“From the Ground Floor Up” (SM), a production of JeffCity Geo+Media LLC (jeffcity,co) is a series of tutorial videos created as a starting point for professionals and students who want to learn ArcGIS CityEngine, a rather addictive application (!) that creates detailed 3D visualizations from geospatial data.
The course is designed for asynchronous learning, where participants in a class environment can work at their own pace. Users are given a quick introduction to three critical aspects of CityEngine: the user interface (UI), basics of the Computer Generated Architecture (CGA) programming language, and how rules and resources from Esri are used to create finished models. Following the instruction, users will have an appreciation of what CityEngine does, recognize any relevance to the types of work they typically do, and make a decision on continued learning.
Course Offerings
Please go directly our YouTube channel if there are errors in the links below.
T100 – Essential Skills (29:08)
A walk through of Esri’s Tutorial 1 – Essential Skills.
This is prerequisite to other videos. Users should be familiar with the material before proceeding.
Updated 12/23
T101 – CityEngine Tour (17:12)
A walk-through of Esri’s CityEngine Tour Tutorial.
- Navigating a 3D scene with bookmarks
- Manually draw a building footprint and extrude to a multi-floor building
- Apply a CGA rule to a 2D starting shape
- Change variable parameters in the inspector pane and with handles
- Data dashboards
- Visibility analysis and distance/area measuring tools
- Exporting a scene as a 3D model (Collada/.dae)
In the Introduction to CGA tutorials (T102 and T103), users create a CGA rule to extrude building footprints, add roofs and apply unique textures to building sides. The rule can be expanded to texture as many faces as needed. At the end of instruction, users will have a CGA rule they have written, which can be used on their own projects.
T102 – Introduction to CGA, Part I (28:20)
- Write CGA Code for Basic Building Models
- Use CGA Shape Operations/Annotations
- Review the Online CGA Reference
- Procedural Modeling in Other Applications
- Procedural Modeling is Relevant Knowledge
T103 – Introduction to CGA, Part II (24:10)
- Using assets from Esri tutorials and examples
- The texturing process
- Writing the CGA code
T104 – The Seamless Look (35:15)
Using Esri’s 3D City Design CGA rules and assets to model buildings, streets, lots and trees over a georeferenced drawing. The site is from a master plan for the city of Statesboro, Georgia. The exercise requires contents from the .zip file below.
S100 – Georeferencing and Importing an Image Map (10:52)
Apply georeferenced “control points” to an image map in ArcGIS Pro. When imported into CityEngine, the image will be in its correct location, at the correct scale. Use your own image.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Jeff Herzer (M.S., GIS) is the writer and producer of the Ground Up series. He learned the value of 3D visualization during his time at a national architecture/engineering firm in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a writer and producer of digital media content supporting public outreach for major transportation projects around the United States. Jeff immediately realized the significance and importance of CityEngine based on this experience and seeks to empower others, particularly where geospatial science is applied to architecture, design and urban planning.
©2024, JeffCityGeo+Media LLC
