Virtual Campus for the University of Jaume I, Castelló, Spain: 3D Modelling of the Campus Buildings using CityEngine

Abstract

The Virtual Smart Campus for the University of Jaume I – Visca Uji – is a project that aims to transform the University of Jaume I (UJi) into a “Smart Campus”. Several applications are part of the Smart Campus such as Uji Place Finder, Energy Consumption, Routes, Resources Management, and Indoor Mapping. Part of this project is the creation of the 3D model of the university buildings using Esri software — City Engine. This study analysed two 3D modeling approaches: procedural modeling language (CGA Shape) and manual modeling. The first, Computer Generated Architecture (CGA) shape is an extension of set grammars that have been applied in CG successfully over the years. And the second, CityEngine offers a set of shape creation and editing tools that allows a more intuitive and pragmatic 3D modeling technique. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, overall creating a 3D model by using procedural modelling language showed to be the more efficient and pragmatic method.