Spatial Manager™ for AutoCAD - FAQs: Terrains ("Professional" edition only)

Introduction

• Objective of this section
  • To learn how to get 3D Points from elevation services, create 2D or 3D Contours and create Terrain 3D models

• Topics in this section
  • Obtain elevation 3D Points in the drawing from elevation services for any earth area
  • Create 2D or 3D Contours from 3D Points
  • Set Contour options such as density, colors, layers, labels, etc.
  • Create Terrains models from 3D Points and select object type for new Terrains (AutoCAD 2010 and upper)
  • Configure any 'Background Map' and related options to project and fit it on one or more Terrains (AutoCAD 2012 and upper)

Note: Some components in the images on this page (providers, names, windows look, etc.) may be slightly different from those that will appear on your computer

How can I get elevation 3D Points, create Contours or Terrain 3D models?

Spatial Manager™ for AutoCAD includes the 'SPMTERRAIN' command that allows you to create Terrains and other related objects. Three options are available when this command is executed:

• 1 Elevations, which is a shortcut to get 3D Points on your drawing from Internet elevation providers in any earth area
• 2 Contour, which is a shortcut to create 2D or 3D Contours in your drawing from 3D Points. Below you can review the options available for this function
• 3 Terrain Wizard, which allow you to access the Terrain wizard in order to run one or more Terrain chained processes (Obtain elevation 3D Points, and/or create Contours, and/or create Terrain 3D models, and/or project any 'Background Map' to Terrains)

As you can see in the following image, these options are found on any application interface component ready to run separately

What are the contents of the different sections in the Terrain wizard?

The Spatial Manager™ for AutoCAD Terrain wizard includes three sections (see the image below):

• Source - Starting data. Select one of the following options:
  • Select points from drawing. Allows you to select any number of Points in your drawing in order to:
    • Create Contours (Polylines) for this point cloud, and/or
    • Create one Terrain 3D model (Mesh or Polyface) for this point cloud, and/or
    • Apply (project and fit) a Background Map texture to the Terrain
  • Elevations from online services. Allows you to define an rectangular area in your drawing for any earth location in order to:
    • Create a 3D Points grid from Internet elevation providers in the selected area
    • Create Contours (Polylines) for this point cloud, and/or
    • Create one Terrain 3D model (Mesh or Polyface) for this point cloud, and/or
    • Apply (project and fit) a Background Map texture to the Terrain
    • Notes:
      • You can select the grid resolution in meters. Values are limited by the resolution returned by the elevation service
      • The drawing must be geolocalized before using this option

'Terrain' wizard window

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Creating Contours options