Building A City in Minutes Using Blender

In this video tutorial we are going to show how to create a cool looking city scene in Blender in literally minutes.
The stars of this video are an add-on named Blender-OSM, which provides OpenStreetMap integration, as well as Buildify, a geometry node based building generator.
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Links gamefromscratch.com/create-a-city-in-minutes-using-blender/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Support* : www.patreon.com/gamefromscratch *GameDev News* : gamefromscratch.com *GameDev Tutorials* : devga.me *Discord* : discord.com/invite/R7tUVbD *Twitter* : twitter.com/gamefromscratch -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[@Barnaclebeard]

Greetings from Waterloo. SWO sucks!

[@udusoktech594]

@@abdulhjada6006 i hate buildbox. Unity is better

[@arsenalprime6933]

Thanks now I can make my own gta 6 lol

[@pavelolivaart]

GTA 6 from your neighborhood let's go! 🔥

[@pavelolivaart]

@Activators Have you heard about Solaria Synthesizer? :D Well, it's not so gangsta, but at least it can help you started hehe

[@kiyu3229]

@@pavelolivaart its free ?

[@Torbulous]

@Activators Can I voice a random homeless bum?

[@Bee_Mavrick]

Did you make it?

[@pavelolivaart]

Thank you so much for making this video! I really love your content, keep it up man! ❤

[@Holonet01]

It looks like terrain is actually supported, to an extent. It's not one of the checkboxes, but above that, you select the terrain object. If you set the import to terrain instead of OpenStreetMap, it will import a plane that looks like it follows the elevation of the area. Then it seems to automatically select that object as the terrain. Select OpenStreetMap after that, and it imports the stuff referencing the terrain. It looks like it does not go so far as to "stick" the buildings to the terrain, but it does make the roads and such follow it from the looks of it. EDIT: Actually, it looks like the built-in 3D buildings do try their best to stick to the terrain, it just doesn't do that with the geometry nodes addon.

[@DistinctlyMeFilms]

Literally was looking for a way to build Toronto and you showed me how! Thank you!

[@MonsterJuiced]

This was such a great example. This kind of thing in particular is quite tricky especially if you need to have it done quickly

[@georgiosrigas8094]

Wow, that change the way we build cities. Thanks for sharing

[@gibsonsimpson]

Thank you. That is an amazing tool for Blender.

[@_gamma.]

I was just wondering how I’d generate a city as a solo dev. This is incredible!

[@flynsarmy]

You should check out the videos on how epic created the matrix demo city. Houdini can do incredible procedural generation

[@xevrin5905]

Perfect, will play around with this. Looks like it may take care of the some of the busy work for a project I am working on. I wonder if I will be able to stitch multiple sections from different cities together with a bit of tinkering.

[@nightmare280696]

really nice and detail thank you so much !!

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

This is super cool! I've been spending the past few hours recreating my old neighborhood. What alternative to the basic Buildify are there for generating different types of buildings?

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

So great!

[@perregrinne2500]

I prefer these kinds of tutorial videos of yours over the videos that just feel more like news/announcements like a new game engine version. They feel more useful to me.

[@Holonet01]

This is stupidly cool. Now I can get a little exercise with a walk around town with Vespucci open and put in as much data as possible on all the buildings, upload to OSM, wait for the sync, then download my neighborhood into Blender xD.

[@Blazs120gl]

I have the premium version some time ago, I was trying out if I can make flight sim scenery with it. Really not bad, especially with another plugin like this Buildify. However, when importing big areas, the bottleneck becomes blender's 32-bit single precision floating point coordinate system (just like with any float-based 3D engines). Placement precision starts to fade away when distances go beyond the magic 10km (or +/-7 digits of dimensions given in mm, e.g. +/-9999.999) range. Until blender gets native 64-bit double precision coordinate support, post OSM import precision wil not be constant across the board. This is something one should consider, especially if trying to tile maps from different imports.

[@bes12000]

Wow they STILL haven't done that huh..smh

[@plagiats]

For a flight simulator you'll have a better time with Cesium

[@Slipper.The_Avaitor_Films]

Microsoft flight simulator 2020: *laughts in fear*

[@whatdoiknow7836]

Nice one! thanks!

