Importing .grd Files?

handyman4545

Im a novice user and as such, still running through the tutor files.
I'm trying to create a ground "Terrain" other than the boring mountain that Bryce opens with.
Is there some way to modify the mountain to invert it or is there some way to get a .grd file of a contour map I made into Bryce?
I can't locate an import file for that other than the "Import obj"
Handyman454

Horo

handyman4545 - sorry, never heard of grd files. You can import height maps into the Bryce Terrain Editor (TE). It accepts 16 bit greyscale images (TIF, PNG) which means that you can also draw them in a graphics application. The TE is very versatile, there are many different terrain types you can generate, you can filter them, etc. Yes, the default mountain is not the best example. So you create a terrain (boring isle). Click on the E to open the TE and you enter a new universe ...

handyman4545

Im trying to build a 3D scene involving a quarry.

I used Google Earth to get the Lat's, Long's & Alt's and then with Surfer, derived a wireframe map but it ends up in a .grd file and I can't figure out how to get it into some type of DEM format that Bryce will accept as a base terrain.

Maybe I'm working too hard at somthing there's an easy fix for but thus far in my miniscule but growing experience, I'm lost.

UPDATE Base + 6Hrs

I started fooling around with the brush in TE and have the functionality figured out now.
Precision sucks though. Wish there was some way to "eye dropper" the hues to maintain more precise elevations. The controls couldn't be much friggin smaller I imagine. Be nice if you could magnify the areas.
PLUS you can't tell the difference between the side of the TE fog image, the thumb nail render image or the actual rendering image. Oddly, they're not linked to each other to rotate as any single image is rotated. You GUESS you're making changes to teh east side and it turns out to be the north side.
Plus, none of the camera/image rotation controls are similar between Bryce, Hexagon and DAZ. They're all different? What's up with that?
There has to be an easier way to make custom contours and elevations?

mach25

handyman4545 said:

Im trying to build a 3D scene involving a quarry.

I used Google Earth to get the Lat's, Long's & Alt's and then with Surfer, derived a wireframe map but it ends up in a .grd file and I can't figure out how to get it into some type of DEM format that Bryce will accept as a base terrain.

Maybe I'm working too hard at somthing there's an easy fix for but thus far in my miniscule but growing experience, I'm lost.

UPDATE Base + 6Hrs

I started fooling around with the brush in TE and have the functionality figured out now.
Precision sucks though. Wish there was some way to "eye dropper" the hues to maintain more precise elevations. The controls couldn't be much friggin smaller I imagine. Be nice if you could magnify the areas.
PLUS you can't tell the difference between the side of the TE fog image, the thumb nail render image or the actual rendering image. Oddly, they're not linked to each other to rotate as any single image is rotated. You GUESS you're making changes to teh east side and it turns out to be the north side.
Plus, none of the camera/image rotation controls are similar between Bryce, Hexagon and DAZ. They're all different? What's up with that?
There has to be an easier way to make custom contours and elevations?

use 2d paint program and create a transparent layer on top of your reference pic and use high resolution,find a way to paint with a tiny greyscale brush to following your reference pics curves,have bryce open up and export greyscale and import to bryce to see results,that makes it easier and 2dpaint program probably has the eyedropper you missing in bryce terrain editor among ways to enter numerical values directly when choosing color

or try to convert reference pic to greyscale as starting point,for editing your terrain

 

handyman4545

This was my first attempt at building something like the quarry I'm looking for.

Not pretty but I learned alot from the procedure.

This is the rendering.

It looks more like a golf course than a rock quarry and I need to figure out how to do away with the stupid "island" effect of the water layer but I'm working on it.

Horo

handyman4545 - I see what you're up to. Yes, drawing the height map in a graphics application is your way to go. The Terrain Canvas can be scaled up, up to 960 x 960. The view is always up N, right E, down S and left W. Use the Perspective, not the Directors camera and set all rotation to 0, then it matches the image in the canvas provided the terrain also has no rotation. With the 3D Preview you can look at the terrain but this is not linked to anything. Brush size, brightness and how it fades can be set with the brush controls. There are also options for the brush if you click left of the down arrow on the terrain canvas to open the options.

Jamahoney

Handyman4545...there was a discussion back in 2015 on the Bryce Forum concerning generating height maps for any location on the World.

You might be able to do so for the Virginia quarry you show...so do have a read-through.

Jay

mach25

nice handyman

I think the reason of difference between Bryce(earlier metacreations,daz bought bryce),Hexagon(earlier Eovia,DAZ bought hexagon and carrara) and DAZ studio(their own product),is just different development teams/companies with different design idea how a 3d program should look and work

Horo,thanks didnt know that so I used 2d paint program and import to landscape programs ,for better control

but I still prefer 2d grayscale when needing details because I can use lot bigger than 960x960,I have eyedropper tool,enter digits between 0-MAX and more functions than terrain editor,if it looks too rough or something else when imported,just apply smoothing or other function in bryce