Create 3D View on a Map

Run V3DNEW GX to create a 3D View on an active map.

Create a New 3D View dialog options

New 3D View name	Specify the name of the new 3D View. Script Parameter: V3DMAP.VIEW
Name of new plane in 3D View	Specify the name of the new plane to be added to the current 3D View. Script Parameter: V3DMAP.PLANE
Plane elevation	Specify a constant offset from the 3D origin in the direction normal to the new plane coordinate system. Script Parameter: V3DMAP.PLANEBASE
Surface relief grid (optional)	If you would like the drawing plane to have relief, specify the name of a grid file that defines the surface relief. Note that if you do specify a relief grid for the plane, all objects drawn on the plane will only appear where the relief grid has data (non-dummy). Script Parameter: V3DMAP.GRID

Surface Relief Grid dialog options

This dialog will open if a surface relief grid has been specified in the previous dialog.

You can accept the default values for the surface relief grid, or specify the parameters as required. Then, click the OK button to add a plane with surface relief to the current 3D View.

Relief grid	The name of the relief grid specified in the first dialog.
Plane elevation	The plane elevation selected in the previous dialog.
Relief base	The base value subtracted from the grid value when converting the grid values to "Z" values in the 3D View coordinate systems. The default is zero. If using a non-topographic grid for relief, use the Rescale button to return the minimum data value in the grid. The "Z" axis value at a given location on the relief grid is given by: Z = Vertical_offset + (grid_value(X, Y) – Relief_base)*Vertical_Scale For true topography, set this value to 0.
Vertical Scale	Set the vertical scaling for the relief grid. The default is 1.0. If using a non-topographic grid for relief, use the Rescale button to produce a 3D relief plane with a height 20% of the width. The "Z" axis value at a given location on the relief grid is given by: Z = Vertical_offset + (grid_value(X, Y) – Relief_base)*Vertical_Scale For true topography, set this value to 1.
Clip minimum Clip maximum	The relief grid data can be clipped to the specified minimum and maximum values. The defaults are the limits of the data.
Grid resolution	The 3D rendering performance is directly related to how finely the relief surface is resolved. The number you enter here represents the maximum relief grid resolution (in steps of 16) that will be used in either the X or Y direction. The default is 64, but for very detailed grids you may want to increase this to a higher number. A resolution of 500 is considered quite high, and a resolution of 1000 is very high. Your choice of resolution will depend of the performance of your computer and the detail present in your relief grid. Images drawn on the relief plane are always resolved to a resolution that is optimal given the pixel resolution of the current view.
[Defaults]	The [Defaults] button resets the grid base and vertical scaling parameters to the "topographic" default values of 0.0 and 1.0. The clip limits are reset to the default values calculated from the relief grid.
[Rescale]	The [Rescale] button resets the grid scaling parameters and clip limits to the default values calculated from the relief grid.

Application Notes

This GX will open the 3D View in the 3D Viewer if it is not already open.

A new 3D View will be placed in the centre of the currently displayed map window. You may move and scale the 3D View just as you would any other view on the map.

Subsequent drawing to the default data view will draw on this plane.

Legacy Behaviour

Copy View/Group

In version 6.2 and before, the V3DMAP GX contained additional functionality, including the ability to create a view plane based on a specified input view (such as a section view which has an orientation in 3D built in) and to copy over a selected group, or all groups from that view onto the new 3D plane. This behaviour continues to be supported in script mode in version 6.3 and beyond, as described below.

View or View/Group to draw on plane

Select an existing View or a View/Group to be drawn on the new plane. If you select a View, all groups in the view will be drawn on the new plane.

If you leave this entry blank, you will create a new plane with nothing drawn on the plane. Immediately after creating the plane it will become the default drawing plane, so new features drawn to the map will appear on this plane.

A single groups must be specified along with its view, e.g. "View\Group"

Script Parameter: V3DMAP.VIEWGROUP

Plane Orientation

By default, the V3DMAP creates a horizontal plane, and uses Plane Offset value for the Z location. Use this parameter to instruct the GX to obtain the plane orientation information from the selected view above instead. The other transforms offered in v6.2 and before are no longer supported.

Script Parameter: V3DMAP.ORIENT (0: Use view orientation for the plane orientation, Default: Create a horizontal plane at the plane offset Z).