Help with creating roads on existing Terrain

[MJSpitzer]

Hi everyone.

 

I have a model that was created by someone else, and part of it is a terrain. The terrain is all mapped with a high-altitude image of the site, so of course it is very low-res up close. My job is to create a "drive-through" over the highways around this model to show off signage on the buildings in the model. I need to make the model look realistic, instead of simply the flat overhead photograph that's there now.

 

I cannot figure out how to map new road surfaces on this terrain. They need to match the existing image and adhere to the existing terrain, because its all real-life stuff. I have contemplated building the roads and extruding them, but I don't know how to bind everything to all the contours of the terrain. Eventually, I'll want to make cars drive over the roads, but that can wait until later.

 

I am using Studio Max 6. I am fairly new to modeling, as I more often deal with lighting and cameras. Any help would be much appreciated. Also, any recommendations on good books that would help with these concepts would be helpful.

 

Thanks very much.

[Ernest Burden III]

The terrain is all mapped with a high-altitude image of the site, so of course it is very low-res up close. My job is to create a "drive-through" over the highways around this model to show off signage on the buildings in the model...I cannot figure out how to map new road surfaces on this terrain.

 

The simplest way would be to add the roads to the existing map. The map is probably mapped onto the terrain as an ortho projection (like a plan laying over the model) and if you open it in Photoshop you can add a layer with the new roads from your CAD files, or whatever you are working from. All this will do is add the appearance of roads, not cut them into the terrain, but that would get you where you need to go for the firt go-round.

 

Scale the existing map up if you need more pixels to see your roads up close. That won't increase the detail of the aerial photo, but will allow a better looking road shape.

[Menno]

Use the glue plugin from http://www.itoosoft.com. That will snap your road the the surface.

[STRAT]

look into SHAPEMERGE -

 

trace over the splines so they match the mapped photo exactly. extrude those splines. then shapemerge them into the terrain. this will give you a perfect and clean road cut out.

[Richard McCarthy]

I second Merno's suggestion, use Glue Tool. Fastest and easiest way to do terrain like that. And it is FREE!

 

Just trace the outline of the road from top view with texture map of the aerial photo already put in the background, then "glue" the contour line you trace or shape of the road onto the existing contour.

 

Another way is if you have Revit, just use Revit's site tool to do this, pretty easy, you just trace the contour or start marking point height and Revit will automatically form terrain, next you just trace the roadwork and split the terrain into road and land and your done.

[Harjeet Singh]

glue works for me too in such cases.