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  • Realworld Terrain inside max !

    Hi there,

    at the moment I´m playing a little with realworld terrains inside max.
    Due to it works quite well, I thought to share the workflow for people
    who are interested.

    Step 1.
    Download the geographic region you want. What you need to know for this is just latitude and longitude of that region. Go to the following
    website, choose your region and download the file named like the desired lat/long.
    ftp://edcsgs9.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/srtm/
    These are SRTM´s wich should have of a resolution of 10m (1 arc sec)
    and 30m (3 arc sec). But I´m not 100% shure !

    Step 2.
    Download 3DEM from that website
    http://www.visualizationsoftware.com...downloads.html
    open the srtm (*.hgt) with 3dem and save them as "USGS ASCII DEM"
    file.

    Step 3.
    Download the DEM importer for max from Habware
    http://www.habware.at/duck6.htm
    and use this to import the saved DEM´s
    The imported DEM has it ´s own object parameters. Decrease x/y steps
    for a higher resolution. And you´ll need to scale it in the z axis for a proper elevation. (I just do this by feeling)

    .. and you have your favourite mountain inside max !

    Beware ! The Data sometimes contains massive spikes and holes. This
    is probabely due to some unidentified things between the satelite and earth (Think the snow reflections are the biggest problem)
    I´ve heard from some flightsimmers (they use the same data) that there
    are methods of oversampling those meshes to remove those void areas.
    But I´m not that far.

    some additional tips.

    3DEM can directly export to Terragen *.ter files. for those who use it.

    If you want some really.. really ... really big earth textures
    (20000 x 9000 px) go to
    http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/dataprod.htm
    (choose a region at the bottom)

    cheers

    ps. so far no renderings to show

  • #2
    hey thanks sam! pretty cool, though finding nice terrain is a bit hard on that ftp.

    Shot of Washington State with Mt. St. Helens in the foreground.

    ____________________________________

    "Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it fu**ed you."

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks Sam

      Wow, you can really see that destroyed crater pretty well.

      --Jon

      Comment


      • #4
        I found this little tool
        http://www.dgadv.com/dgvk/
        It removes the srtm voids quite well.

        By the way.. does anyone know where this meteor crater in the USA
        is ? I remember this from a school book. Think it was in Arizona.. but not shure.

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        • #5
          I found this little tool
          http://www.dgadv.com/dgvk/
          It removes the srtm voids quite well.
          super

          one sidenote:
          The released SRTM DEMs for the United States are at 30-meter resolution. DEMs for the rest of the world will be at 90 meters.

          I spoke to Richard Horne, the programmer of 3DEM.
          Using VRML output of 3DEM, you can get real world units data from these SRTM DEMs.

          The VRML file will have 90 meter grid size provided that you do the following.

          1. When first creating the 3D view, choose “Terrain Resolution – Max”.

          2. Then when creating the VRML file, move the “World Dimension” slider to the maximum position (to the right).

          3. 3DEM normally sets the vertical magnification (Terrain Vert Mag) at 150% when you load a SRTM *.hgt file. This magnification will carry over into the VRML file. If you wish to accurately study the position of shadows or sunshine, I expect that you should reduce the vertical magnification to 100% (that is, no magnification).

          You have to scale the VRML in max, so the grid size is 90m.
          Using the map overlay makes it easier to find particular locations on the virtual terrain. For a correct map display in max, the V Tiling value of the imported texture must be set to -1.

          -oconv

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi there,

            Thank You for this usefull information. !

            I found another great ressource
            http://www.vterrain.org/Elevation/global.html
            there you can download several free srtm optimze tools.

            Does anyone have an idea where to get better srtm´s ?
            The flightsimmers have a 9m resolution in some areas.
            http://www.fsgenesis.com/Merchant2/m...gory_Code=9DEM
            But what I found so far is very expensive. Like 400eur for 1 mesh at dlr.de.
            Maybe something.. free or at least something cheaper

            By the way... this would be great for testing vray proxies !!

            Comment


            • #7
              My Home

              http://sorceress.netfrag.org/optix/s...%20bavaria.jpg

              Southern Bavaria and parts of Austria (Inn Valley)

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              • #8
                wow looks great!
                ____________________________________

                "Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it fu**ed you."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by samuel_bubat
                  I found this little tool
                  http://www.dgadv.com/dgvk/
                  It removes the srtm voids quite well.

                  By the way.. does anyone know where this meteor crater in the USA
                  is ? I remember this from a school book. Think it was in Arizona.. but not shure.
                  The crater IS in Arizona. About 30 miles east of Flagstaff. Very cool for us geeks.

                  http://www.meteorcrater.com/

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    An old fave.. http://Seamless.usgs.gov

                    You can zoom down to and download an arbitrary square.. just be sure to check your GeoTiff format, as it defaults to an Arcgrid format, then open the Geotiff in 3dem and go from there as above..

                    i've used it for a few projects with mountainous backdrops.. its pretty nifty.
                    Dave Buchhofer. // Vsaiwrk

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      i cant install the 3dem software. whats the problem?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        hi samuel bubat!

                        how have you found parts of austria?

                        i am searching now a long time but didnt find any part of austria.

                        i think the geographical values are 48N and 16E but i cant recognize it, so maybe you can tell me your values,

                        thx in advice

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          hi there

                          ftp://edcsgs9.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/s...48E016.hgt.zip

                          this should be the file for your region.
                          This directory is a bit confusing

                          the region in my picture shown above is between
                          N47E11 and N48E12

                          ah yes... by the way 3DEM also has a very good function for interpolating
                          voids.. just hit F7 , select the region by mouse and hit enter

                          cheers

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            ok, thanx,
                            i´ve got this file already, but i don´t looks like austria in any way.

                            maybe cause i never have been out there in space? :P

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              hi! sound great! i'm lining in vietnam. is there any detail map for my country?

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