Drape Tool for DTM Roads

Charlie__V · 9 May 2008, 20:15

Hey All,

I am working on a Terrain model created in Simuterra.
More specifically :
DWG Contours imported to SU, cleaned up, improvements added, then exported as .dxf for Simuterra..[could not get SU to form contours].

Once in Simuterra create DTM export as .dxf and import back into SU
All is good.[some may recall me getting this file out as a .stl in another thread]

Now I wish to Drape the roads, lot lines, paths etc.........not happening, I got so many bugsplats I can't see the screen anymore![unreported as this machine is off the net]
BTW All Geometry on Default Layer.
Even a short segment of a raod {couple hundred feet]will Bugsplat La Machine.

Some Stats:
Model = 59.1 MB
Edges = 568658
Faces = 378421

Machine:
Hp pavillion zd 7249cl
Intel P4 HT 3.00 GHZ
2GB Ram
MS XP Pro SP2
Nvidia GeForce FX Go 5700

Am I just asking too much of my machine? [Intel HT only pulls 50% cpu]
Or is there something I have overlooked?

Best,
Charlie

remus · 9 May 2008, 20:34

The drape tool is rather CPU intensive, so i iamgine that is the problem. I would suggest posting the model, but at 55mb its probably a bit big

All i can think of is to try and find an alternative program that has a more efficient draping algorithm. Sorry for the lack of a definitive solution

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 02:11

Remus,
Thanks for the reply.
I decided start from scratch,and give SU one more try to create my terrain from contours, 18+ hrs later and success.[resulting file 75+mb]
I then attempted draping the same small sections of roads that would Bugsplat before, again success.
Now I am going for it, and attempting to drape all roads/trails/runway etc.
Currently @ 32hrs............and counting......fingers crossed.

Best
C

remus · 13 May 2008, 05:53

I dont know wether to congratulae you for you bravery or scream at you for the ludicrousness! maybe both

plot-paris · 13 May 2008, 07:41

can you post a picture of that enormous terrain when its finished? I am really curious to see what a 75 mb terrain looks like (must be half of Europe...)

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 11:57

@remus said:

I dont know wether to congratulae you for you bravery or scream at you for the ludicrousness! maybe both

Remus,
A man will do strange things when beaten down by Bugplats.......

Plot-Paris,
No,not half of Europe...but sure feels like it.
I'm certain the file ballooned to where it is now simply because the contours are at 2' intervals covering over 250' of elevation change.
Guess my thinking was similar to having a large image file, you can always reduce the amount later.

Best
C

Edson · 13 May 2008, 12:16

charlie,

my problems with draping roads onto terrains only ended when i discovered that the best way to do it is to pushpull the road through the terrain, select both and intersect-selected them. then you just erase all that is not needed and you have your road surface.

alpmeadow · 13 May 2008, 14:12

Greetings
I apologize in advance for offering something that probably won't work with your sophisticated model.
However is there an option for draping using the Google Earth with a 2d map of your model, then importing that terrain into SU to work with?
Attached is a topo map(could be any 2d digital model) draped onto GE(plus). The roads, trails and markers were added separately into GE. This could be imported into SU for further modelling enhancements.
With a simple small rough scale model it works well.
Good Luck
alpmeadow

Golden West7.pdf

rhankc · 13 May 2008, 16:40

Charlie,
I would like to know if you have figured out how to cut the save times down. I am working on a similiar topo, (site, house, driveway huge vertical drop, ), and it is running about 50 megs with a skin, I have cut the topo down to a component that is 1/5 the size by cardboarding the topo and instead of 1-ft contours I am working at the 5' internals. when I finsih I will replace the component with the one ft contour version.

I would like to be able to capture the file and send it to another drive to perform a save, so I can keep working, this would also be nice for some SU to Cad exports, I have exports that take a-long-______time, somewhere close to 24 hrs. Has anyone done anything like this?

