[Tutorial] Real World Height Data -> MS3D

[Mraah]

Hey everyone.

I'm going to post a Tutorial on how to simply and quickly convert REAL WORLD HEIGHT DATA -> MS3D .

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY until I'm done ... should be like 3 or 4 posts. I'll holler when done ... standby.

Note : Real World Data from The National Map Seamless Server (free).

Thank you,
Rob

[Mraah]

[Tutorial] Real World Height Data -> MS3D

Ok ... this is going to be short and sweet. Each Step explained in Each Post.

Explaination :
- MS3D has a tool called Height Map Generator. This can load BMP's that are shaded to reflect changes in elevation.
- If you goto to The National Map Seamless Server you can view data for the US. I know it's not Russia, but you may find a spot in the US that can resemble the map you want to make.
- This tutorial will, (hopefully), quickly and simply allow you to make a map (rough version).

STEP 1.
a. Goto the The National Map Seamless Server, http://seamless.usgs.gov/
b. Click on North America ... wait for loading.
c. Left click and drag to select an area to zoom in.
d. Repeat until you can get the scale (upper right corner) to read : Scale ~ 1:4,375 . This equates to 1 inch = 4,374 inches or about 111 meters/inch. I chose this scale because if you measure the viewing area from top to bottom it's about 9 inches tall ... 9 x 111 ~ 1000 meters. Also, in this demo, I had the Elevation set as seen in screen shot (right side). If available, you can get better resolution arc's (1/3 arc second).
e. Take a screen shot (Print Screen).
f. Proceed to Step 2 (image editor).
(by this point, you know where I'm going with this ...eh ?) [;)].

EDIT NOTE : - I chose a section of Fort Campbell, KY ... training area for armored units.

[Mraah]

Step 2. Cutting and Pasting - Resize to 64x64 / BMP.

I'm using Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI for my paint program.

a. Paste the image as a new file.
b. Selection Tool ... Select an area approximately 850 x 850 (see small circle at bottom of screen shot). Basically, I selected a square area equal to the vertical dimensions of the viewing area. Remember part (d) from Step 1 ?? Yeah, that's why.
b. Copy and paste this to a new image.
c. Resize this to 64 x 64 .
d. Results ... see screenshot , right hand side, circled image ... I pasted this to screen to show 64x64 image.
e. Save as a BMP.
f. Proceed to Step 3 ... Input to MS3D.

[Mraah]

Step 3. Import to MS3D.

Stridor wrote that already in other thread.
I'll quickly repeat top steps ...

a. Select TOOLS > Height Map Generator.
b. Load you new BMP.
c. Boom ... see screen shot.
d. You know from Stridor's tut what to do next.

Thank you for listening. Hope this Helps !!!

Yeah, I know it's rough and not very pretty, but hey ... it works ! [:D]

Image 1 of 2

[Mraah]

Image 2 of 2

[Mraah]

------- THE END ---------

Thank you again for listening. I'm open for questions ( I might not be able to answer them, but, I'm open anyway [;)])

Rob

[Mraah]

NOTES :

- Sorry for the huge screen shots ... I wanted them to be actual size and clear from any Jpeg compression.
- Sometimes The National Map Seamless Server can be busy. Also, you need POP-UP blockers OFF and it runs scripts too.
- Canada ??? I didn't check this country for data ... might help for more remote terrain, I don't know.

EDIT : Also, the Image data I pasted from Step 2 isn't the exact image I used for Step 3 ... Just a demo ... I had forgetton the original location, but it was close when I did it again .... I'm sure you guys get the idea [:)].

Thanks again for at least looking at this rough tut on a rough scale.

Rob

[Stridor]

Excellent Work Rob! [&o]

How good is the US data (what is the resolution)? I found GE wasn't really good enough to do high resolution maps at the 1meters scale.

Does it cover other parts of the world? I am guessing not.

Great work again.

S.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Stridor

Excellent Work Rob! [&o]

How good is the US data (what is the resolution)? I found GE wasn't really good enough to do high resolution maps at the 1meters scale.

