posted 01-31- 01:44 AM               

3DEM can render 3D terrain scenes and MPEG flyby animations from the following data sources:

USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) files,
USGS Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS DEM) files,
USGS Global 30 Arc Second Elevation Data Set (GTOPO30 DEM) files
NOAA Global Land One-km Base Elevation (GLOBE) files
NASA Mars Digital Topographic Map (DTM) files
Any topographic data file organized by rows and columns of elevation data
Internally generated Mandelbrot fractals

You can save the overhead view as a bitmap graphic for texture mapping or as a reference for a bigger texture map.

Cost of the program is $35 and there is a feature limit demo.

Here's the links, but the best thing to do is download the manual and read through it for the features (the description on the site doesn't mention VRML export, that was in the manual)
Manual http://www.microtopo.com
Demo http://www.davecentral.com/5457.html

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That answered my question

posted 01-31- 07:14 AM               

OK, I'd have to say that it all depends on this:

1. can you divide the terrain made into 400 equaly sized 2x2mile square tiles, map them, and then centre them all on the x/y axis

What would also be a bonus is it using the same material tables as SDOE, which Multigen does obviously, but Max doesn't And I guess you'd need to be sure it will work on a tile thats 40x40 miles.. it's a pretty big model but shouldn't be a problem I think.

posted 02-01- 07:06 PM               

This is the least expensive terrain modeller I have seen and if it can be used to export the poly's and map, that's one big hurdle out of the way.