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?

[Andy]

The length of the red line will be the same as the y-size of the selection if you select one of the (lower) vertices in the upper tile, and another which is in line with the bottom end of the red line.

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by Andy

The length of the red line will be the same as the y-size of the selection if you select one of the (lower) vertices in the upper tile, and another which is in line with the bottom end of the red line.

But, what if there is no vertex in line with the bottom end of the red line? (I added the red line in photoshop, so I would have no actual visual reference in AC3D.) Also, keep in mind that the bottom of the red line might be in a "valley" so my view of it is blocked from all sides. What I thought MIGHT work was...

1. draw a line straight down from the bottom vertex with a length that takes it THROUGH one of the mesh terrain "tiles."
2. Find some way to "intersect" or "knife" so that a vertex appears where the line goes through the tile.

However, I can't find anything that will work for step 2.

[Tomkat]

I basically need to know where this line pierces the tile (for any line thru any location on the tile)... do you know of any way to do that? Booleans don't seem to work with lines, only polygons.

Also, is there any way to select 2 vertices then and have AC3D automatically create a line between them? This seems like it should be a simple task, but I can't seem to find a way.

[Andy]

You can use a rectangle/plane with the Object->Boolean->knife functions. That may be a way to create a vertex in the right location.


To make a line from two vertices, select both, Vertex->Create-ordered-surface (that will make a two vertex polygon, an invalid polygon shown in blue) then press Set-surface-type->Line (in the bottom left of the control panel). That will turn it into a valid line.