From 2004 to 2006 my job was just what you are asking for: making 3d city models.
Our workflow back then was (in 3dsMax):
start with some sort of planning / script so you know what needs to be in 3d, what can be a billboard/panel and what can be skipped. Edit: there's a big difference in a walkthrough model and a birdseye view model.
get the contours of the houses (2d dxf city data) -> maybe OpenStreetmap?
take photographs yourself of all the buildings you need to model
roughly model the shape of a building by doing:
4a. model a shape using the 2d city data (contours, streets etc). The 2d city data helps here because now you have the contour and exact width of the individual buildings
4b. Add a texture to the facade. Scale(z) the facade with the texture so its proportions are just like in the photographs
4c. add all the 3d details that define the building (overhangs, chimneys etc)
4d. use some sort of hierarchy in the model Name your models and textures so you can easily find something.
4e. edit the textures in Gimp/Photoshop to remove perspective in the windows, people, bicycles etc.
Back then we used a constant TexturePerMeter for the textures so all the textures had the same sharpness / blur. Because of the limitations of hardware we used 32 pixels per meter. With the modern graphic cards you can go much higher
for the curbs and roads we used a lofting technique with tileable textures
you really need trees, streetlights, streesigns, cars, decals etc etc to make it come alive
This is a very very very brief explanation. Feel free to ask more specific questions.
Edit: if you brief allows you to keep all the buildings white instead of textured, you will save a TON of work.
Edit: added a picture of some of our projects in 2004-2006
edit: think about a consistent level of detail.
Max
[image: f0OZ_city3d.jpg]
