Unit Type

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Untis

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How do units relate to the Tygron Engine?

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Types of available units

In the Tygron Engine, there are three types of man made constructions available: standard buildings, landmarks and roads. Each type of structure has its own properties. Not only is a construction shown on the screen by a visual model in the 3D world; it also represents data that can be used by calculation models and indicators.

Standard Buildings

Standard buildings are generic constructions that are best described as being not recognizable for a specific location. Most standard buildings are specific for one or more regions in the world. Currently, the defined regions are Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. Standard buildings are adjustable: they can be adjusted according to the available space and desired amount of floors. Note that a standard building does not necessarily represent an individual unit. It can represent a group of houses, or multiple warehouses as well.

• Constructions2.jpg

  European housing

• Constructions3.jpg

  African housing

• Constructions4.jpg

  North American housing

Landmarks

A landmark is a recognizable natural or man-made feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. There is a limited set of landmarks available in the Tygron Engine, also selectable per part of the world. Landmarks do not scale and are not adjustable in the amount of floors. They are fixed, recognizable objects that can be placed in the 3D world, used primarily to enhance the user's immersion in the 3D world.

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  University Library Delft (Netherlands)

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  Freedom Towers New York (USA)

• Construction7.jpg

  (Part of) Highway Junction near Pretoria (South Africa)

Roads

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways (British English: carriageways) each with one or more lanes and also any associated sidewalks (British English: pavement) and road verges. In the Tygron Engine, roads range from African dirt roads to high tech Asian Rapid Transit Rails.

• Construction8.jpg

  African Dirt Road

• Construction9.jpg

  Asian Rapid Transit Rails

• Construction10.jpg

  US Asphalt Road without sidewalk

• Construction11.jpg

  Dutch cycling track

Editing units

Adding and removing units

This section deals with adding constructions to the 3D world. For adding actions to a Stakeholder see Adding and removing Actions.

Construction panel

Building and demolishing are essential actions a stakeholder can perform in a Tygron Engine based project to reach his objectives. When a project is created (or edited) in the Tygron Engine, constructions are being added and removed in the editor. Below is a short description, for more in depth detail, please see the Editor.

To add or remove constructions, select Constructions from 3D World in the editor:

Adding constructions

By selecting a type followed by the Add button on the bottom of list of constructions, a new construction item appears on the list. The list is alphabetical per construction type. The new construction is not present in the 3D World yet, since no function has been selected yet, and the construction has not been placed in the 3D World either. For details on adding / changing a selection from a construction: see below.

How to add constructions:

1. Select Geo Data
2. Select Buildings on the ribbon bar
3. Select the desired construction type from the drop down list
4. Select 'Add' from the bottom of the list
5. Notice a new construction has been added to the construction list

• Select3Dworld-Q3-2015.jpg

  Select Geo Data

• SelectConstructions-Q3-2015.jpg

  Select Buildings from ribbon bar

• SelectConstructionType-Q3-2015.jpg

  Select desired construction type

• SelectAddConstruction-Q3-2015.jpg

  Select 'Add' from the bottom of the list

• NewlyAddedConstructions-Q3-2015.jpg

  Newly added default building

Removing units

To completely remove a construction, including its slot from the construction list, select Constructions, highlight the construction to be removed and select 'Remove'. This will open a confirmation message to ensure no constructions are deleted by accident.

How to remove constructions:

1. Open the Building Panel
2. Highlight the construction to be removed
3. Select "Remove" on the bottom of the list
4. Confirm the deletion on the popped up message panel

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  Select Construction to be removed

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  Select 'Remove'

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  Confirmation Message

Changing units

Right side detail panel

Changing an already existing construction is similar to assigning a construction to a newly created empty slot. By highlighting an already existing construction (or empty slot) on the left side Construction Panel, the main view of the 3D world will jump to the constructions location and the existing construction can be edited and changed accordingly on the detail panel on the right side of the editor main view. It is also possible to select an existing construction in the 3D world, the construction on the left side will be highlighted in the list and can be edited on the detail panel on the right side.

How to change constructions:

1. Select Constructions from 3D World
2. Search in the list or the 3D world for the construction to be changed
3. Select the name or construction.
4. On the detail panel on the right side, change the construction name in the "Name" field
5. Select the construction type by clicking on the image
6. Select if a building is vacant, by marking the check box named "Vacant"
7. Select the construction owner from the drop down menu
8. Use the entry field to set the "Amount of floors"
9. Select to use the default roof/ wall colours or to use custom colours (check box & color menu)
10. Select the "Draw" Button to draw the construction in in the 3D world

Name

Constructions Name Field

In the "Name" field, a specific name for the construction can be entered, replacing the default naming. Please note that the default name of a construction often refers to the actual address of the construction in real life. See also "Editing addresses of constructions"

Function (Construction Type)

Main article: Function

Select to change function

Choose Function list

By clicking on the image, the actual construction type can be selected from a newly opened panel - the Choose Function list.

Vacancy

Set vacancy

Vacancy can be turned on for a construction with the check box marked "Vacant". When a building is vacant, livability will be reduced in the area. The costs to demolish a vacant building are lower, as there is no need to buy out any occupants.

Owner

Ownership field

This drop down menu contains all available stakeholders in the project. Also non-playable stakeholders can be selected. Ownership affects interactions such as zoning planning, building permits and land transactions.

Amount of floors

Enter number of floors

In this field the amount of floors can be set for a construction. The numbers between brackets after the title 'Floors' indicates the allowed minimum and maximum number of floors for the selected function. Please note that not all constructions have the option to add floors.

Year of Construction

Year of Construction

The Tygron Engine uses the actual year of construction for most buildings when a project is based on real data. In case a new construction is added, or no date is available, it is possible to enter a year of construction by hand in this field. In case no value is entered on a new construction that is added to a project, the current simulation year is used.

Roof & Wall Color

Select custom wall and roof color

By marking the check box, the default roof and wall color, based on the satellite map, can be overwritten with any color from the drop down menus below the check boxes.

Roof Height

Roof height indication

This field indicates the height from the ground to the roof edge. The value can not be changed and is used to verify the height of the building minus any roof structures, such as a slanted roof. For example, a building with 3 floors and a roof height of 15 meters has an average height of 5 meters per floor.

Draw area

Now the construction can be drawn into the 3D world by selecting the 'Draw Area' button on the bottom of the panel. A new panel - the Brush Panel - becomes available under the editor main view port:

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  Draw Area Button

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  Brush Panel

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  Brush Panel Area Selection

By dragging the cursor, while left clicking on on the 3D world's main view, the ground plan for the construction is drawn. Colors indicate if the area is available for the selected construction. Different Selection Types can be selected; rectangles for buildings, lines for roads, etc. By selecting 'Apply Selection', the construction is confirmed. 'Clear Selection' removes the selection from the 3D world. The option 'Remove Building' can be used to remove any constructions that are already in the 3D world present. This option only removes the actual drawn-in construction, the building slot will remain in the list of constructions, as an empty slot.

Editing addresses of constructions

With a construction selected on the left panel, it is possible to edit its address on the bottom panel. In case a (newly added) construction lacks an address, it is possible to select 'import'. The address will then be assigned automatically to the selected construction, if available. In case a construction is in such a planning state that no address is already known, it is also possible to enter a desired address in the name field of the construction. By selecting the 'Add' button on the bottom panel, the address-as-name will be added to the construction as address property. It is also possible to duplicate or remove addresses from this list.

Bottom panel with address properties of selected construction