Well here we are again, that moment where a new CityEngine release happens.  I get it a little early (for one thing I’m a beta tester) but also as an Esri Partner we get a little head-start.  The following is a quick review of the new version and links are at the bottom to the release notes etc…

As a .1 release we’re not expecting the big changes, I’d say though that there are incremental improvements all round and of course an icon/logo change (flatter, cleaner, simpler I like it).

You may have guessed work has been busy with me and healthy, I always intend on writing up some of the new features/improvements, however I don’t have huge amounts of time this week, so I’ll be brief:

A significant change continues with the help files where they seem to be shifting things online, in my mind this is a retrograde step and will only serve to confuse new starters.  I get that they have to manage documentation better but currently they seem to give two help versions which is confusing. 

Guides are now a separate tool in the interface, this is better but I’d still use sketchup for detailed work.

Exports have more improvements a significant one is the Unreal Exporter now doesn’t need a template in Unreal Studio for textures  etc to work.  In the SLPK exporter it now supports the i3s 1.7 format which is better loader and supports better material quality.

 A new plugin for called Serlio for Maya has been created allowing you interact with CityEngine rule files in Maya.  You still need to author those rules in CityEngine but the Maya operator can now change things without knowing CityEngine coding…  

ArcGIS Urban integration continues but for many people this is not a big thing yet (it will be for planners but not just yet). An updated ESRI.lib seems to have the Urban rules there now although they’ve made them rpks (so no editing) for now.

One last thing they seem to have speeded up the Get Map Data dialogue box appearing, yay!

I’ll post some more thoughts as and when I get them and time to post it 🙂 

While you’re still here did you know through my company Garsdale Design Limited, we offer CityEngine training and services worldwide, both face-to-face and online?  Click here to read more and to contact us.