Extruding BMP. Is it Possible?

[Ryan Dognaux]

Last night we were working on the animation some and we're trying to get a 3-d model of Indiana, which would take a very very long time to draw by hand.... so we tried getting a bmp. file of a picture of it, and extruding it, but we couldn't even load it into Max or Inventor. Does anyone know how to do this? Thanks!

[Soukup]

If you tried to import the Bmp, max doesn't do it. But I think I may be able to help you. Taking your bmp, in phoyshop completely convert the entire thing to black/white. Then completely color indiana in black and color the outside border (ohio, Michigan, Illinois) in white. In max you'll have two options. Go into the material editor and select maps and then select bumb. Import that map of indiana and then assign it to a box. Jack the settings up however you need to. You could also do this with a displace map or even a displace modifier but I'm so sure about the results.

If Indiana becomes indented inwrd then just swith the colors from white to black n your bmp. Hope that helped.

[VanWEric]

are you looking to convert a topo map? if so, follow TEAM_74's advice. If you are looking for a 2d map, then put the image on a plane, and check the box that says something like display in view port. it should pop up in perspective. Then use the line tool to trace the border.

[AJ Quick]

You can also use the displacement tool.

[Clark Gilbert]

You can insert the bmp into autocad as an image, then type "sketch" or something like that into the command thingy (i've had limited training in AutoCAD, but i've seen it done). Then you can sketch around the picture and extrude that. My CAD teacher uses it all the time to remake maps or logos in AutoCAD.