topic Re: heightmap issues in ArcGIS CityEngine Questions

heightmap issues

NicoleMiller — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:08:03 GMT

I have been away from this tool for a couple of months but for some reason seem to have forgotten a workaround I had for importing a heightmap. I tried Brady's example in an earlier thread but an odd thing almost always happens. I tried creating the image in various tools and various formats. I've gone back to trying to use a geotiff. I've tried 8 bit, 16 bit and 32 bit. When the file is imported, it seems to put it in the correct place but the odd thing I encounter is that I never see the terrain. When I "fit" it in the scene, it goes to where I expect but there is no geometry. The grid position looks right but the perspective view contains 1 object, 0 polygons.
There was something I'd forgotten to do in my importing process but I can't for the life of me remember what it was that made all the difference.

Re: heightmap issues

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:01:32 GMT

Hi !

Can it be that your GeoTif is more than 4000 px wide/long ?

32 bit GeoTif is correct for the heightmap.

Let me know .. 😮 [[ I love this smiley !! ]]

Matt

ps. maybe you find an other answer here :
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/54072-textures-raster-files-concepts-in-CityEngine-ArcGIS

Re: heightmap issues

NicoleMiller — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:24:15 GMT

Actually the elevation map is pretty small. When I was working on an earlier project, I became acquainted with the small memory space.

Re: heightmap issues

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:22:16 GMT

Hmm.

Do you get any errors in the Log Window ?

Can you post a screenshot of what you see ?

Did you maybe forget to set map layers to visible ( Toggle with F9 )

Let me know ..

M.

Re: heightmap issues

NicoleMiller — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:18:20 GMT

I think F9 was the problem I had earlier, but this one has become more crafty. I seem to be having a hard time attaching an image from our network. Could you PM me your email address? The log file was surprisingly quiet.

Re: heightmap issues

NicoleMiller — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 07:07:19 GMT

Could you PM me your email address? The log file was surprisingly quiet.

OK, here's that screenshot (I'm on a different network right now.) v[ATTACH=CONFIG]23474[/ATTACH]

Re: heightmap issues

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:35:00 GMT

Hi !

1]
Note that you don't have a .prj file. So set the SCS first to the target projection. Or create the .prj file if you import your terrain into a new scene.

After importing ( and not seeing the terrain ), can you activate the viewport by clicking it, then press 'f'.

The camera should then fly to the object. It may still now be visible. Can you then rotate the camera so you see it from below ? Is then something visible ?

Can you package the file up and post it as a zip ?

I'll PM mail mail address.

Matt

Re: heightmap issues

tahiratoffa — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:22:43 GMT

hi there

i am new to city engine 😮
i created a heightmap from arcmap (see attached files) - it's of an area close to the ocean. the ocean appears as a wall rather than on 'zero ground'. When i went back to the tif file created in arcmap it has a the ocean area in black rather than white. i am struggling to get rid of this.

can you help me please?
is there an easy way to get rid of this without having to recreate the heightmap / contour lines in arcmap?

thanks.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23626[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]23627[/ATTACH]

Re: heightmap issues

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:46:42 GMT

Hi !

If the pixel values of the terrain are exactly '0' or 'noData', they are sadly translated to the terrain's max.

Use con() of the Raster Calculator GP tool to replace these values first. That's a bug in CE currently.

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//009z000000z7000000

Ok ?

m.

Re: heightmap issues

NicoleMiller — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:40:46 GMT

I knew it was something simple and silly. After viewing a screencast from tech support and repeating the same process with the SAME files I realized that my render mode was wireframe untextured and I don't have the skydome loaded in so I was looking at a white wireframe on a white background.

I apologize for wasting everyone's time.