Version 2.

V i e w T e c Ltd. - Switzerland
Schaffhauserstr. 481 CH-8052 Zürich
Tel.: +41 1 305 7777
Fax : +41 1 305 7700

Email: info@viewtec.ch
Web: http://www.viewtec.ch
Page 2
1 Legal Disclaimer...............................................................................................................................6
1.1 Limited Liability........................................................................................................................6
2 Requirements....................................................................................................................................8
3 Installation........................................................................................................................................9
4 TerrainView-Lite............................................................................................................................10
4.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................10
4.2 Registration..............................................................................................................................10
5 Introduction....................................................................................................................................11
5.1 Overview of distinguishing features of TerrainView™...........................................................11
5.2 The Graphical User Interface...................................................................................................12
5.2.1 The 3DView.............................................................................................................12
5.2.2 The Menu Bar..........................................................................................................12
5.2.3 The Toolbar..............................................................................................................12
5.2.4 The Explorer.............................................................................................................12
5.2.5 The Modules.............................................................................................................13
5.2.6 The Scene View.......................................................................................................13
5.2.7 The Properties..........................................................................................................13
5.2.8 The Status Bar..........................................................................................................13
5.3 Documentation Roadmap........................................................................................................13
6 Your First Scene : A Simple Step-by-Step-Guide to Create a Scene with Models, Points of
Interest and Flight Paths.....................................................................................................................14
6.1 Starting the application for the first time.................................................................................14
6.2 Loading a terrain......................................................................................................................14
6.3 Loading an object.....................................................................................................................16
6.4 Creating a Point Of Interest*...................................................................................................17
6.5 Creating a flight path*.............................................................................................................18
6.6 Other features...........................................................................................................................19
7 Terrains...........................................................................................................................................20
7.1 Elevation models and textures.................................................................................................20
7.2 Levels of detail.........................................................................................................................20
7.3 Navigating a Terrain................................................................................................................20
7.4 A Note about Terrex TerraPage Terrains.................................................................................21
8 3D Models.....................................................................................................................................22
8.1 Local coordinates.....................................................................................................................22
8.2 Manipulating models...............................................................................................................22
8.3 Manipulating several objects...................................................................................................22
9 Configurations................................................................................................................................23
9.1 Subconfigurations....................................................................................................................23
9.2 Configuration options*............................................................................................................24
9.3 “About Informations” of third party data providers.................................................................24
10 Coordinate Systems and Geo-Referencing*.................................................................................25
11 Flight paths*.................................................................................................................................28
11.1 Interpolation*.........................................................................................................................28
11.2 Control points*......................................................................................................................29
11.3 Attaching objects*.................................................................................................................29
12 Documentation of the GUI...........................................................................................................30
12.1 3DView.................................................................................................................................30

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12.2 Menu Bar...............................................................................................................................31
12.3 Toolbars.................................................................................................................................32
12.4 Explorer.................................................................................................................................32
12.5 Modules.................................................................................................................................33
12.5.1 The Navigation Module.........................................................................................33
General.................................................................................................................................33
12.5.2 The Option Module................................................................................................37
View.....................................................................................................................................37
Stereo*..................................................................................................................................38
12.5.3 The Tool Module*..................................................................................................39
Screenshot*..........................................................................................................................39
Video*..................................................................................................................................40
Flight Paths*.........................................................................................................................42
General.............................................................................................................................43
Control Points..................................................................................................................43
General Section...........................................................................................................44
Position and Rotation Sections...................................................................................44
Tangent Section...........................................................................................................45
Attached Objects..............................................................................................................45
General Section...........................................................................................................46
Initial Transformation Section....................................................................................46
Points Of Interest*................................................................................................................47
Main Section....................................................................................................................48
Appearance Section.........................................................................................................49
Measurements*.....................................................................................................................50
Creating a Measurement..................................................................................................52
Changing a Measurement................................................................................................54
Continuous Measurements...............................................................................................54
Plan*.....................................................................................................................................55
Fade Models*.......................................................................................................................57
12.5.4 The Environment Module......................................................................................59
Time Of Day.........................................................................................................................59
Sky........................................................................................................................................61
Sky box color:..................................................................................................................62
Fog........................................................................................................................................63
Clouds...................................................................................................................................64
12.5.5 The System Module...............................................................................................65
Properties..............................................................................................................................65
System Section.................................................................................................................65
Database Section..............................................................................................................66
Log........................................................................................................................................66
12.5.6 The About Module.................................................................................................67
Software................................................................................................................................67
Database, Image Data, Geometry Data, Additional 3D Data...............................................68
12.6 The Scene View.....................................................................................................................69
12.6.1 The Entity View.....................................................................................................69
12.6.2 The Flight Path View.............................................................................................70
12.6.3 The POI View.........................................................................................................71
12.6.4 The Measurement View.........................................................................................72

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 12.7 The Properties View..............................................................................................................73
12.7.1 Entities Properties..................................................................................................73
12.7.2 Flight Path Properties.............................................................................................73
12.7.3 POI properties........................................................................................................74
12.7.4 Measurement properties.........................................................................................74
13 TerrainView-Web Export*...........................................................................................................75
14 File Formats..................................................................................................................................77

* denotes features of the full version

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IMPORTANT

This User’s Guide is assuming that you are already familiar with most terms of 3D Computer
Graphics, Image Processing, and the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. Do not remove or
modify any files unless you know what their exact task is.

1.1 Limited Liability

License Agreement

PURCHASING AND/OR Using the software and/or data distributed to the Licensee by ViewTec
indicates Licensee’s acceptance of the terms of this License Agreement. If Licensee does not
agree with any of these terms, he may not use, open or install any of the distributed software
and/or data. In that case, the Licensee is requested to give the software and/or data back to the
seller.

ViewTec and its subsidiaries and/or any applicable licensors (collectively "Licensor") grant to the
Licensee a personal, non-exclusive, nontransferable license to use the distributed data, software
and any related documentation (collectively "Program") on a Computer solely for Licensee’s
internal purposes.
No rights are granted to modify, copy or distribute the Program.

Licensee is not allowed to copy or duplicate the program as a whole or by excerpts.

Licensee is not allowed to use the program inside or over any computer network or get it
disposable inside of any network without the written permit of Licensor.
Licensee is not allowed to resell or hand out the program to any other persons without the written
permit of Licensor.

THE PROGRAM IS COPYRIGHTED. UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, REVERSE COMPILING OR

DISASSEMBLY IS PROHIBITED. TITLE TO THE PROGRAM WILL AT ALL TIMES REMAIN
WITH LICENSOR.
The restrictions in this License are for the benefit of any party who holds title to any part of the
Program.

Licensor does not warrant the Program will be free from errors or will meet the specific
requirements of the Licensee. Licensee assumes complete responsibility for the selection of the
Program and for decisions made or actions taken based on the information obtained using the
Program.

LICENSOR MAKES NO CONDITIONS OR WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,

INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED CONDITIONS OR WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE
PROGRAM OR THE MEDIA AND MAKES THE PROGRAM AND THE MEDIA AVAILABLE
SOLELY ON AN AS-IS-BASIS.

Page 6
LICENSOR SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED OR INCURRED
BY THE LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER PARTY ARISING FROM USE OF THE PROGRAM
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES, EVEN IF LICENSOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.

Licensor offers its services in accordance to the actual possibilities of the enterprise and according
to the actual technical state. Licensor distributes its products and services on an As-Is-basis and is
especially not reliable for insufficient operating or equipment of its clients.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Licensor disclaims all warranties, either
express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for
a particular purpose with respect to its products and services and any accompanying product
manuals and materials.

This License will immediately terminate if the Licensee fails to comply with its terms. Upon any
termination of this License, Licensee agrees to return (or, with Licensor's prior approval, destroy)
the Program in his possession and so certify in writing to Licensor.

© ViewTec AG 2004
Schaffhauserstr. 481
CH-8052 Zürich/Switzerland

WWW: www.viewtec.ch
E-Mail: info@viewtec.ch

Page 7
For TerrainView™ to work correctly, the following minimum requirements must be met.
These requirements refer to the application itself and do not take into consideration requirements
that might be needed for particular databases.

- 128 MB RAM
- Graphics card with hardware accelerated OpenGL Support
- 32 MB texture memory
- CPU running at 800 MHz or faster
- Windows 2000 or XP
- OpenGL driver version 1.2
- Screen resolution 800x600 Pixel
- Color depth16 Bit

During start up, TerrainView™ checks these requirements. If one of them is not met, the System
Test Dialog will appear, listing all requirements and their fulfillment.
Apart from requirements, this dialog also contains recommendations for software and hardware
features.
This dialog is described in more detail in chapter 12.5.5, and can also be started manually while
TerrainView™ is running.

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Important: For some processes during installation, administrator access is required. Thus you
need to log in as Administrator to install TerrainView™. If you have no administrator password,
please ask your system administrator for assistance.

To install TerrainView™ a setup program called SetupTerrainView.exe is used. During installation

the user will be asked to make several inputs:
• Installation directory
The directory in which the TerrainView™ application and additional DLLs will be stored.
• Components to install
Currently there are 2 components, the application itself (mandatory), and demo databases
and configurations (optional).
• Configs directory
The directory which will hold the demo configuration files and future user-defined
configuration files.
• Database directory
The directory which will hold the demo databases and future user-defined databases.
Setups for databases supplied by ViewTec or partner companies will suggest adequately named
subdirectories of the configs and database directories for the installation of their databases and
configuration files.
That way, all data is well-ordered and can be accessed from a central location, the configs
directory.

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Explore TerrainView projects with TerrainView-Lite, the free realtime 3d viewer of ViewTec.
TerrainView-Lite is included in TerrainView and may be redistributed with no additional licensing
costs. This allows TerrainView users to publish projects and send them to clients.
At any time, you are able to upgrade your TerrainView-Lite to TerrainView!

