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Comments · 31

  1. 3D Landscape models in STL by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on The Modern Ease of 3D Printing

    There's two useful file formats for sending models to a 3D prototype machine -- the STL format, and a simplified variant of VRML.

    The STL file format was specifically designed for these purposes and is both simple and topologically strict (no wacky one-sided surfaces, etc). However, it was designed before any machines supported color output, so it entirely neglected color and color textures. So, fabricators like Z-corp adopted VRML in a simplified form to transfer color and texture to their modelmaking machines.

    [Semi-blatant but still interesting plugs]

    A couple of years ago, at the request of one of our customers (LGM, in Minturn Colorado) we added STL and VRML-for-STL output to the Scene Express output module of our Visual Nature Studio 3D landscape modeling tool. There are some free sample 3d STL landscape files that you can download and check out (or even build, if you're really bored and have too much money lying around. The technology is pretty amazing for making 3d maps models (more) for visitor centers and museums and golf courses and such, though we really need machines that can make a bigger model in one piece. Right now big models have to be made as small (like, 12"x12") pieces and tiled together. LGM has a big CNC mill that can carve a big model out of styrofoam, but it is all monochrome. It has to then be hand painted/textured/landscaped and populated with models, trees and buildings (which are sometimes STL-fabricated too!).

  2. 3D Landscape models in STL by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on The Modern Ease of 3D Printing

    There's two useful file formats for sending models to a 3D prototype machine -- the STL format, and a simplified variant of VRML.

    The STL file format was specifically designed for these purposes and is both simple and topologically strict (no wacky one-sided surfaces, etc). However, it was designed before any machines supported color output, so it entirely neglected color and color textures. So, fabricators like Z-corp adopted VRML in a simplified form to transfer color and texture to their modelmaking machines.

    [Semi-blatant but still interesting plugs]

    A couple of years ago, at the request of one of our customers (LGM, in Minturn Colorado) we added STL and VRML-for-STL output to the Scene Express output module of our Visual Nature Studio 3D landscape modeling tool. There are some free sample 3d STL landscape files that you can download and check out (or even build, if you're really bored and have too much money lying around. The technology is pretty amazing for making 3d maps models (more) for visitor centers and museums and golf courses and such, though we really need machines that can make a bigger model in one piece. Right now big models have to be made as small (like, 12"x12") pieces and tiled together. LGM has a big CNC mill that can carve a big model out of styrofoam, but it is all monochrome. It has to then be hand painted/textured/landscaped and populated with models, trees and buildings (which are sometimes STL-fabricated too!).

  3. 3D Landscape models in STL by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on The Modern Ease of 3D Printing

    There's two useful file formats for sending models to a 3D prototype machine -- the STL format, and a simplified variant of VRML.

    The STL file format was specifically designed for these purposes and is both simple and topologically strict (no wacky one-sided surfaces, etc). However, it was designed before any machines supported color output, so it entirely neglected color and color textures. So, fabricators like Z-corp adopted VRML in a simplified form to transfer color and texture to their modelmaking machines.

    [Semi-blatant but still interesting plugs]

    A couple of years ago, at the request of one of our customers (LGM, in Minturn Colorado) we added STL and VRML-for-STL output to the Scene Express output module of our Visual Nature Studio 3D landscape modeling tool. There are some free sample 3d STL landscape files that you can download and check out (or even build, if you're really bored and have too much money lying around. The technology is pretty amazing for making 3d maps models (more) for visitor centers and museums and golf courses and such, though we really need machines that can make a bigger model in one piece. Right now big models have to be made as small (like, 12"x12") pieces and tiled together. LGM has a big CNC mill that can carve a big model out of styrofoam, but it is all monochrome. It has to then be hand painted/textured/landscaped and populated with models, trees and buildings (which are sometimes STL-fabricated too!).

  4. 3D Landscape models in STL by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on The Modern Ease of 3D Printing

    There's two useful file formats for sending models to a 3D prototype machine -- the STL format, and a simplified variant of VRML.

    The STL file format was specifically designed for these purposes and is both simple and topologically strict (no wacky one-sided surfaces, etc). However, it was designed before any machines supported color output, so it entirely neglected color and color textures. So, fabricators like Z-corp adopted VRML in a simplified form to transfer color and texture to their modelmaking machines.

