Assignment 1.1 + 1.2 How-To Guide - 3ds Max Flexible Urban Modelling - ABPL90304 Nano Langenheim and Tianyi Yang David Gerber - 774234
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1 - 6
CONTENTS
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1.1 - 3DS MAX - Interface, Clone, Splines, Geospheres, Rendering.
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1.2 - OPENSTREET MAP - Shanghai maps and Baidu Maps.
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2.1 - AURIN - Datasets and Contours.
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2.2 - 3DS MAX - Edit Poly, Topographic Modelling.
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3.1 - ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA) - Exploring species through datasets.
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3.2 - URBAN FORMATIONS - Datasets and Displacement Modifiers.
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4.1 - MAPBOX + MAPROOM - Nolli Map, Datasets, Tilesets, 3D Model Preparation.
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4.2 - MAPBOX - Maps and Diagrams.
52
5.1 - PYTHON - Introduction to Scripting.
57
6.1 - PROCEDURAL MODELLING - Wire Parameters.
59
6.2 - URBAN SIMULATION - Greeble City.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
Create Tab
3DS MAX INTERFACE
Modify Tab
Control camera and display viewports
Command Panel Scene Explorer
Time and Navigation
Push
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ALT Tumble the View
Push
Pan
Zoom
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX CLONE
The “Modify” tool gives you the option to add modifiers to the shape that you have created.
Create a “Box” under the “Create” tab.
Use the “Move” tool to change the location of your shapes. Hovering over the gimbal shows you which direction it will be moved.
You can also type modifiers for faster selection.
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The “Clone” tool is found when right-clicking the shape that you have created.
The “Clone” tool gives you three different choices for cloning, each of which is used for different purposes. 05 David Gerber - 774234
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3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
COPY
INSTANCE
REFERENCE
Week 1.1
3DS MAX CLONE
1
Copy directly copies your chosen shape. Note that any modifier added to the copy creates a new version of that shape.
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Instance also copies your shape. Note that any modifier added to the instance is reflected in both shapes. They are now linked and modify together.
3
Reference also copies your shape. Note that modifiers can be added to this copy to create iterations. The base modifiers stay the same, however, the new modifiers added (above the line) create a different variation.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX CLONE
Make it easier to differentiate your created shapes by individually editing their colours by clicking on the colour swatch box.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
The “Modify” tool gives you the option to modify the spline.
Create a “Spline” by clicking on the “Shapes” icon, and then selecting the “Line” under the object type.
Week 1.1
3DS MAX SPLINES
In this case, clicking on the “vertex” allows us to adjust individual points.
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Adjust each point in the direction, elevation, and bezier curve to create the shape of your liking. 08 David Gerber - 774234
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3
2
The “Bezier” tool is found when right-clicking the point in the spline that you have created. Use this tool to smooth out the shape.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
EXTRUDE
TWIST
VERTEX ADJUST
Week 1.1
3DS MAX SPLINES
1
You can now add modifiers to the splines to create volumes. You do this through the “Modify” tab.
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Adjust the volume further through modifiers until your desired shape is achieved.
3
If the shape isn’t to your liking, you can adjust it by going back to the “Vertex” section under the “Line” modifier. The modifications to the points will automatically be adjusted in the overall extruded volume.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
The “Geosphere” tool can be found under the “Geometry” tab.
Week 1.1
3DS MAX GEOSPHERES
2
Selecting the “Hemisphere” option automatically cuts the geosphere in half.
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Adding a modifier above the line means the “Lattice” modifier is only added to the “Reference” clone. 10 David Gerber - 774234
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Right-clicking the shape and using the “Clone” tool, we create an “Instance” clone of the hemisphere. 3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
Under the “Modify” tab, if we add a “Squeeze” modifier to the base hemisphere, the shape is reflected to both the original volume, as well as the “Instance” clone.
Week 1.1
3DS MAX GEOSPHERES
1
M
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2
Pressing “M” on the keyboard brings up the Material Editor. Here, you can add materiality to the volumes. If you want to use “VRay” to render, you need to make sure that VRay materials are selected/assigned to the volumes, otherwise the rendering will not be accurate.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
Clicking on the “Render Setup” icon opens up the Rendering options.
Week 1.1
From here, you are able to adjust various Rendering options, as well as making sure that the “Render” option is using the appropriate plug-in, in this case, VRay.