4.1 Introduction
Before purchasing TerrainView you can evaluate it free of charge. Please fill out the registration
form to purchase TerrainView.
TerrainView-Lite has some limitations:
Displays a banner when running a project
No save options
No advanced tools:
Screenshot
Video
Flight paths
Points of interest
Measurements
Plan view
Fade models
No web export
No configuration options
No stereo support

Features that are not available in TerrainView-Lite are marked with a red asterisk (*) in this
documentation.

4.2 Registration
The Registration dialog can be accessed with “Register / Buy ...” in
the “Help” menu.
Use the “FeatureList” button to learn more about TerrainView. “Order
Online” takes you to the order form on the ViewTec webpage.
After entering your name and registration code in the appropriate
fields the “Unlock” button will activate the full abilities of TerrainView.

Page 10
The TerrainView™ application is a state of the art Virtual Reality based software solution that
facilitates the interactive visualization of high-resolution 3D terrain data over the inter- and intranet.
Due to ViewTec’s advanced software technology and innovative data management concepts,
large amounts of data may be processed in real-time. Digital elevation models, high resolution
orthophotos, satellite images, 3d buildings and vector data provide the real time application with
the information to display excellent high quality representations of complex terrains and
landscapes.
5.1 Overview of distinguishing features of TerrainView™
• Import of 3D models
Currently the supported data formats are Multigen OpenFlight, Terrex TerraPage, CG2 VT,
3D Studio Max 3ds, and others.
• 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
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.
• Weather visualization
For the generation of realistic scenes, TerrainView™ offers a wide palette of weather
conditions.
• Configurations
Any scene consisting of terrain, 3D models, flight paths points of interest and weather
conditions can be saved in configurations files for instant access in future sessions.
• Arbitrary resolution screen shots
The resolution of screen shots calculated from the current view are only limited by the
hardware.
• Generation of image sequences for digital video
TerrainView™ offers a simple way to create video movies either by direct interaction or
from flight paths.
• Planning tools
A collection of tools such as distance and angular measurements, plan blending, and
object fading.

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5.2 The Graphical User Interface
By default, the GUI of TerrainView™ consists of several elements, most of which are freely
dockable. Apart from the 3DView window which contains the terrain visualization, there is a tabbed
control panel offering the configuration of many parameters, an explorer for fast access to files
containing terrain or 3D model data, and a scene view for the management of scenes, points of
interests, and flight paths.

5.2.1 The 3DView

The 3DView is the window used to display the terrain visualization. Depending on the interaction
mode, the mouse can be used for navigation or the manipulation of 3D models, points of interest,
or flight paths. Irrespective of the objects in question, the same interaction model is used. I.e. 3D
models are manipulated in the same way as, for example, control points for flight paths.

5.2.2 The Menu Bar

The menu bar contains file related menus as well as other commands.

5.2.3 The Toolbar

The toolbar hosts buttons for file operations and other useful commands such as full screen
viewing or toggling between presentation and modify mode.

5.2.4 The Explorer

The explorer is a tabbed window which allows fast access to terrain data, 3D models or
configuration files on either the local file system or over the network. The directory or network
structure is represented in a tree very similar to the windows explorer. By default, the explorer is
placed to the left of the 3DView.

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5.2.5 The Modules
TerrainView™ has a wide range of functionalities which are bundled into modules. The modules
appear in a multiply tabbed control. Each of the modules pertains to a particular aspect of the
current visualization. The main modules are ”Navigation”, ”Option”, ”Tool”, ”Environment”,
”System”, and ”About”. Apart from ”Navigation”, all the main modules contain sub-modules
addressing items belonging to the areas described by the main modules. By default, the modules
are placed below the 3DView.

5.2.6 The Scene View

The scene view contains tree views for the various entities that can be loaded or created in
TerrainView™. The scene has three tabs, ”Entities”, ”Flight paths” and ”Points of Interest”. The
”Entities”-tab contains the terrain and objects currently loaded, ”Flight paths” shows all flight paths
and allows the playing of any selection thereof, ”Points of interest” lists all points of interest added
to the current scene.

5.2.7 The Properties

This collapsible list contains the properties of the currently selected object, point of interest or flight
path.

5.2.8 The Status Bar

The status bar displays the current frame rate. While loading a terrain or a configuration, a snake-
style progress bar is displayed.

5.3 Documentation Roadmap

The rest of this document is dedicated to a detailed documentation of the TerrainView™
application. After a simple step-by-step guide (cf. Chapter 6) in which the user learns how to
create a simple scene, some of the main issues in 3D rendering, such as terrains, 3D models and
flight paths are discussed (chapters 7 - 11). This is followed by an in-depth description of the GUI
and its elements (chapter 12).

Page 13
! " # $ %&$ ' $ ' ($ ')
$ *+ ,- # * - *
This chapter teaches you how to load a terrain, how to populate it with objects, how to define
points of interest, and how to create flight paths, assuming you have installed the demo database
”DemoTerrain”.

6.1 Starting the application for the first time

When you start TerrainView™ for the first time, a dialog is displayed which is needed to determine
the optimum pixel format to be used. Select an entry from the list on the left for which you can
clearly see a red sphere in a rotating transparent green cube.

After the correct setting has been selected, press the ”Save”-button, and TerrainView™ is ready
for use.

6.2 Loading a terrain

There are several ways to load a terrain: either by using the ”Open”-command from the
”File”-menu, by using the explorer window on the right, or by pressing the ”Open”-icon on the
toolbar. Search for the file DemoTerrain.tvc which, after successful installation should lie in
TerrainView™’s Configs directory. After the terrain has been loaded, you should be rewarded with
a view over the landscape:

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You can explore the terrain by using the mouse to navigate: press the left mouse button in the
view window and move it upwards to move forward, and move it sideways to turn. Pressing the
right mouse button enables you to move vertically or horizontally. When you press the left and the
right mouse together, you can adjust the camera’s pitch (i.e. looking upwards or downwards). This
navigation mode is called the view mode. You can regulate the maximum possible speed by
setting the needle of the speedometer to a different value. A detailed description on navigation can
be found in section 12.5.1.
The DemoTerrain has been endowed with a set predefined points of interest which mark locations
of objects or other features of terrainView™, as well as flight paths. A small window, initially placed
in the upper right corner of TerrainView™ lets you explore these points of interest:

Simply double-click on the point you wish to explore. Another possibility is to take a guided tour
through the terrain by starting a flight path. If you click on the flight path tab of the window
described above (due to space shortage it reads „Fli...“) you can start the tour by double-clicking
on the item „Flightpath 1“

Sinc this flightpoath is looped, you will have to interrupt it by pressing the stop button ( ) in the
little window's tool bar.
The following sections will demonstrate how to insert 3D models or how to define such things as
points of interests or flight paths.

Page 15
6.3 Loading an object
Loading an object works the same way. Select the 3D model ”Ferrari F40.3ds” from the
”DemoTerrain/Ferrari F40” subdirectory of the database directory. Make sure that the ”Object is
terrain” check box in the ”Import” dialog is deactivated. As soon as the object is loaded it will be
placed in front of the camera at such a distance as to make it entirely visible.

After having loaded the object, TerrainView™ switches to the explore mode. In this mode, using
the mouse will make the camera orbit around the object, always keeping in the center of the view.
That way, the object can be inspected from all sides. To switch back to view mode simply press
the appropriate radio button on the right of the panel below the view window, or hold down the
Shift-key while clicking into the view window (but not on the object).
Note that after the object has been loaded a small window containing a coordinate system
has appeared in the lower left corner of the view window. This denotes that TerrainView™
is in the so-called modify mode, in which you can manipulate objects. Furthermore, the
newly loaded object is surrounded by a wire box, the so called bounding box, and has
three colored arrows emanating form its center. These arrows represent the local coordinate
system of the object. To translate the object, press the Shift-key while clicking on the object and
drag the mouse. The object will move along with the mouse. If you press the left mouse button
while doing this the object will move about horizontally, while the right mouse button will cause a
vertical movement. Similarly you can rotate the object while holding down the Control-key instead
of the Shift-key. If at any time the bounding box disappears, this means that you have missed the
object when clicking. Simply click on the object again, and the bounding box will reappear.
Move around the terrain and populate it various objects – you will see that each object you have
loaded is listed in the scene view, the tree control in TerrainView™’s upper right corner. You can
right-click any of these entries and select the ”Jump To”- item. This will instantly bring you to the
selected object which is ready for manipulation.

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6.4 Creating a Point Of Interest*
TerrainView™ offers the possibility to mark any location by using so called points of interest (POI)

Click on the ”Tool”-tab of modules below the view window, and the select the sub-module labeled
”Points of interest” below the panel. You should now see something like this:

Press the button labeled ”New”. After a short time, a new object is placed on the screen, complete
with bounding box and arrows. But instead of a car or a plane, this object is a piece of text, ”POI
(1)”. Like any other object, it can be moved and rotated. To change the text, simply type
something into the space next to the label ”Name” into the list on the right and press return – the
POI-object will be changed accordingly. If you want to change the text’s font and color, scroll down
the list to the section ”Appearance”, and click on the letters (AaBbYyZz) next to the label ”Font”.

This will open a font selection dialog where you can select font, font style and color for the text of
your POI. Like objects, POIs are listed in the tree control in the upper right corner of
TerrainView™. However, this list is displayed in a different pane – the one having the tab labeled
”Points of interest” (or ”Poi…”).
There are many more properties for POIs such as making it a hypertext link. But these will be
explained later on.

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6.5 Creating a flight path*
To create a flight path, activate the flight path module: Click on the ”Tool”-tab of modules below
the view window, and the select the sub-module labeled ”Flight paths” below the panel. You should
now see something like this:

Press the ”New” button to create a new flight path. TerrainView™ creates a flight path with a
default name, which you can change using the text field labeled ”Name”.