    [Semi-blatant but still interesting plugs]

    A couple of years ago, at the request of one of our customers (LGM, in Minturn Colorado) we added STL and VRML-for-STL output to the Scene Express output module of our Visual Nature Studio 3D landscape modeling tool. There are some free sample 3d STL landscape files that you can download and check out (or even build, if you're really bored and have too much money lying around. The technology is pretty amazing for making 3d maps models (more) for visitor centers and museums and golf courses and such, though we really need machines that can make a bigger model in one piece. Right now big models have to be made as small (like, 12"x12") pieces and tiled together. LGM has a big CNC mill that can carve a big model out of styrofoam, but it is all monochrome. It has to then be hand painted/textured/landscaped and populated with models, trees and buildings (which are sometimes STL-fabricated too!).

  5. 3D Landscape models in STL by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on The Modern Ease of 3D Printing

    There's two useful file formats for sending models to a 3D prototype machine -- the STL format, and a simplified variant of VRML.

    The STL file format was specifically designed for these purposes and is both simple and topologically strict (no wacky one-sided surfaces, etc). However, it was designed before any machines supported color output, so it entirely neglected color and color textures. So, fabricators like Z-corp adopted VRML in a simplified form to transfer color and texture to their modelmaking machines.

    [Semi-blatant but still interesting plugs]

    A couple of years ago, at the request of one of our customers (LGM, in Minturn Colorado) we added STL and VRML-for-STL output to the Scene Express output module of our Visual Nature Studio 3D landscape modeling tool. There are some free sample 3d STL landscape files that you can download and check out (or even build, if you're really bored and have too much money lying around. The technology is pretty amazing for making 3d maps models (more) for visitor centers and museums and golf courses and such, though we really need machines that can make a bigger model in one piece. Right now big models have to be made as small (like, 12"x12") pieces and tiled together. LGM has a big CNC mill that can carve a big model out of styrofoam, but it is all monochrome. It has to then be hand painted/textured/landscaped and populated with models, trees and buildings (which are sometimes STL-fabricated too!).

  6. Re:Price still factors, though, and AMD competes. by PitaBred · · Score: 1 · on Intel Next-Gen CPU Has Memory Controller and GPU

    Say what? The 8800GTX may have crap drivers in Vista, but under XP, drivers are way more than fine. And OpenGL is something that ATI has NEVER been good at ( http://www.3dnature.com/ati.html http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38 589 ). Why is this misinformation modded up?

  7. Re:hmm by PitaBred · · Score: 1 · on How To Request Better ATI Linux Support

    You should see what the people at 3DNature had to do to get them to respond (I used to work there)

  8. Re:Buy NVidia by PitaBred · · Score: 1 · on How To Request Better ATI Linux Support

    What you have to do is you have to issue a press release to actually get them to take notice of any bugs in ANY of their drivers.

  9. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  10. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  11. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  12. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  13. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  14. Gratuitious plug: I do this for a living by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Reconstructing Real Cities in Google Earth

    While the virtual Fayetteville is cool, it's kinda late to the party. This is exactly what my software is used for, and we even already support Google Earth, NASA WorldWind, VRML, VTP and more. The nice thing being, unlike SketchUp, we author to many formats, not just KML, so you can reuse the same scene in numerous environments and you're not locked in.

    http://3dnature.com/scene.html
    http://3dnature.com/kml.html

    Here's a heapload of links about this sort of thing done by my users over the past few years. Some of this is realtime (Google Earth or our NatureView Express viewer) and some of it is pre-rendered to still images, AVIs or Quicktime (similar to something like Blender or POVRay).
    http://3dnature.com/images/DUQueryPhoto.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/NVE-Interlocken.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/FairplayPowerPlant.jpg
    http://3dnature.com/images/Fairplay-WW-large.jpg
    http://redgeographics.com/sample_apeldoorn_3d.php
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=FAhl
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=JBailey
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MBoyer
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=KBried%E9
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=GDonaldso n-Selby
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MGualdrin i
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=RLovel
    http://www.3dnworld.com/gallery.php?user=MOstrom

    And plenty more like it.

  15. Buy this book! Support Paul! by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 3, Interesting · on OpenGL Distilled

    Full disclosure: Paul is a friend of mine, and I helped proof this book too.

    In all seriousness, this is an excellent book. Paul wrote this book to fill a serious need -- an updated, quality OpenGL book for this age. So much of what is in the canonical texts is no longer important (geometry by Begin/End), and they won't cover the new recommended practices (VBOs, Vertex Arrays, etc).

