Hi Brent Most of the GIS centric tools are rather poor at 3D. You might try Surfer http://www.ssg-surfer.com/ssg/product_info.php?products_id=135 as it is pretty simple to use and has a free trial. Even easier is Leveller http://www.daylongraphics.com/products/leveller/ which uses gray scale images to produce terrain plus they have a simple terrain sculpting tool.
Professional 3D modelers would do this work in 3D Max or Maya but they are complex and expensive programs. Cheers David Colleen, CEO Planet 9 Studios 761 Kansas St. San Francisco, CA 94107 (O) +1 415 348 1200 (M) +1 415 254 2330 www.planet9.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Brent Fraser Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 7:58 AM To: Brian Russo Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] rendered 3d scene Brian, I could try the free trial of ArcGIS (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis10/trial.html), but since we have access to only the Canadian 30m DEM data (too low res), I don't think the terrain modeling approach is the way to go. I've used that approach in the past with VTP, and as long as your DEM and imagery are at a resolution appropriate to what you are trying to visualize, it can be very effective. I don't think an engineering study has been done yet. The range is on Crown (public) land, and I think the Club was just asking the Province if it would be ok with the concept. If yes, then they would do the study and get formal approval. Why the Province would ask for a rendering at this stage (if that's what they did) is a little confusing. Anyway, the question of how to do the rendering (with no budget) was an interesting one. Usually my tool set is very mapping biased, but because the desired end product is very simple (show a scene without the berm and one with the berm) in concept, it got me thinking about augmented reality (http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality), smart phones, close-range photogrammetry, Sketchup, GeoDesign, etc... Thanks! Best Regards, Brent Fraser On 3/2/2011 10:00 PM, Brian Russo wrote: > There are a variety of higher-end tools that can do this.. ArcGIS 3D > Analayst, World Construction Set/other 3D Nature products, most R/S > software (e.g. ENVI). I'm assuming you don't have these tools though. > > You could use 3DEM (no longer developed, but works okay last I checked > - http://www.visualizationsoftware.com/3dem). > > If you have any kind of spatial analysis GIS software you could output > a DEM with the suitable berm modifications. I've done this a lot for > cut/fill type of studies (typically related to modifications to > riparian systems for construction). It's really not that hard to do > though getting a decent elevation model can be challenging. If it's a > shooting range there should be an engineering study which would have > the suitable data, though data format may be a challenge if you don't > have the right software. > > /r > - bri > > On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Roger Rayle<[email protected]> wrote: >> Brent-- >> >> Maybe this would work for you... >> >> 1. Overlay a higher-res aerial photo of the area onto Google Earth 2. >> Build a model of the berm using Sketchup and place it on Google Earth >> 3. Overlay some landscape photos of the site onto some "background fences" >> built with Sketchup >> 4. Take some screenshots. >> >> (I used something like this to depict some fence diagrams of >> lithology in Google Earth.) >> >> --Roger Rayle-- >> [email protected] >> >> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Brent Fraser<[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> To all, >>> >>> A friend of mine needs to submit a picture (rendering?) showing >>> how a proposed berm would look at a shooting range. I'm getting >>> this third (or >>> fourth!) hand so I don't have any more details on the request. >>> >>> My first thought was to use something like Google Earth and a 3d >>> model of the berm and take a screen snapshot when I maneuvered to a >>> viewpoint I liked. But the available DEM and imagery are of such >>> low resolution it would not be adequate (and I think it violates the license agreement). >>> Similarly, unless I get much better DEM and imagery (and that's not >>> likely), terrain modelers like VTP (http://vterrain.org) or "terrain >>> capable" 3D modelers like Sketchup would not give enough detail. >>> >>> So how about augmented reality? I could take a photo of the area >>> using a smart phone, and maybe get position and orientation out of it somehow >>> (perhaps determine focal length too). But I don't know of any FOSS >>> projects for rendering 3d models onto real photos. >>> >>> Any ideas? >>> >>> -- >>> Best Regards, >>> Brent Fraser >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Geowanking mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Geowanking mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org >> >> > > _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
