I saw a thread a while back about using a program called World Wind which contains NASA satelite images and using it to generate terrains in Vue. No details were given as to how this was done and I'm wondering if it was just an idea someone had had but hadn't actually tried it. Is anyone out there actually doing this? The reason I am asking is that I have seen World Wind on the cover disc of PC Pro and will get it if I can use it in conjunction with Vue (4). Thanks, Kevin

Attached Link: http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/features.html

world wind is free of charge, download it from the nasa website. i think the idea was just to use it as textures or alphaplanes not realy like using dem files in other words but i could be wrong i havent realy checked out worldwind myself more then a few minutes (its a seriously cool app just that i havent had time) so it might even be able to spit out dem files or its possible to use the images to build terrains what do i know :)

Hi there! There is no point in using World Wind data for Vue. In case you need world-elevation data as well as textures you should check: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/ There you'll find all data and with a little photoshop you can create your own "dataset". Good luck! cheers, bounzer. PS: Check the earth-picture I've made in my gallery. The data from BlueMarble is really cooooool...

Hi Bounzer, I checked out your earth picture and it's great. Did you just use the Blue Marble data as an Alpha plane or was that a complete 3D sphere? Hi war2, I knew about WW being a free download but it looks like a big file and this takes ages on my dial up connection. What I was looking for was a set of relief maps that I could make grey-scale and then import them into Vue to use as terrains. Is there maybe something else you all know about like that Blue Marble say, that can do that? Thanks, Kevin

Hi Bounzer, I checked out your earth picture and it's great. Did you just use the Blue Marble data as an Alpha plane or was that a complete 3D sphere? Hi war2, I knew about WW being a free download but it looks like a big file and this takes ages on my dial up connection. What I was looking for was a set of relief maps that I could make grey-scale and then import them into Vue to use as terrains. Is there maybe something else you all know about like that Blue Marble say, that can do that? Thanks, Kevin

Hi Kevin... I'm not using alpha-planes. Wouldn't make sense here anyway. All 3d... I can rotate the earth-model. Cheers, Simon. PS: You'll find all heightdata (grey-scale) on the blue marble.

I agree - NASA Worldwind is a fascinating app (but a 128meg download, so get it on the CD while you can!) but the Blue Marble data is better for use in Vue.

Hello kevin c,not sure what exactly your looking for but there is a free program called World Machine out there that works extremely well for exporting bitmaps,RAW,terragen files and a few other formats of terrains built by you,pretty damn easy once ya get it figured out(like anything i guess)And they work awesome in Vue,poor mans procedurals with a few less poygons as well.Hope it helps ya out.Works great for me with 256M RAM

Thanks LordWexford and Samhain74. I've decided to buy the mag and see what happens! I think the Blue Marble data may be on the CD but could be wrong. Also I'll have a look for that World Machine program. I'm really just looking for some short cuts for producing terrains of real life landscapes. Say you wanted to do a virtual fly through of the Grand Canyon or something like that. Thanks, Kevin

Theres also a wealth of bitmaps out there of real places,ie:Yellowstone,Grand Canyon ect all over the web on many many terragen sites,and here in the free stuff area that you can also use in Vue.They all work extremely well,good luck to you.

World Machine is a superb programme - especially considering that it's still free. I've had some success in importing DEM files straight into V5, although you may need to tweak to get exactly what you want.