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real city map as sources

Following the streets parser/creator improvements of the Blended Cities script, I resumed work this week on the use of real plans. OpenStreetMap is a data source must! and of course an excellent file standard to retain the characteristics of a city, that could be used for Blended Cities..


as a definition, and compared to GoogleMap :)
"OpenStreetMap creates and provides free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them.."
"OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (CC-BY-SA).
You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our maps and data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. If you alter or build upon our maps or data, you may distribute the result only under the same licence. The full legal code explains your rights and responsibilities."..


in particular, it can export a map in XML format...


that Blended Cities will be able to use as a data source.

Read more...
 

updated : 0.445

this release corrects some bugs about zoning, but mainly focuses on the city map creation part.

there were bis issues with the city maps that include dead-ends, blocks surrounded by another block. this update solves most* of the cases.

included blocks :



from a logical representation point of view, there's no difference between two blocks linked together by a road and a block included in another one, both linked by a road.
now the script is able to recognize the two cases, at map 'physical' creation time.



+ dead-ends :

 

if the generated objects are wrong, try first to scale your input map bigger. if it's still wrong, try to locate the issue by removing the roads, little by little..

* this part of the script is like (re)writing a network logical discovery algorythm, as a network protocol would do at init. then it builds the objects starting from that logical representation. the hardest part is about the blocks recognition.. and when tunnels and bridges features will be added, a new battle will begin... :) )

so if you meet any error, or if you want to share knowledge or algorythms me please contact me in odrder I can improve it ;)

the creation process begins at line 2767 in the main file, blended_cities_0445.py. this part calls  two functions located in the bin/parsers/readmeshmap.py file, that cares about the logical representation and the block recognition.

download !

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 19:29 Read more...
 

new release 0.44

the new version is published !

  • the zoning feature James Lethem created last month has been implemented
  • a lot of bugs have been corrected
  • big documentation effort
  • new data source for the city map : library. maps can be imported from the libraries.
  • two methods available to interpret the building elevation image.

release notes :

  • the one object mode for buildings has been disabled temporary, to avoid problems with premade meshes.
  • the Material part needs an update, it has not been modified and fully tested in this version
  • the building lot creation concept must change to allow a better integration of the premade buildings. in this version, the lot perimeter must be large enough in order a premade building can fit inside it (see the documentation about buildings)
  • this pack contains only the default libraries. Mandoragon-James and I did conclusive tests with numerous buildings we receive from the community, and the ones fom Philippe Roubal. new libraries will be published soon, contact me if you'd like to share your objects and integrate them as a library.

be sure to read (at least) the installation page, the process has changed since the previous versions..

 

new feature : zoning

zoning means here the regulation of the kinds of activities acceptable on particular lots (wiki : zoning, urban planning) : one can define several districts in his town, like a residential area with parks to the West, a commercial area to the North, and a third industrial one to the South for example.

this new feature is based on an idea and a code by James Lethem, who is working on a dissertation : 'To advance understanding and techniques in automated city generation within a digital medium', and that contacts me, showing a big interest about the script. I hope he will continue to contribute with programming and good ideas to develop Blended Cities. if you'd like to join in, we meet almost everyday on IRC #blendedcities.


image zoning is the first data source we implemented James and I :
this terrible image allows to define the different zones :  blue defines for example the industrial area, a strong red saturation defines the commercial areas, green defines parks and houses. the border area at the center between red and green will blend houses and shops.
I integrated the James work to the next release (0.44) that should be published soon. meanwhile you can test the alpha build available on the James site :

James Lethem download mod page + survey
thread on blender artists

Last Updated on Sunday, 02 May 2010 12:19
 

first premade buildings

the library system begins to work smoothly for premade buildings, here's a first render that uses one model provided by philippe Roubal :

no modifications in this scene after the script job. here's how it works : lthe building is retrieved from a blend file located in the Blended Cities library. it is made from several pieces :

Last Updated on Friday, 27 November 2009 16:20 Read more...
 

New streets !

this image is rendered directly after the creation. the objects are imported from the library, on ecan configure which object are spwaned, per category of road, and define the objects sequences and intervals.

Last Updated on Sunday, 08 November 2009 15:59 Read more...
 

Soon...

the city engine script has evolved a lot since the last release. there's still some work to do, but here's the menu :

Last Updated on Monday, 02 November 2009 14:34 Read more...
 

Blended Cities

lat and long properties

once again, a new name for this script ! it's the last time, promise :) it does not change anything, and should avoid confusions and potential complications with trademarks (namely, the pascal Mueller City Engine). also this name is more personnal and sticks better to the concept.

Last Updated on Monday, 02 November 2009 07:42
 

oce 0.421t

There are no translations available.

super, une palanquée de nouveau boutons :

il y aura pas mal de nouvelles fonctions dans la prochaine version : un mode de génération un building=un objet blender - du coup 16 matériaux possibles par building et non plus pour toute la ville-, un nouveau système pour gérer les matériaux,lequel commence a être efficace, (importation de matériaux, choix de mats plus ou moins aléatoires ou contraints, catégorisation etc..) aussi un gros debug du nouvel algorithme de localisation/shaping des bâtiments, une nouvelle interface de propriétés de bâtiment qui va bien... tous les logs

.. et pour une fois, la doc sera dispo -pour l'essentiel- en même temps que la nouvelle version.



Last Updated on Saturday, 22 August 2009 04:00
 

SCE devient OCE

There are no translations available.

 

le script ne s'appelle plus suicidator city engine mais Open City Engine depuis la révision 0.42t du 19 juillet dernier.

en fait Arnaud, le créateur initial de SCE, n'avait pas le temps de suivre l'évolution de son bébé alors que je moddais compulsivement son projet tout seul, à tel point qu'aujourd'hui, 10 mois plus tard, le projet n'a pratiquement plus aucun rapport avec le code 0.2 original de départ, constitué de deux fichiers d'environ 300 lignes, tandis qu'OCE a tendance a devenir un petit monstre. de plus le système digestif dudit monstre est aussi complexe et incompréhensible que celui d'une vache, et les évolutions ne vont pas forcément dans la direction qu'Arnaud aurait choisit.

donc d'un commun accord Arnaud récupère le nom de sa progéniture, en espérant qu'il continuera plus tard sur d'autres voies -parce qu'il est sympa très balèze- et que l'on pourra à nouveau croiser un jour.. et moi j'ai pu faire un logo :

ceci est donc une maison aux couleurs de mon programme préféré, on peut aussi y voir un paté de maison avec une tour cylindrique au milieu. 'Open' a été influencé par l'idée que le code du script restera open-source, dans le pire des cas pour une utilisation non commerciale, et vient également d'Open Street Map, projet pour lequel je nourris quelque idées.. ça marchotte déjà un peu, depuis la version 0.42t, si vous trouvez la ligne a décommenter.

 

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 August 2009 05:24