Part1:Generate your own procedural City with Houdini and Unreal Engine 5 transcript

hi gamer here welcome to the channel this video is part of many videos in the playlist that walks you through the process of creating your own city with a road Network and freeway system in Houdini join using epic develop tools and uses the city sample project AKA Matrix demo to do so the city sample project is a technical demonstration of how you can use procedurally generated data from side effects Houdini and join in unreal enjoying 5 to create a working simulated word the city sample uses data generated from Houdini to populate assets Drive simulation for artificial intelligence traffic and audio and much more in this playlist we will learn together how to access the Houdini source files to create your own City set up and configure Houdini with the provided source files set up the basis for your city shape size and layout specify zones and Define the silhouette of your city create a road Network that supports a free system generate all the necessary data which can be exported and ready for import into in real enjoying 5. before beginning I'd like to thank all the new subscribers to the channel and to invite the newcomers to do so as it helps a lot to keep up with the good content so don't forget to subscribe to follow along with this tutorial please mention that we do have some prerequisites the first one is obviously to have side effects Houdini I recommend you to use the version 18.5.532 since it's the version used to develop the city sample project you need to run Houdini once to generate the startup files necessary for the required Houdini project setup at least 2 gigs of free hard disk space to extract the data and generate small sized cities for bigger cities you can expect to use from 5 to 10 gigabytes of space and finally you need to download the city sample unreal join 5 project through the epic games launcher this tutorial assumes you have working knowledge of Houdini and using its tools there's a video on my channel on on why you need Houdini to run the city sample project so feel free to watch it first to have a better idea of food in so without further Ado let's start with step 1 the required Houdini project setup before you can effectively use who you need to start generating your city you first need to set up a few things on your computer including extracting the source files needed to complete this tutorial you also need to specify and create some directories use data in this tutorial to store data for your city in the root directory where your city sample project is saved look up the zip file name and City sample houdinifies.zip file contains the Houdini source file is required to complete this tutorial so first create a new folder to save the source file too for the purpose of this tutorial the save location I used in my computer is e colon anti-slash City sample Source the reminder of this tutorial assumes you are using a similarly named and placed folder path extract the content of City sample who identifies.zip file to your folder once extracted a folder named small city is added first thing we have to go in your Windows system document folder located in C in this fat you see the path you see it in the video open the file name at houdini.env with the text editor at the bottom of the houdini.env file add the following new line you see it in my video and you can see it also in the description once done that your edit should like like this very important note be sure to replace the file path with the one used while extracting the Houdini source file save the houdini.env file then start Houdini once Houdini start when you open the asset manager you should see a list of sample Houdini operators you can view them from the main menu of Houdini under a set asset manager expand the operator types libraries scanned live asset Library directories to view them they are located at the bottom where you should see a listing of dot HDA Houdini digital asset files from the folder path you specified in this section Step 2 creating a directory for your city in this step you will create a new folder to store city data from Houdini generated through this tutorial this folder will also contain duplicated parts of the files included with the city sample Houdini source.zip so that you don't inadvertently override them if you create additional cities using Houdini first create a new folder in your city sample Source folder to store the data for your city for the purpose of this tutorial the folder is named my city and is located in this path copy the Houdini folder in the in the in the pad to my city folder for example e colon anti-slash City sample anti-slash my city now that you have copied the Houdini source files to your own name and City folder in the remainder of this tutorial you will create your own City and save it to this location step 3 starting the city creation process by defining the city shape in Houdini you will create and Define the shape of your city using the City layout operator created specifically for the city sample project the City layout operator thanks input for the shape of your city arterial splines used to define main through roads in the city and specified Zone 4 types and Heights of buildings in sections of the city this step has you starting by defining the shape of your city using rodini geometry object and curve in the network pane use the right click context menu to create geometry object you can also use the tab key for that double click on the geometry object to open its graph and use the right click context menu or press the tab key in the keyboard to add the curve node with the Curve node selected left click in the viewport to place points that make up your city shape to give you an idea of size the small City and the city sample project is approximately one kilometer wide and the big city is approximately 5 kilometers wide I recommend you using a top view when drawing the city shape and use a large enough area for my experience with node it will generate inner errors if you choose small shapes in the network power use right click context menu to add the City layout node to the graph connect the output of the curve node to the first input of the CT layout node in the graph this generates a street layout using the drawn curve points in the City layout operator if the City layout operator is not visible in the context menu refer to stop 1 required Houdini project setup to ensure the files and pads are set up properly for your project once the inputs are connected the layout of city is contained within the Drone curve shape you can reselect the curve node at any time and drag the points around until you achieve the desired shape of your city the output is automatically updated in the viewport in the network pane select City layout node ending graph using the text field for city name give your city a name for the purpose of this tutorial the name is my city save the scene to your Source folder created early on this tutorial and give it a name for example the garden slash City sample Source my city slash ict.hip in this step you took the first step of creating your city shape with City layout operator with the curved mired wired in an overlay of the city block size can give you an idea of the road flow within the city step 4 creating the city arteries now that you have defined the shape of your city you can look at creating major roadways that travel through parts of your city these roadways are referred to as arteries and you can create several to break up your city in this step you will create one or more splines to Define major roads through the city and explore the road Network options of the City layout operator to ensure to ensure clean results in the network pane use the right click on text menu and add the curve to the graph with the Curve selected draw two points by left clicking within the viewport connect the curve 1 to the second input artery splines of the City layout node reselecting the second curve node and moving either of its two points will automatically adjust the layout of the seat optionally you can add as many as you want additional