phstl

Convert GDAL rasters to STL mesh. Intended to produce landscape models from GeoTIFF heightmaps.

Example

Here's a sample GeoTIFF heightmap:

To create a surface mesh from it, type:

phstl example.tif example.stl

By default, the output is scaled such that one mesh unit represents one unit of the input coordinate system. Since the input image resolution is 46 x 38 at about 12.8 feet per pixel (thus an extent of roughly 592 x 482 feet), the output mesh extent is about 580 x 470 units.

To scale the output to fit a certain size, use the -x or -y extent option. To exaggerate vertical relief, use the -z factor option. To anchor the dataset's lowest elevation at Z = 0, use the -c option to automatically clip elevation values. Here's a second example:

phstl -x 100 -z 3 -c example.tif example2.stl

The output surface mesh is not a manifold object. Use another tool to solidify the model in preparation for 3D printing. For examples, see these brief tutorials for Blender or Meshmixer.

Usage

usage: phstl.py [-h] [-x X] [-y Y] [-z Z] [-b BASE] [-c] [-v] RASTER [STL]

Convert a GDAL raster (like a GeoTIFF heightmap) to an STL terrain surface.

positional arguments:
  RASTER                Input heightmap image
  STL                   Output STL path (stdout)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -x X                  Fit output x to extent (mm)
  -y Y                  Fit output y to extent (mm)
  -z Z                  Vertical scale factor (1)
  -b BASE, --base BASE  Base height (0)
  -c, --clip            Clip z to minimum elevation
  -v, --verbose         Print log messages
  --band BAND           Raster data band (1)
  -m MINIMUM, --minimum MINIMUM
                        Omit vertices below minimum elevation
  -M MAXIMUM, --maximum MAXIMUM
                        Omit vertices above maximum elevation

Prerequisites

• GDAL/OGR in Python (sudo easy_install gdal)

License

This project is released under an open source MIT license.