[@SuperlativeCG]

This is what we've all been waiting for.

[@doomguy3795]

thanks for the tutorial

[@GrounddevLF]

nice!! thanks for the videos!

[@fl4v10filho]

This is amazing

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

You can import terrain as a separate import. Select "terrain" in the dropdown next to the "import" button. This will create a terrain object of the size selected on the map. You can then do the rest of the import. If you select the terrain object before downloading the building structures and they'll follow the topology. You can also import satellite images onto the terrain as yet another import option.

[@arielortiz3150]

Doing what you said doesn't work for me, the buildings are all floating & they're all level with eachother so putting them onto the terrain just means some are in the ground, some are floating, some are flat. I'm trying to find a way to make a city like they did in the matrix demo but the houdini files they provided for the city sample project are broken so I'm running out of options, this is fustrating

[@theterpenater6414]

​@@arielortiz3150bro just snap it to the grid lmao

[@sebonengs4443]

man this is very good,

[@Fafhrd42]

Correction: The asset set that is included with Buildify 1.0 is NOT from Megascans. That would be a FLAGRANT violation of the ToS for Megascans and would get Pavel in pretty deep trouble. The building sets used IN THE VIDEO on the Gumroad page are Megascans assets (except for the Desert set which Pavel created themself).

[@applecore4525]

What does this mean

[@kabirakzaman]

@@applecore4525 Meaning stealing things and reposing it as your own would get you in serious trouble..

[@kabirakzaman]

@@subjektivegaming Things have changed ever since.

[@Leukick]

Every time I hear a youtuber mentioned they're from Toronto I get happy for some reason lol, AND a blender user? Even more rare. Subscribed

[@theterpenater6414]

Being g from Toronto isn't rare lmao it's literally a city

[@Leukick]

@@theterpenater6414 Been using youtube for 18 years, Toronto youtubers are far less common than American ones. And I said a "blender user" [Toronto youtuber] is really rare.

[@DonChups]

I'm seeing myself using these two addons separately. European old cities are a chaos of old senseless streets turning on themselves and different building styles next to each other. But having the volumes of the buildings is great for a more streamlined or abstract piece. And with some time of collecting and curating, buildify can be an incredible tool to make different looking buildings.

[@theterpenater6414]

So use america

[@scribblingjoe]

I mostly do 2d art but this will be great for getting some quick 3d references of buildings.

[@RyuRamasama]

I think you can make destroyed buildings easier if you don't keep the base mesh flat when you use buildify. I mean you would have to do additional work to add a bit more damage to them, but it wouold seem it would work well.

[@spittingame4241]

@5:45 can you make a separate video on how you add different walls and roofs to buildings with this modular system? *It will be greatly appreciated.*

[@messiah001]

How to create a city? Step 1: Sacrifice the Cube! 🤣

[@RenderingUser]

;-;

[@chrishansel95]

This is the way

[@Krimzy.Productions]

This is the way

[@condor7645]

perfect video Could you make a video on how to place the texture or create the textures to paint a unique building, not necessarily the procedural one plus a cube for example🥰😍

[@AndroidGames-cg5po]

Please make a video buildbox is mad.

[@hausawhatsappstatus4417]

Buildbox is scammer

[@udusoktech594]

You guys stop wasting your time. Buildbox is totally scam.

[@LumberingTroll]

I'm considering using this method to mock up a city for use in Unreal Engine 5.1, any thoughts on how viable this is?

[@John_infinite]

That's a coincidence. I just recently downloaded this not too long ago. It's a pretty cool plug in

[@muhammadyusoffjamaluddin]

MAKE A TUTORIAL FOR ITTTTT

[@John_infinite]

@@muhammadyusoffjamaluddin I'm still new and getting the hang of it. Maybe once I've gotten a better understanding of it. Than sure.

