Basic Materials & Lighting
This chapter covers basic color and shader application and simple lighting techniques. For more advanced materials and lighting, see Advanced Materials and Lighting.
General
Legacy ID
16
Creating & Rendering Camera Views
The best way to produce perspective renderings of the 3D model from specific viewpoints is to set up a camera in the scene. Using a camera view is the only way to create a view from a specific X,Y,Z location within the model. A camera view can be set up either by navigating interactively in a...
Surfacing a Road Design
One of the most commonly used visualization techniques is to produce a TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface of the proposed roadway, shoulders, and the surrounding existing terrain. These surfaces are generated automatically from the section and plan information produced during the...
3D MicroStation Files
Setup and Interface Tools
Roadway design files are typically 2D files in Microstation. Vizualizations of designs require the creation of 3D objects and 3D Microstation files. This section covers the creation of and navigation within 3D Microstation files.
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Which Presentation Technique?
The guide covers a wide variety of techniques of varying complexity and levels of sophistication. As described above, the intended audience and the 'story' to be told will drive the decision on the best approach.
The two images below show what can be done with a simple surfaced road...
Who is the Audience for the Presentation?
The type of audience for which a visualization is produced will affect decisions on model detail and sophistication, view locations, and the presentation media. A design decision being made by a technical audience- i.e. a group of fellow planners, may be easily supported with a low resolution,...
What is the Purpose of the Visualization?
There is usually a driving reason for the production of visualizations, if for no other than to 'see' the design, or show it to other planners. The reason may be to explain an alignment issue, to make a particular design decision, or explain the proposed functionality of the design. The...
EFL Partner Feedback Report
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division (EFLHD), is committed to serving the needs of our Partners and we have been engaged in an ongoing evaluation and improvement process since 1993. As part of that process, we have collected survey information from...