Now switch to the ”Control Points” tab.

Move to the location where you want your first control point and press the ”New”
button. You will be rewarded with a control point positioned directly in front of you.
All control points of the currently selected flight path are displayed in this list,
while relevant information of the currently selected control point the control point
can be viewed and changed manually in the control on the right.

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Move on to the location for the next control point and
repeat the whole procedure as often as you want. The
interpolation is calculated on the fly every time you add a
new control point or move an existing one. It is displayed
as a yellow line connecting the control points.
Now you probably want to fly along the flight path you just
built. By default, a camera is attached to each flight path.
So it suffices to press the ”play” button below the list of
flight paths (green arrow pointing to the right) and enjoy
the ride.

TerrainView™ also gives you the possibility to let any 3d object move along your flight paths.
Switch to the ”Attached Objects” tab and press the ”Add” button. This will open a file selection
dialog in which you can select any object in a supported file format.

Now select the camera and change the ”Delay” setting to 2. If you play the path again, the camera
will follow the object with a 2 second delay.

6.6 Other features

TerrainView™ offers many more features, such as weather and environment simulation or
measurements. Their usage will be explained in depth in the following chapters.

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.
Terrains are the main objects of interest in TerrainView™. A terrain is a three dimensional
representation of a landscape or part of a town.

7.1 Elevation models and textures

Terrains consist of two main elements, a elevation model and textures. The elevation model is a
kind of grid spanning the entire area to be visualized, containing elevation information for every
grid node. An elevation model can be thought of as a wire frame model of a landscape. In order to
realize a realistic rendering, textures (satellite or aerial images) are laid over this grid after some
preprocessing.

7.2 Levels of detail

For reasons of performance, terrains can be created with sever so called levels of detail. This
means that portions of the terrain that are far away will be rendered with a worse quality than
portions that are closer.

7.3 Navigating a Terrain

Navigation in TerrainView™ is done by using the mouse. TerrainView™ supports four different
navigation modes, with different semantics for mouse usage:
View Mode
Dragging the mouse upwards with the left button causes a forward movement.
Dragging downward causes a backward movement.
Dragging sideways results in a rotation.
Dragging with pressed right mouse button leads to horizontal or vertical movements.
When both left and right mouse button are pressed while dragging, the elevation angle
can be changed
Flight Mode
Here, motion control is similar to the use of a joystick. The camera will always fly to where the
mouse is pointing at.
Explore Mode
This mode is used to investigate a selected object. Dragging the mouse while pressing the left
button will move the viewpoint around the object always keeping it in focus. Dragging with the
right mouse changes the distance to the object.
Low Level Mode
When this mode is activated, the navigation is the same as in ”View Mode”, but the altitude over
ground (AOG) is constantly clamped to the value in the corresponding text field in the
Navigation Panel.
Joystick Mode
This mode allows airplane-like movement using a joystick. Camera roll and pitch are limited to
±90°. The camera will only move while any joystick button is being pressed. If a throttle input is
available, it is used to scale the flying speed between 0 and Max, otherwise the flying speed is
set to the maximum allowed speed.

Page 20
7.4 A Note about Terrex TerraPage Terrains
When using a Terrex TerraPage terrain created by TerraVista which includes externally
referenced objects, it may happen that said objects are not rotated correctly.

To remedy this, use the Utility software Openflight2VTree which is part of the TerrainView™
installation.
Select as input files the files of all OpenFlight objects. As output directory you must use the same
directory the input files were chosen from.

Make sure that the check boxes “Clean Database”, “Rotate -90 X”, “Rotate -90 Z”, and “Vertex
Arrays” are not activated.
Press “Convert” in order to correct the database.
Now the Terrex TerraPage terrain (archive.txp) can be loaded again in TerrainView™ and the
OpenFlight objects will be properly oriented.

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/ +
Apart from terrains, TerrainView™ can also import 3D models saved in various file formats. 3D
models can be moved, rotated, and scaled by the user.

8.1 Local coordinates

Every 3D model has its own local coordinate system. If TerrainView™ is in modify mode, the local
coordinate system of an object is represented by three colored arrows, the red arrow pointing in
direction of the local x-axis, the green one in direction of the local y–axis, and the blue one in
direction of the local z-axis.

8.2 Manipulating models

As mentioned earlier, TerrainView™ can change between two modes, presentation mode and
modify mode. If in modify mode, selected 3D models can be moved, rotated, and scaled by the
user.
• Translation
Pressing the Shift-key while clicking at an object will select it for translation. Dragging the
mouse with the left mouse button, will move the object across a horizontal plane defined by
the object’s x- and y-axis. Dragging the mouse with the right mouse button will change the
vertical position of the object. If the viewpoint lies close to the object’s horizontal, it can
happen that the translation occurs in large steps. Therefore, it is advisable to translate
objects while looking at them from a position slightly above or below.
• Rotation
Pressing the Control-key while clicking at an object while select it for rotation. Depending
on which mouse button is pressed, the object will rotate around one of its local coordinate
axes:
Left mouse button rotation around x-axis (red arrow)
Middle mouse button rotation around y-axis (green arrow)
Right mouse button rotation around z-axis (blue arrow)
• Scaling
Pressing the Shift-key together with the Ctrl-key will select an object for scaling. When
moving the mouse with the left mouse button pressed, the object will change its size.

8.3 Manipulating several objects

It is possible to select and manipulate several objects at once, however this is only possible for
objects of the same category, i.e., it is not possible to manipulate 3D models and POIs at the
same time. To select several objects, just select one after the other (clicking at them with pressed
Shift-key). It is only possible to translate or scale several objects at once, but it is not possible to
rotate them together

Page 22
0

Most of TerrainView™’s modules can save their settings as co-called subconfigurations. This
makes it possible to quickly switch between different settings without having to load or manually
redefine an entire configuration. This saves time and increases flexibility.

9.1 Subconfigurations
To create a new subconfiuration for a particular module, the ”Configuration”-button in the upper
right corner of the module panels must be pressed:

This causes an embedded dialog to appear:

The dropdown list on the left holds all subconfigurations for the current panel. Selecting one of the
entries will load the corresponding settings.
The three little buttons next to it pertain to creation, storage and deletion of subconfigurations:
Creates a new subconfiguration with the name entered into the list
Saves the subconfiguration with the currently selected name
Deletes the subconfiguration with the currently selected name
All panel settings are saved in the main configuration, but it is possible to save the settings of a
particular subconfiguration to the main configuration explicitly. This can be done by choosing the
appropriate configuration options.

Page 23
9.2 Configuration options*
Using the Configuration Options dialog it is possible to determine which of the subconfigurations
are to be saved in the main configuration.

If no subconfigurations have been selected in this dialog, the current settings of all panels are
saved. If a particular subconfiguration has been selected, then its values are saved instead of the
current values of the corresponding panel.
Actually, one could go through all panels and select the subconfiguration one wants to save. This
would have the same effect, but using the dialog has the advantage that all subconfigurations are
visible at once.
“Max. Terrainheight” should be set to at least the highest altitude of the terrain. This value is used
for some rendering optimisations. It is set to 4000m by default.

9.3 “About Informations” of third party data providers

The Configuration Options dialog also permits the setting of copyright information of third party
data providers.

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It is possible to enter copyright, version, owner, license, and additional information, as well as a
logo. A logo can be loaded by right-clicking into the image area on the right and choosing the
“Load”-item in the appearing pop-up dialog. Choosing the ”Clear”-item will erase an already
existing logo.

1 $( ) 2
Before attacking the subject of coordinate system initialisation and geo-referencing in scenes,
some concepts must be explained in order for the meaning of various coordinate systems in
TerrainView™ to be understood.
In TerrainView™ two coordinate systems are used for geo-referencing:
The input or scene coordinate system
The output or mapping coordinate system

The scene coordinate system is fixed once for a scene in the Coordinate System Calibration
Dialog. This coordinate system defines the system in which elements of the scene (Terrains, 3D
models, ...) are referenced.
For example, if a terrain data base has been defined in a WGS84 coordinate system by means of
a third party tool, then this would be the scene coordinate system.
In other words: Since every entity’s (Terrains, 3D models, …) visualisation is based on polygons,
and since these polygons are specified using a orthogonal 3-dimensional coordinate system, the
axes of the entity’s coordinate system are parallel to the axes of the scene coordinate system
(returning to the example: if an entity is defined for a WGS84 coordinate system, its local x-axis is
parallel to the parallels of latitude, its internal z-axis is parallel to the meridians, and its internal y-
axis is perpendicular to the ground).
The choice and calibration of the scene coordinate system is used to define a conversion between
internal coordinate systems and the employed real coordinate system. Currently, the following
coordinate systems are supported:
• Internal (OpenGL)
• FlatGrid
• Normal
• SwissGrid
• WGS84
• UTM

Internal (OpenGL) is the definition of a system for which the internal coordinate systems of 3D
objects is employed (usually, this is OpenGL’s right-handed coordinate system).
Flat Grid is an orthogonal coordinate system transformation that allows translation and scaling.
This transformation can be used to map local orthogonal coordinate systems. The mapping is only

Page 25
valid in the corresponding area and can therefore not be transformed into another area or onto
geographic coordinate systems.
Normal uses the same coordinate system as OpenGL but inverts the direction of the y-axis. This is
the default coordinate system until a calibration has been performed.
SwissGrid is Switzerland’s locally defined coordinate system.
WGS84 is the globally defined and well known coordinate system using longitude and latitude.
UTM is the Universal Transverse Mercator Grid which is divided into several zones.

The calibration of the scene coordinate system is done by means of the Coordinate System
Calibration Dialog (cf. illustration below). First the appropriate coordinate system is selected.

The next step is to choose the type of the calibration. There are two possibilities: the definition of
the scene coordinate system by specifying the extents or by specifying two reference points.

