Loading ASC files in blender

Question

I need to import an ASC, which is a Digital Terrain Model, file into blender. Basically it's a matrix of points, each represented by a number corrisponding to his height. What's the best way to do that? Is there anything you know that it's pre build or I have to write my own loader in Phyton? Thanks

Answer 1

for one of my project i was using this addon: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pointcloudskin/files/latest/download?source=files

it did its job very well - just had to make sure the ASCII data is correct (x,y,z)

I am not sure if its compatible with 2.76a - but once you manage to import the data and skin the point cloud - you can always go for newer blender version.

He has also a CSV import addon - which also comes very handy in this matters.

As for the skinning process: it a bit of try and error process.

good luck

Answer 2

Last year I wrote a simple importer for ASC files (see: this blenderartists thread http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-357605.html )

https://gist.github.com/zeffii/54d65b86a460605c3d15

code:

import bpy  
import time
import csv

A = time.time()


dfile = r"C:\Users\dealga\Desktop\Archive\SU8606_DSM_1M.asc"

getval = lambda i: int(next(i).split()[1])

with open(dfile) as ofile:
    ncols = getval(ofile)
    nrows = getval(ofile)
    xllcorner = getval(ofile)
    yllcorner = getval(ofile)
    cellsize = getval(ofile)
    NODATA_value = getval(ofile)

    print(ncols, nrows, xllcorner, yllcorner, cellsize, NODATA_value)

    # this will read the rest
    verts = []
    add_vert = verts.append
    asc_reader = csv.reader(ofile, delimiter=' ')

    # ni = nrows #? +1 -1
    # nj = ncols #? +1 -1
    ni = 1000
    nj = 1000

    for i, row in enumerate(asc_reader):
        if i >= ni:
            break
        for j in range(int(ncols)):
            if j >= nj:
                break
            z = (float(row[j]) / 60)
            x = j * 0.01   #   cell x width
            y = i * 0.01   #   cell y width
            add_vert((x,y,z))

    print('done')
    print('last vertex:', verts[-1])

B = time.time()

total_time = B-A
print('total_time:', total_time)

faces = []
add_face = faces.append

# generate_edges, i = verts y, j = verts x
total_range = ((ni-1) * (nj))
indices = []
for i in range(total_range):
    if not ((i+1) % nj == 0):
        add_face([i, i+nj, i+nj+1, i+1])

# do your own error handling
mesh_data = bpy.data.meshes.new("LIDAR_mesh_data3")  
mesh_data.from_pydata(verts, [], faces)  
mesh_data.update()

LIDAR_object = bpy.data.objects.new("LIDAR_Object3", mesh_data)  

scene = bpy.context.scene    
scene.objects.link(LIDAR_object)    
LIDAR_object.select = True        

Answer 3

I also needed to import an ASC file into Blender. I found that the open source program MeshLab could import ASC files and then export it to an OBJ file, which I could import in Blender. Pretty easy actually.