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Landscape Simulations
Software Evaluations The following evaluations are based on extensive use of each product to evaluate its abilities to perform the functions required by the USDA Forest Service. Where possible demonstration copies were obtained or purchased to evaluate the software. When this was not possible, a demonstration of capabilities was provided by the vendor. For the evaluations, Arc files were used that were taken directly from a database in Region 2. This information included shapefiles that included a corresponding stand database. These shapefiles contain polygons representing stands and water features. The stand database included information on species, density, height, and diameter. Visual Nature Studio This software has become the standard of landscape simulation software for natural resource professionals. It is a completely capable software package. VNS provides the ability to import and display Arc files in a very simple and easy to learn manner. It provides the ability to specify stand attributes by using the database included with Arc files. The visuals rely on actual images of the plants being displayed. Not all species are represented with the software distribution, but new images can be created easily with any quality photo editing software. These new images can then be used to represent stands. Stand information such as height and density are specified for individual stands or classes of stands. Stand attributes are changed by changing their database values to reflect the difference in stand density after harvest. This software allows for the display of roads and trails in the same way as stand displays. Roads can be built into the terrain using cut and fill procedures to show actual road and trail cuts. Streams and lakes can be visualized using the shapefiles and terrain textures. Viewpoints are placed as cameras, and are specified by utm coordinates. Flythroughs can be performed by specifying intermediate camera positions; the software then fills in the motion and views between these positions. The strength of this program is its ability to realistically portray vegetation and landscape features. There are a number of ways to add textures and vegetation to enhance the realism. This realism is strong in both foreground and background views. The ability to import and use Arc files to specify stand placement and attributes is a huge plus. The ability to actually manipulate the terrain with cut and fill provides landscape architects the tools to accurately portray existing and new features. This software will also display buildings. For the cost, $2500, this is probably the most capable software package evaluated. It works best when needing to combine cultural and environmental features into one viewscape. The fundamentals are easy to learn, but to become truly proficient and fully maximize the capabilities of the software, extensive learning is necessary. 3dNature, the makers of VNS, provide training at their facility to make the most of this software. Envision Envision is a landscape simulation software package that was developed by Bob McGaughey of the USDA Forest Service. It is freely distributed at the website given. This software was primarily developed for the use of foresters. For this reason it works well with the Stand Visualization System, SVS, and the Forest Vegetation Simulator, FVS. Envision also works with Arc files in the same way that VNS does. The strength of this program is its ability to use SVS and FVS stands to model the forest. It works best if all of the stands to be modeled are one of these two forms. In SVS the user can specify tree and ground cover size and density. The stands are then placed by Envision into their respective polygons on the terrain. Stands can then be manipulated using the functions of SVS and FVS and then displayed in Envision. This is the main design intent of Envision, to allow FVS and SVS stands to be modeled on the landscape. There are a number of ways in Envision to display the vegetation. The most realistic way is to use images in the same manner that VNS uses them. The same images can be used for either program. The disadvantages of Envision are the overall visual quality. It is difficult to portray the ground cover very realistically. Roads and water are overlayed, but just appear as lines drawn on the landscape. The lines are overlayed on the landscape, but there is no cut and fill capability. There is no tool in this program to manipulate the terrain itself. This is a very good program, especially considering the price. For presentation of forest management practices, it is better than VNS. This is due to its ability to use SVS and FVS to specify growth and realistic harvesting practices. Where it is not necessary to portray roads, rivers, and buildings, this would be a good tool. Envision is easy to learn and quick to master. Ecomodeler Ecomodeler was designed with the forester in mind. It provides many of the same tools as VNS, but with an added foresters tool. In the previous software, stands could be manipulated only within their GIS polygons. Management practices that include partial polygons would require that the stand polygons and their attributes be changed in ArcView prior to their use in VNS or Envision. Ecomodeler includes the ability to flag units as they are viewed in the model. Once a unit is flagged, a harvest can be done by specifying the percent removal. The results can then be seen immediately. Ecomodeler also presents the landscape in a flythrough mode which allows the user to move through the stands to view and perform changes. The visual results are very similar to VNS. The cost of this software is $6000CAN. This is another very good tool with comparable quality to VNS. It is primarily targeted at the forestry crowd. It does display buildings, and overlays quad maps on the terrain to visualize roads. It will also overlay shapefiles to specify roads, waterways, and forest stands. Ecomodeler uses the same vegetation images as VNS and Envision. This would be a good tool for presenting forestry practices where better visuals and details are required than Envision gives. The Virtual Terrain Project The Virtual Terrain Project, VTP, is a freely distributed software 'project' that includes the software by the same name. The