[@sanchezmilsim8284]

would be nice this with interiors

[@asifsolanki2667]

Hello, I have a question about those websites, just let me know please, can I use those buildings in my youtube videos? Are they NCS components? Thanks

[@pxrshoty4375]

i think i love you bro

[@fernandodesa952]

my import doesnt seem to work at all in 2D it only gives me floor maps , not sure whats wrong, no bulding is being imported

[@fernandodesa952]

Update the issue was my version of blender when i passed to 3.4 it worked perfectly! In case anyone is having the same issue just update the software

[@holdthetruthhostage]

Wow this is Big

[@askaranarbekov3145]

hello, can it be used in unity? Will there be a performance drop because of it?

[@HE360]

I was wondering is there a standalone software like this where I don't need Blender to make these types of buildings?

[@TechGamerAndHacker]

hey i have collections of building and i want to put them intro the imported 2D map . The collection i have not in Geo nodes and i do not want to use buildify for that, so what should i do?

[@ArtwithAmarBrisco]

AskNk covered these as well and I have used OSM way back it is a bit less intuitive than buildify. I'd rather used Buildfy but OSM has more practical. Another downside of the OSM it can get pretty heavy and you can get all of unwanted information as well. I didn't know you could use OSM and Blendify together with OSM if that is true then that is cool.

[@RKPRODUCTION888]

everytime i import the 2d map with buildify it wont build thru building correctly and looks all broken down, not how it is in the tutorial. if there is a solution please let me know thanks

[@milzpilz9952]

Nice tutorial, unfortunately blender crashes when I use Buildify for building a pretty big area (Oslo 40x20km) but not with the default Blender-OSM method of rendering

[@getfanmedia]

Great

[@mrcyberpunk]

I can definately see this being useful for visualizing concept art. Pretty cool.

[@batwimp]

Now if only it were this easy to make forests.

[@lylewyant3356]

I have both. Sometimes it's confusing how to install and use. I have to get out of one project to start another tool...

[@Czarzhan]

I tried to use the Desert Kit blend file, but it doesn't have the node groups set up to work with OSM, or even any Geometry Node setup within the file itself to use the objects within the file. Frustrating.

[@Amipotsophspond]

11:35 that building fracturing in a funky way would make a trippy dream sequence, make that 2d plane do the worm. parts of the building would fracture and then go back, to normal. silent hill "Otherworld" but with unstable geometry, you could have it slowly worm in to the Otherworld and slowly worm out of the Otherworld.

[@incorruptedx4937]

I Want to export this as an FBX file and import it into my game, is that possible? Because when I tried applying the modifier the buildings disappeared and only the roofs remained

[@ravanin]

You should try to use the sinty city assets that unity and unreal gave away for free with buildify.

[@EpicGamer-vu1rm]

When try export with the Ian and buildout, the building don’t show, how to fix?

[@plagiats]

You didn't mention that to export to Unreal you need to add a node (mentioned in the doc) to make the mesh and apply the modifier.. Then Send2UE takes care of everything.

[@benking1158]

Hi, I have been searching everywhere for a comment like this! Where in the docs is this node?

[@cloudodhiambo595]

Can I use the final model for commercial purposes

[@BaseRealityVR]

VERY NICE! Blender made me uninstall 3dsmax. and I t just keeps getting better because procedural stuff like this is what us GAME devs REALLY WANT

[@Relagtrash]

when i tried importing with geo nodes it just placed a bunch of tiny watch towers and wierd fantasy buildings that are not even in the buildify blend

[@TorQueMoD]

Someone needs to integrate this with Unreal engine so that the pieces remain modular when you export to the engine. That would be amazing!

[@DirkTeucher]

There is a plugin that does move geometry nodes to unreal and lets you modify but it does not transport the textures.

[@WarriorOfModernDeath]

I think it can be done with a plugin called Altermesh

[@benking1158]

How do I import this to Unity? Whenever I do it just loads a ton of flat planes.

[@TheKimokee]

IDK if this has been removed from the free version or just corrupted but the buildings from buildify are terrible or it didn't remove the old buildings or something.

[@SellGames]

is there a way to get this city into unreal engine so i can make a third person free roam game on it?

[@holdthetruthhostage]

Unity has Cidy2, but this is nice for buildings, but not roads, and the other parts but this is useful

[@pavelolivaart]

I have a prototype for road ands crowds as well, but currently it is really buggy :)

[@holdthetruthhostage]

@@pavelolivaart get Cidy2, from unity

[@minzy421]

The 10:10 was awesome!!!!!!!!

