[Plugin] [CityGen] - Street Generator [WIP] (0.5.2a)

thomthom

Added ability to work out the blocks between the streets. Currently only finds the ones completely confined by roads. But hope to be able to detect more.

Is 'blocks' the right word?
Should this feature be a separate module?

21D

hoi Thom,
I just downloaded the Core and the street gen,
placed the core file in the plugins folder, and then placed the street gen file in the core folder,
but when i load SU, it gives me this error:

Error Loading File city_gen.rb
C;/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~2/Plugins/City_Gen/street_gen.rb;75; syntax error

i then went and deleted the street gen file, and loads normally with only the core RB
i can find the city gen in the tools dropdown in both cases but only in the later can i load SU with out the error, would you know why???

thomthom

Sorry, my bad. A last second typo slipped in. Updated.
Thanks for catching that.

dtrarch

Hi Thomthom

Works perfect now with street_gen.rb in the City_Gen Folder.
Very nice idea and lots of fun to play with as it is.

Thx a bunch

dtr

21D

@thomthom said:

Sorry, my bad. A last second typo slipped in. Updated.
Thanks for catching that.

hey no prob mate,
I am one of those self proclaimed "BETA TESTERS" LOL
I am not at work right now so I won't be able to test it out again until tomorrow
but be assured that I am really into this great project of you guys,
because I for one am one of those users who know nothing of building "cities"
and being able to make one from scratch without much knowledge is an edge for me,
because i usually see a lot of great renders of city mock ups
and always wanted to do one for myself but again due to my lack of knowledge about this topic,
never got the chance to do one, UNTIL NOW.... well maybe not exactly now but in the near future, thanks to you guys.

again mate it's no problem
and thnx for all the effort you and all the other Ruby masters are putting in this Little Big Project

thomthom

@unknownuser said:

On the left
Produde by Jim Foltz + Street Generator By ThomThom + Projection Random Pushpull by Didier Bur

That one looks like it could be the start of an ancient building ruin. ...that'd be interesting to put through a render...

thomthom

@21d said:

always wanted to do one for myself but again due to my lack of knowledge about this topic,
never got the chance to do one, UNTIL NOW

Well,.. I have to confess: I make stuff up as I go along. Lack of knowledge is no hinder. hehe

Once we got this project rolling, at some point I'd like to set up a thread titled "Build Rome in a Day".

@21d said:

Little Big Project

I like that name.

pilou

Your plug can be used also for makes buildings, bricks and parpen
Here
On the left
Protrude by Jim Foltz + Street Generator By ThomThom + Projection Random Pushpull by Didier Bur

On the right
Protrude by Jim Foltz + Street Generator By ThomThom + Join PushPull by Fredo6

Dave R

Hei ThomThom,

How difficult would it be to make the Street Generator accept a radius value of 0? I don't have much opportunity to draw streets right now but I can see some possible other applications.

Ha det bra.

Dave

sepo

Thom, I think pavements should be part of the street generator. It would be useful to have ability to control width.
Btw would it be possible to control radius per individual street. In real life the radius is pretty much variable and depends on visibility...While we are on it would it be possible to include option for visibity splays as well.

thomthom

@sepo said:

I think pavements should be part of the street generator. It would be useful to have ability to control width.

I was wondering if the module that splits the blocks into parcels should do that... ?

@sepo said:

Btw would it be possible to control radius per individual street.

It would need some rewiring of the code to do so. Something I've set aside to look into later.

@sepo said:

and depends on visibility...While we are on it would it be possible to include option for visibity splays as well.

thomthom

@dave r said:

Hei ThomThom,

How difficult would it be to make the Street Generator accept a radius value of 0? I don't have much opportunity to draw streets right now but I can see some possible other applications.

At the moment, is you set the Minimum Rounding Angle (weird name - this'll get cleaned up when I get a webdialog working with better explanation and illustrations.) to more than 180 degrees there won't be any rounding.

@dave r said:

Ha det bra.

Mange takk.

Dave R

Tusen takk.

Except for a few other words like lutefisk, lefse, gammelost and some boat-related words, I've about used up my Norwegian.

thomthom

Sounds like you got a good education in Norwegian traditions.

Dave R

I'm Norwegian by marriage. My 5 year old son knows more Norwegian than I do, though.

sepo

Visibility splays maybe too much to ask . It is relating to junctions and minimum amount of visibility required for vehicles to access main roads or roads general.It determines the building line and type of landscaping. I am thinking loud as I am hoping that tool will be more than for play. Here is just one example of it.
http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6CB5C5B1-058A-4589-856E-97D1BDF8FABC/0/Highways_PlanningGuidanceNotes.pdf

Here is complete manual for designing streets
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/

Pavements, pedestrian and cycle routes are realy in public domain and not in private ownership (with few exception) and as such controlled by highway authority, that is at least in UK, and as such require particular standards.

Chris Fullmer

There is a balance between level of automation and level of reality I think. The more automated something is, the harder it is to make it create a realistic, true to life solution. To get a true solution, you can only automate small discreet tasks. It's impossible to feed a script a series of road centerlines and have it come up with a complete accurate city.

So I think the conversation that needs to happen is - exactly what variables would need to be known in order to design streets accurately from an urban designers view? The script would need to know the land use types of each street and block and then the designer would have to first input into the script how to react to every possible scenario.

I think something like this is do-able, but it would have to be very controlled what variables it needs. And I think it would need a LOT of data and parameters put into it before any reasonable results get output.

Just some thoughts. It would be interesting to develop, but an accurate automated city planning tool is a big undertaking.

Chris

thomthom

How would splay fit into the generator? It'd adjust each corner radius?
Or would it be some extra visualisation?

I could imagine this is something that could be extended further down the line. But it'd be a way off. Maybe something to go into a commercial plugin. Like Modulor's.

When you move from illustration to simulation things are getting a whole new dimension. There'd have to be a much greater 'knowledge' by the script to calculate thing properly. And that also means the people writing it needs some know-how to the subject.

kwistenbiebel

...as long as it remains easy to use, I would say.
Parametric solutions tend to become quite complicated in their attempt to be easy and complete. (e.g Revit...)

thomthom

@kwistenbiebel said:

...as long as it remains easy to use, I would say.
Parametric solutions tend to become quite complicated in their attempt to be easy and complete. (e.g Revit...)

Which I why we're keeping it simple for now. We can start looking into more complicated stuff later. And then I'm wondering if it'd be a separate module.