software models terrain and imports shapefiles to designate stand placement. There are also tools to place road shapefiles on the terrain and specify textures based on what type of road it is. The display is in a flythrough mode rather than a specific viewpoint. This means that the user moves through the terrain to view it using the mouse. There is no set point at which the camera is placed. Snapshots can be captured from specific points on the image depending on where you move to take them. This software uses the same vegetation images as VNS, Envision, and Ecomodeler. VTP is not specifically set up to import a shapefile and its attributes. Attributes are assigned using separate text files with bioregions, stands, and their vegetation attributes. This is not as intuitive as it could be. Densities are difficult to specify. High density stands are difficult to display and run within the limitations of the hardware being used. It works better as a general display tool, but not as a forestry tool. At this point in the development of this software, it doesn't have much application for the Forest Service. It is merely an interesting piece of software. The source code is distributed with the software to encourage improvements and modifications. If someone wants to improve on the existing software and use it, this might be worth looking into. Genesis Genesis is a low cost, $100, piece of software that models terrain, vegetation, roads, and waterways. It imports and displays DEMs and shapefiles to specify vegetation. Forest stand attributes, such as density, are specified by the program and placed using the polygon database. Rules can be used to place vegetation based on slope and elevation. The images for this software are rendered L-system images. This means that adding species is limited to what is distributed with the software or what can be found or made. This requires more advanced programming knowledge. The images included with the software are a generic conifer, deciduous, and bush. Because this software renders the images, image quality tends to be very good, but the ability to accurately portray species is very limiting. For the price, this is a pretty good piece of software for modeling large landscapes. For detailed presentations though it falls short. You can not get very close to vegetation or you begin to see problems. Eaglepoint Eaglepoint makes software primarily for use by landscapers and civil engineers. This software does not have all of the visual capabilities of the previous software. It is very limited on vegetation placement and imaging. It does not work with GIS data at all. MicroDEM This software was developed by the US Navy and is primarily for manipulating digital elevation models. It does not have capabilities for displaying three dimensional images on the terrain. Some capabilities are being added to this software, but its primary use is for military purposes. It is a very good piece of software for stitching together DEMs and changing formats. Worldbuilder Worldbuilder is a scene renderer that is primarily designed for the gaming industry. It produces exceptional image quality with vegetation. It has a large library of vegetation to use with the software. The drawbacks are the inability to place vegetation using GIS polygons. This is very complex software and the learning curve is fairly steep. Forest Service applications are pretty limited. Skyline Software Skyline Software makes TerraBuilder and TerraExplorer. These programs work together to provide the capability to build and then view a 3D terrain model. The purpose of this software is to create a virtual tour of an area for viewing through the TerraExplorer module. TerraExplorer is freely distributed in the same way as RealPlayer and QuickTime. The idea is to provide the tour via the internet to people wishing to view an area through the website of the licensed user, in this case a Forest Service website. The software works very well for creating overlays of different data sets. It provides the capability to use and match different scale maps and data. Placing 3D objects is trickier. It only uses two different file formats, DirectX and OpenFlight. This makes the ability to create new objects difficult. The viewing capabilities are exceptional. By using different scale data sets, the user can begin from high in the 'sky' and zoom in for increased detail. The ability to move around the landscape is exceptional. The software also provides the capability to add information at points of interest on the terrain. For example, at a ski area, markers can be placed at each run to give the name and difficulty level of each run. In a forestry setting this could be a forest stand giving the management prescription and stand details. This software was quite easy to use for basic model construction. In the evaluation different formats, a quadrangle map, a black and white aerial photo, and a DEM were combined to create a terrain. Matching the coordinates to overlay everything properly was fairly easy. The result was an accurate 3D model of the terrain with the information from a standard 1:24000 quad map overlayed, and one area with an air photo overlayed. Stand placement would be next to impossible for this software. This is fairly expensive software that performed quite nicely for a certain application. This would be a great way to create a virtual tour of an area for interpretive or informative purposes. This would not be able to simulate before and after images of management objectives, but would provide a way to show where and what changes will be occurring. For more information about each of these products please go to their websites. The thing to keep in mind when looking into landscape simulation software is the design intent. There are many software packages that will create 3D terrains. The vast majority do not provide a way to accurately place vegetation. The ability to use GIS shapefiles is inherent in only a few software packages, Visual Nature Studio, Ecomodeler, Envision, The Virtual Terrain Project, Genesis, Community VIZ, Blueberry3D, and Creator. Of these the most useful tools are Visual Nature Studio, Ecomodeler, and Envision. These software packages were created with the intent of providing a tool for the natural resource fields. |
 
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