How to create a terrain from a color Height map in 3ds Max

#1

I have a terrain map which is in color (from blue(low) to red (high)).
Is there a way to use this map to generate the terrain in 3ds Max?

#2

Grayscale works best. Heightmapping will only read the value anyway, not the color.

#3

But I can’t turn the map just grayscale because red turns dark.
So I probably need to hope then that I get the 3d data from the geographical centre where te map is from.

I hoped the top view could generate 3d (as I did it once before but drawing color in Max, relating to heigt value).

Hope that I get permission for the data then. Thanks anyway

#4

But I can’t turn the map just grayscale because red turns dark.
Greyscale, invert, done.

#5

Not really, blue and red both turn dark, the lightest colors are in the middle of a color scale. It’s not that simple.

#6

There’s a color curve on the bottom of the bitmap in 3ds Max. You can separate the color channels using that function and mutiply/add/screen using a composite map. Or do the whole channel separation in Photoshop.

#7

I will give that a try. Thanks for the info.

#8

Hi Wolf,

there are a few ways to turn that red and blue map to black and white.
One way is to go to the channels tab in photoshop and with the blue channel selected,
select all by hitting ctrl A, then copy with ctrl C
Then go back to full RGB and go back to the layers tab
in a new image file, in a new layer hit paste or ctrl V
you now have a gray scale image of the blue channel.
You can adjust the contrast to make it more of a black and white matte,
but there you go. You can use that for your heightmap.

Hope this helps,
- Bergquist
#9

Indeed the most likely way is to change it to a displacement map. But as a displacement map you can see it in 3d before your render, I did that several times allready to check te displacement.

But I will try to make a displacement map from the color one.

Thanks for your input.

#10

There’s a 3d displacement modifier which will do the same like a displacement map in a material except that you will have the actual geometry in the viewport.

#11

unrelated post

#12

I wouldn’t say “finally”, since these features have been around the entire time. We were doing height-mapped displacement back in 1998, anyway, but it may have been a plugin in Max. Even the cheapest 3D software, Bryce 3D, could handle height-mapped displacement. Some do it better than others though, but it’s really nothing new.

#13

unrelated post

#14

I also use Maya, since version 6 (2004-ish). You can use Modify -> Convert -> Displacement to Polygons, or in the Visor under Fluid Examples -> Techniques -> Heightfield. These two options have been available at least since 2004 in Maya, and since 1998 with Max.

#15

unrelated post

#16

It’s been around since release 2.5 in 1999 or 1998.

#17

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