of circles and arcs.
- A new shape offset tool enables you to offset all or selected edges of a 2D shape.
- Added a shape union tool which allows you to merge multiple overlapping 2D shapes into one clean 2D shape.
- Added a new function that lets you easily remove holes in shapes.
- Redesigned the rectangle drawing tool which enables you to draw rectangles at arbitrary angles (instead of only axis-aligned ones).
- To better draw parallel lines, you can create ad hoc snapping guides by hovering over any existing edge and pressing G.
- You can turn off snapping temporarily by pressing Shift.
- Improved the undo and redo behavior for drawing tools.
- Arbitrary images such as hand-drawn sketches, can now be easily displayed on the terrain. The new UI lets you quickly switch between the different surface textures, images or sketches.
- While drawing a shape, the outline now shows through the terrain, allowing you, for example, to trace and digitalize hand-drawn sketches on the terrain.
New elevation data workflows
- You can now export the terrain layer in CityEngine as an elevation tile package (TPK) with LERC compression that you can merge with Esri world elevation services in Scene Viewer. This means, local modifications of the terrain caused from new urban development, for example, can also be published in web scenes on the ArcGIS platform.
- Map layers, base maps, or other terrain surfaces textures can now also be exported as TPK's. On the ArcGIS platform, they are published as web tile layers.
- Both global and local scenes are supported for TPK export capabilities.
- Redesigned the Inspector terrain layer UI allowing for easy-to-use modifications of the terrain properties.
- Terrain layers in CityEngine do not require a base map or surface image anymore, allowing for a shaded visualization of elevation data without texture.
- The Align to terrain function, Align terrain to shapes function, and image-based export now respect elevation offset.
- Changed the behavior of the elevation offset property for terrain layers. It is now accessible by the custom elevation function.
- Fixed the rendering of multiple semitransparent terrain and map layers.
- Duplicating a terrain layer also duplicates associated data, such as the elevation delta.
Improved ArcGIS platform integration
- Significantly improved the scene layer package (SLPK) export. As a result, published scene layers from CityEngine perform now much faster in the Scene Viewer and require less memory.
- You can now define the extent of imported or synced feature layers with a graphical UI where you can set the extent on a 2D map. This allows you to work with a subset of a large feature layer.
- Creating feature layers is now also possible with ArcGIS Enterprise or on-premise servers.
- When syncing a 2D feature service, any existing 3D coordinates on shapes remain unaltered.
Esri rule library
- Added new rules for creating fences, walls, and dividers. The procedural rules are available out of the box and can be applied on parcel polygons to create perimeter fences or street graph segments to create fences along curved and hilly freeform lines.
- Updated the Building_From_Footprint rule:
- New option to enable or disable reporting for building rules.
- Fixed a bug with zero-height roofs.
3D Navigation
- Enhanced the Look around tool for easier interior navigation. In case the initial mouse movement gesture is vertical, the camera now moves forward or backward in the view direction.
- Improved the behavior of zooming when moving toward buildings and in orthographic views.
Import and export of 3D data
- Unreal Engine export (Beta)
- Upgraded the Unreal Datasmith Exporter and the CityEngine template project to support Unreal Engine 4.20. The Unreal exporter will be in beta state until the Epic Datasmith SDK exits beta.
- Added preliminary terrain export.
- Improved the set of export metrics written into the Datasmith files.
- Improved the locator positions of the exported Unreal Engine mesh actors.
- FBX export
- Fixed the export of redundant files if texture embedding is enabled.
- Fixed the export of instanced objects if the Create shape groups option is enabled.
- OBJ/MTL import
- Replaced black specular color to white if a specular map exists.
- All exporters
- Added support for non-ASCII characters when validating export paths and names, for example, on Chinese systems.
- Fixed a bug in the skip or overwrite existing files export option.
- Fixed a bug where an empty selection would trigger an error.
- All importers
- Improved importing assets through the file menu by setting correct presets for format and path.
- When dragging an image file into the viewport, the subsequent import dialog box now chooses smart settings based on the imported file.
Inspector
- Reports of multiselections are now shown in the Inspector.
- Improved the visual appearance of editable combo boxes.
- Fixed an issue where the Inspector doesn't refresh after selection change.
- Fixed a regression in the assignment of a rule file. It is again possible to skip setting the start rule.
- Fixed an issue where sliders were not snapping to the step size.
- Fixed incorrect index range for object array attributes in the Inspector.
- Fixed an issue in the validation of numerical properties for the various visibility analysis tools in the Inspector.
Viewport
- Fixed broken shadow rendering when solar elevation is set to 90 degrees.
- Disabled default Wireframe on Shaded rendering for new scenes.
- Improved the rendering of shadows on less powerful graphics cards.
- Fixed an issue, where in certain cases, shapes in hidden layers were selectable.
CGA language
- The setback operation includes the following enhancements:
- The first edge of setback faces is set at the outline of the initial face. For the remaining faces, the first edge is the one closest to the first edge of the initial shape. This fix potentially changes your existing models.
- The setback operation now avoids the creation of slivers, especially at rounded corners with short edges.
- In the alignScopeToGeometry operation, fixed a numerical instability with the world.lowest parameter.
- In the innerRectangle operation, fixed a numerical instability when the inner rectangle with the lowest distance to the shape's centroid was chosen.
- Added a single-arrow skin option to the CGA linear handle annotation.
Dashboard
- In the card configuration window, the pop-up to select the title icon is closed when setting the focus to an input field.
- Fixed an UI issue when entering values smaller than 1 in the Multiply by field.
- Disabled resizing the height of the title card, as a title cannot have multiple lines of text.
- Display CGA reports correctly using special characters such as forward slashes (/) or question marks (?) in the dashboard.
Python API
- Added TPKExportSettings for the TPK exporter.
- Added Python functionality to insert, merge, and split street graph nodes.
- Added Python functionality for removing holes and unifying shapes.
General improvements and changes
- Introduced the new CITYENGINE_CE_LIB_MINIMAL environment variable to control the size of the installed ESRI.lib. This helps project management software such as Autodesk Shotgun, to keep the size of user workspaces small.
- The Navigator now highlights the current project and scene.
- The Navigator now shows system icons for known file types.
- Fixed an extrusion handle issue on concave polygons.
- CityEngine now automatically chooses the associated import wizard on file import.
- Improved the layout of the welcome screen for high-resolution scenes and large font sizes.
- On Linux, fixed an issue where the login window displayed behind the Get Map Data window.
- Added missing translations, such as those located in the Preferences page.
- Fixed the display of localized dates in the preview.
Documentation, tutorials, and examples
- Automation of CityEngine is now covered in Tutorial 10, Python Scripting.
- Added a new section about supported environment variables in the documentation.
- Added scenarios to the Redlands Redevelopment example.