Hello expert's! Would it be possible to give a short overview on how to prepare DEM laser scan data? Just a couple of bullet points, no need for a full tutorial yet! What file format is the editor expecting? What coordinates transformation must be done? DTG Matt talked about this in the live stream I have already installed QGIS und also have the data available. Thanks!
Would be great to get some pointers on this in advance so that we at least download the correct data.
Yes I have a couple of folders now for potential projects with LIDAR stored ready alongside the SRTM but a heads up would be appreciated as to what we need to do to prepare it.
First check as regards LiDAR data. Been looking at a short branch line in Victoria, done the markers and grabbed the 30m SRTM. Go to the Geoscience Australia "Elvis" site, draw a nice box around the area I want then get told "No data available". Oh well, will have to se what the 30m stuff looks like.
Thats bad indeed... I have full dataset with 1m resolution available, as ground model and also as raw surface model:
maybe a bit of a noob question but where did you get the data set from and how did you import it to unreal engine?
Data is free for Saxony (Germany) and can be viewed online (thats where the screenshots are from). No Import yet! https://geoviewer.sachsen.de/mapviewer/index.html
That is impressive. I extracted the 30m DEM (25m as it turned out) into Trainz Surveyor and it did not look very good at all. I have found the latest batch of NASA 30m SRTM to be rather rough and bumpy, picking up buildings or clusters of trees then averaging them into little blisters on the terrain. I actually prefer working with the Viewfinder data where that is available at 30m resolution.
When looking for DEM you need to get DTM (Digital Terrain Model) rather than DSM (Digital Surface Model) as the latter includes buildings, trees, etc. DTM https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...9810&lon=-1.08817&layers=1&right=LIDAR_DTM_1m vs DSM https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sid...9810&lon=-1.08817&layers=1&right=LIDAR_DSM_1m The DSM is so good you can see the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales in dock!
Hi DTG Lukas could you give some more details? I´m confused. Downloaded data comes in *.xyz format. What are the steps in QGIS to get an *.asc file?
100% DTG Lukas Yeah we're gonna need more than that if you expect anyone to ever build a route There's so much to learn with UE/TSW that we'll use over and over whereas spending a few dozen hours learning how LIDAR/DEM works for what is essentially a one off job per route. At least help us get the landscape into the editor with some basic steps please. Once that's in we can mess around with all the other tools to our hearts content.
Well I just got the link from the Norway topo site to download the LiDAR data and the zip contains the following files: What files to I need to extract and what do I do with them next (please)?
(The funny part, for me, is that .asc is a format that I use at work and has nothing to do with maps ). I tried to convert one my geotiff in asc following this mini tutorial. https://wiki.tuflow.com/QGIS_Export_Raster_to_asc It generates an asc file but there are no indication of the dimensions. Edit. By the way, if I have to do this process for each file I'll finish for TSW5...
I've just done exactly the same thing (although nowhere did I see anything about "pseudo Mercator projection"). So now I have my asc, asc.aux.xml and prj files but also have no idea what size it is, it just converted one of the DTM tiles I need.
In theory is the classic WGS 84. "WGS 84 / Pseudo-Mercator -- Spherical Mercator, Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Bing, ArcGIS, ESRI" https://epsg.io/3857
The convertion does not work. I have placed 2/3 of the terrain of my route but when I tried with the asc it simply deleted the HGT terrain.
One live stream i saw showed Matt introduce another guy, sorry can't remember his name but he was great, he was showing briefly how he imported .hgt files and STRM data into his Dresden route. As the video wasn't a tutorial and just a sneak peak of the editor it didn't go into any details of where those files came from or how the .hgt and STRM details were actually imported. I think a tutorial showing this would be a great start
When I was importing data for a terrain in my UE 5.3 project I tried importing .tif files but it didn't recognise them someone said I had to convert them to .tiff or .raw file format, suggested using an online converter which I wasn't going to do as there's so many websites that are not safe to use these days
Yes, there are a lot of us trying to get LiDAR data into the editor. I keep having .LAZ files from LiDAR data for US routes so what are we suppose to be doing?