3DS MAX RENDERS
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3
Running a test Render, the outcome comes out black.
Under “Renderer” we select “V-Ray GPU Next”.
This is because VRay needs a light source in order to Render.
This lets 3DS MAX know that we want VRay to be the preferred Renderer.
2
How-To
In order to add a VRay lightsource, we click on the “Create” tab, then the “Lights” tab, and under “Photometric”, we select “VRay” (or whichever rendering program you are using, just make sure it’s congruent).
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX RENDERS 1
In 3DS MAX, the first point placed for light sources is the light source itself, the following is the point where that light source hits the model/volumes. This is an example of the VRaySun light source. 2
Sending a Render through now shows that the light source is working, however, it is very overexposed.
Place the end of the light source on the base of your model.
There is a function that we did not check off in order to let VRay know that it needs to control the exposure. 4
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3
Double check in Front/Side views to make sure that the point is in the appropriate location. It is not always accurate when drawing the path in Perspective mode.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
Under “Rendering”, click on “Exposure Control”.
Week 1.1
3DS MAX RENDERS
From here, we can let 3DS MAX know that we want VRay to control the exposure.
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In the “Exposure Control”, select “VRay Exposure Control” or which ever rendering software you are using. Outcome seen above.
2
VRay adjusts the exposure to a degree, and you have the ability to adjust further if need be. 3
How-To
M
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX RENDERS
Pressing “M” on the keyboard brings up the “Material Editor”. Here, you can add materiality to the volumes. If you want to use “VRay” to render, you need to make sure that VRay materials are selected/assigned to the volumes, otherwise the rendering will not be accurate. Drag the material from the “VRay Tab” into the “View Tab”, and then connect the material to the volume.
1
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Final render with VRay lighting, exposure control, and materiality.
Each material can have their colour changed by clicking on the “Diffuse” box, and adjusting the colour to your preference. 3
2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.1
3DS MAX RENDERS
When you click on the small triangle at the bottom of the “Render”, you have the option to have VRay render in real time using the “Frame Buffer” tool. This allows you to move the model around and the Render reflects your movements.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.2
OPEN STREET MAP
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How-To
POINT
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.2
LINE
OPEN STREET MAP
AREA
Add restaurants, monuments, postal boxes, or other points to the map. (keyboard shortcut: 1) Add highways, streets, pedestrian paths, canals, or other lines to the map. (keyboard shortcut: 2) Add buildings, parks, lakes, or other areas to the map. (keyboard shortcut: 3)
1
After creating the building footprint, you can name the building, add the address, and the amount of levels.
We also added tags and descriptions to the buildings. Most of the buildings in this area had commercial on the bottom and residential on top. 18 David Gerber - 774234
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Information was taken from Baidu Maps and put into Openstreet Map 2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 1.2
BAIDU
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How-To
We used Baidu Maps to find out the names of buildings, as well as addresses. We then transfered this information into Openstreet Map
Flexible Urban Modelling
Baidu was much more user-friendly in terms of 3D views and street view. The only issue was the language-barrier.
Week 1.2
BAIDU
1
Unfortunately, there was a lot of guess-work on our end for building heights due to many views being blocked. We used the street view to count floors. Sometimes it was necessary to look from far away, through alleyways, in order to count floors. We can’t be certain about the validity of our counting, especially since a lot of the properties here were either gated, or we needed a different view that wasn’t available. 20 David Gerber - 774234
We also assumed that floors were 4m high.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.1
AURIN
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How-To
Start your refinement in Aurin by clicking on the “wrench” in the “AREA” section.
Flexible Urban Modelling
From there, on the pop-up that emerges, click on the “SELECT” and start to isolate the area of your choosing.
Week 2.1
AURIN
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Clicking on “DATASET” brings up another pop-up where we can now start to refine what we want to research. In our case, the contours.
Right-clicking the “wrench” again gives you the option to create a bounding box. Sometimes the area that we want to examine span multiple areas, so a bounding box is necessary. 2
How-To
In the “DATASET” pop-up that came up, you can now search for “CONTOURS” in the “KEYWORDS”.
Flexible Urban Modelling
Select the (1-5m) option.
Week 2.1
Create a unique name for the dataset to make it easier to find later on.
AURIN
Then click “ADD” to add it to your data collection.