    On a personal level, Paul is one of the most generous and helpful programmers I know. I owe him lots of beer for all the advice he has provided. He also participates in the open source OpenScenGraph project:
    http://openscenegraph.org/
    a high-performance 3D toolkit for Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux, used in hundreds of open source and commercial simulator, game and 3D visualization projects (including my company's NatureView Express tool http://3dnature.com/nv.html -- plug plug!)

  16. SketchUp's sweet by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 2, Interesting · on SketchUp Hooks Up With Google Earth

    It's a bunch of great guys in Boulder, Colorado (not too far from my company in Morrison). Their product kicks butt. If you want intuitive 3D modelling, get it. It's pretty cool that they have released a free version for Google modeling. I don't think it's really monopolistic/anticompetitive, because the free version ONLY works with Google Earth. It can't export to anything else useful. You still have to buy the $500 Pro version for that. And $500 is a bargain for what you get.

    Yes, their freebie version is useful for people who want to model their own house and not use it in Google Earth, but really, you can't say they're shutting out anyone here by making it free -- there's Free Software like Blender and Wings3D that have been out forever that filled that niche too, and so far the market for 3D modeling tools has failed to collapse. (The difference being that ANYONE can learn SketchUp in a few hours. Really.)

    Commercial diclosure and plugs: My company makes an add-on foliage library for SketchUp and a Google Earth Exporter for our 3D Landscape visualization software. But I don't get diddly for kickbacks from Google/SketchUp. I really do think they have a kickin product.

  17. SketchUp's sweet by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 2, Interesting · on SketchUp Hooks Up With Google Earth

    It's a bunch of great guys in Boulder, Colorado (not too far from my company in Morrison). Their product kicks butt. If you want intuitive 3D modelling, get it. It's pretty cool that they have released a free version for Google modeling. I don't think it's really monopolistic/anticompetitive, because the free version ONLY works with Google Earth. It can't export to anything else useful. You still have to buy the $500 Pro version for that. And $500 is a bargain for what you get.

    Yes, their freebie version is useful for people who want to model their own house and not use it in Google Earth, but really, you can't say they're shutting out anyone here by making it free -- there's Free Software like Blender and Wings3D that have been out forever that filled that niche too, and so far the market for 3D modeling tools has failed to collapse. (The difference being that ANYONE can learn SketchUp in a few hours. Really.)

    Commercial diclosure and plugs: My company makes an add-on foliage library for SketchUp and a Google Earth Exporter for our 3D Landscape visualization software. But I don't get diddly for kickbacks from Google/SketchUp. I really do think they have a kickin product.

  18. Re:Photoshop capable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on NASA BlueMarble: Next Generation

    WHAT A RIP OFF. Ultimate Earth
    THIS SOFTWARE COSTS OVER $700(US0)
    BUT YOU HAVE TO REGISTER TO EVEN SEE THE PRICES.

    NOT the kind of post that should be made here.
    Ultimate Earth http://www.3dnature.com/ue.html Bad move Bad site

  19. Re:Photoshop capable? by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 4, Informative · on NASA BlueMarble: Next Generation

    Photoshop: Open As, Raw, select the file, fill in the X and Y dimensions. Number of channels is 3, 0 bytes header. I haven't been able to get one of the files yet, so I can't tell you if you need to turn on interleaved or not, but I suspect you will want interleaved.

    We (3D Nature) packaged up the old BlueMarble data, along with 1Km terrain data for the whole earth (GTOPO30) on a product called Ultimate Earth for our landscape visualization software, Visual Nature Studio. It's pretty cool to be able to pull up an area, add your own data to what we provide, and have a ready-made planet visualization.

  20. Re:Photoshop capable? by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 4, Informative · on NASA BlueMarble: Next Generation

    Photoshop: Open As, Raw, select the file, fill in the X and Y dimensions. Number of channels is 3, 0 bytes header. I haven't been able to get one of the files yet, so I can't tell you if you need to turn on interleaved or not, but I suspect you will want interleaved.

    We (3D Nature) packaged up the old BlueMarble data, along with 1Km terrain data for the whole earth (GTOPO30) on a product called Ultimate Earth for our landscape visualization software, Visual Nature Studio. It's pretty cool to be able to pull up an area, add your own data to what we provide, and have a ready-made planet visualization.