[@TheJan714]

Would it be possible to make these buildings collapse as well? (total noob here)

[@TamPop]

I'm a comic artist looking to make varied buildings for my backgrounds... where can I buy kits to use with buildify? 🥺

[@visualdrip.official]

what about the textures?

[@animejoe4041]

That poor cube's sacrifice shall not be in vain.

[@ionutdeju3874]

Did all of that but there no texture how do i fix that?

[@abdelhaksaouli8802]

can be imported to unreal easy I suppose ?

[@chrishansel95]

This is the way

[@speedeespeedboi9527]

What about parks and parking lots?

[@anon_y_mousse]

Anyone else think of the UNIX file system viewer that Lex used in Jurassic Park after that first step?

[@ivailoburov1295]

Great idea, but the implementation is not applicable for game development. 1. Exporting real geometry yields about 300,000 faces for a building and 50,000,000 faces for a small town. 2. Overlapping polygons for both buildings and roads. 3. For a generated city, it is difficult to edit the materials for an individual building.

[@DMitsukirules]

Nanite solves 1

[@pavelolivaart]

1) Not really. You can use altermesh addon for Unreal or Meshsync for Unity to utilize instancing. So you will get proper occlussion culling, colliders and stuff you expect from game-ready building ;) 3) you can set up multiple buildings inside one node graph or you can separate individual buildings manually to have multiple building styles/materials

[@ivailoburov1295]

@@pavelolivaart I am working with Godot engine. Any idea for such an app?

[@pavelolivaart]

@@ivailoburov1295 Oh, unfortunatelly I dont know any solution for Godot at the moment. You will have to encourage my friend who wanted to make GN link for Godot a few months back :D

[@ivailoburov1295]

@@pavelolivaart Will be great. As far as I know Godot 4 will support input of .blend files, but I'm not aware of geometry nodes.

[@happyandhealthy888]

modern buuildings with balconies in Vienna

[@MyVisualDistractions]

hmm followed all instructions but cant seem to import it as a 3d object, its all flat

[@er.sumeet6005]

google map is not opening , showing time out for this page

[@gower1973]

Doesn’t that break the megascans license to just rip a building asset, put it in an addon, and not use it in Unreal?

[@izumichan31]

Megascans isn't exclusive to Unreal. It has paid subscription plans for anyone not using unreal. And even when your subscription is done/you cancel your sub you can still use what you've previously downloaded since you paid for it.

[@perimetrfilms]

Where are all these resources?

[@userxbw]

api key what is up with that? how to

[@ZefugiLive]

I build my city on rock & roll. Any version.

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

Ayo wait, thats way too easy 😂

[@TopherLee513]

Can we get an F in chat for the Default Cube...? Such a fucking hero.

[@32bart10]

What about roads?

[@32bart10]

@Eagle Watch Can that be used with OSM the same way buildify can? Or do we have to put it all down by hand?

[@toapyandfriends]

Can you show us how you did the materials on your building in your thumbnail...👋😆👋and maybe turn it into a treatise on how to add materials and make the buildings different just as easily as you create them

[@happyandhealthy888]

2-2-3 and 4 is the solution

[@RenderingUser]

0:29 ⚆⚆

[@RenderingUser]

@Activators ;-;

[@minggnim]

ArcGis installation too complicated!

[@Pneumanon]

Hmm, not super impressed with the clickbait thumbnail. Was expecting an additional step showing how to implement phototexturing into this workflow. Yes, I can find that elsewhere, but I can find the rest of the content in this video elsewhere also.

[@Phoenix_446.]

On my way on making gta updates see the update soon boys

[@vytasrauckis6703]

You can't be from Toronto because you didn't say "Toronno". lol

[@wirago3246]

And now, how do I make this city work properly in Unreal Engine? :P

[@fredthefatherless8120]

Apply the geometry nodes modifier and export as fbx or what format you want

[@allinallgames9252]

First

[@ziabatsu4422]

It's neat, but you're not really making anything. it's basically the same as building a city in Cities Skylines