- Keyhole Markup Language (.kml)
- Collada (.dae)
- Wavefront OBJ (.obj)
- Autodesk FBX (.fbx)
- E-On Software Vue (.vob)
- Pixer RenderMan (.rib?)
- Esri FGDB
- CityEngine WebScene (.3ws)
To visualise the models generated for TikiTown I wanted to have a go at using a few of these and see which is easiest or produces the best results. I am by no means a visualisation expert and the work I carried out to visualise TikiTown were basic at best. I use CityEngine to generate data and would prefer to leave the visualisation, which is another specialisation in its own right, to a specialist.
I shall quickly present the three options that I explored and the outcomes
Bentley Microstation
The Luxology render engine that is offered within Microstation was chosen simply because I have access to this software and have had a small amount of experience in using the tools and was able to build on previous knowledge. It seemed to me that the number of options to set up lighting, environment, cameras etc, etc was hugely complex and would take a great deal of time to find out exactly how to best visualise the models.
Thankfully I had some help in finding some reasonably good settings and was able to produce some high quality renders. Each of these images took around 10 minutes to produce.
LumenRT
Creating an animation in Bentley certainly seemed more trouble than its worth and so I sought an easier route to producing one. LumenRT is a tool that can directly import the E-On Software Vue files. The free LumenRT trial version has some very simple functionality which provided the ability to generate a simple but very nice output video. The background textures that come enabled with the trial were very limited and so I had to swap my idea of a water background for grass.
The software works much like others of its kind where camera points are set up like bookmarks. The software does the hard work of interpolating the additional camera points and captures the high resolution images as per the frames per minute/second requirements. Once the images have been captured, LumenRT wraps them up into an .avi file. There were a number of options that can be played with such as quality, lighting etc but the trial version was fairly (and thankfully) limited.
Importing the file in the .vob format was extremely simple and of course the software dealt with this format very well - even considering the size of the file (368Mb). To me, a file of this size isn't all that big but Bentley certainly had difficulties in handling a file of this size so I was impressed with the performance that LumenRT offered. Setting the scene to capture the .avi was pretty simple, probably due to the limitations offered in the trial version, but it all still felt simple with easy to understand settings and controls. The output video took around 10hrs to export for a video of 40 seconds. The camera swings a little wildly at some points, due to my placing of camera points, and towards the end the scene flickers, but overall I consider this to be a great result and I'd recommend using LumenRT for similar visual outputs.
If anyone has any other suggestions for high level visualisation of CityEngine outputs I'd like to hear them!
The software works much like others of its kind where camera points are set up like bookmarks. The software does the hard work of interpolating the additional camera points and captures the high resolution images as per the frames per minute/second requirements. Once the images have been captured, LumenRT wraps them up into an .avi file. There were a number of options that can be played with such as quality, lighting etc but the trial version was fairly (and thankfully) limited.
Importing the file in the .vob format was extremely simple and of course the software dealt with this format very well - even considering the size of the file (368Mb). To me, a file of this size isn't all that big but Bentley certainly had difficulties in handling a file of this size so I was impressed with the performance that LumenRT offered. Setting the scene to capture the .avi was pretty simple, probably due to the limitations offered in the trial version, but it all still felt simple with easy to understand settings and controls. The output video took around 10hrs to export for a video of 40 seconds. The camera swings a little wildly at some points, due to my placing of camera points, and towards the end the scene flickers, but overall I consider this to be a great result and I'd recommend using LumenRT for similar visual outputs.
If anyone has any other suggestions for high level visualisation of CityEngine outputs I'd like to hear them!
CityEngine WebScene
The final visualisation option I explored was of course the 3D WebScene that CityEngine has brought out in the last year or so. I have created a number of WebScenes and customers and colleagues are always impressed with what they can offer but I'd say that they are extremely limited. Of course this is no complaint because they are a very easy way in which to deliver 3D scenes to people that require no additional software deployed to a machine - which is very handy in a corporate environment where all technology is locked down to the user.
I find that you really do need to limit the amount of data that you put into the scenes simply because the file created needs to be downloaded by the end user. Most people want the scene to open instantly and so waiting for a large file to download will often put someone off. Another reason for keeping the file size small is the limit to what a scene can handle. I don't believe there are hard guidelines regarding a file size but judge it on the performance that you get out of scenes you export. I generally find that any file over 100Mb (after unpacking) tends to be a little tricky to play with.
For final visual output I have exported to a CityEngine WebScene and have uploaded to ArcGIS Online. This gives me the ability to share the scene.
The output is obviously not a fully rendered output like those produced in Bentley or LumenRT, however it gives the user the ability to fly, pan, zoom around the model and to inspect information (if any provided). Its an amazing tool and one which I'll certainly be continuing to produce. Hopefully I'll get the chance to showcase in another blog entry some of the scenes I have produced so far.
I find that you really do need to limit the amount of data that you put into the scenes simply because the file created needs to be downloaded by the end user. Most people want the scene to open instantly and so waiting for a large file to download will often put someone off. Another reason for keeping the file size small is the limit to what a scene can handle. I don't believe there are hard guidelines regarding a file size but judge it on the performance that you get out of scenes you export. I generally find that any file over 100Mb (after unpacking) tends to be a little tricky to play with.