curves to create additional artery splines just make sure to wire both curves or all the wires you do to emerge node then wire the merge node to the second input of the City layout node this is the place and time to make adjustment to the shape of the City by selecting the curve node used to define the city shape select its point and move them as needed with splines defining the major roadways and creating a more natural look and flow to your city explore adding or moving their placement to change the Dynamics of the roadways through the city use the City layout properties to further explore roadways layouts within your defined City shape look at adjusting the density to change the subdivision grid use as a base for creating the road lines adjust the angle property to create city streets that have a more natural and consistent flow before moving on to the next step ensure that your layout and Road networks appear without error adding multiple arteries or having a unique City shape could cause issues look for signs of issues and make adjusting accordingly if you make it this far in the video please consider subscribing to the channel to hit the notification button to have alerts about same quality videos on level design like this one and don't forget to subscribe step 5 adjusting Road Network options in this step you will continue refining the City by making adjusting to its roadways using the road Network options found in the City layout properties you will learn how to use the full preview mode and look at making smaller changes to merge city blocks or measuring of roads near intersections to create smoother traffic flow first in the network burn select the City layout node in the pane above the network pane you can modify the details the details and properties of the node 2. in the City layout properties pane in preview options section enable the checkbox for full preview this property enables a more accurate preview of the network with all the cleanup that happens down the graph but it also requires more computing power thus reducing interactivity so if you have a humble configuration like mine please careful with this option third click the road Network options tab to adjust properties of the generated Road Network it is important to adjust these properties to ensure smooth Road Network for traffic flow in the City by occluded by occluded intersections or having roads that are too short or too close to one another step 6 draw City Zone and adjust City scale now that your city is taking shape with multiple arterial roadways zones can be defined to better Define your cityscape in this step you will learn how to define a single area using curve with the citizen operator plugged into the City layout node the city Zone operator properties enable you to define the height using multiple points on a graph and set how that curve is represented in the network pane use right click context menu and add a curve to the graph to create a zone that defines what types of buildings and structures resides in that area of the city in the viewport draw an area around the city shape you want to define a Zone in the network pane use right click context menu to add a city Zone operator wire the curves the curve one to the zone note wire design node to the third input City zones and input of the City layout node in this networks pane select the citizen node its properties are displayed in the pane above the graph a height defined the maximum height of the defined Zone B Point number select between the available points that are on the graph by default there are only two points one at zero and one at One automatically add points by clicking in the graph position and volume moves the selected point along the X and Y axis of the graph to define the fall off and maximum height of the Zone shape interpolation defined the type of curve applied to the shape relative to the position and value use City Zone properties to adjust attributes to the Zone optionally repeat the previous steps to add addition Zone and use a merge node to wire them to the City layout node with the City layout not selected enable preview zones under the preview options section to display the defined City zones step 7 drawing the freeway path through the city with most cities there are ways to navigate around using a multi-lane freeway that bypasses pedestrians crosswalks and intersection with traffic lights the city sample provides tools and operations to set your own freeway path and loop that contain entries and exit points in step you will learn how you can add a freeway pad to your own City with entry and exit points that connect to the arterial roadways using a curve and three-way util curve attribute operator in the network pan use right click context menu to add the curve node in the viewport click points where you want two different way pad to go optionally you can use polywire and merge node to better visualize the freeway path to the City layout but it's not an obligation with the poly wire node selected use the properties to set the wire radius to a high enough value that it makes the path easy to see use the right click context menu to add the free freeway util curve attribute operator to the graph with the freeway util curve attribute not selected there are two properties you can modify number of lanes you can set it to 4 or 6 Lanes closed enable the checkbox for any freeway part you want to be a closed loop when choosing a freeway pad that does not loop on itself ensure its bounce connect to the arterial roadways you can see them in the graph as red and that it runs within the continuity of the road once you have finished setting your freeway pad or Loop you can remove the merge and polywire nodes from the graph as they are for visualization and no longer needed wire the curve node to the freeway util curve attributes node to finish the setup with the freeway UT skill curve attribute operator you can create multiple freeway paths and decide whether to use a closed loop or path with their own entry and exit points to the city streets below when creating your own City explore using different numbers of lanes and connection points to the freeway from various parts of the seat step 8 assemble your inputs in the city processor now that you have done a lot of foundational work for your city defining its shape setting up its roads and freeway system it is time to assemble your work using the CT processor operator this is where all this data you have compiled and set up over previous steps in this tutorial starts to come together with the various zones freeway arterials roads and so on set Houdini to manual node using the selection box in the bottom right of the editor window by default Houdini is set up to cook content automatic in this instance it's better to delay cooking this content until all inputs have been connected in the network pane use right click context menu to add the CT processor operator wire the second output of City layout now to the first input of the city processor node you can ignore the warnings on the city processor node as it will be resolved in The Next Step Wire the three util curve attributes node to the second input of the city processor node set Houdini back to auto update mode which triggers the city processor to cook the input data re-enambling auto update mode triggers processing of the city processor which can take several minutes to complete depending on your setup and the power of your computer once processing completes you can preview your generated City based on all the input data from the previous steps that's it you have now a complete view of how your city will look like and made the important step in Houdini I hope you enjoyed watching this video as I enjoyed making it I will probably continue with this project to expand further concept of Houdini and how you can use these powerful tools to achieve your own City the next one and the next steps will be how to import all the data made in Houdini in and read and join so stay tuned with the channel and like subscribe to the channel so I can keep creating more content and see you soon in my next videos thanks for watching again