  21. Re:and I bet geeks pirate it more than pay for it by PitaBred · · Score: 1 · on More Mac OS X on Plain Old x86 Boxes

    Other apps that use windowed GL:
    Max
    VNS
    Blender
    Wings 3D
    Solidworks
    And those are just off the top of my head. ALL of them will take a massive performance hit from this maneuver by MicroShaft. Direct3D will still suck as an API, DirectX will still suck, and even worse, even though OpenGL will be supported, it'll be frozen at 1.4. There go all your shaders and anything nice you might want to use in OpenGL 2.0 except in a full-screen app (read: games. MS ain't dumb enough to alienate their gamers, but they may just force the professionals to *nix).
    But hey, they're MS. Now be a good little consumer and bend over.

  22. OpenSceneGraph at SIGGraph by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on SIGGraph and Open Source

    OpenSceneGraph (http://www.openscenegraph.org) had a pretty good showing at SIGGraph. I attended the BOF (Birds of a Feather) meeting, and presented what my company has done with it.

    OSG as it is known is a modified LGPL -- modified to allow code to be included in commercial projects via C++ inline functions, which technically would violate the pure-LGPL stipulation of dynamic-linking only.

    OSG is an excellent example of the marriage of commercial/proprietary software and Open Source. Tons of people use OSG to build Open Source and commercial apps. No one minds if my company, or anyone else builds commercial, closed-source apps with OSG, because it's the meat of OSG that is valuable to the community. There may be useful parts in other people's applications, but it's the improvements of the core code that drives the project. If enough closed-source people need the same capability, befor elong, it will ge developed and put into the code OSG project for all to benefit from.

    It's a profitable deal for everyone involved, and I think it's a great example of how Open Source and proprietary projects aren't necessarily at odds with each other, and can mutually benefit from their relationship.

  23. OpenSceneGraph at SIGGraph by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on SIGGraph and Open Source

    OpenSceneGraph (http://www.openscenegraph.org) had a pretty good showing at SIGGraph. I attended the BOF (Birds of a Feather) meeting, and presented what my company has done with it.

    OSG as it is known is a modified LGPL -- modified to allow code to be included in commercial projects via C++ inline functions, which technically would violate the pure-LGPL stipulation of dynamic-linking only.

    OSG is an excellent example of the marriage of commercial/proprietary software and Open Source. Tons of people use OSG to build Open Source and commercial apps. No one minds if my company, or anyone else builds commercial, closed-source apps with OSG, because it's the meat of OSG that is valuable to the community. There may be useful parts in other people's applications, but it's the improvements of the core code that drives the project. If enough closed-source people need the same capability, befor elong, it will ge developed and put into the code OSG project for all to benefit from.

    It's a profitable deal for everyone involved, and I think it's a great example of how Open Source and proprietary projects aren't necessarily at odds with each other, and can mutually benefit from their relationship.

  24. I think I have some expertise here... by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 4, Informative · on Landscape Projection with Blender?

    Considering this is what I do for a living.

    I won't be able to give you much advice for doing this on Linux, or with Open Source software, since I'm actually not aware of anything that meets both those criteria. I know you didn't stipulate those criteria, but this is Slashdot.

    The first issue you face is converting bitmapped contour data into a heightfield. This is not the same as converting greyscale to heightfields, which is a trivial matter. Most of the links proposed already cover using a greyscale image.

    A helpful site for you will be http://terrainmap.com/. He has an application (Windows, $free) called Blackart that tries to extract meaning from scanned topo map contours and build a DEM/heightfield out of it. A commercial app (Windows, $1500) that does the same thing is R2V. I've not used either so I can't comment on what you get for your $1500.

    Once you have a DEM, you can probably find a way to convert it into a file format that Blender can use as a 3D object and apply texturing to.

    The next step is, what kind of texturing? If you just want to be able to slap some pretty-looking colors or natural-looking dirt/rock/grass/snow effects onto it, you can probably do that in Blender. If Blender can't do everything you want, you might try Terragen (Windows/Mac, $free), which is a little more landscape-oriented. I would not recommend VistaPro at this point, it's pretty outdated. TG is at least still being developed, although it's going commercial.

    If you need to be able to place real-world image information onto the terrain (airphoto or satellite images, GIS databases, other scanned maps, etc) then Blender is really becoming a poor choice for your needs. (What were your criteria for choosing Blender anyway? It's not known for its landscape capabilities.) The trouble becomes that data like these are usually stored in a different Coordinate System (read the whole VTP site while you're there, Ben's got GREAT info). This means that lining up the position, size and rotation of the two pieces of data is difficult if your software doesn't know how to do it for you. Even most low-end landscape software (Terragen, VistaPro, more free here) can't do this. This is the realm of typically fairly expensive commercial 3D landscape software with a GIS tie-in, such as ESRI's 3D Analyst (Windows, $3500) read info on commercial page above) and my company's Visual Nature Studio (Windows/Mac, $2500).

