Urban modelling

[Noise]

Hi

 

we are going to build a partial model of a city. The model needs height information along with roads, kerbs, paths, buildings, recreation areas etc....

 

What is the best way to model this so that the model is fully modifiable/flexible and as accurate as possible ?

 

I was thinking about creating the height info from contours then cutting the roads, paths etc.. as a Shapemerge. Although this can become messy when the shape is complex as with roads for example.

 

Thanks

 

N

[Noise]

No suggestions ? I know this is a tricky area of modelling but it has been done before.

 

adios

 

N

[nisus]

Yes I'd Do a shapemerge too... Maybe the terrain modifier can help too, but I haven't looked into it. Anyone who wants to make great money should devellop software that easily proejcts 'flat' models on uneven terrain!!!

 

rgds,

 

nisus

[Brian Smith]

If you want to use shapes or splines to cut one mesh out of another, I recommend the Boolean>Cut>Split feature. Shape Merge has difficulties when working with complex meshes or long and skinny faces. Boolean>Cut>Split has never not worked perfectly for me and I've used it on every single site that I've created in the last couple years. It also works just as well with 3D land as it does with flat 2D land.

 

You can this feature to create roads, curbs, street lines, lakes, mulch beds, building footprints, etc.

[Verma]

I can think of only two options for this:

 

1) Use the free plugin called Greeble from

http://www.schloerb.com/index2.htm

Go to written section on this website to find the download and tutorial on greeble.

 

2) Nverse Photo, commercial plugin from

http://www.precisionlightworks.com/index.html

 

Good Luck!

[Noise]

thanks for your replies.

 

Nverse looks very interesting but way too expensive for what it does.

 

Also, thanks for mentioning the Boolean Split - will use that in the future !

 

regards

 

N