Page 26
Note that a mapping between two coordinate systems with parallel axes (which is the case for the
internal and scene coordinate systems), which only consists of a translation and a scaling
operation, is completely defined by the specification of two reference points (i.e. their coordinate
values in the internal and the scene coordinate system) or by specifying the four pairs of extent
values.
In order to perform a calibration by means of extents, a terrain must be loaded (only terrains
define extents!). The internal extents are automatically loaded. Then the text fields under ”System
coordinates” must be filled with the corresponding extents in the scene coordinate system.
Clicking ”OK” completes the calibration.
If the calibration is specified by means of two reference points, one first has to fly to a point for
which the corresponding scene coordinates are known (the camera must be placed directly above
this point). Then the Coordinate System Calibration Dialog must be opened and the scene
coordinate system selected. Then select ”Reference Points” as calibration type and press "Get
internal coord. (Ref. point 1)" in order to read the internal coordinates of the first reference point.
Subsequently, the corresponding scene coordinates must be entered in ”System coordinates”.
Then close the dialog with the ”OK” button, and fly on to the second reference point and place the
camera directly above it, open the dialog again, click on "Get internal coord. (Ref. point 2)" in order
to read the internal coordinates of the second reference point, and set its scene coordinates, too.
After clicking ”OK” again, the calibration is complete.
Note that no terrain needs to be loaded when performing a calibration by means of reference
points. Furthermore, for reasons of accuracy, the reference points should be as far from each
other as possible.
As mentioned above, two coordinate systems can be defined in TerrainView™, the by now well
known scene coordinate, and, on the other hand, the output coordinate system.
This second coordinate system can be set by means of the menu item ”Tools|Coordinate system”.
There a list of possible mappings is displayed, with the current one being marked. The mapping
coordinate system only defines which coordinates are displayed in the user interface. That way, a
point defined within a SwissGrid coordinate system can be displayed or changed by using e.g.
SwissGrid or WGS84 coordinates.
As already mentioned, not all coordinate systems can be transformed into each other. Each
geographic coordinate systems can be transformed into each other geographic system. A
calibration with FlatGrid does not define a unique geographic position, so displaying it in
geographic systems will not give meaningful numbers. The Internal and Normal systems are
independent of the calibration and are defined only by the internal extents.
The following table lists the currently supported transformations:
Scene coordinate system Output coordinate system
SwissGrid, WGS84, UTM SwissGrid, WGS84, UTM, Internal, Normal

FlatGrid FlatGrid, Internal, Normal

In case of a WGS84 output, there is a choice between two output formats, Decimal or Textual.
The textual coordinates E 7° 30' 30" 500, for instance, can be represented in decimal form as
"7.508472" (Western longitudes and southern latitudes would have negative values).

Page 27
 # * ' * 2
Flight paths are smoothly interpolated curves between a series of user-defined control points.
TerrainView™ flight paths not only interpolate positions, but also orientations. In other words it is
possible to define for an object not only where to fly but also how to rotate.

11.1 Interpolation*
The vector interpolations in TerrainView™ all use cubic interpolation methods thus guaranteeing
that every control point will actually lie on the calculated curve. TerrainView™ offers a choice of
two vector interpolation methods:
Catmull-Rom This is a specialized cubic interpolation method, creating nicely curved
paths. Apart from the control points’ position no further input is needed.
Viewing Direction This interpolation method uses the control points’ orientation vectors as
tangents for the cubic interpolation. I.e. the user must set not only the
control points’ position, but their orientation, too.

By using natural parametrization for the calculated curves, TerrainView™ achieves constant speed
during motion along the flight paths.
To interpolate orientations, two different methods are provided:
Tangential Orientation Sets the orientation such that the forward direction of an attached
camera or object is tangential to the calculated curve, and the plane
spanned by the forward and up vectors is perpendicular to the ground.
(Technically speaking, this is not an interpolation)
Spline Uses quaternion splines for smooth interpolation of the orientations
given by the control points’ orientation vectors.

Generally, care should be taken to space control points more or less equally in order to prevent
undesired turns:

Page 28
11.2 Control points*
In order to create a flight path there must be at least two control points. For a Catmull-Rom vector
interpolation together with tangential orientation, only the control points’ positions are relevant
(therefore, this combination is used as default). If, however, quaternion spline interpolation, or
viewing direction interpolation is used, there is need for orientation information at each control
point. In TerrainView™ this orientation information is visualized by adding two arrows to a control
point, representing the forward and upward direction.

Control point for Catmull-Rom interpolation Control point with orientation information. The
green arrow represents the forward direction,
the blue one the upward direction.

The green and blue arrows that are visible for quaternion spline interpolation represent the
orientation at the control point and are called the frame vectors of the control point.

11.3 Attaching objects*

In TerrainView™ it is possible to attach any object to a flight path. Furthermore, the camera can
be attached to a flight path as well, and can be pointed at any other object that has been loaded,
including any object currently flying along a different flight path.
Depending on the chosen orientation interpolation, attached objects will behave differently. In case
of tangential orientation, the objects will be positioned in such a way, that their forward vector (cf.
chapter 8, 3D models) is aligned with the tangent to the interpolated curve, and their up vector lies
in a plane that is perpendicular to the horizontal plane. If a quaternion spline has been chosen for
the orientation interpolation, the object’s forward and up vectors will always be aligned with the
green and blue arrows at the control points. Between the control points the orientation is smoothly
interpolated.
The same holds for the camera – the viewing direction is always tangential to the curve, or aligned
with the green arrow. The exception being the case where the camera looks at some other object.
The ”Look At”-setting overrides the interpolated orientations.

Page 29
 * )3
TerrainView™'s graphical user interface consists of several elements, the naming of which can be
seen in the figure below.

12.1 3DView
The 3DView is the main part of TerrainView™. It displays the loaded Terrain and objects. By
clicking and dragging the mouse in this window the terrain can be navigated.
If TerrainView™ is in modify mode, objects can be selected by clicking and translated or rotated
by dragging the mouse while holding the Shift or Control key.
By default, the rendering of a scene uses perspective projection, but it is possible to use
orthographic projection instead.

Page 30
12.2 Menu Bar
The ”File” menu contains commands for file
management, as well as the four most recently
opened terrains, models, or configurations.

The ”View” menu lets you show or hide any of

TerrainView™’s elements (apart from the
3DView) by checking or unchecking the
corresponding checkboxes.

”Configuration options” lets you select which

subconfigurations to save (cf. chapter 8)
The ”Coordinate system” menu allows to
change the coordinate system used to express
positions in TerrainView™. Currently, Internal,
FlatGrid, Normal, ”SwissGrid”, ”WGS84” and
”UTM” are supported.
This menu is only available in the full verison of
TerrainView.

Provides access to help topics or opens the

about dialog.
This menu also allows to visit the TerrainView
and ViewTec web sites and to check for new
versions of TerrainView.

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12.3 Toolbars

The toolbars provide comfortable shortcuts for certain commands.

New configuration
Open configuration, terrain or model
Save configuration*
Full screen display
Opens the configuration options dialog*

Toggle between presentation mode and modify mode

Toggle between wire frame and normal view
General lighting
Sun
Camera lighting

* full version only

12.4 Explorer
The explorer is useful for locating files to be loaded into TerrainView™. It consists of two panels
containing tree views of the local file system, and the network neighborhood.

To open a particular file, simply double-click it.

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When opening a .txp terrain the import dialog allows to choose between different renderers for the
scene.

12.5 Modules
The majority of TerrainView™ functionality is controlled by means of the various panels.

12.5.1 The Navigation Module

The navigation module contains only a single sub-module, ”General”.

General

This panel is divided into two sections, ”Viewpoint”, and ”Control”.

The ”Viewpoint” section holds information about the position and orientation of the camera,
whereas ”Control” allows the selection of the flight mode, maximum speed and collision detection.
Most of the displayed values can also be changed manually.

Page 33
 The image on the right contains a thumbnail overview of the
currently loaded terrain in which a crosshair shows the
viewpoint’s current position on the terrain. When a point in this
map is clicked at, the viewpoint will jump to the corresponding
position in the terrain.

Information about the viewpoint’s position is also displayed by

the altimeter and the text fields next to it. The viewpoint’s
position can also be changed by sliding the bar in the altimeter,
or by manually entering new coordinates into the text fields.
Clicking the symbol consisting of four arrows moves the
viewpoint back to its original position.

The compass represents the viewing direction. Again, this

value can be manipulated either by dragging the compass
needle or by entering the desired viewing direction into the text
field below it.

Similarly, the pitch control shows the current elevation of the

viewpoint, but can also be used to change it.

The section labeled ”Control” pertains to motion control. The various navigation modes differ in the
use of the mouse and in the manner of the motion.

Page 34
In ”View mode”, the mouse is used to navigate freely above the terrain.
The illustration below explains how to drag the mouse to achieve the
desired motion.

In ”Flight mode”, motion control is similar to the use of a joystick. The

camera will always follow the mouse.

”Explore mode” is used to investigate a selected object. Dragging the

mouse with the left button pressed moves the viewpoint around the object
always keeping it in focus. Dragging with the right mouse changes the
distance to the object.

When ”Low level” mode is activated, the navigation is the same as in

”View mode”, but the altitude over ground (AOG) is constantly clamped to
the value in the corresponding text field. The altitude is visually
represented by the horizontal bar in the image, which can also be used to
change the altitude.

Page 35
”Joystick mode” allows airplane-like movement using a joystick. Camera
roll and pitch are limited to ±90°. The camera will only move while any
joystick button is being pressed. If a throttle input is available, it is used to
scale the flying speed between 0 and Max, otherwise the flying speed is
set to the maximum allowed speed.

