Once you have entered your account info into the DEM Earth prefs, and activated your license, you can select a DEM Earth object, from the main menu (or from the extensions menu).
When you add a DEM Earth object, if the plugin license is activated, DEM Earth will begin download data for the area of focus. If. If you have a valid GPS coordinate in the clipboard, this will be the initial area of interest. You can set your own custom default starting location, in prefs.
Once the DEM Earth object is in your scene, and height data has loaded, you will see the landscape, with the default Smart Gradient.
In the viewport, if you are in the default "Model" Mode, and the Tool is "Move" (both of the are the default state in c4d), if you click on the DEM Earth object, hold the LMB, and pan around, the coordinate will update.
The DEM Earth object is the main object, which does most of the work. It is used for controlling everything under it. Most other DEM Earth related objects, need to be dropped under a parent DEM Earth object. They then reference the coordinates for what they do, from the parent object.
Location
Area Zoom
Zoom in and out with this setting.
Higher values zoom in, reducing the area and data size.
Lower Values increase the area size and the amount of data required to show it.
Latitude
The lat coordinate center of the visible area.
Offset.NS
An offset to the Lat coordinate center. This changes when you move the are via mouse click in the viewport.
Longitude
The lon coordinate center of the visible area.
Offset.WE
An offset to the Lon coordinate center. This changes when you move the are via mouse click in the viewport.
Paste
Past a coordinate from the clipboard.
Copy
Copy the center coordinate to the clipboard.
Object
Width
The width of the Object in cinema4d space.
Height
The width of the Object in cinema4d space.
Rounding
Round off the corners
Subdivisions
Increases or decreases the subdivisions, adding or removing detail.
Edge Culling
Hides Edges in the viewport.
Stick To Floor
Keep the object locked down to the floor. subtracts min height, from the objects height.
Strata
Close the outer rim with polygons.
Strata Height
Adds an offset to min height.
Remapping
Interpolation
Gives you a few ways to interpret the height data.
Quanitize.M
Reduces the resolution of the height data, creating a stepping effect.
Height.Amplify
Multiply height values by this setting.
Height.Profile
Modify Height values by this curve.
Sea
Level
Invert Below
Rise
SubSample.Noise
Height.M
Adds world scale homogeneous ground noise to the data at a height defined by this setting.
Abstraction
Creates an abstract landscape by adding or subtracting height data from a different coordinate.
Mode
Lat
Lon
Paste
Copy
World Info
Boundary
Geographic Bounds
Details
Info about the visible area.
Drivers
Shader control links
Map Loader
note: The map loader was rewritten for 5.412, with a complete new backend.
Settings
important: If your support is up to date, you will be able to use the map loader. Otherwise it will be greyed out!
Disclaimer
You need to agree to the disclaimer to be able to download with the map loader.
Auto Update
When enabled, this option automatically updates the image in the visible area. it replaces the current image, deleting the previous image and re-using both the texture tag and the material. This prevents lots of tags and materials being built. if you change location, area size, or any of the Map loader settings. This replaces the previous image (if there was one) and re-uses the existing material and texture tag.
- Auto Update was updated for 5.413 and is now much faster and stable than the initial implementation.
Download Texture Layer..
Starts constructing (and downloading imagery, if required). Not all layers require downloads.
Level
Higher levels are higher resolutions and require more tiles to complete.
Layer
Attribution
Info
Some Useful to estimate requirements before you initiate a download job.
- for 5.413 : in newer versions of c4d, the status of a download job is updated in the task manager. When the job is completed, any new materials and/or tags are updated. You don't ever have to wait for downloads to complete, and there are no job or thread limits since 5.413.
Smart Gradients (4.6 or greater)
Smart Gradients let you choose colors by Altitude. They then adapt on the fly to your landscape.
Details
A link to a shader.
A min height value and a max height value (set and determined by dem earth itself)
A random seed, used by the Random type, which generates a random gradient for you from this seed number.
Levels
You can easily copy/paste or save smart gradient presets. Any saved preset will show up in your Type list.
+ adds a level color.
X deletes a level.
Color
The color for a specific height value (level color)
Alt.M
The height value for a specific color. These are automatically sorted high to low.