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Open the created file with “Windows Explorer” and then extract the folder so that you can gain access to the necessary files. 3
Now that the data is stored, right-clicking on the wrench brings up the option to download the data in multiple formats.
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For this exercise, we picked the SHP.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.1
ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.1
ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
Open up ArcMap. Click on the “Add Data” button to add the Aurin files into ArcMap. Locate the files and import them in. 25 David Gerber - 774234
How-To
The contours acquired from Aurin will now be visible in ArcMap.
Flexible Urban Modelling
Note: Aurin did not function properly on my machine, there shouldn’t be those missing areas.
Week 2.1
ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
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We need to “Add Field” because the contours currently do not have an Elevation. 26 David Gerber - 774234
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This is the field that we need to add.
Right-click the contour file, then “Open Attribute Table”. This opens up a table with all of the information about the contours. 2
How-To
Right click on the new Elevation column that we created.
Flexible Urban Modelling
Using the Field Calculator, we can now assign the Elevation calculations. ArcMap does not calculate it for us, so we need to add a parameter.
Week 2.1
ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
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Right-click the contours layer.
Create a parameter that Elevation = Altitude.
Click “DATA”.
Altitude = Aurin Elevation = CAD
Then “Export to CAD”. 3
2
We need that parameter for CAD to work properly.
How-To
There will be two pop-ups that come up upon clicking “Export to CAD”.
Flexible Urban Modelling
The contours are not complete without confirming Environments.
Week 2.1
Since the world is curved, we need to make sure that the contours “wrap” properly and are accurate.
ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
Environments ensure accuracy.
1
Navigate to the data that reflects the area that you originally chose. In this case, it was Melbourne. GDA 1994 MGA Zone 55 is the data that we went with.
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Keep in mind, as the years progress, continents shift, so the data will also change. It does not stay stagnant. 2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.1
AURIN, ARCMAP, AND CONTOURS
Import the Contours from CAD into 3ds Max.
Clean up the contour lines in CAD by creating a rectangle around your chosen area.
Select the contours.
Using the “FENCE” and “TRIM” command, the contour lines are cleaned up around the rectangular edge.
1
TO
Use the command “UCS” to establish 0,0 for the corner of the rectangle.
In the “Modify” tab, create a “Terrain” modifier on the contours.
2
Set the units to “Limitless”.
3DS MAX Right-click “Create Defaults” and 3ds Max will allocate colours to the created terrain.
You can now Render the contour map. Make sure all of the Render settings are setup like previously described.
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You have the ability to change colours, change elevations, add elevations, etc, to your choosing. 3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.2
3DS MAX
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
BOX
CONVERT
CONNECT
Week 2.2
3DS MAX EDITPOLY
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2 3
Create a box in the “Create” tab, then “Box”
Right-click on the box. Click “Convert To:” “Convert to Editable Poly”
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Under the “Selection” portion of the modifier, click on the “Edge”. Select the two opposing vertexes and click “Connect”. You can select the amount of connections, spacing, and distances.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
EDIT CONNECTION
VERTEXES
EDIT POLYGONS
Week 2.2
3DS MAX EDITPOLY
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2 3
Pull the connection in the “Z” access to create a roof for the box. The connection has now split the single polygon into two and allows for them to be editable.
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Under the “Selection” portion of the modifier, click on the “Vertex”.
Split the polygon just as before, using the edge function.
Select the two opposing corners and click “Connect”.
Under the “Selection” portion of the modifier, click on the “Polygon”.
Now the roof is it’s own polygon.
We can now edit these two polygons.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 2.2
3DS MAX EDITPOLY
2
By default, the selected polygons will both be inset at the same distance. The default setting is “Group”. In order to create the windows in this example, right-click the “down arrow” and select “By Polygon”. 1
Create a sill by using “Extrude”.
“Inset” polygons once more to create the glazing.
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You can extrude both in the positive and negative direction.
A simple house with Editpoly modifiers is now complete. 4
They will now be separate.
3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
Right-click on the plane.
Week 2.2
Click “Convert To:”
3DS MAX EDITPOLY
“Convert to Editable Poly”
1
Adding a “Turbosmooth” modifier creates a smooth topography and smoothens out the rough plane we just created. 34 David Gerber - 774234
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2
By selecting the “Vertex” option in the “Selection”, you can now move the points on the surface to your desire.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
Create a shape of your choosing, in this case a box.
