Tag Archives: 3D
Successful CityEngine training seminars in Europe
Over the last couple of months, the team from the Esri R&D centre in Zurich supported a number of very successful CityEngine seminars and training sessions at various distributors in Europe. The seminars focussed on the added value that 3D … Continue reading
New CheckLAS Utility
The new CheckLAS executable is used to examine if any LAS files exhibit errors. LAS files are binary files containing lidar point data. This executable can be run interactively or from command line, and will create a log file of the results. It checks basic properties of the LAS file header information and can optionally scan through point records.
It is available on the 3D GIS resource center gallery: CheckLAS Utility
Tips for using Visibility and Range results in ArcGlobe
Once you’ve done some visibility analysis with the Visibility and Range template, you may find it helpful to view the results in 3D. Range domes, linear lines of sight, and trajectories are 3D features, so they display in 3D by … Continue reading
Visibility and Range template updated with new tools and exercises
The Visibility and Range template for ArcGIS 10.1 has been updated to include a 3D visualization and analysis component. Several new tools have been added, and the tutorial exercises have been updated to include creating range domes and other multipatch … Continue reading
3D spheres style with PNG symbols available for download
n our Making Beautiful Maps technical workshop at the 2012 Esri User Conference, we demonstrated how PNG pictures improve the appearance of picture marker symbology when the symbols are scaled in size. Now you can download a new 3D spheres style that contains picture marker symbols created using PNG files. Continue reading
"Hello Building"
Esri CityEngine allows you to generate high quality 3D urban content using procedural rules. Writing rules isn’t every-body’s cup of tea though especially with no programming background. Then again it isn’t as hard as you might think. Let’s have a look at … Continue reading
3D Virtual City: Philadelphia template updated
Recently, we made changes to some of the Globe services that are referenced by the 3D Virtual City template. These changes improve perfomance and in order to take advantage, you need the latest VirtualCity.3dd Globe document which points to these new services.
To get the new VirtualCity.3dd, please download the template again here.
Thanks
Gert
FormFonts 3D
When it comes to 3D model stock, Google’s 3D Warehouse is a great resource. However as we all know, these models can’t be used in other GIS packages (3D Warehouse EULA, paragraph 11.4).
As GIS professionals, we have to rely on other sources of 3D content. With the recent addition of CityEngine to the Esri 3D lineup, it has become very easy to generate 3D geotypcial urban content. The software has a powerful procedural modeling core that allows you to dynamically create 3D buildings and streets using your existing operational geodatabases, further reducing the need to maintain a separate 3D model database.
However at this stage, our procedural modeling core does not allow you to model 3D trees, cars, street furniture etc. Also for geospecific 3D buildings, it is sometimes easier to model these manually rather than procedurally.
We therefore reached out to the team of professional modelers at FormFonts 3D. FormFonts started doing in-house modeling of georeferenced 3D models for Esri this year, and so we’d like to share this excellent source of 3D model stock with the Esri community.
FormFonts 3D is a subscription 3D modeling service with more than 11,000 subscribers. It has a professionally developed 3D model library with more than 50,000 3D assets under management. You can subscribe to this living library of rights managed and professional model stock for $199 a year (per user), and enjoy the highest quality 3D models on demand – anytime and anywhere you need them. This subscription model can work well for most of our users, and FormFonts will discount subscriptions depending on the size of your ELA.
FormFonts 3D’s models and textures are fully compatible with ArcGIS via the Collada .dae format and if you have specific modeling needs, FormFonts will undertake these on a bespoke basis, and can usually turn your models around in less than 48 hours.
Click here to download a complimentary tester pack of 3D models to try from FromFonts 3D. Instructions are included with the download to add them into ArcGIS.
Gert van Maren
3D Product manager
CityEngine 2011 Release, October 26, 2011
The next planned release of CityEngine will be available on October 26, 2011 and will be announced live this Wednesday at the Esri European User Conference, in Madrid.
CityEngine 2011 will allow ArcGIS users in urban planning, urban design, defense, simulation, and entertainment to use their existing GIS data to create high-quality 3D content.
Gert van Maren
3D / CityEngine Product Manager
2D to 3D
Sometimes it is necessary to turn the 2D geometries into 3D features using on an elevation model. This is especially true when you want the feature to interact with the surface (e.g. burn building footprints into the terrain) or use them in 3D spatial analysis.
The new 2Dto3D template shows the process of creating 3D features from 2D using an elevation model. The data used in this template is a subset of the buildings available in the Virtual City template.
Enjoy
Gert