The needle in the speed control determines the maximum allowed speed.
The current speed is displayed directly below it. The maximum allowed
speed can be changed by dragging the needle or entering a value in the
text field. Depending on the size of the currently loaded terrain it may be
desirable to set a low maximum speed so as not to fly across the terrain
too quickly.

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12.5.2 The Option Module
The option module controls various viewing parameters. It contains two sub-modules, ”View”, and
”Stereo”.

View

This sub-module contains three sections addressing viewing items.

The field of view (FOV) is defined by the angle between the
left and the right borders of the view window in the virtual
terrain. A large angle corresponds to a fish-eye lens,
whereas a small angle gives a telescopic view. Normally,
the aspect ratio of the view is maintained, i.e. changing the
horizontal field of view causes an appropriate change in the
vertical angle. If the checkbox is deactivated, the angles
may be set independently, but this usually results in a
distorted view.
Clipping defines the closest and farthest distance in which
an object or terrain is still visible. The smaller the ”Far”
clipping distance is, the less details have to be rendered,
resulting in a higher frame rate.

The slider labeled ”Quality factor” allows the adjustment of detail rendering. The higher this
setting, the more memory is required. This slider also appears in the ”Screenshot” subpanel of
the ”Tool” panel.

Page 37
Stereo*

Assuming that appropriate hardware is installed, the terrain can be viewed stereoscopically when
the checkbox ”Stereo viewing” is activated.
Configuring a view port for stereo rendering is simple to accomplish, as will be shown below. In the
stereo viewing mode, physical-based parameters are very important. The reason for this can be
traced back to the brain’s interpretations of the stereo images it receives, one from each eye.
Since birth, our brain is trained to judge depth, often based on minute angle differences between
the left-eye and right-eye images. The distance between the pupils of our eyes, called the inter-
pupillary distance, or IPD, is responsible for generating the stereo image pairs needed for depth
interpretation. For a typical human head, the IPD measures between 50 and 75 mm, with the
average male having an IPD of about 64 mm. In order to generate accurately believable stereo 3D
images, you should know this number. The second physical-based parameter associated with
stereo viewing is the screen distance, or SD. SD comprises the distance between the viewer and
the display surface. The SD parameter is important for shared surface configurations, such as
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors and projection screens, where both eyes look at the same
surface. For CRT monitors, SD is usually about 600 mm long, but may be much larger for larger
surfaces.
In addition to these physical based parameters, there are a number of ”virtual world unit”
parameters associated with shared display stereo rendering. These virtual parameters are called
the screen intercept (SI) distance, maximum viewing distance (MAXD), and minimum viewing
distance (MIND). The SI parameter gives the virtual world distance at which rendered objects will
appear at the real-world depth of the display surface. For example, if the screen distance, SD, is
600 mm, and SI is 30 meters, an object rendered at a distance of 30 meters in the virtual world
appear to be at the real-world distance of the screen. The MIND parameter is used to set the near
clipping plane such that objects will appear no closer than MIND, again in virtual world units.
MAXD gives the virtual world distance beyond which all objects will appear to be located at infinity.
MAXD values of 1.6 X (SI) are recommended for normal viewing.

Page 38
12.5.3 The Tool Module*
This module contains a variety of tools.

Screenshot*
TerrainView™ provides the possibility to create screenshots with arbitrary resolution, like for
instance 40’000 x 30’000 pixels. The resolution is only limited by the hardware’s capabilities.

By default, the screenshot’s resolution corresponds exactly to the size of the view window. If the
checkbox ”Advanced” is activated, it is possible to enter the desired width and height of the
screenshot in the appropriate text fields. For high resolution screenshots it is desirable to increase
the quality of the rendering with the ”Quality factor”-slider to render more detail.
As soon as the button ”Create” is pressed, the creation of the screenshot proceeds. For high
resolution screenshots, the rendered view is split into tiles each of which is rendered in turn and
written to the image file.
Note: during the screenshot creation TerrainView™ must remain the top level window. It
should not be minimized nor should other windows be overlapping it. This is due to the fact
that TerrainView™ uses the screen buffer to create the screenshot.
The screenshot image is saved in the Windows Bitmap (bmp) format.

Page 39
Video*
TerrainView™ offers the functionality to create video files in the AVI format using various
encoders/decoders.
There are two possible modes to create a video, ”Interactive”, or ”Flight path”.
In interactive mode, the currently rendered view is written to the video while the user navigates
across the terrain, whereas in flight path mode one or more previously defined flight paths are
started and the one with the active camera provides the images for the video.

Using this panel various options can be set:

Output filename:
The output file name for the generated video.
Window:

This list allows the selection of the desired recording area. The user may choose between
recording only the contents of the 3D window or recording the entire application (”Main
Window”). The latter is especially suited for tutorials, because the actions of the user in the GUI
are also visible in the video. In 3D window mode the GUI of TerrainView™ will be hidden while
the video is being recorded.
Width, Height:
Width and height of the video.
Frame rate:
Number of frames per second.
Mode:

Interactive mode, or using flight paths.

Flight paths:
If in flight path mode, a particular flight path may be selected to provide the images for the
video sequence.

Page 40
Play All:
If this option is activated, all flight paths are being played. If more than one flight paths has an
attached camera, the user must select which one to use.
Attach Camera:
If a flight path has no camera attached to it, clicking this checkbox will temporarily attach a
camera to the selected flight path.
Start:
Pressing this button will start the recording. This causes a dialog to open which allows the
selection of a video compression.

Depending on the selected codec, different parameters may be configured.

Stop:
This button can only be pressed if the recording area is the main window. As an alternative, the
ESC key can be pressed to stop a recording.

Page 41
Flight Paths*
The ”Flight paths” sub panel is the most complex of TerrainView™’s functions. Basically, a flight
path is defined by setting a number of control points, which apart from their position may also be
provided with a local frame (consisting of a forward pointing and an upwards pointing vector). By
applying a suitable interpolation method, a smooth path is created, which passes through all
control points at constant speed. Furthermore, each control point can be assigned an orientation,
and a quaternion spline is used to interpolate orientations. Every flight path can be assigned to a
group to facilitate the bundling of related paths.
There are two types of objects that can be attached to a flight path: camera objects or 3D models.
That way it is possible ”fly” along the path, or to animate an airplane along a predefined path.

In order to create a new flight path, the button ”New” above the flight path list must be pressed. A
new flight path with a name like ”NewPath_02” will then be inserted at the top of the list. New flight
paths are always assigned to a group called ”Main”. More meaningful names and group names
can be set in the ”General” sub panel described below.
Every flight path can be played forwards and backwards by using the buttons below the list:

Reset the path to the first control point.

Play the path backwards, starting from the current time.

Pause.

Play the path forwards, starting from the current time.

Set the path to the last control point.

For each flight path there are various configuration items which are accessible through the sub-
sub-panels named “General”, “Control Points”, and “Attached Objects”.

Page 42
General

The ”General” sub panel manages general information pertaining to the currently selected flight
path.
In the text field ”Name” the flight path’s name can be set.
In the text field ”Group” the group of the flight path can be defined. If the entered group name does
not yet exist, a new group with this name is created.
In the text field ”Length” the duration of the current flight path in seconds can be set.
When the check box ”Looped Path” is activated, the path is interpolated between the last and the
first control point thereby creating a looped path.
The two drop-down lists on the right provide different methods for the interpolation of points and
orientation.
Normally, new control points are placed directly in front of the camera. If, however, the checkbox
"Place Control point at camera position“ is activated, the controlpoint will be placed exactly at the
position the camera currently has. If the quaternion interpolation is set to "Spline“, the control
point's frame will assume the camera's orientation, too.

Control Points

With the button "New“, a new control point is placed, with "Del“, the currently selected control point
is deleted. The two buttons "Up“ and “Down“, can be used to change the order of the control
points.
To create a control point, simply navigate to where it should be placed and press the ”New” button
right of the control point list. The newly created control point will be selected in the list and
highlighted in the view. Depending on the currently chosen interpolation methods, a control point
assumes a different appearance.

Page 43
 Control point for Catmull-Rom interpolation Control point for Viewing direction interpolation
and/or quaternion spline interpolation. The green
arrow represents the forward direction, the blue
one the upward direction

A control point can be translated much like a 3D model by using the mouse in combination with the
Shift-key. To modify the control point’s frame, the track ball paradigm is used: Dragging the mouse
over the head of the control point will cause a rotation in this direction. In what follows, the options
in the control point panel are explained in detail.

General Section

Name
Every control point can be given a name.
Index
The index of the control point
Time
The time at which the currently selected controlpoint will be reached after the flight path is
started

Position and Rotation Sections

Position
The position of the currently selected control point; may be manually changed.
Rotation
The orientation of the control points frame vectors; may be manually changed.

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Tangent Section

These properties pertain to the tangent used for the cubic interpolation and should be used with
care.
X, Y, Z
The coordinates of the tangent vectors
Scale
Scaling factor. That way, the length of the tangent can be changed without changing the
direction. Changing the tangent length can be used to make the interpolated curve smoother
(large value for scale) or more pointy (small value for scale). If too large a value is used for the
scale, the interpolation may create large “detours” and loops.
Proportional
If this box is checked, the scaling factor is used as absolute length for the tangent.

Attached Objects

Every flight path can have any number of objects attached to it. An object will travel along the path
with a constant velocity, once it is started. Depending on the selected orientation interpolation, the
object will always be aligned with the tangent, or change its orientation in accordance with the
frame vectors of the control points.
Every attached object can be assigned a temporal or spatial offset, thus enabling several objects
to follow the same path after each other or next to each other.
Attached cameras behave like attached objects, with the exception that the camera may be set to
look at any object currently loaded in the scene, including objects attached to other flight paths.
The button “Add” opens a a file dialog with which an object can be loaded and attached to the
flight path. The button “Delete” removes the object from the flight path and deletes it. If the camera
isn't attached to the flight path, it can be attached again with the button “Cam”.

