I especially enjoy generating photographic-like images of landscapes by rendering terrains, using elevation data files as input material. This is how I do it. I also like generating projections of 3-D terrains from elevation data inputs. To see some examples of my work, please view the following pages:
- Mt. Diablo
Here are some terrain projections of the highest mountain in Contra Costa County.
- Mt. St. Helena
Here are some terrain projections of the highest mountain in Napa County, the heart of Northern California's Wine Country.
- Mt. Tamalpais
Here are some terrain projections of the highest mountain in Marin County.
Before viewing the above pages, please note:
- You can view some of the images in 3-D. If this option is available,
it will be marked with an icon of
red-cyan 3-D glasses: (
).
If you want to view the 3-D versions of the terrains:
- put on your red-cyan 3-D glasses (with the cyan lens over your right eye);
- click on the 3-D icon to view the image or just view any image to the right of the 3-D glasses icon; and
- adjust the focus of your eyes to a point just forward of the
plane of your monitor until the image jumps out
of the screen
and gets into your face.
- Red-cyan 3-D glasses may be purchased at a variety of toy, science and educational stores 0r on-line.
Creating Digital Terrain Art
If you are wondering how I create these images, I use the following general procedure:
- Download a digital elevation model (DEM) file of the desired terrain;
- Read this file into a DEM file viewing and processing application;
and
- Export the results into a file that can be read by a terrain rendering application to show what the landscape should look like from various vantage points on the surface of the 3-D terrain map.
If you want to try doing this yourself, here are the applications (i.e., software) and other resources that I use:
- I use the digital elevation model files that the USGS
makes available. These define a 3-D [landscape] terrain using the new
USGS STDS formatting
standard.
- I use 3dem, a DEM/STDS file viewing and processing application
to make simple projections of the terrain. This allows me to view a
landscape from many different angles. I also use it to export the DEM
files into a file format (.ter) that can be read into the terrain rendering
application, Terragen.
The 3dem Information Page describes what the software can do and how to download it. This application is now freeware. Unfortunately, no Mac version is available. The application is no longer being developed.
The 3dem Information Page also contains some handy links to sources of DEM files. Even if you do not export DEM files for terrain rendering, you can have a lot of fun using 3dem to view terrain files from all different angles, make flyover movies and even alter sea levels.
- I use Terragen, a 3-D terrain rendering application to create
photograph-like renderings of my terrains. This application reads a
.ter file, which consists of 3-D terrain data and projects it onto a
2-D surface (i.e., a picture plane), showing what the landscape would
look like to an observer located at the point on the 3-D terrain map
the user chooses; it also adds surface features and lighting effects
to create an almost photographic appearance. The image of Mt. Diablo
on this Site's Home Page was rendered using the "Classic" version of this
software. A newer version of Terragen, Terragen 2, is also available, but it takes a lot of time to learn.
If you want to try using Terragen, download it (and read all about it), at Terragen's home page at Planetside . You can easily use this software without registering it, but you will not have access to all the features. A Mac version of this application is now available.