Netherlands
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
where the terrain will be shown higher than it should be
I bet the difference is the thickness of the floor. Read the manual "Levels explained" which you can find on the manuals section on dodecagon.nl. This will explain the relation between level height and floor thickness. Understand that a generated terrain is an object, the same as any other piece of furniture. Which also means you can not 'elevate' it downwards (negative elevation). You can place it on a lower level and elevate it to the elevation you need. This (very old) tip&trick explains creating a pool but it also reveals how to work on a lower level without a floor above it.
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Netherlands
Joined: Apr 8, 2022
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
You'll see that the plugin creates the terrain on the lower level. When pressing OK, it still gets put to the upper level (which is correct).
Ah, you mean while in the generator dialog. I never noticed that before but you are right. I'm not sure if that could be considered a bug, terrain usually resides at the 0 level and the plugin is probably designed with that in mind. What do you do with a terrain floating on a higher level?
I also tried it with a level below ground. While in the generator dialog the display is still from the 0 level. Then I elevated all three levels 100cm, resulting in none of the levels having a 0 elevation. The generator still displays at elevation 0. So that is consistent: it always displays at elevation 0.
The only downside I can see is that the outline of the walls in the generator dialog is from the 0 level and not the level where you selected the room to create the terrain from. I do see the outlines of the other levels too (in the generator dialog). Considering that, the walls shown should have been those from the selected room level. If you know this you can work around it by copying your room and walls in a new file and use that to generate the terrain, then copy the generated object back to your original file.
Some extra knowledge: The information for the terrain is stored in the room section in the Home.xml file in your .sh3d file. You can delete the generated terrain object, select the room you used and start the generator again. It will read from the room the elevations and create a new object with OK. Nice if you want to make little changes without starting all over again. After you generated the terrain you can move the room to a separate level and make that level invisible. Or even better, move it to a separate file. That way you keep a backup of the terrain data without the room itself showing in your project. Keep in mind that a large terrain with a fine grid will make your .sh3d file grow considerably: each point in the grid is a line in the Home.xml file. A large terrain easily spans hundreds of lines. That's why moving the room object to a separate file is a good idea. Your original project will only have the generated terrain object and not all the room overhead that is used to create the object.
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Joined: Dec 18, 2024
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
> So that is consistent: it always displays at elevation 0.
Exactly, I hadn't realized that before as well.
> terrain usually resides at the 0 level and the plugin is probably designed with that in mind. What do you do with a terrain floating on a higher level?
Usually yes, but there are exceptions as always, e.g. when you want to model the terrain based on an architect's plan where zero is the top of your base plate, without having to do a lot of calculations.
It *shouln't* be a huge code change and in the mean time at least I managed to get the grid at the right elevation, but didn't get the rest working. At least I tried... I'm confident it'd be an easy task for @Puybaret
Switzerland
Joined: Nov 29, 2024
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
I have created a building with several foor my 0 is along with the main entrance. but I also created a celar. It difficult to create a terrain that goes down because the editor shows it one floor above.
Is it somehow possible to edit a created Terrain? At moment I have to remove it and re create it if I play around with the terrain.
US
Joined: Jan 31, 2025
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
java.lang.RuntimeException: Waited 5000ms for: <196b916f, 7592cc78>[count 1, qsz 0, owner <J3D-Renderer-2>] - <J3D-Renderer-1> at jogamp.common.util.locks.RecursiveLockImpl01Unfairish.lock(RecursiveLockImpl01Unfairish.java:198) at jogamp.nativewindow.jawt.JAWTUtil.lockToolkit(JAWTUtil.java:543) at jogamp.nativewindow.jawt.JAWTUtil$3.lock(JAWTUtil.java:447) at com.jogamp.nativewindow.DefaultGraphicsDevice.lock(DefaultGraphicsDevice.java:143) at com.jogamp.nativewindow.awt.JAWTWindow.lockSurface(JAWTWindow.java:702) at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableImpl.lockSurface(GLDrawableImpl.java:315) at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:631) at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:615) at javax.media.j3d.JoglPipeline.useCtx(JoglPipeline.java:7251) at javax.media.j3d.Canvas3D.useCtx(Canvas3D.java:4830) at javax.media.j3d.Canvas3D.makeCtxCurrent(Canvas3D.java:2417) at javax.media.j3d.Canvas3D.makeCtxCurrent(Canvas3D.java:2403) at javax.media.j3d.Renderer.doWork(Renderer.java:944) at javax.media.j3d.J3dThread.run(J3dThread.java:271) Error in Java 3D : 1 Renderer: Unexpected RuntimeException caught during renderingX11Util.Display: Shutdown (JVM shutdown: true, open (no close attempt): 3/3, reusable (open, marked uncloseable): 0, pending (open in creation order): 3) X11Util: Open X11 Display Connections: 3 X11Util: Open[0]: NamedX11Display[:0, 0x723e180305d0, refCount 1, unCloseable false] X11Util: Open[1]: NamedX11Display[:0, 0x723e195261a0, refCount 1, unCloseable false] X11Util: Open[2]: NamedX11Display[:0, 0x723e80019cb0, refCount 1, unCloseable false]
Crashes on Linux (fedora 40) after I create the terrain and click OK to apply.
