Requirements & installing

What you need

The iCity 2 development build is a Blender add-on plus a separate engine program that ships inside it. The engine is a Windows executable, so this build runs on Windows only.

Create your Parametra account

Accounts are created on the website, at parametra.net/signup. The sign-in page the add-on opens has no working “create account” button: self-service sign-up is switched off, and the website's form is the one path that provisions an account.

1. Open parametra.net/signup and fill in Full name, Email address, Password, “What do you do?”, an optional Organization, and a Plan.

   installing-signup-form.png

   The parametra.net/signup page in a desktop browser window, form filled in with a name, an email address and a password, the What do you do? field set, the Organization field left blank, and the Plan chooser visible below it with one plan picked. The Create account button must be in shot.

   /docs-shots/universal/

2. Press Create account. A confirmation code is emailed to the address you gave.
3. Type the code into Confirmation code and press Confirm. If the code never arrives, use Resend the code.
4. A free plan takes you to your account. A paid plan takes you to checkout after the email is confirmed — nothing is billed before that point.

Download the add-on

Builds are listed in your account. There is no public download URL — each link is minted for you when you click it, and it expires.

1. Sign in on parametra.net, open the account menu and choose Downloads (or press Download latest on the account overview).
2. The Builds table lists each release with its version, release date, size and channel.

   installing-builds-table.png

   The Downloads page on parametra.net while signed in, showing the Builds table with at least two release rows and all four columns readable — version, release date, size and channel — with the Download button on the newest row visible at the end of that row.

   /docs-shots/universal/

3. Press Download on the build you want. The zip opens in a new tab. If a link has gone stale, come back to this page for a fresh one.

Install it in Blender

1. In Blender, open Edit → Preferences → Add-ons.
2. Install the zip you downloaded — do not unzip it first.
3. Find iCity 2 in the list and tick its box to enable it.

   installing-addons-enabled.png

   Blender's Edit > Preferences > Add-ons window with iCity 2 found in the list, its enable checkbox ticked, and the entry expanded far enough that the version line and the start of the preferences below it are readable.

   /docs-shots/blender/

4. A workspace tab named iCity 2 appears along the top of the window a moment later.

   installing-workspace-tab.png

   The Blender top bar cropped to the workspace tab row just after iCity 2 was enabled, with Blender's default tabs on the left and the new iCity 2 tab present at the right-hand end of them, still unselected.

   /docs-shots/blender/

First launch

Switch to the iCity 2 workspace tab. It is created for you when the add-on is enabled, and re-created whenever a file is loaded if it has gone missing — so if you close the tab, opening a .blend brings it back. There is no menu command that adds it.

While you are in that workspace Blender's splash screen is turned off. It is restored when you switch to another workspace or disable the add-on.

1. Press Login in the iCity Editor header. Your browser opens auth.parametra.net.

   installing-login-button.png

   The iCity Editor header in the iCity 2 workspace on a signed-out Blender, cropped to the header strip, with the Login button visible and no email shown beside it.

   /docs-shots/blender/

2. Sign in with the account you created. The browser tab says Login successful and Blender reports Signed in as <email>.
3. On the launch screen press New Project, name it and create it. The Start screen then offers three ways to begin — Start with default, Draw road or Download OSM.

   installing-start-screen.png

   The iCity Editor immediately after a new project has been created and before anything is drawn, showing the Start screen with all three buttons — Start with default, Draw road and Download OSM — and the new project's name in the header above them.

   /docs-shots/blender/

Sign-in is not needed to draw in Draft, but it is needed for everything in Design, for the update check, and for anything that touches Parametra. Your first city walks the rest of the way.

Updating iCity 2

The add-on checks for a new release once per session, the first time you enter the iCity 2 workspace, and only on the stable channel. You must be signed in for the check to run. There are three ways to be told:

• —The UPDATE AVAILABLE card, which opens on its own that first time.
• —The header button, labelled Update <version>, which stays pressed until you act on it.
• —Check for Updates in Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → iCity 2, which always shows the card when there is something to show.

1. Read the release notes on the card. If a video is attached, click the picture to watch it.
2. Press Update. The zip downloads to your Downloads folder — the card and the status bar both show the percentage, and Open the folder appears when it lands.
3. The button becomes Uninstall & Restart. Pressing it stops the engine, removes the add-on, starts a new Blender and quits this one.
4. In the new Blender, install the downloaded zip from Edit → Preferences → Add-ons and enable iCity 2 again.

Skip is for this session only: the header keeps offering the update, and the card comes back next time you start Blender.

The card also spells out the manual route, which is the same four moves by hand:

1.  Stop the engine (the running engine holds files this update replaces).
2.  Edit > Preferences > Add-ons, find iCity 2 and remove it.
3.  Restart Blender.
4.  Install the downloaded zip from Preferences > Add-ons > Install.

When it will not start

More symptoms, and what to do about each, are on Troubleshooting.