Page 45
The attached object panel manages all properties of the currently selected object. These
properties are:

General Section

Name:
Every attached object with the exception of the camera can be given a name.
File:
The file name of the attached object (not applicable for attached camera).
Delay:
This value defines the delay in seconds for the current object – if set to 3, for instance, the
object will start moving 3 seconds after the flight path has been started. If several objects travel
on the same flight path the delay setting can be used to let them move one after the other.

Initial Transformation Section

X, Y, Z:
These values can be used to shift an object to a suitable position with respect to the flight path.
For instance, if the origin of a car’s coordinate system is located at it’s exact geometric center, it
can happen that it ”sinks” halfway into the ground. By adjusting the z-value of the offset, it can
be ”lifted” onto the ground.
RotX, RotY, RotZ:
Some 3D models have local coordinate systems differing from TerrainView™’s own coordinate
system. Therefore, it may be necessary to ”pre-rotate” an object.
Scale
Some models are modeled with different units than the ones used in TerrainView™ and will
appear extraordinarily large. It may be therefore necessary to change their scale.

Page 46
Points Of Interest*
Points of interests (POI) are a way to mark specific locations in the terrain with various markers,
such as 3D models and/or text. Furthrmore, it is even possible to endow a POI with a hyperlink.

The ”Points of interest” sub panel of the ”Tool” panel provides the necessary means to configure
the points of interest.

With the button "New“, a new POI is created in front of the camera. It can the subsequently be
configured by changing the values in the control structure to the left.
The button "Del“ deletes the currently selected POI.
The following sections describe the options that can be set in the option control on the right side of
the POI list. Depending on the selected type of POI, some options may be deactivated.

Page 47
Main Section

Name:
The Name of the POI. This name will appear as Text in the 3D view.
Group:
The name of the POI’s group. Groups are used to cluster POIs that share certain attributes, for
instance ”Museums”, ”Administrative Buildings”, ”Lakes”, ”Mountains”, etc.
Type:
Here the type of the POI can be set. There are four POI types to choose from:

Text:
Only the POI name is displayed.
3D model:
A 3D model is displayed, with the name above it (optional).
Billboard vertical:
If this type is chosen, a file dialog is opened which allows the selection of an image
which will be displayed (optionally together with the POI’s name). This billboard will
rotate around its vertical axis in order to always face the viewer.
Billboard camera faced:
This type is similar to ”Billboard vertical”, the difference being that it will always
completely face the viewer.
Link
This option lets you specify a hypertext link which will be executed when the POI is clicked at.
(As a matter of fact, it is also possible to enter the name of a file which has a program
associated with it. On click, this program will open the indicated file).

Page 48
Appearance Section

3D model:
If the POI type "3D model" has been selected, this option is activated and opens a file dialog
from which a 3D model can be chosen which will represent the POI.
Show name over model:
By default the name of the POI is not shown. If a POI type other than ”Text” is chosen, this
option will make the POI’s name visible.
Name height:
This value determines at what distance the POI’s name should be displayed above the 3D
model.
Text transparency:
Using this slider the transparency of the text can be set. At 0% the text is completely
transparent, at 100% fully opaque.
Visible distance:
This value determines the distance within which the POI should still be visible. In a large terrain
it may be desirable to set this field to a high value.
Font:
Clicking this entry causes a font dialog to open in which the font can be specified:

Text height:
Determines the size of the font.

Page 49
Measurements*
The measurements panel offers a variety of measurement tools such as distance measurements,
angular measurements, profile measurements, and area measurements. It is also possible to
determine the path length of flight paths. Furthermore, the coordinates of the terrain under the
cursor as well as the distance from the camera to it can be displayed.

Basically, a measurement must be defined by two or more so-called measurement points, flight
path measurements being an exception as they are defined by their control points.
Whenever a measurement is active, a new measurement point can be positioned by simply
clicking at a point on the terrain while simultaneously pressing the ”Insert” key on the keyboard. A
measurement point is represented by a colored tripod inside a semi-transparent cube.

Once positioned, measurement points can be moved the same way as other objects using the
Shift-key and left or right mouse button (cf. Section 7.2) when in modify mode.
Currently there are five types of measurements:
Distance measurements
A distance measurement is displayed as a collection of lines delimited by measurement points.
The total distance is displayed in the measurement list, whereas the partial distances appear
above the lines.

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Angle measurements
The angle defined by three points. The angle value appears above the central vertex.

Profile measurements
The accumulated distance between an arbitrary number of points as measured along the
ground.

Apart from the direct line between the measurement points, its projection onto the ground is
also displayed, as well as a transparent plane between the two. As opposed to ordinary
distance measurements, the number displayed above the line segment is the distance a
measured along the ground.
Area measurements
The area bounded by a arbitrary sequence of points. Currently, the area of the polygon created
by the points’ projection to the ground is calculated. Visually, the lengths of the polygon’s sides
are shown, as well as the area, which is displayed in the center of mass of the polygon.

Flight path measurements

The length of a flight path. There is no special visualization for flight path measurements.

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Creating a Measurement
A measurement is started by clicking one of the buttons ”Dist”, ”Angle”, ”Profile”, or ”Area” above
the measurement list.

The measurements list displays all measurements, highlighting the currently active one. As is the
case with flight paths and POIs, measurements have given names and can be grouped. For the
selected measurement, the information is displayed in the ”Current measurement” box next to the
list. For distance measurements, it is also possible to select a flight path from a list box which
becomes visible as soon as the checkbox labeled ”Use flight path” is activated.

Normal measurement Measurement based on flight path

”Lake Cruise”

Now the measurement points can be placed, by clicking at points in the terrain while
simultaneously pressing the ”Insert” key. For distance and profile measurements, an arbitrary
number of points may be defined. In this case, the distance is measured along all the segments of
the path defined by the measurement points. In case of an angle measurement, the measurement
is done after the third point has been placed. For area measurements, an arbitrary number of
points may be defined as well. In this case the area is traced out by connecting the points in the
order they were placed.
Often it is the case that the lines defined by the points are not entirely visible because they are
close to or under the ground. In this case, the ”Lift” setting may be changed, which has the effect
of lifting all measurement points off the ground by the specified amount.

Partially obscured line Same line with a “Lift” of 2

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Another problem is that the measurement points and the measurement values are too small to be
properly seen. To remedy this, simply change the ”Size” entry for the measurement in question.

Line with an object size of 0.5 Same line with an object size of 10

In modify mode, the numbers and the little spheres attached to the lines can be used to move a
measurement as a whole: Shift-click at a number and drag the measurement to a different
position.
Whereas the main result of all measurement are displayed in the measurement list, some partial
measurements are shown in the point list.

The entry next to a particular point shows the partial distance from one point to the next.
To the right of the point list, details of the currently selected point are displayed: name and
position.
The fields labeled ”Name” and ”X”, ”Y”, or ”Z” show the name and position of the selected
measurement point and can be manually altered in order to change its positio.
The ”Jump To” button causes the camera to jump to the selected point; the ”Delete” button deletes
the selected point (cf. next section).

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Changing a Measurement
Measurements can easily be modified.
Adding points (Distance, profile and area measurements):
Select a measurement in the list, and click at the terrain while pressing the ”Insert” key. The
new point will be appended to the measurement. In the case of distance and area
measurements, the new point is appended to the last point of the current measurement, in case
of an area measurement, it is inserted between the last and the first point of the measurement.
Sometimes this can create an unexpected effect.

An area measurement whose points Same area after a new point has
are oriented counter clock wise been inserted on the wrong side of
(the selected point is the last point) the last point.

Deleting points
There are two possibilities to delete a measurement point. Either select it in the point list and
press the ”Delete” button above the list, or, in modify mode, select the measurement point and
press the ”Delete” key.
Moving points
In modify mode it is possible to move the points of a measurement. Select a point by clicking on
it with the Shift-key pressed and drag the mouse. It is the same method as used to move
objects.

Continuous Measurements
If the checkbox labeled ”Cursor position” is activated, the position of the
terrain point under the cursor is continually determined, as well as its
distance to the camera.
This feature should, however, not be continually enabled as it has averse
effects on the performance of TerrainView™

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Plan*
The plan panel allows the blending of any number of images into the scene. This is especially
useful for the superimposition of a building plan on the landscape, for example.

To do so, TerrainView creates a horizontally positioned rectangle the same size as the image
which is placed into the scene and maps the image onto it. This rectangle can be moved, scaled
and rotated (about its vertical axis). Furthermore, its transparency can be set to any value between
completely transparent and totally opaque.

On the left and side of this panel a list displays all loaded plans.
The button “New” opens file browser from which any image file can be selected to be used as a
plan. The image is placed directly below the camera, at an altitude of 1 m (or whatever unit is
currently used). The plan's extents measured in the current unit correspond exactly to the image's
extents in pixels. I.e., the plan created from an image with dimensions 256x512 pixels will
measure 256m by 512m. But, as noted before, the plan can be scaled to any size using by mouse
(cf. chapter 8.2) or by manually entering the desired scaling facto in to the corresponding field on
the right.
The button “Delete” removes the selected plan.
When the checkbox “Hide all plans” is activated all plans in the scene become invisible. That way
it is not necessary to go through all plans and set their respective transparencies, if one wishes to
achieve an view of the scene uncluttered by the plans.
The button ”Center plan” places the currently selected plan exactly below the camera at ground
level.
The button ”Orthographic view” switches to orthographic projection and places the camera directly
over the currently selected plan looking downwards. This eases the precise placement of the plan
to a particular position.
The slider ”Alpha” allows to change the transparency of the image, whereas the slider ”Altitude”
controls the altitude of the image.

