surface modeling from elevation points

[Clifton Santiago]

I wondered if there was a feature or maybe plugin for Max to quickly create a mesh from a series of surveyed elevation points representing a terrain? My current slow method is bring the points in from CAD, trace the points with triangulated lines, move the endpoint of those lines to the proper Zed coordinate, and then add Surface modifier.

[Brian Smith]

This post should help. Let me know if it doesn't.

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/17323-topo-site-modeling.html

[Clifton Santiago]

Thanks for that link, I read it earlier. The method you describe for the ground assumes I am starting with contour lines, which is easy. I used that method for 10 years in the U.S. But in London, you only ever get point elevations.

 

I need some kind of plugin for creating surfaces from point clouds or something...

[derijones]

Hi

I use Rhino to create surfaces through point grids - the outer curves through points create the perimieter and the inner curves through points act as guide curves for the "create surface using guide curves" command. You can mesh this afterwards, but it seems to create the neatest terrain from a sparse set of points and also gives you control over the detail of your surface.

No doubt you can do something similar in other packages.

Cheers

Deri

[Clifton Santiago]

Oh yeah, Rhino is a NURBS modeler which means I should be able to do the same with Max NURBS. I forgot about that.

 

I guess the trick will be getting the "points" out of Microstation to come in as CV points in Max. If you import as DWG they come in as little plus-shaped lines. Maybe if I use IGES... Thanks.

[derijones]

IGES should be OK, but if not, I know in Rhino you can import a simple comma or tab deliminated file with the points in. Ive done this with hand drawn plans in the past - drawn in a 1m grid on it and then created a XYZ table in Excel to create the height map. Scan the plan in and use it as a background reference for drawing in the roads etc (or use it as a map overlay which can look Ok in a hurry!).

Best of luck

Deri