Usage Instructions

Generate Scene Tiles command is used to create tile files for the selected entire scene. This function does not depend on the scene window, meaning it can be used directly even when no scene window is open.

When generating scene tiles, mosaic datasets and image datasets generate image tiles, while terrain datasets generate terrain tiles. If it is a tile layer (such as a model tile layer) or a KML layer, it remains unchanged.

After scene tiles are generated, a new workspace and several tile folders will be created under the result path. The new workspace not only saves various newly generated tile layers but also preserves the style information of each tile layer. By default, the newly generated workspace has the same name as the scene used for generating tiles. Users can specify the names of the generated workspace and scene by setting parameters.

To use this function, the computer must meet certain software and hardware requirements, which are consistent with the requirements for using the 3D scene rendering engine. For details, refer to the usage instructions of 3D Scene Rendering Engine (Windows system and Linux system).

Function Entry

• Workspace Manager -> Right-click menu of a specific scene -> Generate Scene Tiles... command

Operation Steps

1. Right-click a scene in the Workspace Manager and select "Generate Scene Tiles..." from the pop-up menu. The "Generate Scene Tiles" dialog box will appear.
2. Toolbar
   • Select All: Select all datasets in the data list for batch operations, such as deletion and batch setting of tile parameters.
   • Invert Selection: Select the datasets in the data list that are not currently selected.
   • Delete: Remove the dataset from the current data list.
     Notes:

     • When batch setting tile parameters, after entering specific parameter values, you need to press the Enter key to make them effective. Otherwise, batch assignment of the same parameter values may not work.
3. Data List Area:
   • Dataset: Displays the name of the data used to generate model tiles.
   • Datasource: Displays the name of the datasource where the data used to generate model tiles is located.
   • Tile Type: Displays the type of scene tiles to be generated. Tile Type is a drop-down button, listing all tile types supported by the selected data. Users can choose from them.
   • Scene Type: Displays the scene type where all generated scene tiles will be located. Scene Type is a drop-down button, listing all scene types supported by the selected data. Users can choose from them.
4. Basic Settings:
   • Scene Name: Enter the tile name in the text box to the right of "Scene Name," which is the name of the tile root directory. The default name is the scene name.
   • Storage Path: Enter the output path for the tiles in the text box to the right of "Storage Path." You can also select a path using the " Browse " button after the text box.
5. Advanced Settings:
   • Texture Compression Method: For tiles used for different purposes, the application will adopt different texture compression methods to reduce the amount of video memory used by texture images.
     • WebP: Significantly reduces the total data volume. It is a texture compression format supported by both PC and mobile devices.
     • DXT (PC Devices): Reduces video memory usage and improves rendering performance, but the total data volume will increase.
     • CRN_DXT5 (PC Devices): Reduces video memory usage and total data volume, but requires longer processing time.
     • No Compression: No texture compression is applied.
   • Tile Side Length: Displays and sets the size of the tile side length in meters. Different tile side lengths correspond to different scales. When the data is dense and both geometry and textures are simple, the tile side length can be set to a larger value, such as 1000. When the data is sparse and the geometry or textures are complex, the tile side length can be set to a smaller value, such as 200.
   • Filter Threshold: Used to filter out smaller sub-objects at coarse levels, thereby improving the performance of large scene data. For example, if the filter threshold is set to 2, sub-objects with the longest side less than 2 meters are filtered out at the coarsest level, sub-objects less than 1 meter are filtered out at the next coarser level, and so on. Sub-objects at the finest level are not filtered.
   • S3M Version: Used to set the tile version, including: S3M 3.0, S3M 3.01.
     • S3M 3.0: Supports OBB bounding boxes and generating tiles based on ellipsoids.
     • S3M 3.01: Complies with the CH/T 9040-2023 standard, supports OBB bounding boxes, and generating tiles based on ellipsoids.
   • Attribute Storage Type: Supports S3MD and Attribute.
     • S3MD: Stores attribute data in JSON format, enabling quick extraction of all attribute information for a single object.
     • Attribute: Stores attribute data in binary stream format, more suitable for data with abundant attribute information, allowing quick extraction of attribute information for specified fields of multiple objects.
   • Repeat Texture Grouping, Generate Tiles for Point External Models, Recalculate Normals, Instancing, Tangents: Can be selected as needed.
     • Repeat Texture Grouping: Used to set whether to group repeated textures. During modeling, a large number of repeated texture maps are often used on a building. For example, railings and guardrails on different floors often have the same appearance. Sharing a texture can significantly reduce performance and resource consumption.
     • Generate Tiles for Point External Models: Checked by default, supports generating point external models as 3D tiles. If it is an external image, it is recommended to uncheck this option.
     • Recalculate Normals: Used to set whether to recalculate normals. If the data normals are incorrect, check this option. Surface normals are important properties of geometric surfaces, mainly used to produce lighting effects that conform to visual habits during rendering. During tile rendering, rendering can be performed based on the model's own normals.
     • Instancing: Used to set whether the result data uses instanced storage. Instanced storage means that if object reuse exists, only one object needs to be stored in memory, and reused objects only need to record position and rotation/scaling posture information.
     • Tangents: Used to set whether the result data has tangents. When checked, indoor mapping technology can be applied to the resulting S3M data in Unreal Engine to simulate indoor effects.
6. By default, "Automatically close the dialog box after execution" and "Show progress bar" are checked. You can uncheck them.
7. After completing the settings, click the "OK" button to execute the scene tile generation operation.

Differences from Generating 3D Tiles

The right-click menu provides two ways to generate 3D tiles: one is through the "Generate 3D Tiles..." command in the dataset right-click menu, and the other is through the "Generate Scene Tiles..." command in the scene right-click menu, which generates tiles for all data in the entire scene. They differ in operation methods and generation results, so please use them accordingly in practical applications.

The differences are as follows:

1. The "Generate 3D Tiles..." command is located in the right-click menu of dataset nodes in the Workspace Manager; the "Generate Scene Tiles" command is located in the right-click menu of scene nodes in the Workspace Manager, requiring that the current workspace must have a scene.
2. "Generate 3D Tiles..." allows manual addition of data for generating tiles; generating tiles for the entire scene can only generate tiles for existing datasets in a scene window and cannot add other datasets not present in the scene.
3. When viewing the results of scene tile generation, you need to open each tile file corresponding to each layer; generating tiles for the entire scene creates a workspace that preserves the styles of each layer in the scene. When viewing the generation results, you only need to open the workspace of the entire scene tiles, and the styles will be displayed.