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The mapping buttons allow to change the way the image is mapped onto the
rectangle:

The original mapping The mapping after the mirror The mapping after the rotate
button has been pressed button has been pressed

The Transformation sub panel on the right hand side displays position, rotation and scaling of the
plan image. These values may all be changed manually as well:

Note: Due to the properties of texture mapping, the plan image’s side lengths should be a power of
2 to achieve an optimal representation. Otherwise the image may appear unfocused. Similarly, it is
preferable to use a large bitmap rather than scaling up a small one.

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Fade Models*
This module allows the fading of different objects into one another. For instance, a building slowly
materializes in a previously empty space and subsequently fades out while a ruin fades in.

Fading is performed only on objects which have been previously loaded (cf. Chapter 8). However,
it is also possible to fade in to or out of “nothing”.
Each of the objects marked for fading has a time value associated with it, which determines the
order of the fading. It is possible for several objects to have the same time value – in that case
they are considered as a group and are faded in or out together.

In this example, the first two objects form such a group.

To add one ore more objects to the fade model list, select them in the entity view (cf. section
12.6.1), then press the button labeled “Add”. Alternatively, you may press the “Nothing” button in
order to add a “nothing”-object. Note that as soon as an object is added, a previously added object
may become invisible, depending on the setting of the animation time.
To remove an object from the fade model list, select its name in the list and press the button
“Remove”. Note that the object still remains in the scene. Therefore, a currently faded out model
which is removed from the fade model list may suddenly become visible again.
To remove all objects from the fade model list, use the button “Clear”.
The buttons “Up” and “Down” can be used to change the order of the objects: select an object in
the list and press one of these buttons to move it upwards or downwards in the list. An ordinary
object will be moved to the previous (respectively next) group, a “nothing”-object will swap time
values with the previous (respectively next) group or “nothing”-value. A reordering may also be
achieved by changing the time value associated with a particular object. To do so, select an object
and enter its new time value in the time text field:

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Use the button “Show all” to make all objects visible. As soon as an entry is selected in the list, or
the animation is started, the visibility state will change again.
Pressing the button “Center” will move all objects listed in the fade model list in such a way that
their centers coincide. This is useful to fade between different stages of a single building, for
instance.
The Animation section allows the animated fading in and fading out of the objects in the list.
During animation, the current time value continuously changes, and determines which objects are
currently visible. If the current time corresponds exactly to the time value of an object in the list,
only this object is visible. If the current time corresponds to the time value of a “nothing” object, no
object is visible. If the current time lies between the time values of two objects, both objects are
visible, with transparency values proportional to the differences between the current time and the
respective time values. As an example, assume there are two objects A and B with time values 1.0
and 2.0, respectively. If the current time is 1.3, object A is 30% visible, whereas object B is 70%
visible.

The textfield “Animation Duration” can be used to specify the duration of the animation in seconds.
With the slider below it, the fading sequence can be controlled manually. Accordingly, a time value
can be specified in the text field to the right of the slider.
The buttons below the slider allow control of the animation,
Set the animation time to the time value of the first object in the list.

Set the animation time to the time value of the object with the largest time value
smaller than the current time.
Play the fading animation backwards, starting from the current time.

Stop the fading animation.

Play the fading animation, starting from the current time.

Set the animation time to the time value of the object with the smallest time value
larger than the current time.
Set the animation time to the time value of the last object in the list.

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12.5.4 The Environment Module
The environment module can be used to create more realistic scenes by simulating various
weather and lighting conditions.

In the following sections the functions of the environment panels are described in some detail.

Time Of Day
The "Time of day" panel controls light and color intensity influencing the entire scene (terrain, 3D
models, sky, and fog).

If the ”Time of day” functionality is not activated (checkbox in the upper right corner), the entire
scene is illuminated with a white light. If active, there is a large number of lighting conditions that
can be simulated.
This panel consists of two sections:
The first section, "Time of day" defines the following parameters:
Time:
The simulated time of day.
Acceleration:
The ratio of real time to simulated time.
Ambient light gradients:
The currently used light gradient. This gradient defines the changes in brightness and color
during a 24 hour period.
The color and brightness of the gradient directly influence the color and illumination of the three
light sources in TerrainView™. Therefore, the gradient can be simulate to simulate various lighting
conditions such as dark night (black), bright day (white), dawn (orange), etc.

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In order to put the ”Time of day” functionality to use, the checkbox has to be activated.
Then select a gradient from the list box and set the simulation time (press the button ”Get Current”
to set the actual time, or use the slider to set any other time).
Alternatively, the acceleration can be set to an arbitrary value (the value 144, for example,
indicates that the simulated time runs 144 times as fast as real time, i.e. a simulated day passes in
10 minutes), and the diurnal change of lighting conditions based on the selected gradient can be
played by pressing one of the ”Play” buttons.
The second frame can be used to display or change a lighting gradient. Each gradient is defined
by its name, as listed in the box in the left section.
Note: Any change to a selected gradient is immediately saved.
In order to create a new gradient or to delete an existing one, the corresponding buttons in the left
frame can be used.
The lower half of the right frame displays the color gradient. By choosing a color and pressing the
”Add” button, the chosen color is added to the gradient. The location where the new color value is
inserted is marked with a colored peg (inverted triangle) which can be moved along the time axis
to accordingly move the color value within the gradient. Color values between two pegs are non-
linearly interpolated.
To remove a color value from the gradient, simply click the corresponding peg and press the
”Remove” button.

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Sky
With the ”Sky” panel the background image for the sky can be changed. There are various
predefined sky images to chose from, and various shading possibilities.

Primarily, a background color can be chosen. Furthermore, one can decide whether to use a Sky
Box or not. If a sky box is employed, several additional parameters can be set which determine its
look and behaviour, including positioning behaviour, blending color for the sky texture, extents,
definition of the transitional region where the background color mixes with the sky texture, as well
as the sky texture to be used.

If the sky box is not activated, only the background color has an influence on the display.
For an activated Sky box the ”Position” parameter defines how the sky box is to be placed into the
scene. In ”Automatic” mode the sky box is continually centered in the scene on the camera’s
horizontal plane. In ”Manual” mode places the sky box in a fixed location within the scene.

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Sky box color:
This defines a blending color for the sky texture. Using white causes the texture to be displayed in
its original coloring, using a different color can change the appearance. Using gray can create the
impression of a bad weather situation.

Radius:
The radius defines the size of the sky box – it is equal to half of the sky box’ width. It is
advisable to choose a large size for the sky box in order to reduce distortions of the sky texture.
Top, Bottom:
These values define the altitudes for the ceiling and the floor of the sky box.
Transparent Start, Transparent End:
These values define three vertical ranges:
Bottom to Transparent Start:
the sky box is transparent; the background color is completely visible.
Transparent Start to Transparent End:
the sky box becomes increasingly opaque. At the same time the intensity of the
background color diminishes.
Transparent End to Top:
Only the sky texture is visible.
Type:
Allows the selection of a sky texture. A preview of the currently selected texture is displayed on
the right.
Furthermore, the buttons ”New”, ”Edit” and ”Del” make it possible to create, modify, or delete sets
of textures which define a sky box (the expression ”set” is used to stress the fact that a sky box
consists of six sky textures which must merge seamlessly). Pressing ”New” or ”Edit” opens the
Sky Type Editor.

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 ”Name” is an identifier for the current sky
texture set, which is used in the list in the Sky
panel.
The six following fields define paths to the
texture files to be used as the sides of the sky
box.
The buttons to the right open a file dialog to
ease the browsing for the texture files.
The entry ”Integrated” indicates that the texture
is not referenced as a file, but has been
integrated into the sky box. This happens when
the Sky Type Editor is closed with the button
”Save”.
The six images in the lower half display the
selected textures so that their correct placement
can be checked.

Integrated sky textures can also be individually

replaced by a new texture file at any time.

Please note that the Time of Day settings influence the lighting intensity of the sky and the
background color, and may therefore change the appearance of a newly created sky box.

Fog
With the “Fog” panel TerrainView™ provides the functionality to add fog to a scene. Like the Sky
functionality, the Fog functionality is subordinate to the Time of Day functionality, insofar as the
lighting intensity also influences the fog’s appearance.
The checkbox enables or disables the fog. If
enabled, the fog density type can be selected.
The fog types describe the way in which the fog
density increases as a function of the distance
to the camera. For linear density, the distance
from the camera where the fog should start can
be specified. ”View distance” defines the
distance from the camera at which the visibility
at most 10%. Furthermore, the fog color can be
selected.

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Clouds

The “Clouds” panel allows to add different cloud layers as well as rain and snow effects. Like sky
and fog the Time of Day also influences the appearance of the clouds.

The checkbox enables or disables the clouds and the panel functionality. “New” adds a new cloud
layer to the scenery. Clouds will be generated at an altitude between “Top” and “Bottom” with the
selected amount of coverage. A layer can contain one or several types of clouds. The cloud layer
covers a rectangular region centered on “Center X” and “Center Y” with a radius of “Range”.
Clouds are rendered volumetric inside the “3D Range” distance around the camera. “Get” sets
the center coordinates to the current camera position. After setting all values, using “Generate”
creates the layer and adds it to the world.

Wind speed and direction move the clouds over time and affects rain and snow. The checkboxes
for rain resp. snow activate and deactivate the weather effects once a cloud layer has been
generated. The amount of precipitation can be selected from the “Rate” drop-down list.

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12.5.5 The System Module
The system module contains two sub panels, ”Properties”, and ”Log”.

Properties
The properties panel lists information about the System and the current database.

System Section
CPU Speed:
Processor speed (MHz).
Installed RAM:
Memory size (MB).
Graphics card:
Name of the graphics card.
OpenGL driver version:
Displays the OpenGL version supported by the currently installed driver of the graphics card.
Operating system:
Displays name and version of the operating system.
Run detailed analysis:
In case of problems when operating TerrainView™, or for purely informative reasons, a detailed
analysis of the system can be made by inspecting various aspects of hardware, software,
driver, and settings. If so desired, a report of the findings can be saved.

