The 3D GeoPDF Creator tool allows you to create 3D content for incorporation into GeoPDF documents. The tool can create 3D GeoPDF documents or Universal 3D (U3D) models which can be placed into arbitrary locations in PDF documents with Adobe Acrobat.

3D GeoPDF Creator input includes:

• elevation data such as digital terrain

• TIF files

• LIDAR point clouds (LAS) and imagery (GeoTIFF, MrSID)

Model creation options allow for downsampling of the elevation and imagery and denoising of the imagery for more compact storage in the 3D model.

For instructions on how to access the 3D GeoPDF Creator tool, see Accessing the GeoPDF Composer Toolbar.

In this document:

Preprocessing requirements

Prior to using the 3D GeoPDF Creator tool you may need to perform preprocessing of the input data and input image textures.

Terrain

• Must be LAS, TIF or DTED

• Certain TIF tags are unsupported at this time; the software will display a message for those images with tags that cannot be understood, however this does not indicate that an output file will not be produced.

• There is a hard limit (100%) on the number of triangles that can comprise a surface in a terrain model within a PDF file. Because terrain input files vary by size and complexity, the Level of Detail percentage controls that hard limit. You must adjust this percentage as necessary. Depending upon the system resources used on the machines while opening the output files, further adjustments may be needed to the Level of Detail percentage to make the file more responsive on those machines with limited memory and processor.

• If you plan to apply Advanced settings, Subset options: Clip image and DEM to overlap to subset the input terrain but the terrain file is approximately 1.5 times or greater in area than that of the image texture, you should use a Third-Party tool to clip the terrain prior to processing. The resulting GeoPDF file will provide a terrain with a greater level of detail

• File path must be local.

Image texture

• Must be under 2GB in size, uncompressed

• Must be comprised of 1 or 3 bands of data; images with 2 or 4 or more bands cannot be used at this time

• Certain TIF tags are unsupported at this time; the software will display a message for those images with tags that cannot be understood, however this does not indicate that an output file will not be produced

• File path must be local.

In addition to the required preprocessing for image textures, for images where the resolution of the file is sub-meter, it is highly recommended that you down-sample to a minimum of 1 meter resolution.

Output

• File path must be local.

Starting the 3D GeoPDF file creation process

• From the GeoPDF Composer Toolbar, click the 3D GeoPDF Creator tool.

• Select Surface Model GeoPDF if you want to drape raster or GeoPDF textures over the model. Choose 3D Point Cloud if you want to visualize the point cloud without the drape.

• Click Browse to navigate to the local folder in which the digital elevation model (DEM) file resides. Select the file and then click Open.

• Adjust Level of Detail to control amount of terrain information embedded in the 3D model.

• Click Next.

Draping an image

• If you do not want to drape an image, select Do not drape image and proceed to the next section. Otherwise, leave Do not drape image unchecked.

• Click Browse to navigate to the local folder in which the image file or 2D geospatially-aware PDF file to be draped over the terrain resides.

• Select the file and then click Open.

• If necessary, adjust the Band Combination to select the proper layer associations for Red, Green, and Blue.

• If necessary, click Apply Histogram Stretch and enter a Standard Deviation.

• Click Next.

GeoPDF drape files

If the selected drape file was a GeoPDF document, enter a DPI for the resolution at which the PDF will be rasterized to produce the texture and click Next.

Other drape options

If the selected drape was not a GeoPDF document, then select options for process the image to be draped.

• If you wish to reduce the size of the texture, select a method from the Downsample Strategy drop-down. Options are:

  • None – do not downsample the texture

  • Faster processing (Cubic)

  • Balanced speed and quality (Lanczos)

  • Maximum quality (Blackman-Harris)

• If you have selected a downsample strategy other than none, choose a value on the Level of Detail slider.

• Select Denoise if you want to have a denoising algorithm remove noise from the image for better compression. This option can be used in conjunction with downsampling, but downsampling has a noise reducing effect which cancels much of the benefit of denoising.

• Click Next.

Specifying output options

• Enter the title of the 3D model in the 3D model title box within the Output box. The default title is the one specified on the 3D GeoPDF pane in the TerraGo Preferences dialog box.

• Click Browse to navigate to the local folder in which the output 3D GeoPDF file should be placed.

Specifying subset settings

Click Advanced settings to specify subset settings. The default settings are specified on the 3D GeoPDF pane in the TerraGo Preferences dialog box.

Image clipping

Choose an image clipping option in the Subset options box.

• Do not clip image – This option does not clip the image.

• Clip image and DEM to overlap – This option clips the image to DEM and clips the DEM to the image. For example, where there are two partially overlapping rectangles, the clipped area is the overlap between them.

• Clip image based on the coordinate below – This option clips a subset of the image based on the upper left X, upper left Y, lower right X and lower right Y coordinates that you specify in the provided text boxes. The default values represent the extent of the model.

Click OK to close the Advanced settings dialog box.

Note: The field labels that display are based on the coordinate system and units of measurement specified in the .wkt of the DEM file. For example, if the coordinate system of the model is Projected, the Easting Northing labels display. Latitude Longitude display for Geographic coordinate systems and X Y display for all other coordinate systems.

Creating the 3D GeoPDF file

Select output. Output options are:

• PDF: creates a PDF directly

• U3D (Universal 3D): creates a 3D model which can be placed in arbitrary location in PDF documents using Adobe Acrobat and an associated georegistration XML file that can be used by GeoPDF 3D Composer to georegister the embedded 3D model.

Click Create and view your 3D GeoPDF file.