Does it cover other parts of the world? I am guessing not.

Great work again.

S.

They say the resolution depends on if they have the data. Look at Step-2 screen ... I think the NED shaded relief (1/9 arc second) is the best ... but I don't think it's everywhere in the US.

I couldn't get the European area (plus Russia) to load up. Maybe no data, I dunno. It's a trial and error kind of thing.

Thanks again for you input ... it's just a rough map ... something to play with without having to download their format and convert a bunch of times. That other program MicroDem might be good for converting downloads of real world data, but it's from the USGS, again, another US source. I haven't pinged any other place for foreign data.

I did comes across OZI EXPLORER. They have a 3D viewer ... but I'm unsure if it has foriegn data. More of a GPS thing really.

Also, there is MAPSTOR.COM ... you can download free topo maps, or you can buy them. These are modern tho, and might have elevation data. I had to view both the map and the lat/long data with OZI Explorer.

LINKS :
... MicroDem ... http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/ ... crodem.htm
... Ozi Explorer ... http://www.oziexplorer.com/

The screen shot below is Russia, modern day ... Moscow.
Rob

[Mraah]

Ok, an update to this ... Yes, you can get shaded relief data for foreign countries.

Under Elevation option ... Select SRTM Finished 3 arc sec Shaded Relief. Other wise you won't see it.

My screen shot shows Poland and western Russia ... zoomed out.

Since it's 3 arc sec it's not going to be too detailed.

By the way, I was able to get 1/3 arc sec in USA, which is much better detail than my original screen shot tut (that was 1 arc second).

Hope this helps ... The whole tutorial was based on getting shaded terrain data without going through the trouble of downloading the data and converting it.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Mraah
Ok, an update to this ... Yes, you can get shaded relief data for foreign countries.
Under Elevation option ... Select SRTM Finished 3 arc sec Shaded Relief. Other wise you won't see it.
My screen shot shows Poland and western Russia ... zoomed out.
Since it's 3 arc sec it's not going to be too detailed.
By the way, I was able to get 1/3 arc sec in USA, which is much better detail than my original screen shot tut (that was 1 arc second).

Very interesting indeed! Thanks for the info on this.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Very interesting indeed! Thanks for the info on this.

Erik,

Quite welcome. However ... I tried using the 3 sec arc data via my tut and it looks horrible [:(]. I don't know what Google Earth uses, but if it's the same data I feel that google smooth's it out. For instance, my Singling topo map overlay example ... if you use Google Earth it shows a more smoothed out version than my exact contour map, like they average the data. This tells me it is smoothing it a bit. Also, when I viewed Singling via the Seamless map 3 arc data it looked good from a distance but became blocky at the level we need to simulate.

Anyway, I haven't downloaded the data for a European 3 sec arc, it might be better than my tut, or not. I can only think away around it is to zoom in enough to keep the gray shaded areas looking smooth (not blocky) and then using that for image for a presice selection pick in photo shop. I dunno.

Rob

[junk2drive]

Rob did you give up on this?
 
I've been messing with microdem, demcon, GE and a couple of other things for another reason. I can't seem to get something good for 1 meter or 10 meter elevations.

[junk2drive]

Played with this a while. Slower than a 14,4 modem back in the dial up days.
 
Shaded relief means that some places dark is low elevation and other places it is high elevation but on the shaded side of a rise. This won't work elevation mapping.

[Mraah]

J2J,

I haven't played with the idea since the posting.
I found myself having to take the image and flip it into a negative image to get the height correct but it still doesn't give me the results I expected [:(], at least without having to spend more time fixing it.

There is one tool I use on the side called the Height Map Editor, just google, the site is http://hme.sourceforge.net/

This can be used to mold your terrain and then save it as a BMP ... it's not real world height but it can generate some random stuff. I simply convert the final image to grayscale and resize it to 65x65.

Thanks for checking the idea out ... looks like it's not as good as it is on paper.

Rob

[junk2drive]

Random might be nice too. I'll check that out. Thanks.

[junk2drive]

HME works good for random generated after you figure it out.