For final visual output I have exported to a CityEngine WebScene and have uploaded to ArcGIS Online. This gives me the ability to share the scene.
The output is obviously not a fully rendered output like those produced in Bentley or LumenRT, however it gives the user the ability to fly, pan, zoom around the model and to inspect information (if any provided). Its an amazing tool and one which I'll certainly be continuing to produce. Hopefully I'll get the chance to showcase in another blog entry some of the scenes I have produced so far.
Project Wrap up
I think that providing some ratings based on ease of use, time and output quality is a good idea to finalise what I thought of each option.
Bentley Microstation V8i
Ease of Use: 4/10 - Had trouble dealing with file sizes and has a complex and hard to understand configuration for video and image export for non-expert users
Time: 6/10 - The time taken to produce anything half decent took a considerable amount of time but I'm sure if I knew what I was doing this could quite easily be made more efficient
Output Quality: 9/10 - Once some settings had been found that suited what I wanted the outputs were very good, in my opinion better than an of the other options shown here.
Overall: 6/10 - Ideally I'd like to produce this level of output and better but I'd really need to hand the model over to an expert rather than do these myself (of course I could learn from the expert)
LumenRT (Trial Version)
Ease of Use: 9/10 - This is based on the trail software and I'm sure the Pro version is far more complex but compared to the Luxology render configuration in Bentley this just seemed all so easy.
Time: 7/10 - Learning how to set up a scene was very quick plus there were no file import issues due to compatibility so again it was very easy. The time to export the video was fairly long but it was fine because of the quality
Output Quality: 7/10 - Generally a very high quality output that just has a few teething problems. I'm sure if I'd given it more time then the output could have been better but again ideally I'd hand over the model to an expert.
Overall: 8/10 - Easy to use, simple and a high quality output... what's not to like! Very impressed with the trial version and will seriously look at the Pro version for potential future requests for animations or high quality render outputs.
CityEngine WebScene
Ease of Use: 8/10 - quick to export, few issues. Its just the file size that puts a limitation on its ease of use as it means that you constantly think of how to keep the file size down (maybe this should be best practise anyway?)
Time: 8/10 - Again very easy to create an exported file and upload to ArcGIS, it's about as easy as it gets.
Output Quality: 5/10 - The output quality is good but compared to the fully rendered options it comes up short. The power in this tool is to be able to offer a user the ability to use the model themselves
Overall: 7/10 - All in all its a great tool that probably is the first choice of output because of the compatibility, quality and ease of provision to customers. Its not the best visual tool but I think that I will in future go for an option that looks at delivering both the LumenRT and CityEngine WebsScene outputs. Both are easy to create and are good at different things, both of which I think my customers want.
I completed pretty much every that I wanted to during this project. Although the outputs fell short of the quality that Fold 7 produced with their Ministry Of Sound advert, I was happy with the level produced here and in the right hands I'm sure that a 3D artist (?) could take the TikiTown model produced in CityEngine and create something truly awesome.
Bentley Microstation V8i
Ease of Use: 4/10 - Had trouble dealing with file sizes and has a complex and hard to understand configuration for video and image export for non-expert users
Time: 6/10 - The time taken to produce anything half decent took a considerable amount of time but I'm sure if I knew what I was doing this could quite easily be made more efficient
Output Quality: 9/10 - Once some settings had been found that suited what I wanted the outputs were very good, in my opinion better than an of the other options shown here.
Overall: 6/10 - Ideally I'd like to produce this level of output and better but I'd really need to hand the model over to an expert rather than do these myself (of course I could learn from the expert)
LumenRT (Trial Version)
Ease of Use: 9/10 - This is based on the trail software and I'm sure the Pro version is far more complex but compared to the Luxology render configuration in Bentley this just seemed all so easy.
Time: 7/10 - Learning how to set up a scene was very quick plus there were no file import issues due to compatibility so again it was very easy. The time to export the video was fairly long but it was fine because of the quality
Output Quality: 7/10 - Generally a very high quality output that just has a few teething problems. I'm sure if I'd given it more time then the output could have been better but again ideally I'd hand over the model to an expert.
Overall: 8/10 - Easy to use, simple and a high quality output... what's not to like! Very impressed with the trial version and will seriously look at the Pro version for potential future requests for animations or high quality render outputs.
CityEngine WebScene
Ease of Use: 8/10 - quick to export, few issues. Its just the file size that puts a limitation on its ease of use as it means that you constantly think of how to keep the file size down (maybe this should be best practise anyway?)
Time: 8/10 - Again very easy to create an exported file and upload to ArcGIS, it's about as easy as it gets.
Output Quality: 5/10 - The output quality is good but compared to the fully rendered options it comes up short. The power in this tool is to be able to offer a user the ability to use the model themselves
Overall: 7/10 - All in all its a great tool that probably is the first choice of output because of the compatibility, quality and ease of provision to customers. Its not the best visual tool but I think that I will in future go for an option that looks at delivering both the LumenRT and CityEngine WebsScene outputs. Both are easy to create and are good at different things, both of which I think my customers want.
I completed pretty much every that I wanted to during this project. Although the outputs fell short of the quality that Fold 7 produced with their Ministry Of Sound advert, I was happy with the level produced here and in the right hands I'm sure that a 3D artist (?) could take the TikiTown model produced in CityEngine and create something truly awesome.