Canada
Joined: Dec 7, 2023
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in
First of all a caveat or admission: I am very much a novice in SH3D and more especially with the Terrain Generator, nor do I have Java programming experience so please forgive me if I ask dumb or otherwise impossible questions. (I'm also pretty verbose so I apologize in advance.)
I am finding the lack of manipulation controls within the terrain generator quite frustrating but am as least somewhat willing to admit that some of that may come from lack of understanding.
Now that the caveats are out of the way ..... (and btw, thanks for the tip I read about the terrain being stored with the room parameters, and as long as the room isn't deleted, the last iteration of the terrain will remain in tact ... that saved me from a potential 'oh sh@t' moment)
The lack of ability for directional control when setting elevation/de-elevation points makes the generator very time-consuming to use. Would it be possible to control the direction of the influence radius?
e.g. After you have elevated a series of points you want to do it again (or de-elevate) some of those points but ONLY in one direction. i.e. you do NOT want to change everything within the new influence radius, just in say one direction from the centre point.
I wonder if it would be possible to set X0, X1 and Y0, Y1 values so that the changes apply only within that trapezium (trapezoid)? In fact, if you used those parameters, could you have the ability to disable the influence radius entirely but rather the area of influence is every point within the trapezium?
Is it possible to have Column modification in addition to row modification (either/or or both active at a time)?
Another option is to have the influence radius set the same elevation for ALL points within the radius instead of it increasing or decreasing every point radiating out from the centre point.
I was becoming so frustrated when trying to create and manipulate the terrain within SH3D that I looked at other software. I found that Cedreo worked better with terrain, BUT it has other severe limitations that made that a non-starter. Such as: you can't 'move' some objects once they have been created (a sidewalk for example) which made alignment a very big issue. I even tried importing a SH3D image but that would have required much too much work to re-draw the plan and then probably still have the limitations. (It's also not terribly mouse friendly and I don't know how their magnetism is supposed to work, but it doesn't seem to ... at least not like SH3D). (Cedreo uses elevation points where you can set an elevation for each point but the points do not have to be at every grid point nor do they even have to be on a grid point ... just on an intersection line. They also use elevation lines that you free-hand draw which all have the same elevation value. It makes it easier to "draw" a contour line like a bank with an irregular wall. But, as I said ..... )
How could you accomplish "stair steps" on an terrain such as a sidewalk with steps. I can make a stair-step like feature, but not an actual step with a vertical riser. I know I could ACTUALLY use a stairs object from the furniture library, but since the terrain hides anything in the 2D room for which you are creating the terrain, it makes it very difficult .... and that coupled with the fact that you cannot edit the elevation points in the terrain once it is generated (short of deleting and recreating).
There is a issue that once the terrain is generated, in the 2D view, it overlays parts of other adjacent rooms that were not part of the room used to generate the terrain. (I would have included two screen shots but I'm not smart enough ☺) That is: it is not displayed as constrained within the area of just that one room. The work around is to create the terrain at a different level and then make that level unviewable (or rather toggle between viewable and unviewable depending if you are working within the 2D or 3D view.)
Instead of my next set of questions about making the terrain easier to manipulate, I will just ask: I presume that having the ability to have the base of floors and walls slope would require significant reprograming of SH3D? If that were possible then all of the controls that are available for walls and floors could potentially be available when designing the terrain.
I must conclude with a huge THANK YOU for SH3D in the first place. I tried other software but it was either: not robust enough; too time consuming; had a huge learning curve, and/or was too expensive for a DIY design project. I have used SH3D for our new home for pre-architect drawings and for what-ifs furnishings placements etc.
The place is now built and occupied and now we are tackling the landscaping.