Week 2.2
3DS MAX EDITPOLY
Convert the box into an editable poly by right clicking on the box.
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Under the “Edit Edges” tab, we are able to change the “Crease” value and manipulate the poly to our liking. 35 David Gerber - 774234
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2
By toggling on this button, we are able to see the end result compared to the original shape that we created.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 3.1
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 3.1
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
2
You can add to the map by right clicking “Add to map”. From here, you get a drop-down menu and you can select the type of map according to your preference. In our case, we are picking “Area” 1
A bounding box area is now created around Australia.
The “Add area” pop-up emerges and gives you the options to create a defined area to study.
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You can chance the Colour and Opacity to cater to your needs.
For our example, we chose Australia. 4
3
How-To
Following the same steps, but this time selecting “Species”, we are able to create a map for certain species.
Flexible Urban Modelling
You can use the “Search” bar to find a species by scientific or common names.
Week 3.1
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
You then select where the data is collected from. Finally, you can restrict the area to your choosing depending on the amount of data you are wanting to research. Click “Next” and the map will now be populated with the species of your choice. 1
The map of Melbourne will look like this when populated with the “meliphaginae” species (commonly known as the honeyeater).
By selecting a dot on the map, you are able to see the Occurrence Record of that species in a particular area.
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2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 3.1
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
The map of Melbourne will look like this when populated with the “meliphaginae” species (commonly known as the honeyeater).
Following the same steps, this time selecting “Species”, you create a map for a certain species. Use the “Search” bar to find a species by scientific or common names. You then select where the data is collected from. 1
Finally, you can restrict the area to your choosing depending on the amount of data you are wanting to research.
2
By selecting a dot on the map, you are able to see the Occurrence Record of that species in a particular area.
Clicking on “View record” will pull up more information on the occurrence that you selected.
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3
How-To
We will now use the ALA to inform urban forms.
Flexible Urban Modelling
We create a new layer. In this case, I chose Evaporation Month Max - for Australia.
Week 3.2
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
1
ALA creates a “heat map” style diagram with the information from the previous step.
We will use this final diagram to inform our urban forms by importing it into 3DS MAX and the “Displace” modifier. 40 David Gerber - 774234
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2
How-To
To start this urban form, we create a plane.
Flexible Urban Modelling
We then add a “Displace” modifier.
Week 3.2
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA (ALA)
We change the “Strength” under the “Displacement” parameters - In this case, by 2m. Under “Image” - “Bitmap” we navigate to the image that we saved from ALA.
TO 3DS MAX 1
Depending on how many segments you originally had/how you want your final image to appear, you may need to adjust the amount of segments in the Plane.
The Plane has now transformed into an urban form based on our bitmap image that we created from ALA. 41 David Gerber - 774234
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2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
MAPBOX
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
MAPBOX
3
Starting up the “Basic� style map, we are brought to a map that we are able to edit. By selecting the subheadings in the left-hand panel, layers are able to be changed by colour, opacity, line weight, text dimensions, etc. 2
1
We navigated to Melbourne, and started to edit the map style.
Further editing was done to only show buildings and waterways.
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This allows complete control and manipulation of maps to cater to your projects needs.
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A Nolli Map was created by editing the layers and changing the building colours
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
MAPBOX DATASETS
2
Under Mapbox Studio, we are able to import datasets. Using ALA like we learned before, we can export .csv files from a certain species, and import them into Mapbox.
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Scrolling through and purging the excel spreadsheet is necessary only because we don’t need all of the information for this exercise.
Once uploaded, the Dataset will be visible in the above window.
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You can now click on the Dataset and the interactive map will be displayed with the data.
The key information is Latitude, Longitude, and Locality. 3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
MAPBOX TILESETS
2
Uploading the same .csv file, we can now create a Tileset to use for our maps.
1
In a “Basic Template�, create a new layer and you have the option to add the Tileset as a data source to use for the new map.
From here, you can edit the map to cater to your presentation needs.
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You have access to labels, text, and the tileset source colours. 4
3
How-To
To transfer information from Maproom to 3DS MAX, we use the Maproom Plug-in.
Flexible Urban Modelling
To get the token required to link the three, click on “Account” in Maproom.
Week 4.1
Scroll down to “Access tokens”.
MAPBOX
Copy that token, we will need it in 3DS MAX.
