Strategies for procedural modelling of 3D cities
Matthias Buehler, founder of 3D urban environment specialists vrbn solutions, breaks down the creation process and strategies for building believable cities
“CONSIDER THE ELEMENTS AND PROCESSES THAT MAKE UP THE IDENTITY OF A CITY”
In this third and final article in our series, we will tackle procedural cities on a more global and strategic level. We’ll discuss what elements make up a believable city, and how its creation can be broken down into more granular levels of procedural control – but the most important aspect is not losing control during the planning and implementation phases.
Strategy is half the success. Learning by doing is a good strategy when undertaking tasks like learning how to ride a bike. Tackling other challenges like how to plan and create a procedural 3D city needs a different approach though, as there is a lot of implicit knowledge required. Trying to automate certain tasks needs an excellent understanding of the underlying craftsmanship and processes. Let’s dive in.
1. ELEMENTS OF A CITY
“What does a city consist of?” I guess we all know most of the typical urban elements like water bodies, parks, streets, and buildings. But we need to dig deeper. So let me rephrase: “What are the elements and processes that make up the nature and identity of a city?” The answer to this fundamental question is always derived from the story to be told.
So, what are these elements?
• Physics (gravity)
• The inhabitant’s control of energy and technology (see, for example, the ‘Kardashev scale’)
• Natural environment (geography and geology of the planet – unless your city is on a space station)
• Weather and atmosphere
• Artificial structures and urban layout • Politics and social climate
All of these details need to be taken into account when planning your project.
One of my favourite examples of coherent visual storytelling in the creation of a city is the dystopian ‘Mega-city One’ in the Hollywood sci-fi film Dredd, where Mega-blocks (almost vertical cities with thousands of residents) cast large parts of their surrounding urban fabric into its endless shadow. This creates an extremely inhospitable environment for its inhabitants [see Figure 1].