Creating ground form meshes from 3D splines

[KeithXP]

I am trying to create fairly simple terrains such as this one:

 

I did this by exporting the splines from Autocad into Sketchup and manually creating faces between the ridge line of the banks and the ground lines on either side. Very tedious.

 

I have tried drawing contours and using sandbox in Sketchup and Terrain object in MAX Design (2011) - the results in both cases were unsatisfactory (inaccurate, and distortion on the flat base plan). I am inexperienced with MAX but I'm sure there must be a way in MAX to create a surface between two 3D splines, but I cannot find it.

 

Can anyone suggest a good workflow?

 

thanks

[Cad64]

Yes, you can do that with the Terrain modifier in Max, but the accuracy will depend on how many splines you use to define the surface.

[KeithXP]

Surely there must be some way of creating the banks on either side of the 'ridge' spline, as shown in my clip, without drawing much more. A bit like using edgesurf in autocad? Terrain just creates a bit of a mess. I have used it for broadbrush landscapes, but here where I want a defined shape, I don't think it is the right tool.

[Cad64]

3DS Max is not really a great terrain modeling program. It can generate terrain meshes, but as you said, they are a bit messy.

 

Here's another way to approach terrain modeling: http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/terrain/terrain_01.php

 

And another way: http://www.delta3d.org/article.php?story=2005070111291094&topic=tutorials

 

There are also other programs like Terragen, GroundWiz and Vue that specialize in terrains and landscapes.