James and Yadgar,
     I just had an idea for making height fields from contour maps.  You
could scan the maps, then use a paint program such as photoshop to create
gradations.  You would have to create a pallete with a different shade of
gray for each height interval.  You could then select the section to be
shaded using a magic wand tool, expand the selection by a bit to overlap the
lines, and fill it in with the corresponding tone on a separate layer.
After they are all filled you could use a median filter to blend the
gradation together to get a continuous surface.  This process would go
faster on a flatter landscape of course, like where I live in the midwest.
I could see this taking a few days for a 10000x10000 pixel, several square
kilometer map, not years like Yadgar was projecting for his method.  This
might speed the process up a bit, but as far as automation, I just don't
know.  If you aren't afraid of a little tedium, I say go for it.

-Ben Scheele


"James Taylor" <jim### [at] blueyondercouk> wrote in message
news:3e6545c0@news.povray.org...
> I've been doing the same thing for a place near where I live, and was
going
> to ask the same question - whats the easiest way to make a heightfield
from
> a contour map?
>
> jim
>
>

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