Junctions
One surface, no overlaps
Streets weld into one road mesh with curved kerb returns. No stacked faces where two roads meet.
Harlem River, New York · 40.8456° N, 73.9290° W
Real cities. Every level.
Pick an area on the map. Citylith builds it inside 3ds Max: welded streets, bridges and ramps at their real heights, survey terrain and buildings. Clean, layered and ready to render.
A real Citylith build, rendered in a browser. Gold lines: the mesh underneath. Trees are stand-ins.
- 2 × 2 kmthis whole scene, one build
- 3 levelsstacked decks and ramps at one interchange
- ~15 surveysgovernment elevation sources for terrain
- V-Ray · Corona · Arnoldmaterials set up for your renderer
Compare
Same streets. Now with levels.
Street data from the map has no heights. Lay it on the terrain and every ramp and bridge falls to the ground. Drag the line to see what Citylith builds from the same place.
Map data on terrain
Citylith build
Left: the OpenStreetMap streets of this area, at their mapped widths, draped on the same terrain. Bridges sink to the river and the ramps cross each other at one height.
Right: the Citylith build of the same 2 × 2 km. Cross Bronx Expressway, Major Deegan Expressway and the Washington Bridge, each deck at its own height.
Explore
Turn it over. Take it apart.
This is the interchange from the comparison, exported from 3ds Max with the plugin's own materials. Orbit it, look under the decks, show the mesh, or split it into the layers Citylith builds.
7 MB · runs in your browser
- Bridge towers
- Parapets, railings, walls
- Markings
- Sidewalks and kerbs
- Roads and decks
- Ground and water
Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom · right-drag to pan
Built for the aerial view
Where context tools break, Citylith works hardest.
Aerial and masterplan shots show every street and every crossing. These are the parts we spend our time on.
Levels
Overpasses at their real height
Decks, ramps, tunnels, portals and retaining walls are built where the map puts them, with parapets and railings.
Terrain
Government survey ground
Bare-earth elevation from national surveys, including the US, Canada, England, France, Japan and Norway, with global coverage elsewhere. Or a flat site.
Buildings
Official 3D where it exists
Measured 3D buildings where governments publish them, such as the Netherlands, German states and Japan. Map footprints and heights everywhere else.
Pipeline
Native to 3ds Max
Organised layers, splines ready for RailClone, trees through Forest Pack, and materials for V-Ray, Corona or Arnold.
Scale
Rebuild without losing edits
Change the settings and rebuild while your own edits stay. Studio builds whole cities as seamless tiles that weld at their edges.
Scene layers
Every family on its own layer.
Tick what you need in the panel and leave the rest. Each family arrives as one object on a named layer, with a material for your renderer.
HM_RoadsRoadsOne welded surface with rounded kerb returns.HM_BridgesBridges and decksReal heights, with parapets and railings.HM_SidewalksSidewalks and kerbsPavements that follow the road edge.HM_WallsWallsRetaining walls where one level drops to another.HM_GroundGroundTerrain banded by surface: grass, gravel, paving.HM_BuildingsBuildings3D roofs or low-poly, textured facades.HM_TreeAreasTreesAreas for Forest Pack, or plain geometry.HM_WaterWaterRivers, harbours and shores.HM_FencesPaths and fencesFootpaths, steps, fences, hedges, guard rails.HM_FurnStreet furnitureLamps, hydrants, benches and signs from the map.HM_MarkRoad markingsLane lines, crossings and stop lines. Being rebuilt for the new road builder.
Workflow
Four steps in one panel.
Where
Pick the area on a map, set its size, and choose real terrain or a flat site.
What
Choose the families to build: streets, levels, buildings, trees, water, furniture.
How it looks
Pick materials, roof style and detail for your renderer.
Build
See the estimated build time, then build it into your open scene.
From the teaser
One build, many looks.
Status
Early Access, coming soon.
Citylith already builds real places end to end and gets better every week. Open map data is uneven, so some places come out cleaner than others. Early Access members send us the places that break and shape what gets fixed first.
- Citylith for 3ds MaxEarly Access
- Road markings for the new road builderEarly Access update
- Citylith StandaloneIn development
- Importers for Blender, Cinema 4D and UnrealPlanned
Plans
Priced at launch. Founders pay less.
Prices are announced when Early Access opens. Everyone on the waitlist gets the founders price.
Pro
For freelancers and small studios. One seat.
Perpetual licence with a year of updates · price at launch
- Build any area, anywhere the data covers
- V-Ray, Corona, Arnold and Physical materials
- Rebuild without losing your edits
- A year of updates; the version you have keeps working
Studio
For teams. Floating licence across machines.
Floating seats · price at launch
- Everything in Pro
- Floating licence for your team
- Whole cities as seamless tiles
- Priority support
Waitlist
Get the founders price.
Waitlist members get the founders price at launch and the first beta builds. One email at launch, a few before it. Unsubscribe any time.
Questions
FAQ
Which 3ds Max version?
3ds Max 2026 at launch. Support for other versions will be listed here before Early Access opens.
Where does the data come from?
Streets and buildings from OpenStreetMap, ground from national elevation surveys and a global elevation model, 3D buildings from official open datasets. Every source is credited.
Can I use the result in client work?
Yes. The data sources allow commercial use with attribution, and the build is yours to edit, render and deliver.
Does it use Google 3D tiles?
No. Citylith builds clean geometry from open and government data that you keep in your scene and can deliver.
Do I need to be online?
Yes, while building. The map, elevation and building data download for the area you pick.
What about Blender, Cinema 4D or Unreal?
A standalone version with importers for those tools is in development. Join the waitlist and tell us which one you use.