Importing terrain files?

[Tomkat]

Does AC3D import terrain files? If it does... if I then import an object, can I view that objects "height" (y-coordinate) as it relates to distance above terrain?

[Andy]

It imports .ter (Terragen Terrain) - is that what you need?

[Tomkat]

I'm not sure. I'm working with an older game that uses 8-bit, 256 value depth maps. Maybe I can convert them, but before I even try... would a successful import of the terrain result in a terrain that I can "measure" from if I insert an item... would I be able to directly know its height above the terrain, without doing calculations?

[Andy]

Once imported, simply select what you want to measure and the dimensions will be displayed along the top of the AC3D interface. This could be the whole lot or perhaps two vertices, one on the 'ground' and one at the maximum.


Bas-relief-from texture (Tools menu) might be useful if you can get your data into image form. See here for more info: https://www.inivis.com/supercoldmilk...basrelief.html

[Tomkat]

Thanks! It just might work... with some tweaking. I'll play around with it a bit.

[Tomkat]

OK, so far, so good... but here's where I'm stuck.
I need to know the distance from the vertex at the bottom of the item to the terrain (the red dashed line), EVEN IF there is no vertex directly there (which there isn't, in my case.)

I basically need to "project" the vertex onto the terrain "tile" below, then I could determine its Y-value.
I can't think of any booleans, knifes, or plugins that would work, and reveal that distance.. do you have any ideas?