TerrainView Lite

A Virtual Reality-based 3D GIS software solution
TerrainView-Lite is a Virtual Reality-based 3D GIS software solution which facilitates the interactive visualization of high-resolution 3D terrain and model data.
 
TerrainView-Lite provides fully interactive flight during which users can control attitude, altitude, speed and viewing angle. Supported 3D terrain and model formats are: Terrex TerraPage txp, Multigen OpenFlight flt, ViewTec ivc, ViewTec Web Streaming tvw, OpenScenegraph ive, osg, Carbon Graphics geo, Autodesk 3ds, max (plugin), VRML2 wrl. 3D models such as buildings and billboards can be imported to enhance the realism of the terrain.

TerrainView-Lite can be upgraded to Globe functionality including spherical earth rendering, spatial multi-resolution support and terrain morphing, thematic layering, overlay or insert of independent local high-resolution and secure internet-streamed data and continuous level of detail (LoD).

Main features of TerrainView-Lite:

TerrainView-Web Export

A TerrainView 3D scene can be exported to the internet using the TerrainView-Web Export option. The free TerrainView-Web plugin enables the Microsoft Internet Explorer to visualize the scenery over the internet.

Weather visualization

For the generation of realistic scenes, TerrainView offers a wide palette of lighting and weather conditions e.g. time of day, skybox,distant haze, volumetric clouds, rain, snow and wind direction.

Measurements

TerrainView allows various kinds of 3d measurements to be made, e.g. distances, angles, profiles and areas. Furthermore, it is possible to determine the position and distance of any terrain

point by means of the cursor.�

2D map representation

Different textures e.g. maps can be visualized as layers in the 3d terrain.

3D object fading

Objects e.g different types of a 3d building can be faded in and out during an animation.

Easy navigation

TerrainView provides fully interactive flight during which users can control altitude, speed and viewing angle via the mouse and georeferenced terrain positions output in WGS84 and UTM coordinates.

3D models

3D models such as buildings, billboards, and cars can be imported to enhance the realism of the terrain. Currently the supported data

formats are Multigen OpenFlight, Terrex TerraPage, Quantum3D VT,

Carbon Graphics geo, CyberCity vtc, Autodesk 3ds, Discreet 3D Studio Max (MAX) requires plugin, VRML 1 and 2, Design Workshop dw, Alias/Wavefront obj and NewTek LightWave 3D lwo.

3D city models

The CyberCity Modeler application of Cybercity AG allows to generate 3d city models semi-automatically. TerrainView includes now the possibility to process various levels of detail (LODs) such as trees, walls and roof textures in real time.

3D object manipulation

Merge multiple 3d objects of different formats together and pick, move, rotate or scale them easily.

Web streaming support

With TerrainView you can directly connect any TerrainView-Web database. An ActiveX component/plug-in is also downloadable free of charge.

Various modes of navigation

TerrainView provides various modes of navigation such as view mode, flight mode, low level flight (ground following), and explore view.

Points of interest editor

To annotate terrain models freely definable points of interest may be coupled with arbitrary text, 3d objects, or hyperlinks.

Advanced flight path editing

Easy definition of flight paths with smooth interpolation for position and orientation. Flight paths can be coupled to both 3d models and camera.

Dynamic objects�

Paths can be assigned to 3d models such as airplanes, copters and ground vehicles to demonstrate real-time movement.

Information tree

Information tree that lists all primitives, locations, 3d models, dynamic objects. The information tree has the ability to group elements into folders, save show/hide status for objects.

Configurations

Any scene consisting of terrain, 3d models, flight paths points of interest and weatrher conditions can be saved in configurations files for instant access in future sessions.

Arbitrary resolution screenshots

The resolution of screenshots calculated from the current view are only limited by disk space.

Generation of digital videos

TerrainView can generate videos at specific frame rates using different video codecs. Any flight path in the project can be exported to an AVI movie.


Requirements of TerrainView-Lite:

OpenGL


What's New in This Release:

TerraPage 2.2 support

all objects are paged in

loading of georeferenced objects

flightpaths with variable velocities

optional crosshair

automatic near/far calculation

clouds and precipitation on Globe

select texture format, tile size, mask color and storage method for Globe import

proxy and web cache settings for Globe

XP style GUI

removed 3d model support for POIs