Highest Point of a Terrain

Started by jaf, February 11, 2018, 06:38:28 PM

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jaf

I've been working with World Creator 2 RC12 exporting .ter terrains into TG4.  So far I've found the displacement factor to be .670 (a 1000m high terrain needs a displacement of 670 to be 1000m -- 1000 x .670 = 670.  I've also found the x/z TG4 scale from WC2 needs to be set to 1.05 in TG4 (1024 from WC2 needs a 1.05 scale in TG4 x & z.)

Anyway, is there a way to find the point in meters of a terrain in TG4?  It can be difficult, at least for me, to accurately find the highest point (I made a 10, 1000, 10 rectangle object and positioned it in the front and right view, but thought there might be an easier way?)
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digitalguru

#1
If you have a copy of Nuke...

Grab a copy of TerraConv (free and small prog):
http://pkl.mbnet.fi/tg/TerraConv.htm
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=2117.0

This can convert your .ter file to a 32bit tiff - import this into Nuke and use the Curve tool to measure the Max Luma Pixel

This will give you the maximum intensity level which will be the maximum height of your terrain.

Usually though, displacement values are relative to the dimensions of the terrain they are taken from. and don't need any conversion -

For example if you take a .ter file from World Machine and the x and z dimensions are 8000 x 8000 units (8km square ) and the maximum luminance of the .ter map is 135 then the highest point in your terrain is 135 metres - no conversion needed, just make sure to map the .ter or displacement map to 8km square area.
(wondering how you are importing these World creator .ter files? you shouldn't have to adjust any displacement values?)

Of course I don't know World Creator, so this may not be applicable, but that's the way I would approach ensuring my dimensions are correct.

p.s World Creator looks very cool!

cyphyr

It's a bit of a hack (it works though) but I have taken sub meter accurate measurements of terrains by simply adding a surface layer and setting a minimum height with no fuzzy zone to about my expected height and let the texture preview complete (you can see a readout of the height where ever the cursor is pointing under the render preview). Then move the camera closer and adjust the surface layer minimum height some more so it's just touching your highest point. Rinse and repeat until you have an accurate enough reading for your purposes.
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jaf

Thanks for the replies -- I'll try both.

Maybe a feature could be added where when a heightfield is loaded or displacement changed, the largest Y value can be retained.  Actually, a plugin might be the thing...

Yes, I've been very impressed by WC2 -- it puts my GPU to work -- really shows what gpu computing can do compared to World Machine. I got hooked when I read this thread in the Lightwave forum: http://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php?155885-World-Creator-Awesome&highlight=World+Creator
Watch the video full screen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpMQr1ycuEo&feature=youtu.be
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Hetzen

The Heightfield Load node has statistics of the height range from min to max at the bottom of it's control page. You can adjust those with some of the other heightfield nodes linked up afterwards.

jaf

Quote from: Hetzen on February 12, 2018, 11:27:13 AM
The Heightfield Load node has statistics of the height range from min to max at the bottom of it's control page. You can adjust those with some of the other heightfield nodes linked up afterwards.

Ah, there it is!  Thanks.  With an imported heightfield I can multiply the displacement x max
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Oshyan

You can also just use the 3D Preview Location window (accessed on the View menu) and point your cursor at a part of the terrain get the height there. But yes if you need to know the absolute max height of a heightfield terrain the statistics in the Heightfield Load node itself are the best way.

- Oshyan