Saves on this topo run about 2 hours, all i can do is work on another machine while this is going as any other activity (cpu usage) delays the outcome drastically. The 5' contour model takes about 20 min to save. machine specs are similar to yours. needless to say, I think twice before I save, My autosave increments are 99 min.
Regards,

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 21:34

@edson said:

charlie,

my problems with draping roads onto terrains only ended when i discovered that the best way to do it is to pushpull the road through the terrain, select both and intersect-selected them. then you just erase all that is not needed and you have your road surface.

Edson,
Thank you for this, I actually modified the hangar pad for phase one this way.
So intersecting is far more reliable than Drape.......hmmm

Best
C

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 21:38

@alpmeadow said:

Greetings
I apologize in advance for offering something that probably won't work with your sophisticated model.
However is there an option for draping using the Google Earth with a 2d map of your model, then importing that terrain into SU to work with?
Attached is a topo map(could be any 2d digital model) draped onto GE(plus). The roads, trails and markers were added separately into GE. This could be imported into SU for further modelling enhancements.
With a simple small rough scale model it works well.
Good Luck
alpmeadow

alpmeadow,
No apology necessary, in fact I may have to consider something just like this as I am still cooking the Drape....now 54hrs.......
Thanks for this,great group here
Best
C

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 21:56

[quote="rhankc"]Charlie,
I would like to know if you have figured out how to cut the save times down.

Hank,
To be completely accurate the model[dtm only] was around 82mb after the from contours finished.
I then deleted the imported contour lines, then pasted the roads/lots/trails and the resulting file was 75 mb or so. At that point Save time was around 5-6 mins.
I too have upped the auto save interval, but 2hrs to save?
Your Save time seems really excessive, have you purged unused?
Closed & Re-opened SU. [heard this seems to speed things up on large models]

As mentioned above I am in Hour 54,and still hoping the Drape completes.
It's now kinda like pulling a life support plug......when is the right time to say enough.

Best,
C
FYI...I will post how all turns out....no matter the news.

rhankc · 13 May 2008, 22:55

@unknownuser said:

I then deleted the imported contour lines

I deleted mine too. One thing I havent figured out, the skin version was formed with a very small triangulaed mesh, I deleted that too, and when the skin, its' border and the drape lines were the only items in the file the drape took about 30 min. Did you delete the fine triangulation after the skin was formed? along with the contour lines. I think the biggest problem is: I didn't clean up the topo sufficiently, and there are ghosts messing with SU.

One thing i am realizing, the more entities are native to SU, the better these monster "real quick" studies perform. Lots of imported cad stuff+ Slow SU. You have to delete all the cad structure (layers, line types etc) and reorganize all of it the SU way.

Charlie__V · 13 May 2008, 23:54

@rhankc said:

@unknownuser said:

I then deleted the imported contour lines

I deleted mine too. One thing I havent figured out, the skin version was formed with a very small triangulaed mesh, I deleted that too, and when the skin, its' border and the drape lines were the only items in the file the drape took about 30 min. Did you delete the fine triangulation after the skin was formed? along with the contour lines. I think the biggest problem is: I didn't clean up the topo sufficiently, and there are ghosts messing with SU.

One thing i am realizing, the more entities are native to SU, the better these monster "real quick" studies perform.

Hank,
Nope, did not delete the fine triangulation...........awwwwwwww....sh%*

As for the more homegrown SU the better things are....that may be the quote/understatement of the year!
Thanks again,
C

Gaieus · 15 May 2008, 08:40

Hi guys,

Working with such large models consumes a lot of RAM because SU needs to keep all previous geometry in memory despite you delete them just to be able to perform the Undo command.

Have a look at Coen's tutorial here how to overcome this (and also it is a good technique for other issues as well).

rhankc · 15 May 2008, 12:47

Gai,
Great Tutorial. Timely too, I was just manipulating a lump of components to affect some layer manipulation. Good trick, thanks for showing it to us.
Best Regards