# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > 3D modeling (map elements and height maps) >  USN 3D Surface Model

## AzurePlanet

Hi everybody!  :Smile: 
I have been playing with Terragen 3 recently, and used my previous USN http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=29860 map data to get some 3D rendering.
So, I decided to share with you my new experience.
My purpose would be to get a realistic 3D model of my islands, something like Google Earth. Also, I would like to do a new satellite map from this model.
Here are some images I have been able to get:


Casitas Lake, looking North, afternoon. The large grey spot is Casitas Lake City.


Casitas Lake, looking South, afternoon.


The Four Channel Cities (Braith Water, Otago City, Claremount, Channel City), looking North-East, afternoon.


Longbeach City and its airport, looking North-East, morning.

As you can see, cities and towns appear still as grey spots, roads creeks and rivers are too large, and trees are in fact fake trees.
I must do some better city masks, transport masks, water bodies masks, and possibly use real tree models.
By the way, I think all these improvemens are very time-consuming and I do not know yet how the final result will be.

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## vorropohaiah

this is realy interesting, the type of thing I;d like to do with my world. Do you need much processing power to render things like that?

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## J.Edward

Really nice Azure. You're making me want to get back into Terragen.
Looks like it's come a long way since I used it last [terragen1].
I'd be interested in any info and other renders that you've done.

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## AzurePlanet

> this is realy interesting, the type of thing I;d like to do with my world. Do you need much processing power to render things like that?


I'm happy that you find interesting my 3D stuff!  :Very Happy: 

Despite I'm not a computer expert, I can tell you that my notebook has the following equipment.
CPU: Intel Core i5 2450M @ 2.50GHz (4 cores).
RAM: 8.00 GB @ 665 MHz.
Graphics Card: 1.00 GB ATI Radeon HD 7450M.
Motherboard: Hewlett-Packard 1670.
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

My notebook elapsed more or less 10 mins to render each one of the above images.

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## AzurePlanet

@ J.Edward

Thanks very much J!  :Very Happy: 
Terragen is becoming really mighty! Planetside are preparing a TG4 release for next year.
I've done many other renders of the USN, just experimental stuff. Nothing to be compared to those professional masterpieces that you can see on Planetside Forums.

I'll post some more renderings later, I have to convert bmp to jpg before.

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## Humabout

I love what youve done here! One nit is that the airport in the last picture (im guessing that is what that is) only has one runway. Even small airports have 2 runways at right angles (forming an L) with one aligned so it faces into the prominent wind direction. This permits craft to take off and land into the wind to get better lift and slow their speed, even as wind direction shifts throughout the day or weather patterns change with the seasons.

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## AzurePlanet

Hi there Guilders!  :Smile: 
It's been a long time since my last post, but I haven't been completely idle. I've carried on the purpose to make the USN quite alive.
So, I found out a method to bring my previous work into MS Flight Simulator X. Yes, I also like a lot flitting around...
And now I'd like to show you the result!
Here are some pictures taken during my flights and my trips by jeep. Sure, MS FSX is not only a "flight simulator": you could use whatever transport you want!


Owreaghys International Airport, looking south.


Owreaghys FD and Middle Lake, looking south.


Wanthrock City, TW, looking north.


Over the Isle of Truky, looking east towards Nayrkown City, LH. Here you can see the coast of Longbeach, as far as Longbeach City.


Lengthy, LH, looking east.


Between Jahryer City and Eskoryal, OG, looking south.


Gohelanya Gulf, PK, looking north. You can see Gohelanya International Airport on the right hand side of the picture.


Gohelanya Springs and Gohelanya Beach, PK. Looking east. You can see the airport on the backgroud.


Over Dreamtown, TW. Looking south-east. You can see the Otago River on the right hand side of the picture, and the Breeze Bay on the background.


Approaching Wanthrock City airport, TW, looking north. Here you can see the Grassland of New Wyoming.


Over the strip of land between Coppersand Lagoon (on the left) and the Atlantic Ocean (on the right), TW. Looking east.


Approaching Wheigh City and the Wheigh River delta, AZ/TW border. Looking west.


Over Kewney, AZ. Looking west.


Chester, AZ, looking north.


A picture from The Highlands National Park, in TW. Looking south. Here you can see a small part of Wanthrock City, TW.


Another picture from the same National Park, in OG. Looking south-west. You can see a nice panorama of the southern part of Casitas Lake, Central Lake, Otago River Valley and Ownerth.


A picture taken along the H6, just east from Lagoon, TW. Looking west.


Finally, a breath of saltiness: a seaside picture taken west from Whying, PK, (Cape America) along the road to the lighthouse. Looking west.

P.S. I feel I haven't finished yet. Next steps will be the improvement of coast lines, road junctions, bridges, highrise buildings in the cities, landmarks... well this is a hobby, so I don't really know when I'll say "the end"...  :Smile: 
When I'm satisfied enough I publish the work as a freeware addon for MS FSX, on a dedicated website.

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## AzurePlanet

Just an improvement: beaches, city parks and skysrapers.


Gohelanya


Longbeach City


Downtown Owreaghys

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## tieuviem

Thanks..! I've done many other renders of the USN, just experimental stuff. Nothing to be compared to those professional masterpieces that you can see on Planetside Forums.

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## AzurePlanet

Hi there!  :Smile: 
I've been long time away from the Cartographers' Guild, but finally I'd like to show you some videos I made using my Newfoundisles' 3D stuff and MS FSX.
Here is the link to my YouTube channel:

*AzurePlanet*

Thanks for watching!
If you like my videos, please do not forget to subscribe to my channel.
More videos to come soon...

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