Zootopia is a MASSIVE city. There are an estimated 300,000 buildings that make it up, from tiny little huts to enormous skyscrapers. To put that in perspective, the two largest cities in the world, Tokyo and New York City, have between 1 and 3 million buildings each. If Zootopia existed in the real world, it would certainly be in the top 50 largest cities in the world. Possibly even the top 20. So, how did Disney do it?

Brandon Jarrat, the General Technical Director on Zootopia, appeared at Esri UC 2017 to explain how, using a technology called CityEngine, they were able to give it that feel of unique architecture while still being able to change and iterate on new designs rapidly. The buildings were still hand-made, but the way they were pieced together allowed them to adjust things on the fly, which is so phenomenally awesome!

Geek out over procedural generation technology after the break!

