Converting DEMs to STL files for 3D printing

Ever since we got a 3D printer in the Geography Department at the University of Oregon, we've wanted to print out topographic models. Thingaverse user Markus Fussenegger (mfussi) has a nice compact Java program, Heightmap to STL, for converting height map images into STL files for 3D printing. Markus's program is available on Sourceforge through Thingaverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15276).

This is just a quick tutorial on how I got his code up and running on my Windows 7 machine...

PyScripter for ArcGIS 10.2

This tutorial is for my GEOG 490 students. I hope others find use in it too.

PyScripter is another Python GUI (Graphical User Interface) similar to the ones we've been using in class (IDLE and PythonWin). PyScripter has several advantages over these other programs, mainly the ability to auto-complete ArcPy, which really speeds things up.

Cameras for SfM

Camera choice for SfM is important...but maybe more important is taking the right photos. Taking the right photos is the subject of an upcoming post, but for now we'll just focus on cameras. I'll go over the setups we have running and also talk about some of the pitfalls of certain cameras.