Monday, March 27, 2006

Conversions and 3D visualization on the Cheap

Within most GIS projects, particularly when 3D visualization is involved, divergent data sources and formats need to be brought together into a single product (Quickly and Cheaply). As an aid in figuring out how I was going to get data from one visualization platform to another, I created a simple chart that reminded me what went where. As I am sure there are more productive work arounds than listed here, I would be more than interested to hear from any readers who have suggestions.

click image for larger view

Below you will find a list of links for the various programs and plugins for converting these particular data sets. In the future, I will post some project examples.

3D Studio Max
ArcGIS
ArcScene/ArcGlobe
AutoCAD
Blender - Open Source
Google Earth - Open Source
Sketchup
DXF Author (ESRI Shapefile to DXF) - Open Source
Shapefile to Sketchup - Open Source
Blender 3DS Import/Export - Open Source
Blender to KML - Open Source
Sketchup to KML - Open Source

*Please note: I do not endorse these products. I am in no way affiliated with any of these products. I use this software for my day to day work and I though someone may get use out of this information.

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