Lidar data into 3ds max?

[armilla]

Does anyone out there know how to do this? Basically, I need to block model part of a city centre, and have been provided with Lidar scan data of the area. Initially it was in .xyz format, but I couldn't open or import that into max or AutoCAD, so they have re-sent it to me as a .dxf. I've imported this into max, and it shows as a point cloud of about 100,000 helpers! Anybody know a plugin for max that can translate this into usable 3d forms, or a separate application that can translate and then export the resulting 3d forms to max?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Da_elf]

well. i believe vlado wrote an .xyz - vrmesh converter but not an .xyz to max one

[oconv]

maybe hab's terrain2 does.

TERRAIN2 a utility to read ASCII xyz elevation data and builds an editable mesh inside MAX of it.

http://www.habware.at/duck6.htm

-oconv

[jonasa]

I found a resonable solution using the habware plug.. check this thread:

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...ic.php?t=12570

[armilla]

Hi Jonas,
Thanks for the reply - the result looks fantastic! I have actually already tried the Terrain2 plugin, but with no success. It only gives me the following options:

Get XYZ data: which gives me the option of opening .dat and .cld files
Get FE data: which gives me the option of opening .plt files
Get DTM data: which gives me the option of opening .dtm files

none of which helps me with my .xyz or .dxf files.

Can you remember how you did it with the terrain2 plugin? The supplier of the lidar data mentioned something about being able to save it as a text file, which sounds like how your file was supplied.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[jonasa]

Hi Andrew...

Here's the deal:

The .xyz file is basically just a big textfile with coordinates in x,y,z format - try and open in notepad and you'll see something like this:

352000,178500,18.889
352000,178499,18.880
352000,178498,18.919
...many many lines more

Now, you'll need to change the file from commaseperated to spacedeliminated. In notepad use the "replace" function to replace all commas "," with a single space " ". Might take a wee while


after that your file should look like this:

352000 178500 18.889
352000 178499 18.880
352000 178498 18.919
...many many lines more

then just rename your file to somthing.dat and import using the plugin

worked for me - good luck

[zoranm]

As Jonasa said. I'd only suggest to use Word instead of Notepad if your XYZ file is bigger than 1Mb, otherwise it'll take you hours.

Zoran

[armilla]

This forum is fantastic! There's always someone with the knowledge and goodwill to help you out.

Thanks Jonas, your explanation worked a treat. Turns out the original sample file they sent me in dxf had all the z values totally out of whack, which was why I had trouble doing anything with it once I had it in max. I requested another sample, followed your work flow and everything looked exactly as it should. On that basis I've ordered the 1kmsq chunk of Cardiff city centre that I need. Should be interesting, the buildings are pretty dense? Did you have to do a lot of cleaning up with the resultant mesh?

Zoran: Thanks for the tip - Word was very quick with the Replace.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[jonasa]

Only happy to help - I've had so much good out of this forum myself...

We havent really done much work with the actual model yet - the one I posted earlier was just a test to see wether it was possible to import the data.

I think the models will be very hard to work with, though - definately don't make much sense in top or side views

If you manage to get some good renders out of these models please post it here...