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dbibb · July 2nd, 2008

Dave,
I get elevation data from this site: http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/US/6.../group4-3.html

You can download the data for free using the green download arrows.

There's a free program called sdts2dem.exe. Use that to create the DEM file. (just copy sdts2dem.exe into the folder with the elevation files and run it)

I then use polytrans (not free) to import the DEM data, export to a 3ds, and import into max.

I think you can also import the DEM data directly to max, but it is a super heavy mesh. Polytrans does a much better job of interpolating the data into a usable mesh.

If anyone has a better/faster method than that I'd also like to know about it

Hope that helps,

July 2nd, 2008	#3 (permalink)
dbibb Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Dover, NH Posts: 36 Name: Derik Bibb	Re: Dem/Topography question Dave, I get elevation data from this site: http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/US/6.../group4-3.html You can download the data for free using the green download arrows. There's a free program called sdts2dem.exe. Use that to create the DEM file. (just copy sdts2dem.exe into the folder with the elevation files and run it) I then use polytrans (not free) to import the DEM data, export to a 3ds, and import into max. I think you can also import the DEM data directly to max, but it is a super heavy mesh. Polytrans does a much better job of interpolating the data into a usable mesh. If anyone has a better/faster method than that I'd also like to know about it Hope that helps, __________________ Derik Bibb Architectural Visualizer TANGRAM 3DS International 3D & Design Solutions