This is a post that I did for LinkedIn that I have copied here for others to view….
Further to my post yesterday, the hardest thing people have trouble grasping in ArcGIS CityEngine is ‘scope’ basically the 3D invisible box that surrounds all geometry created procedurally or otherwise in CityEngine. Manipulating this ‘scope’ and understanding how various geometry subdivision operations work is important.
The trouble is each piece of geometry has it’s own scope so there is potential for much confusion as you start adding details to what was a simple mass/volume. What I quite like about CityEngine is the way in which different CityEngine users can approach geometry creation. Do I use a setbackperedge operation or do I use a shapeL/U/O operation?
Whilst the choice doesn’t always matter, sometimes it can impact your geometries further down the rule ‘tree’ and you may need to undo quite a bit! Understanding what you want as an output is therefore really really important! Anyway, here is capture of my Sears catalogue home updated from yesterday…. I’ve slowed a bit as I had to think hard about how much interaction and adjustments a user might want in the Inspector…. also how might this work in ArcGIS Pro.
Okay now the shameless plug: Did you know I am a CityEngine instructor trainer? I can do project work or knowledge transfer and I can train you or your organisation in the use of ArcGIS CityEngine, contact me for more details!
