How to use City Generator?

Key words: Tool | City Generator

2.10 added City Generator feature, the entry is integrated in the drop-down menu of the ‘Terrain’ button in the navigation bar. It supports two ways to fetch city data information.

OSM Integration

Integrates the open source data from OpenStreetMap to automatically analyze and generate roads, buildings, terrain, and other topography features, enabling effortless site context creation.

Note:

*OSM (OpenStreetMap) file is a map data file based on the OpenStreetMap data. These files contain the topography information of roads, buildings, terrain, etc., and are widely used in map drawing and urban planning.

1. OSM import

• Click Terrain-City, then zoom in and out in the pop-up window to the desired range using the '+' & '-' controls or the mouse wheel.

• Supports quick location of the target area by entering its name or moving the selection box. The area is restricted to 4km*4km.

• Supports filtering and importing certain topography features such as buildings, roads, greenland, water, or satellite images.

Note:

1. For better performance and efficiency, it is recommended to choose a moderate area to prevent excessive processing time due to large areas.

2. This feature requires online access to OSM data. Please ensure a stable Internet connection for smooth download and analysis of OSM data.

3. Please enable the "FPS Booster for Complex Geometry" when flickers appear after importing the city model.

2. Parameter Editing

After the import is complete, the map model will appear in the viewport, with its topography elements as a group within the object list.

Building Group Settings

• Elevation (based on original heights)&Random elevation

• Base color&Base color map

• Opacity option

• UV parameters(including Triplanar and UV Randomizer)

• (Single building within group) Height

Road Group Settings

• Width

• Base color&Base color map

• UV parameters(including Triplanar and UV Randomizer)

Water, Greenland Groups

• Base color&Base color map

• UV parameters(including Triplanar and UV Randomizer)

Satellite, Ground Groups

• Base color&Base color map

3. Delete/replace City group

• Right-click it from the object list to delete the whole city group

• Select the city group from the object list, and click 'Reselect' icon in the right sidebar. Select area in the pop-up window to recreate.

Shapefile(.shp) Import

Supports Shapefile import for effortless site context creation.

*.shp file is ESRI Shapefile data format widely used in geographic information systems (GIS). It typically contains vector data, such as points, lines, and polygons to represent geographic features including buildings, roads, rivers, and administrative divisions.

1. .Shp Import

• Click Terrain-City, and import .shp file in the pop-up window. Supports multi-selection and uploading single file up to 10 MB. If the size is exceeded, a pop-up error will be reported.

• D5 automatically analyzes the geographic information in the .shp file and generates corresponding 3D models.

• Each imported file is stored as a group in the object list, containing three types of objects: "Buildings," "Roads," and "Undefined." Supports repositioning or rotating the entire group.

Note:

1. Shapefile usually contains several related files (e.g. .shp, .shx, .dbf, etc.), please select the main file (.shp) to import.

2. After selecting .shp file, the system will automatically identify and load other related files (such as .shx and .dbf) with the same base name in the same directory. Please ensure that all related files are complete and stored in the same directory for correct reading.

3. Currently supports parsing polygon and polyline data types, other data types may cause parsing failure.

2. Parameter Editing

Building and Undefined Group:

• Elevation (based on original heights)&Random elevation

• Base color&Base color map

• Opacity option

• UV parameters(including Triplanar and UV Randomizer)

• (Single building within group) Height

Road Group:

• Width

• Base color&Base color map

• UV parameters(including Triplanar and UV Randomizer)

FAQs

1. Hover over ‘’Fail’ to display the reason for the failure.

1. Possible causes and solutions for parsing failure:

- Unsupported data type: D5 currently supports polygon and polyline data. Other data formats might fail to be analyzed.

- Shapefile content: Ensure that all related files (such as .shx and .dbf) are complete and placed in the same directory.

- Read&Write permissions: Ensure that the current Windows account has permissions to access, read, and write the current Shapefile file and its related files, especially if the file is stored on a network drive or shared folder.