Unlocking New Urban Landscapes: Best Blended Cities Alternatives for 3D City Generation
Blended Cities, an open-source city generator for Blender, has revolutionized how we create intricate urban environments. Its unique ability to generate curved streets and irregular building shapes sets it apart, allowing for the creation of organic, old-world towns rather than just modern grid-based cities. However, while Blended Cities is powerful, designers and artists often seek Blended Cities alternative tools that offer different features, integrations, or workflows to meet specific project needs. Whether you're looking for commercial-grade solutions, alternative Blender scripts, or tools for different 3D software, there's a world of options to explore.
Top Blended Cities Alternatives
If you're ready to expand your toolkit beyond Blended Cities, these alternatives offer diverse approaches to procedural city generation, each with its own strengths and ideal use cases. From professional-grade software to free scripts, you're sure to find a solution that fits your requirements.
CityEngine
CityEngine is a robust, standalone commercial software available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, making it a powerful Blended Cities alternative for professionals. It excels in 3D modeling, gaming, and procedural modeling, providing advanced features for urban planning and content creation. Its comprehensive toolset allows for highly detailed and complex city generation, far exceeding basic street and building layouts.
Suicidator City Generator
Suicidator City Generator (SCG) is another excellent Blended Cities alternative for Blender users. As a free and open-source script available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, it allows for the rapid creation of modern 3D cities within Blender itself. Like Blended Cities, it leverages Blender's environment but focuses on quick generation of entire urban landscapes, making it ideal for those who need fast results with 3D modeling, gaming, and procedural modeling features.
Modelur
Modelur is a commercial 3D application that functions as a plug-in for Trimble SketchUp, available on Mac and Windows. While it doesn't list specific features beyond its core function, its integration with SketchUp makes it a unique Blended Cities alternative for users who prefer working within that ecosystem for parametric urban design.
Building Generator
Building Generator is a free procedural building generator script specifically designed for Autodesk 3ds Max 9 SP1 and above on Windows. This Blended Cities alternative offers robust 3D modeling and procedural modeling features, focusing on the detailed generation of individual buildings. If your workflow relies on 3ds Max, this script provides a powerful way to create diverse architectural structures.
citycad
CityCAD is a commercial urban design software tool for conceptual 3D masterplanning, available for Mac and Windows. It allows users to sketch street layouts and develop sites up to 200 hectares. As a Blended Cities alternative, CityCAD focuses more on the master planning and conceptual design phase of urban environments, offering a different approach to city generation with its emphasis on large-scale layout.
ghostTown
ghostTown is a free city generator and tool for creating urban environments within Autodesk 3ds Max on Windows. This Blended Cities alternative offers capabilities for creating both low-poly and high-poly buildings, a basic road tool, and easy material application. Its focus on gaming and procedural modeling makes it a strong contender for those in game development or who need quick, customizable urban scenes within 3ds Max.
Exploring these Blended Cities alternative options reveals a rich landscape of tools designed for various aspects of 3D city generation. From commercial powerhouses like CityEngine to free scripts like Suicidator City Generator and specialized tools for SketchUp or 3ds Max, the best fit depends entirely on your specific project needs, desired level of detail, budget, and preferred 3D software ecosystem. Dive in and find the perfect tool to bring your next urban vision to life!