Contour Map to Terrain

[ayaz]

I have a contour map in AutoCad and i want to make terrain from it.for example from this map or any Contour map.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/7654/contouri.jpg

How i can do this please me

http://www.AfaStudios.tk

[ch.schrul]

Hi ayaz!

That's a very good question! Usually I work in two different ways:
1. I create a height map (simple grayscale) in Illustrator and displace a basic mesh with it. It works mostly pretty well and it's very fast.

or

2. I import the lines in lw, create a simple plane with the correct divisions (for example: if you have 20 lines in the contour map, divide the plane by 20), subdivide the plane, in the top- view: move the points of the lines of the plane 'till they match the positions of the imported lines, and at least move the lines of the plane in the y axis to the correct heights. It takes a little longer but it's very accurate.

If anyone has other ways, please share them with us!

Chris

[ayaz]

I think 1st way is easy then second But know question is that how to create Hightmap/Displacement map (Gray Scale) from the contour map.

[ch.schrul]

It's really simple:

1. make a layer of every contour and fill the contour with pure black.
2. set the layer opacity: if you have 20 layers, set the first layer to 100%, the next 95%, the next 90%, ...
3. use the gaussian blur filter for every layer to get a smooth blend between the layers. That's it.

Hope it helps!
Chris

[archijam]

My favourite technique is using Art's plugin -

http://www.artssphere.com/plugins/triangulatepoints.php

Often you may have to add a few contours here and there to keep flat areas flat, or add detail to make sure you don't end up with massive polies which may render oddly down the line.

If its helpful, I think Art has a paypal button on that site somewhere ;)

[ch.schrul]

Hi archijam!

Thank you for the usefull link!
I've just noticed, that my cad- app (called shark) has some very handy tools for these tasks. I can bridge/ loft the contour lines very easy and save the part as obj out of shark.

Chris

[JBT27]

Thanks for the link - didn't know about Art's plugin.

Otherwise, the two methods cited above are all we've ever managed to do. There are great terrain reconstruction tools out there, but seemingly attached to software that we are not likely to need.

Seriously, I wish someone would develop something for handling this for our bit of the market, because the vast majority are to be found in surveying and engineering apps.

Julian.

[ayaz]

thanks to all

[Lamont]

I use Globalmapper for everything.

[3dworks]

yes, trinagulate points is a great plugin.

check also out bonzai3d and formz, both have very good terrain modeling tools onboard, both working with isoclines.

http://www.formz.com/images/products/formz/features/terrain_models/terrmods_1.gif

cheers

markus