can get .hgt files here Coverage map viewfinderpanoramas.org but the editor doesn't recognise the hgt file format and LiDar data from here Defra Survey Data Download
After I read this I found this stuff in QGIS. It's a bit painful to set up a batch conversion of many files, but.. You go to RASTER -> CONVERSION -> TRANSLATE In the window that pops up, you load your geotiff, usgs or whatever file you have as a source. Then you apply the Pseudo Mercator projection. Last, you need to set a place to export to, and then run the process. Like I said, this can also be set up to batch, but it's a bit tedious to input all the different source files one by one but at least that worked for me. However.... I'm not sure I see the full quality result in Unreal. It seems rather low resolution still, like, I expected a lot more distinct details after "apply lidar data" on the selected landscape streaming proxy object. From here, I'm frankly not sure how to lay tracks properly. The editor crashes so much I feel I'm barely taking one step forward before tumbling back 10 steps
You did better than I did. Got the height data in, looking much like a billiard table although the area is quite flat. Added the lidar on top and it all just vanished. Mind you I got errors importing the aux and prj files so it might well be related to that. I hope they come up with some kind of basic helper notes for landscape set up or any new routes are dead in the water.
I think DTG-Lukas has to do a video on this. I know about GIS and how to use GIS softwares, but its not much good, if we dont know the formats and the steps to import correctly. And the tile sizes we need to be in Asci Grid etc. Then we could probably make a python script to automate the whole lot. I also noticed while looking through the editor, that "World Machine" is used in some way. I have a Licence for this. (World Machine is an advanced terrain generation tool) But I think we would all like to hear more about all this from lukas. Its VERY Important!
Also - are the .hgt files absoluteley necessary? I only have the LiDAR .asc files but cannot work out how to create a landscape differently than what was shown on the preview stream.
I downloaded some Elvis stuff but I have no idea how to use it... Always just opens as a black square.
I just think this is going to need proper step by step documentation. A few Twitch or YT streams, while appreciated, are no substitute for properly structured instructions. I plan on grabbing the editor this morning but given I have 166Gb worth of data to download to the laptop first so all the assets are available, probably going to be two or three days before I can take a meaningful look at it.
So the problem here is, I can’t give a step step guide, since this always depends on your data source and projection. Few important things though. Always find out what your data is in. Saxony for example is 33N I think? Meaning first you import your .xyz Then you merge it all, reproject it from 33N to pseudo Mercator (make sure it projects correctly! (Use a OSM layer to validate) then out of this huge reprojected plane, tile it into 2500x2500 grid (by creating a raster) delete all files which are null data only, since this gets padded to a rectangular shape But this is all before anything happens with the actual TSW, this is just where you will need to know how to operate Qgis and I can’t really help you with that except give some ideas..
Well that's good info to push us in the right direction. Can I ask, is the imported data automatically read to the correct lat/long based on the hgt/asc files or do you need to set your route location to somewhere specific?
Blimey, didn't think importing DEM/LIDAR would be this complex. I think I'll wait until someone produces a step by step...
After some trial and error I got the SRTM around my start co-ordinates, albeit blank tiles with no texture. What's eluding me now is how to get the kml file in and displayed so I can follow along the route and continue to place the SRTM. LiDAR can be done later, if at all.
Only thing I can think of is have you tried going up with arrow kwy (it is very slow and shift doesn't help) as after placing the terrain you are still at sea level.
Yea, I've tried that, also tried playing around with the sea level value. Nothing seems to work. I've tried different hgt files and just the same result. You tried Lidar yet? Wondering if that could be an "easier" option.
Have you created a route? If yes, check the coordinates. I had to redo that part 3 times to define the correct location. Just a small variation and you can be Kms from the terrain.
How precise do these need to be? How would I go about getting the exact coordinated because that might be where I'm going wrong? Yes i've created a route.
For that postion I think the sourcefile have to be from N52E000 hgt. You are atleast close to the border so I would throw the N52E000/N53E000/N52E001/N53E001 tiles in there to for good measure. When cooking route I would guess unused data is not packed anyway. N and E are positive position values, S and W are negative.
Ok, I've got my LIDAR into QGIS. Combined it all into 1 map, converted it to Pseudo Mercator 3857, overlaid a 2500x2500m grid, raster extracted by layer mask using the grid to iterate each grid square. I then have half a dozen layers that are each a 2500x2500m square in the correct format. I Translate export as asc, and get 3 files - .asc, .asc.aux.xml and .prj I then drop them into TSW4 editor where they either a) throw up error messages saying .xml and .prj are not recognised (the .asc load but do nothing when used in the terrain import) b) crash the editor with an index out of range exception I understand that the imported data is different based on the sources but DTG Lukas you could definitely give us a step by step in QGIS once we have our "huge reprojected plane".
I agree we need a step by step 'how to do it properly in QGIS' document. Doesn't matter where the data is from ,that is not what we're asking for. We need a way to get the data out of QGIS in the way you guys know it works.
