Blender + QGIS 3D Elevation Map

This tutorial goes over the steps on how to export Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Map Texture data from QGIS and add it to Blender to create a 3D Elevation model. By no means am I an expert at this, but wanted to show you some very basic steps on adding these datasets to Blender.
Useful links:
Blender - www.blender.org/
QGIS - qgis.org/en/site/
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data - earthexplorer....

[@brianbetz7753]

Thanks....exactly what I needed! I've done this in 3dsMax, but was not sure about Blender...clear and concise video!

[@gissolutions4604]

Glad it was helpful!

[@stevemesser4842]

Great explanations of the process.... Nothing omitted. Thank you!

[@gissolutions4604]

Glad it was helpful!

[@petermaffei8687]

thanks so much for this great demo! helped a lot for my first attempt at a blender map!

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks so much for the feedback and so glad it was helpful!

[@RisottoNero-z1w]

THANK YOU! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO THIS FOR SO LOOOONG

[@gissolutions4604]

So glad it was helpful and appreciate the feedback!

[@fsLUXE]

one thing to note, I believe you need to "merge" your two dem panels in QGIS before bringing into Blender. There is a seam, which you can see in Blender, just before you subdivide/smooth the model--that shouldn't be there

[@gissolutions4604]

Great point, I appreciate the feedback

[@olemortenholseter682]

Hello! Thank you for the great tutorial. When I import the DEM into Blender and displace the plane, the highest peaks turn out "flat". Imagine that the landscape turns out great, but at the top of the mountains it is just flat. I suspect it is because of the colours in the DEM-file is "too white" on the peaks? That Blender can't distinguish the highest data points, so it just turns out flat. Do you know how to work around that?

[@gissolutions4604]

It's a great question and I it might be that the resolution of the terrain is low. Try to increate the subdivision level of your terrain in the Landscape settings. This will create more detail.

[@shawnyuan6445]

Great tutorial! I have some questions: How do you import that OpenTopo map? And how would you be able to ensure the exported OpenTopo Map aligns with the DEM map?

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks so much for reaching out. I created a video not too long ago on downloading DEMs directly from OpenTopography.org using QGIS. Hope you find this helpful - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3_Wg4yGfdxpb8U

[@kor9582]

Hello and thanks for your tutorial. How can I set the accurate elevation of an area? I used the "Strenght" tool like you did at 4:55, but it's just "realistic", not accurate. Thanks for your time and answers.

[@thirumalasaivardhan1677]

hello sir, DEM is going below the mesh even the whole elevation of the place is positive

[@dilshanherath1356]

How can we crop the boundary of the area we want from a base map?

[@passaparolachcom]

very good, thank you!

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

[@Crit34d]

Hey is there anyway mask the plane and just show the displacement area only? I want to be able to take the displacement and put it onto a different base.

[@epelfeld]

Is it possible to apply this technique to the separate country, not island? It's easy to do when you have a sea around, but how to do this with a country with boundaries?

[@gissolutions4604]

Great question and you're right, it's much easier having the landmass surrounded by water. Are you looking to 'elevate' the country and have the adjacent countries lower? Or are you separating out the country?

[@epelfeld]

@gissolutions4604 I want to separate 1 country. I found only 1 option with touch terrain to do this. But need to draw manually the border in Google maps so it is or too long or too not precise. I cut everything in Blender at the end. But it is supposed to be easy way to do this using borders boundaries...

[@gissolutions4604]

@@epelfeld I appreciate the follow-up and keeping me posted on your progress.

[@epelfeld]

How can I get rid of the plane around the island?

[@gissolutions4604]

Still having issues with the plane around the island? You might have to keep adjusting the 'strength' .

[@Agherr08]

thank you sir. very helpful

[@gissolutions4604]

You're welcome, thanks for the feedback!

[@jigmetenzin7596]

Is there a way to label some points with place name ?

[@KraigFujii]

Maybe you cover this in another video, but how are you matching the OpenTopo basemap to your USGS elevation data? Is there any way to automate this? I also had two DEM files from USGS that I had to merge

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks for reaching out! I'm not entirely sure I'm understanding your question here. Are you asking about merging DEM files and possible georeferecing them in QGIS?

[@gauthier13]

Hi, I'm struggling with EarthExplorer. I can't download anything from them. I would like to extract the elevation data of France

[@gissolutions4604]

There are other sources you can check out, such as this - www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/eu-dem

[@gauthier13]

@@gissolutions4604 thank you very much !

[@lifeofmachine4641]

Did I miss a Part 1 to this video?

[@gissolutions4604]

No, there isn't a part 1 to this video....do you have a specific question I can help you with?

[@3dpixelhouse]

haha yes! But how I get the right data in to Qgis?

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks for reaching out! What kind/type of data are you planning on using?

[@wyllanasinkler8122]

I followed this but my map doesn't match up with the elevation. Also when I import my elevation image, it loads like a paper folded with the elevation in the middle, how do I fix that?

[@gissolutions4604]

Sounds like the basemap is not aligning with the digital elevation? Perhaps try another area or something could be missed in the process. Keep me posted.

[@wyllanasinkler8122]

@@gissolutions4604 did a few locations and had an issue of the elevation being below the plane, but tried a volcano in Japan and it turned out fine. Thanks

[@fabioleoncini1189]

Hi, I tried your tutorial, but when I import the elevation image in Blender it appears upside down. I've never changed the software settings...can you help me to resolve this issue? Thank you for sharing these tips!

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks so much for the feedback. I haven't been able to recreate this particular issue...not exactly sure why that's happening for you...

[@tareraww]

Hey, did you manage to resolve the issue. I got that too.

[@geogrrrl4229]

This is happening to me too. I am also getting a double of my "elevation" texture. Like when I upload the jpg to the texture, 2 of the clipped DEM jpgs appear. 😕

[@Ayyubzee]

Thanks A lot.

[@gissolutions4604]

You are most welcome!

[@Ne.M.O]

Can you render it as an animation

[@gissolutions4604]

Looks like you can go to the Output Properties tab; click the small folder to designate a path, under file format change to FFmeg Video; under Container select MPEG-4 Select; you can change the Quality to a higher quality if you'd like; Finally, click the Render menu at the top and select Render Animation or Ctrl+F12. Wait for all frames to render then it'll save off to the folder you've designated earlier. Hope this helps?

[@mhomad6090]

How i can Exporting 3D buildings from Blender to ArcGIS

[@gissolutions4604]

Thanks so much for reaching out. I’ll add this topic to my list of upcoming demo videos.