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Database Section
The database section lists some statistics of the current database.
Number of objects: Shows the number of objects currently loaded.
Number of polygons: Shows the number of polygons in the scene.
Used texture memory: Amount of used texture memory (kB).
Used disc space: Amount of disk space used (kB).

Log

This panel displays information logged by TerrainView™. With the radio buttons on the left, the
desired log level can be set:
Performance:
Minimal logging of the most important events. Using this setting TerrainView™’s performance is
hardly affected.
Normal:
Medium amount of logging information.
Full:
All events are logged in full detail.

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12.5.6 The About Module
The about module consists of five sub panels containing copyright and licensing information.

Software

Application: name of the application (i.e. ”TerrainView”)

Version: application version
Copyright: copyright information
License: the currently installed TerrainView™ license, press “More” for further
information
Licensed To: name of the licensee
Info: this box contains the following license information:
System Identifier: a number identifying the system
License Type: license type
License Duration: duration of the license (limited, unlimited)
Start Time: start time of the license
End Time: time at which the license becomes invalid
Modules: the licensed modules

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Database, Image Data, Geometry Data, Additional 3D Data
All these panels have a similar structure:

Copyright: copyright of the data used

Version: version of the data
Owner: owner of the data
License: license for the data
Info: additional information on the data
Logo: logo of the data provider

Some of these informations can be changed in the menu item "Tools->Configuration options..."

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12.6 The Scene View
The scene view provides an overview over all loaded objects: entities (terrains and models), flight
paths, and points of interest. The tree structure of this view reflects the grouping of these objects.
Each name is preceded by a checkbox which controls the visibility of the corresponding entity.
Depending on the object type various actions can be selected from the context menu that pops up
when on of the names is clicked at with the right mouse button.

12.6.1 The Entity View

In the Entity View the terrain (if one has been loaded) and all loaded 3D objects are displayed.

Terrain:
Name of the terrain (if one has been loaded).
Objects:
This tree contains all 3D models that have been
loaded.
If an entry is selected by clicking on it, its properties are
displayed in the Properties View.
It is also possible to select several objects at once and
apply one of the following functions:
Delete all selected objects
Toggle visibility of the selected objects

If an object is clicked at with the right mouse button, a pop-up menu opens:
Jump to the object.
Delete the object.
Collision detection for the object is enabled/disabled.
Object visibility is toggled.

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12.6.2 The Flight Path View
The flight path view displays all flight paths that have been created, ordered by their group
association.
If a flight path is selected by clicking on it, its properties
are displayed in the Properties View.
It is also possible to select several objects at once and
apply one of the following functions:
Reset the flight path(s)
Run the selected flight path(s) backwards
Stop the selected flight path(s)
Pause the selected flight path(s)
Run the selected flight path(s)
The little symbol next to the visibility checkbox shows the
state of the flight path:
The flight path is stopped
The flight path is running
The flight path with camera is running
The flight path is paused
The flight path with camera is paused

If several selected flight paths with attached cameras are started, a dialog pops up in which the
active camera can be selected:

If a flight path is clicked at with the right mouse button, a pop-up menu opens:
Reset the flight path(s).
Play the flight path(s).
Pause the flight path(s).
Stop the flight path(s).
Play the flight path(s) backwards.
Jump to the start of the flight path.
Jump to the end of the flight path.
Toggle visibility of flight path.

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12.6.3 The POI View
The POI View displays all Points of Interest that have been created, ordered by their group
association.
If a POI is selected by clicking on it, its properties are
displayed in the Properties View.
It is also possible to select several objects at once and
apply one of the following functions:

Toggle visibility of the selected POIs

The viewpoint jumps to the selected POI

As in the other views a pop-up opens when a POI is clicked at with the right mouse button. In this
case, however, only the visibility toggling and jump-to functionality are offered.

Jump to POI
Toggle POI visibility

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12.6.4 The Measurement View
The measurement view displays all measurements that have been created, ordered by their group
association.
If a flight path is selected by clicking on it, its properties
are displayed in the Properties View.
It is also possible to select several objects at once and
apply one of the following functions:
Delete all selected objects
Toggle visibility of the selected objects
The symbols next to the name describe the measurement
type:
Distance measurement
Angle measurement
Profile measurement
Area measurement

As in the other views a pop-up opens when a measurement is clicked at with the right mouse
button.
Jump to the first point of the measurement
Toggle visibility of measurement
Delete measurement

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12.7 The Properties View
For every type of object, be it 3D model, POI, flight path, or measurement there are several
properties that are displayed in this view. Some of them may even be changed here.

12.7.1 Entities Properties

The name of the object

The file name of the object
The type of the object
Number of polygons
File Size

The objects position in world coordinates

The objects rotation about its local X-Axis

The objects rotation about its local Y-Axis
The objects rotation about its local Z-Axis

The objects scaling

Collision detection enable/disable

Double sided rendering enable/disable
(by default, due to rendering performance, this feature
is disabled)

For terrains, the same properties are displayed, but only the last two properties can be modified.

12.7.2 Flight Path Properties

For a flight path the following properties are displayed:

Flight path name

Flight path group
Flight path duration in seconds
Flight path looped?

The flight path properties can not be manipulated here; this can only be done in the panels of the
flight path module.

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12.7.3 POI properties
For a POI the following properties are displayed:

POI Name
POI group

The POI properties can not be manipulated here; this can only be done in the panels of the Points
of Interest module.

12.7.4 Measurement properties

For a measurement, the following proerties are displayed.

Measurement name
Measurement type
Measurement group
Measurement value

The displayed value is always the main measurement value:

Distance measurement total distance
Angle measurement angle (degrees)
Profile measurement total distance along ground
Area measurement total area

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 4 56' 2
The export menu is available, when the TerrainView License has been generated with the
TerrainView-Web Export option. It can be found in the File menu.

The TerrainView-Web converter can convert TerraPage TXP terrain and already pre-converted
TerrainView-Web TVW terrain. Other terrain file formats are not supported.

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If the scene contains additional objects like houses, etc., then the exporter integrates them
automatically into the TVW terrain. It is not suggested to convert from TVW with objects to TVW
multiple times, to keep the terrain clean and optimized. If no terrain is loaded, only the objects are
exported with an empty default terrain with one tile and one level of detail. Please note, that only
visible objects are exported. The following file formats are supported (OSG supported formats):
Autodesk 3D Studio Files (*.3ds)
VRML 1.0/VRML97 Files (*.wrl)
Wavefront Files (*.obj)
LightWave Object Files (*.lwo)
Design Workshop Files (*.dw)
Geo Files (*.geo)
OSG Files (*.osg)

The user has to choose the output directory, where the TVW terrain will be generated. The
converter can generate version 1 or 2. It is suggested to always export to version 2, but for older
TXP terrain databases, only version 1 is possible. Version 2 is optimized for larger terrain
databases. To convert the currently loaded terrain, click the Convert button. In rare cases, it is
necessary to rewrite the archive header. Then click the Rewrite header button.
The generated terrain is now ready to use. You can upload it and write the according HTML file.
Please consult the TerrainView-Web documentation for further details on TVW script and HTML
syntax. The script can be used with Javascript inside the HTML file.
A script can be generated, which can be used to write the HTML file. The above settings would
generate the following script:
setwaittext "Please wait! Loading configuration ..."
settopmeshheight 0
setdb "http://www.viewtec.ch/~webpage/nizza"
setoffset 10000 10000
setmaxspeed 2187.93
jumpto -7952 99.9999 10768 -7952 -5692.62 16560.6
setpoihaslinetoground "<ALL>" 1
setfogfadeoutheight 20000
showpois 1
enablemap 1
setmaptexture "http://www.viewtec.ch/~webpage/nizza/map.jpg"
setmapdimensions 256 128
enablefog 0
setfogdensity 0.000119829
setfogcolor 0.894118 0.894118 0.894118
setbgcolor 0.784314 0.901961 1
setskybox "http://www.viewtec.ch/~webpage/nizza/sky%s.jpg" 20000 10000
setminheight -10000
setmaxheight 10000
setwaittext " "

The top down texture or the map texture can be automatically generated from the tile textures of
the lowest level of detail. The crop border value is the amount of pixels, which are cropped on
each side of each tile texture. If you export to version 2, then you first have to copy the textures
from the ./l0/r0 sub-directory into the ./ directory. After generating the texture, it is suggested to
rescale the image to a lower resolution before uploading it.

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 # #
TerrainView™ supports a wide palette of file formats. As of version 2.2 these are:
Configuration Files
TerrainView2 Configuration Files(*.tvc)
TerrainView Configuration (*.cfg)
ViewTec Streaming Files (*.tvw)

Terrain
TerraPage Files (*.txp)
OpenFlight Files (*.flt)
VTree Files (*.vt)
ViewTec Webstreaming (*.tvw)

3D Objects
OpenFlight Files (*.flt)
VTree Files (*.vt)
VTree Files (*.vtc)
Autodesk 3D Studio Files (*.3ds)
VRML 1.0/VRML97 Files (*.wrl)
Wavefront Files (*.obj)
LightWave Object Files (*.lwo)
Design Workshop Files (*.dw)
Geo Files (*.geo)
OSG Files (*.osg)

Texture File Formats

Enhanced Compressed Wavelet (*.ecw)
Dr. Halo (*.cut)
JPEG -JFIF Compliant (*.jpeg;*.jpg)
CompuServe Graphics Interchange (*.gif)
Portable Bitmap (*.pbm)
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
SGI Format (*.sgi;*.rgb;*.rgba)
Tagged Image File Format (*.tif;*.tiff)
Truevision Targa (*.tga)
Windows Bitmap (*.bmp)
Zsoft Paintbrush (*.pcx)

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