TO MAPROOM (3DS MAX)
1
Clicking on the “Triangle” icon opens up Maproom. This is where we will be uploading and customizing parameters in order to create a 3D map.
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How-To
Back to the “Home” tab, we can now navigate to “Openstreetmap and Satellite” in order for us to import map data.
Clicking on the “Settings”, we go to “Map API keys” in order for us to insert the Mapbox token that we copied earlier.
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
This allows Maproom to access the info from Mapbox.
Mapbox uses OpenStreet Map for it’s information.
MAPROOM (3DS MAX) 1
2
We will now set up the “Terrain001”.
You are given new options in the pop-up.
Click on “Estimate zoomlevel” to start the terrain/ map generating process.
Clicking on “Map space” allows us to find a location by name. In this instance, we type in Melbourne as our destination of choice.
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3
Click “OK” and then “Update Space”.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.1
MAPROOM (3DS MAX) 2
Clicking the arrow under “Image source”, select “Mapbox satellite”. Everytime you change the “source” or “zoom” level, make sure to “Update map images”. 1
Now we need to se the “osm001” parameters.
The source for the “Terrain heights” should also be changed to “Mapbox terrain” and a matched zoom level.
Set the “Openstreetmap type” to “Full OSM”.
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Click “Download and draw OSM data” to generate the new information for the map.
“Update map images” to ensure your changes are updated. 3
How-To
After clicking on “Download and draw OSM data” there are vector lines generated on our map.
Flexible Urban Modelling
These lines represent the heights of buildings based on data collected from Open Street Map.
Week 4.1
MAPROOM (3DS MAX)
Now we need to turn them into solid buildings.
1
Since we selected “Full OSM” previously, we need to select the “Stylesheet” to match the same properties, and select “sys OSM_stylesheet” in the drop down menu.
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If need be, you also have the option to select by “Layer” instead of “Full OSM” and select certain layers from Mapbox.
2
How-To
We also want to make sure that we “Align sheet to” the “Terrain001” that we previously created.
Flexible Urban Modelling
This ensures that our building volumes correlate with and follow the appropriate terrain map/levels.
Week 4.1
MAPROOM (3DS MAX)
1
Mapbox + Maproom + 3DS MAX allows us to create maps/diagrams such as the Development Activity Model that the City of Melbourne uses.
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2
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 4.2
Created a custom map of New York City to dissect the rigid street grid.
Created a custom map of Tokyo to dissect the unique street grid.
Natural Environment vs. Built Environment.
Natural Environment vs. Built Environment.
MAPBOX AND 3DS MAX
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2
The Displacement modifier is able to create a diagrammatic representation of the ratio of built (black) vs non-built (white, green, and blue), to give a greater sense of density and a useful comparison tool.
Putting in the bitmap image of the New York city grid into 3DS MAX as previously seen using the “Displacement� modifier on a Plane.
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3
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 5.1
PYTHON
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
a=1 b = “1” c = 1.0
Week 5.1
PYTHON
2
Careful consideration needs to go into the way that you type scripts. When the script is run, all three look identical. 1
“print (a + b)” causes an error because you cannot add an integer and a string.
print (a + b) print (a , b) 53 David Gerber - 774234
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“print (a , b)” will run without error, however, be careful because it can easily be mistaken for 11 instead of 1 1 since the comma is treated as a space.
Both 1 and 1.0 are integers, while “1” is a string.
print (a) print (b) print (c)
You can’t see the difference here, but when/if there is an equation, that is when an error will be displayed.
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How-To
a=1 b = “1” c = 1.0 d = ‘abcdefg’
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 5.1
PYTHON
2
Both “n” and ‘n’ can be used to signify strings, the key is to pick one and be consistent.
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“print (len(d))” outputs the amount of characters specified to “d”.
print (len(d)) print (d[2:5]) 54 David Gerber - 774234
“print (d[2:5])” will only print the characters between the 2nd and 5th character, in this case, “cde”. 4
The “int” before “(b)” makes Python read the string as an integer. Because of this, it prints the outcome of 2.
print ((int(b)) + a) print (“Length of b var:n”, len(b)) print (“Length of d var:n”, len(d))
3
Since “Length of _ var:n” is in quotations, Python prints it outright, and then outputs the length of “b” and “d” which is 1 and 7, respectively.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
if a < b: print (“a is less than b”)
Week 5.1
PYTHON
2
An “if” statement is used to create a condition. If “a” is less than “b”, then Python will print out “a is less than b”. 1
The “else” statement creates a condition that if the above isn’t created, then this statement will be true.
else: print (“a is greater than b”) 55 David Gerber - 774234
This ensures that if the previous conditions were not met, then this will close the statement. 4
The “:” creates an indentation on the next line - important. The “elif” statement creates an additional condition.
elif a==b: print (“a is equal to b”)
So if “a” is equal to “b”, then Python will print “a is equal to b”.