    I won't pretend that my company's product meets your needs, but I have to mention it. I suspect that you'll be able to meet your requirements using some of the tools I outlined first. If however, you find yourself doing this sort of stuff a lot, that's where the polish, integration, support and other frills of commercial software like mine may start to become valuable to you.

    Hope you find what you're looking for. If you (or anybody else) have more questions about this, I'd be happy to answer them privately or publicly. As you can see from the above, despite selling my software, I try to be objective and don't always tell you my product is what you need. ;)

  25. Go General Purpose by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 4, Interesting · on Rendering Processors: AR350 vs AMD vs P4?

    In my ten years in the computer graphics business, I can't tell you how many specialized hardware rendering platforms I've seen come, and go. Renderdrive has hung on longer than others, but I still feel that nothing beats the bang/buck of a stable of nice commodity hardware.

    A lot depends on what application you plan on running. Each app has their own approach to distributed processing, and their support (or lack thereof) for any given hardware is critical.

    I would lean towards AMD 64-bit CPUs at this time. Some renderers are optimized for P4, but the AMD chips seem to run P4 code quite well, and they run all other X86 code wonderfully.

    You can rack up a bunch of commodity boxes for a great price, and render to your heart's content on them. In some cases, depending on support from your rendering software vendor, you might even be able to run Linux on them.

    I will put in a plug here for an open-source program I created, SuperConductor (http://super-conductor.org/ that is a multi-application portable render farm controller. It's written in Qt 3, and runs on Linux and Windows right now (no Mac Qt dev kit to try it on). It currently supports my rendering software (World Construction Set/Visual Nature Studio) but is designed to be extensible to other renderers. We could use someone to add support for Maya, POV-Ray, or other apps. The freshest source (a complete rewrite) is in SourceForge CVS right now!

  26. The real scoop from an industry veteran by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Which 3D Rendering Package Do You Recommend?

    I've been following the Newtek/Luxology spectacle for a while, and I would not call it a bitter divorce. For purposes of ensuring their continued viability should Newtek be bought out by someone, the Lightwave programmers decided to clarify what has been the case all along. Newtek does not develop or own Lightwave. Newtek is the exclusive publisher of Lightwave. This has been the case all along. Lightwave is developed and owned by a small group of programmers, who now call themselves Luxology.

    There have been hints that Luxology might develop some 3D software of their own that would not be published through Newtek. I believe this is probably true, but it doesn't mean it will compete with LW, or that LW is dead. In fact, I suspect they are probably contractually prohibited from competing with Newtek/LW.

    I have used LW since version 1.0 on the Amiga, and have used it on (nearly) every platform they've made it for (except the short-lived Sun and SGI ports). I think LW is an excellent all around package, and is generally a great modeller and renderer, as well as being powerful but easily learned. The polygonal modelling tools are considered some of the best in the industry both for realistic work and for realtime games modelling.

    I have used 3DSMax since Max V1 (never used 3DS for DOS). It's also a good program, and very powerful and extensible. It has a strong following in the Architectural and CAD fields (due to the tie-ins with AutoCAD) and games industries (because of GMax). People with Cad/Drafting experience find it more intuitive than LW. People without this kind of background often find Max to be rigid and unintuitive compared to LW.

    Maxon Cinema 4D, Hash Animation Master, Realsoft 3D, Strata, Carrara, Truespace and a handful of others all occupy a tier in the market where you get a heck of a lot of great features for a great price. Generally there is something percieved about each of these programs that makes people exclude them for 'professional' work. Often, this is complete bunk. You can get the job done with most any modern package, but some do make getting the end result easier. In any case, they're great for starters, and learning, and you can always buy something pricier later if/when you feel you have outgrown the capabilities you have.

    Maya and SoftImage used to be the Kings of the industry. Max and Lightwave have steadily carved the foundation out from under this preconceived notion, and a lot of top-end work is now done in LW and Max. Nonetheless, there Big Guys do still have some edges. They are generally more expandable, scriptable, customizable and plugin-able. They often let you get deeper into the guts of the system than the other packages. This comes with a cost though -- it makes the programs very complex, and many find SI and AW:Maya to be difficult and overwhelming at first. Many people 'graduate' to the big guys after years of being happy with the functionality of other programs. SI and AW:Maya used to be very expensive, but market forces have slashed the prices of all 3D software recently, making this less of an issue.

