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Wikipedia have dozens of SVG relief maps. On the other hand, 3D printing is emerging and sound fun. I'am willing to convert these SVG relief maps to 3D compatible, 3D printable formats.

Given a SVG file representing soil elevation and made of n groups such :

<svg:g id="relief_0000m" data-elev="0000"> ... </g>
<svg:g id="relief_0050m" data-elev="0050"> ... </g>
<svg:g id="relief_0100m" data-elev="0100"> ... </g>
<svg:g id="relief_0200m" data-elev="0200"> ... </g>

Given that each group faithfully represent an elevation (0m, 50m, 100m, 200m) plateau. enter image description here

How to convert this 2D vector file to a 3D vector file which I may load into most 3D printers' software ?

Edit: Related to Is there a 3D format which is a 3D extension to SVG?

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Hugolpz
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  • _"a 3D vector file which I may load into most 3D printers' software"_ What formats are those? What do you care about? – Phrogz Jan 07 '14 at 16:23

1 Answers1

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It is a little bit more complicated than a simple format conversion. If you just did that you would probably end of with something that had a cross section like:

               __________
       _______|          |__________
______|                             |_________

I assume you would like something that is a bit smoother and looks more like a hill. Also the other thing to note is that the svg coordinates will need to be converted into distance related coordinates that the printer can handle. i.e. a projection of sorts.

The best way to do this would probably be in a proper 3d modeling application. You could try something like Blender which is available for free. It will enable you to import the svg and then extrude from it to get the elevations you desire. It will also enable you to resize it to the correct size and export in the required format. (Note assuming that 3d printer accepts the normal sorts of files)

Here is a tutorial on doing just that.

Darkcylde
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