Hello people of CG Architect!!
One of my biggest problems, when creating a new project for an architectural firm is how do i go about doing the surrounding topography. I like to create most of my geometry in 3d, i am not a huge fan of using background images in photoshop, i like to create my background in 3d. Especially when we are talking about birds eye views of large estates or city blocks. But mainly my work is outside the city, so i dont usually need to find 3d models of cities rather mountains and hills is what i am looking for!
I do a lot of projects for hotels, large scale buildings and i always try to find the model of the general area. Up until now i use sketchup pro, from which i grab topology+textures for the area. But since i like to grab a big chunk of area, this way is quite a nuisance. Sketchup has a small window that i can max grab, and it doesnt remember the last grap. Its really difficult to grab many tiles and have them not overlapping. Moreover, its quality in texture and actual elevations is really not that good.
I know of Autodesk's Infraworks. Its a program mainly for constructing roads but it also provides a 3d model of a geolocation that you define.
Other than that, i understand that you can get elevation maps from NASA (especially now that the ASTER program is free of charge) but the sites you can do that are really complicated and not user friendly. Moreover i am not sure i can get the data in high res, and get a texture as well as an elevation map. Although to be fair i haven't burned myself trying.
There are some quite expensive companies that will provide you with 3d models but you have to pay like 2000 dollars minimum and that is out of i can give as a fee just for a 3d model of a topology.
I want to ask the people of this forum, how do you go around creating your landscapes? Do you do them with pictures from photoshop? Do you use imaginary terrain that you have created from your mind? Do you use contour lines/autocad drawings and draw it by hand? Or do you know of a way to get real life 3d models of topology over the world without spending huge amounts of time/money?
Any information you can provide on this matter will be greatly appreciated.
