The Topography plug-in is the user interface for the topology in a scene. It is used to either load or build a topology from scratch which can be used by topology aware plug-ins like Topo Arrow, Topo Rect or Topo Ring.

Areas where these plug-ins can be of use are for example ski jumps, golf greens or other surfaces which are not 100% planar. Adding virtual elements which should not float above the ground require the knowledge of the terrain or topographical relief.

Geometry plug-ins can make use of this knowledge and act like a cloth where the deformation along the vertical axis is defined by gravity and the topographic relief. 

Topography Properties

• Use LOD: Enables/disables dynamic level of detail.

• Files Shows a list of topography files.

• Name: Shows the current file name.

• Load: Loads the topography from the currently selected file.

• Save: Saves the topography to the current file name.

• VertexX: Determines the X coordinate of a vertex to add to the topology.

• VertexY: Determines the Y coordinate of a vertex to add to the topology.

• VertexZ: Determines the Z coordinate of a vertex to add to the topology.

• NormalX: Determines the X component of the normal vector for the vertex.

• NormalY: Determines the Y component of the normal vector for the vertex.

• NormalZ: Determines the Z component of the normal vector for the vertex.

• AddVertex: Adds a new vertex to the topology.

• iA: Determines the first index of a vertex of a triangular face.

• iB: Determines the second index of a vertex of a triangular face.

• iC: Determines the third index of a vertex of a triangular face.

• AddFace: Adds a new triangular face to the topology using ia, ib and ic.

• Build: Attempts to automatically triangulate the vertices which have been added to the topology.

• Clear: Deletes all vertices and faces from the topology.