Esri City Engine 2015.2 released

New Features and updates:

• Introducing the Reporting Dashboard
• Improved KML and WGS84 support
• Updated RenderMan export
• Several FileGDB fixes
• 3D exporters with new features
• Better 3D editing
• CGA procedural modeling enhancements
• Fixed rendering issues on OS X Yosemite
• User interface and other improvements
• RenderMan export upgrade

Introducing the Reporting Dashboard

• With the new Dashboard window, we introduce powerful data visualization tools to provide a graphical view of the key metrics in your 3D scene.
• A Dashboard can be created very easily: (1) Open/create a scene with CGA rules that have reports, (2) open the Dashboard window and add a Chart, (3) choose the chart type and select the report you want to visualize, (4) optionally add more Charts to the Dashboard, and (5) save scene.
• In this first release, there are three chart types: column chart, pie chart and key number. The latter two visualize also the history.
• The Dashboard can show data from more than one report. However, in its first beta incarnation, only one dashboard can be created, currently, and the number of reports is limited.

Improved KML and WGS84 support

• Developers improved the precision of the KML exporter, e.g. with a better, more stable WGS84 re-projection.
• Enhanced CityEngine's projection engine in general, e.g. we updated datum shift parameters or fixed missing parameters in the coordinate system database.
• In the information display of the Viewport, we fixed lat/lon & UTM coordinates in case the scene coordinate system had an ellipsoid different than WGS84.
• In the KML export, textures with special characters in their path are not dropped anymore.

Updated RenderMan export

• Updated the default CityEngineShader.sl, i.e. now based on plausibleMatte.sl of RenderMan 20.
• In case multiple files are written out, the numbering suffix of the exported RIB files increments correctly now.
• Fixed a mix-up of the UV scale/translate shader arguments.
• The export handles instanced geometry with complex material assignments correctly again (also applies for FBX, Collada, and 3WS).

Several FileGDB fixes

• The first edge of shapes is now preserved in the export. Previously it was the second to last edge that became the first after the export.
• Fixed the handling of "date" fields in FileGDBs.
• Fixed an export crash when updating a non-multipatch feature class with a multipatch feature.
• Features with attribute names of more than 64 characters are correctly exported now. Previously this issue caused crashes in the worst case scenario.
• FileGDBs with uncommonly long domain definitions cannot be imported anymore. Previously this issue caused an error and a broken scene when saving.

3D exporters with new features

• Introducing an advanced "Export Log" functionality. For all 3D formats, a useful, complete log is generated on export. The log can be written into a file or is available as Python structure. It contains progress history, potential warnings and errors, 3D model statistics, and more practical information about the created files.
• Introducing the "Create Texture Atlas" option to reduce number of textures and materials (available for OBJ, Collada, FBX, RenderMan, and VUE formats).
• In the 3WS export, invalid meshes don't cancel the export anymore but are gracefully handled and logged in the export log. Furthermore, deactivating materials now actually removes the materials from the exported web scene.
• In the VUE export, the option "Vertex Normal" is now always validated. As a consequence, even illegal geometry state combinations can be handled without crashes.

Better 3D editing

• The rectangle and split tool now work also on degenerate polygons. Furthermore, when drawing zero-sized rectangles, a (split) line is created instead.
• Extrude tools can now be operated also on very small geometries, and also work in orthogonal view mode.
• Large translations (>500km) now move the virtual origin, preventing precision issues. Related to this, we fixed relocation issues which led to wobbling display artifacts.
• Objects on uncolored layers no longer appear reddish in corner cases, e.g. after material deletes.
• The window of the texturing tool is larger and comes with scroll bars. Additionally, the default texture path now points to ESRI.lib (which includes now the practical image uvtest.png)
• We fixed several minor street network editing issues, e.g. a block display refresh problem after street deletes or a numerical issue that led to lost lots/buildings on scene reload and grow streets.
• The undo of moving a terrain does not give an error message any more.

CGA procedural modeling enhancements

• We improved the default behavior when assigning rules. When assigning a rule to an object with attributes, CityEngine automatically sets the source of rule attributes in order to use the object's attribute values in the rule. This heuristic got improved as follows: (1) the source is not anymore automatically set to the corresponding object attribute if its value is NULL, and (2) hidden array attributes are now - like hidden scalar attributes - also automatically set to corresponding object attributes.
• We fixed several minor issues in the Model Hierarchy, e.g. refreshing after a model regeneration event or the Shape Inspector GUI that now keeps scroll state and supports the scroll wheel.
• CGA handles no longer prevent reports from being shown in Inspector.
• CGA handles no longer affect the user experience of the SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse.
• We fixed a deadlock freeze which sometimes occurred when editing a CGA file at the same time when the model is generated in the preview panel of the Navigator window.
• The "Select Start Rule" dialog has been resized so that all start rules are visible in the window.

Fixed rendering issues on OS X Yosemite

• Textured shapes are now displayed correctly on OS X 10.10.3.
• Ambient Occlusion now works on OS X 10.10.3 and systems with older drivers.

User interface and other improvements

• The Scene Editor comes with a better user experience, e.g. layers are now correctly ordered after dragging them, tooltips got added to the Color/Lock/Visibility check boxes, dragging a group layer into itself got blocked, rare layer visibility state issues got fixed, etc.
• The "Grow Streets…" functionality now comes with the same street network pattern presets as the City Wizard and works better in Python.
• The "Crop Image…" entry is now persistently enabled in the "Shapes" menu as well as the corresponding RMB context menu.
• The FBX importer - similar as the exporter - now supports multiple UV-sets. Furthermore, its reading performance was increased for large meshes.
• The "libcairo issue" on some Linux systems is now handled by default, i.e. the workaround is not needed anymore.
• We fixed several minor memory leaks. Additionally, we now avoid many out-of-memory situations and manage remaining cases gracefully, e.g. error message instead of filling log with errors.

More info on Esri CityEngine site.