    ElectricImage has been a Mac program all along, but appears to be on unsound ground -- not even sure who owns them now (Play?) and if it's being developed.

    MacOSX concerns: I know LW, Hash A:M, EI, MaxonC4D are all available now with varying degrees of Mac-ishness. I thought either SI or A:W Maya was coming, but don't remember which, or when. 3DSMax (or its sister package 3DSViz) will never be Mac because they're built entirely around Windows MFC. They couldn't even get a port to DEC Alpha WinNT to work. Not sure where Strata, Carrara, Real or Truespace stand as far as Mac ports. Also, most cross-platform apps (LW, SI, AW:Maya) have their own look & feel to be consistent with themselves on all platforms. This means they don't look like the UI-du-jour of any particular platform. Many people claim this is a Very Bad Thing, but as a cross-platform developer myself, I disagree somewhat. Don't let this be your sole deciding factor.

    Oh, and shameless self-promotion: If you want to do landscapes, check out my software, World Construction Set. We even have a Mac version, though it's not MacOSX yet.

  27. Re:It depends by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Which 3D Rendering Package Do You Recommend?

    I have to put in my two-cents here. I think if you're interested in landscape rendering, you should compare all the options. Bryce, Vue d'Esprit, World Builder, and my own software, World Construction Set.

  28. World Construction Set -- [not open source] by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Open Source, GIS and Data Visualization?

    I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention my company's product World Construction Set.
    Sounds like something you might have a use for. We're not Open Source (and we would be starving and the product wouldn't exist, if it were ;) but we try to avoid all the traps and tricks of proprietary software vendors that irritate us all. Sorry, no Linux version yet, just Mac and Windows.

  29. NVidia cards for the Mac by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Suggested Graphics Cards For The Macintosh?

    Caveat: I haven't had a chance to try a Radeon card for any platform, so I can only comment on NVidia GeForce series cards.

    In my experience OpenGL performance on the GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce2 MX and GeForce2 Quadro chips have all been quite acceptible. Here's a page of WCS OpenGL benchmarks on various Windows machines:

    http://www.3dnature.com/glbench.html


    These are not all done on the same machine, so numbers are generally relative.

    That being said, the GeForce2 MX holds its own very well in OpenGL, and will probably outperform any other Mac 3D card out there (no data on Radeon yet).

    If you're not concerned with 3D, the point is moot. You don't need a GeForce or a Radeon.

  30. Informed decision: Communitech.net by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Cheap Web Hosting for Individuals or Small Firms?
    I went through the same process a while ago looking for a WebSP with good connectivity, no bandwidth limits or fees, lots of storage and good server-side services like perl/PHP etc. I ended up with Communitech.net. I had heard they'd had some service and customer service problems a year or two ago, but they have been very good while I have been there, and the price is very reasonable. I think it's $29 per month. From their newsletter, I gather they've put a lot of work into redundant systems and reliability and they seem to have geat connectivity. They're in St Louis, MO. You can try our web site at http://www.3dnature.com if you want traceroutes or bandwidth tests or anything.



    Plusses:

    • They have a neat Java-based Control Panel app for remotely adminning most of your web account settings. Very nice.
    • NT/IIS or Solaris/Apache 1.3.3 based hosting. We use Solaris/Apache.
    • PHP3, Perl, MySQL, ASP, FrontPage, ColdFusion, RealNetworks, shopping carts, FTP, SSL, Chat, more.


    Minuses:

    • Tech support must initially be made by e-mail, telephone contact is only initiated if Communitech feels it is necessary. E-mail support is usually quite good though.
    • Their VirtualServer/VirtualDomain package _requires_ that their servers run mail for your domain as well as web hosting. They do allow for forwarding, mailing lists, lots of mailboxes, etc, and it can all be controlled through the control panel. But, if you like doing your own sendmail and MX for your domain, you may find it annoying that they won't make exceptions.
    • Set up fee of $35 unless you pre-pay 6 months. You must sign up and pre-pay at least 3 months to start. I think there's a refund if you bail.

    Dunno if they have a referral deal or anything, but if you decide to go with them, mention my name -- maybe my hosting bill will go down. ;)

  31. Want realism? by XenonOfArcticus · · Score: 1 · on Revolution in Graphics?
    It ain't real-time, but it's what I do for a living. And I (modestly) think it's some of the best.


    World Construction Set.


    Sorry, but I haven't had enough time to port it to Linux or Be yet. Currently Amiga, Mac and Windows.