3
How-To
while count <= 10: if print print count a
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 5.1
PYTHON
2
A “while” statement is used to create a loop that continues until a condition is met.
1
The “ += ” is the same as typing “ count = count + 1 ”. The count increases until it creates the “while” condition.
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In this example, the count number gets printed until it reaches 10. The script then stops.
In this example, everything that is indented will continue until the “while” statement is met. The “if” statement creates a condition where Python will print “a is less than b” until that condition isn’t true anymore.
if a<b: print (“a is less than b”) a=a+1 3
The “a” value will raise by 1 each time. Once it goes above “b”, the statement will stop being printed.
How-To Flexible Urban Modelling Week 6.1
3DS MAX
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How-To
The Parameter Wiring pop-up will emerge.
Flexible Urban Modelling Week 6.1
Here you will click on “Segments” on the left and “Amount” on the right.
3DS MAX -
Click the “--->” arrow to link the two parameters.
WIRE PARAMETERS
At the bottom where it says “Segments” you can change that to a parameter that suits your project, in my case, I type “Segments * 4” which means that every new segment that is created will increase the height of the extrusion by 4.
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Clicking on the “Update” button will make the wired parameters active.
We can now change the amount of “Segments” and see the amount of lines increase simultaneously.
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How-To Flexible Urban Modelling
MANY SEGMENTS
LESS SEGMENTS
NO SEGMENTS
Week 6.2
3DS MAX GREEBLE
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The amount of segments created on the plane (in this case 25 x 25) created a very dense Greeble city because there was 1250 total face created on the plane.
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This plane shows the difference in density that can be created if there is less segments (5 x 5), with a total of 50 faces.
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For this one, I only picked 1 x 1 segments. This is so that I can test out Greeble creating the segments instead of creating the segments through the plane.
How-To
This Greeble city was created by having a plane with only 1 x 1 segments.
Flexible Urban Modelling
The Greeble will be doing the work of generating the forms.
Week 6.2
By de-selecting the “Widgets”, only “Panels” are created on the plane.
3DS MAX GREEBLE
This allows for more freedom in generation (min/max heights, taper, materials, etc). You can also change the “Seed” and 3DS MAX will create numerous iterations.
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By selecting the “Select Tops” button under “Panels”, we are able to create a secondary Greeble modifier which will only be applied to these selected faces.
The secondary Greeble modifier now creates “Panels” and “Widgets” on the top of the “buildings” and are both able to be modified to your liking.
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How-To
A similar approach can be taken, this time including streets.
Flexible Urban Modelling
Selecting the polygons or in this case plots of land, we can now apply the Greeble modifier to have the buildings emerge only on these polygons.
Just as done previously, we are using a Plane that was converted into an Edit Poly, we can select the Vertex’s, connect them, offset them, and create streets/walkways.
Week 6.2
3DS MAX GREEBLE 1
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Secondary Greeble modifiers are added on the tops and sides this time by selecting “Select Tops” and “Select Sides” in the “Panel” tab.
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The buildings emerge just as previously seen (Widgets turned off again), this time with streets creating a gridded Greeble city.
We can also play around with the “Density” of the panels and widgets to create a more chaotic city. 4
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How-To
The Greeble modifier also has an option to modify the panels, widgets, and buildings to have different materiality.
Flexible Urban Modelling
By using the “Multi/Sub” function in the Material Editor, we are able to link multiple materials to it, which will then be linked directly to the model and portray the colours/materials we selected.
Week 6.2
3DS MAX GREEBLE
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When rendered, we can now see the differentiation in colour that the “Multi/Sub” function gives us.
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Assignment 1.1 + 1.2 How-To Guide - 3ds Max Flexible Urban Modelling - ABPL90304 Nano Langenheim and Tianyi Yang David Gerber - 774234