W C S / V N S . H i n t s

An ever-growing collection of occasionally enigmatic, often esoteric, but sometimes useful suggestions.
Provided without warranty or promise of salvation.

WCS references are applicable to both WCS 6x and VNS 2x
When VNS is specified, the feature is only applicable to VNS 2

Search all WCS / VNS resources

3D Objects
  What you need to know before using them
Formats
City building, WCS and LightWave
Coordinate axis conventions
DXF caused crashes
DXF format
Randomization
Translators

3D Studio Max
  3D Studio VIZ compositing
Background Image, can't see in viewport until rendered (ZBCOMP with Max 3 & 4)
DEM export as 3DS object
Draping a planimetric render
Exporting 3DS objects
RPF doesn't composite correctly in WCS
Scene export units

Animation
  Codecs
Motion blur
Quick Sequence, don't hide the view

ArcInfo
  E00
Shapefiles, multi-part shapes

Area Terraffectors
  Freeze
Selective feature exaggeration

AutoCAD DXF Import for Terrain
  Import Considerations
Preparing AutoCAD file for WCS import

Basalts
  Columnar basalts

Block Diagrams
  Terraffector method
Area Terraffector method
Related visualization software

Beaches
  Are they rendering?
Beach basics
Beachcombing

Cameras
  70mm film aspect
Eye level views
Making 2 cameras move at the same speed
Matching a camera view to a photo
Planimetric views: Why is terrain cut off?
Stereo Java applet for viewing stereo
Velocity Distribution

Cartography
  Berann-style artificial curvature
Contour lines, rendering on terrain

City
  Building a city, abridged

Clipping Plane
  Minimum rendering distance for objects

Clouds
  Using a Cloud Component? Watch those keyframes...
Cloud shadows not rendering
Multilayered cumulus clouds

Color Maps
  Image Object Library 'Load Fast' and WRLs
Making Ground Effect show through an Ecosystem Matching color
Matching projections in WCS
Picking colors when placing Ecosystems with a Color Map
Realtime overlay
Transparency doesn't work in Color by Pixel mode
Using Ecosystem Matching like a Environment

Compositing
  Shadows for 3D Objects rendered in LW/Max
Z-buffer compositing and 3D volumetrics

Coordinate Systems
  BCS in VNS?

Crashes (also see Errors)
  Why?

DEMs
  10-m USGS data
ArcASCII import
ASTER
Erosion tools
ETOPO5
ETOPO5 vs GTOPO30
GLOBE data
LIDAR data, Snoqualmie River Valley, WA
NED import
Raster image import, steps in resulting terrain
Resolution bumping
SDTS import limitations
Smoothing
SRTM
Spikes in un-Terraffected terrain
Striped, poor resolution DEM fixing
Vertical exaggeration

DEM Merger
  Multi-Res Considerations

Ecosystems
  Ecosystem feathering and overlap
Polygon edges showing along vector-bounded Ecosystem edges
Using an orthophoto to place foliage and tint ground

Errors
  Memory Allocation Failure window: Could not allocate X bytes of memory
Project crashes WCS
Project won't open
Render Module window: Error initializing Effects


Farmland
  Crop circles
Irrigated farmland

Foliage
  Accurate shadows
Distance Dissolve, Absolute Pixels vs Relative to Image Height
Growing trees
Halos around rendered foliage
Hedges
Image sources
References
Trees get darker toward light source
Trees 'pop out' of animation at frame edges

Fractal Depth Maps
  How does Maximum Fractal Depth value and texture affect FDMs?
Increasing speed of FDM generation
Interrupting generation of FDMs
With many cameras


GIS
  What's the default Coordinate System?
Thematic Maps to drive Diffuse Color
Translators
VNS-specific GIS topics

Ground Effect
  Using multiple DOQs

Glaciers

Hardware Key (Dongle)

Image Objects
  GeoTIFF
Image Manager and Color Control, Sequence, and Dissolve (VNS)
Image Viewers
Indexed color images
TFW
Transparency for Planar Image textures
Transparency for foliage and celestial bodies
WFL

Island Topology (donut polygons)
  High-res Edge doesn't work on inner polygon

Lakes
  Lake vector renders blocky

LightWave
  Draping a planimetric render in LW
File format for compositing in WCS
LW_ExtendedRLAExport Problems


Macintosh
  DEM Utilities


OpenGL

Panoramas
  How to make them
How to view them as QTVR movies

Post Processing
  Edge Ink

Rendering
  Animations longer than 99,999 Frames
Network rendering options
Network rendering with SuperConductor
Projected planimetric images
Render Speed
Segments
Tips for Reducing Memory Consumption

Scenarios
  A good reason to have at least one
Scene-at-a-Glance
  Number of items listed

Scene Express
  3D Objects: How to make them look good in SX
3D Object Textures: How they're generated
DEM Resolution: Increasing during export
Scene Export vs SX
Stereo viewing
VRML Vewers

Search Queries
  Dynamic vs static linking

Sky
  Can't see celestial objects and stars
Sunbeams and shadow

Shadows
  Minimizing shadow render time
Not rendering, possible reasons
Triangular shadow facets in terrain

Snow
  Feathering and overlap
Snow on foliage

Terraffectors
  Lower DEM resolution and higher FD or higher DEM resolution and lower FD?
Road comes and goes, especially at intersections
Road edges 'saw-toothed'
Road intersections
Saving render time with FD texture
Spikes along road or near Tfx intersections
Tfx roads vs Tfx Freeze
Tfx roads always the best?

Terrain Gridder
  Combining data from 2 grid events
Error: Ratio of width to height too great
Gridding in WCS 6
Import Wizard, Grid Now or Later?
LastAutoGrid
Removing Control Points
Number of Tiles and Outlying Point Search Region
What are Gradients?
What is NULL?

Textures
  Align to Vector
HSV Merge element
Remap function
Texture not rendering on vector-bounded Ecosystem

Units
  International Foot vs US Survey Foot

Utilities
  INVERSE/FORWARD/INVERS3D/FORWRD3D Computation Utilities


Vectors
  Create vector
Digitizing in OpenGL? Preview render is better
Digitizing in preview render and seeing in OpenGL
DLG import, ASCII vs SDTS
Not rendering as solid lines
Scrolling an OpenGL view while digitizing
Terrain disappears in overhead view after vector created


Water
  Waterfalls
Waves, general suggestions
Waves, animation notes

WCS vs VNS
  WCS projects in VNS 2



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Copyright 1997-2008 R Scott Cherba All Rights Reserved