Terrain... again.

[mskin]

There has to be a terrain modeling tutorial out there some place.... Too often the results of my boolean commands are so messed up, i know i must be using them wrong. Conform never seams to work right.... intersect doesn't seam to intersect all the objects....

[Claudio Branch]

I do alot of heavy terrain modeling so here is my 2 cents...

 

Follow this link to an AutoCAD plug-in called EasySite: (You can download a trial version)

 

http://www.cadeasy.com/index.asp

 

My workflow goes like this:

 

I import a set of 3D contours into AutoCAD. Using the plug-in, I generate a TIN (triangulated irregular network) of the terrain. EasySite also allows me to create all of my roadway, parking-lot ,and building pad surfaces as well. After the terrain is complete, I export the file to be finished in 3DS Max.

 

The images on there site are rudimentally textured and rendered, but you will only use the modeling portion of the plug-in.

 

If you would like to see some examples of what I have done with the tool just shoot me an email at 3d@claudiobranch.com

 

Doing large-scale terrain modeling takes alot of practice, good luck.

[antonio_frias]

Have you tried creating polylines in Autocad, importing them into Max an then:

Select spline contours. > Create panel > Geometry > Compound Objects > Object Type rollout > Terrain?

[brianzajac]

Brian Smith is putting the finishing touches on a very nice tutorial that is specifically for terrain, to be in VisMasters shortly. He was supposed to have it done a month ago but our workload unexpectedly went through the roof and he had to leave town on business for a couple weeks before he could finish. He says it will be done before SIGGRAPH though. Hopefully.

 

I can tell you that for boolean terrain, you should do two things. Use the Cut>Split option, add the Edit Mesh modifier, go to face subobject level and detach faces. The other thing you should do is subdivide the geometry you want to boolean so the faces aren't to big. Booleans don't like long skinny faces. We use to use ShapeMerge but it can't handle complex objects too well. Never had a problem with Cut>Split though. Hope that helps.