Getting Started
with VNS 3: Terrain
Basics
Part 3E. DEM Painter
1. Open a TG Planimetric Camera
view in the upper right matrix quad.
2. Select the DEM in the Database Editor and Edit Database Object  .
You can also open the DEM Editor
by double-clicking the
terrain in a view.
3. The Elevations page
lists the elevation of all vertices in the DEM.
4. Zoom the TG Camera
in with 3 taps of the + key. Click on the cliff to the
left of the camera target.
5. The DEM Editor takes you to the nearest terrain grid vertex.
6. Change the value here and
at the surrounding 8 vertices to 75 meters.
7. Go to the File page
and Save DEM to File.
8. Confirm that you understand
the ramifications of your choice; there is no undo once you overwrite
the DEM.
9. The realtime TG Camera
view will refresh with your changes.
10. Return the camera to its
default position and save the project.
11. Suppose you want to make
changes to the terrain, but something more painterly and permanent
than a Terraffector or Area Terraffector. That's where the DEM
Painter comes in. Select DEM Painter 
in the Database Editor. Like the
Database Editor, you can undock the window and expand it. The
DEM Painter
shows a grayscale plan
view of the Groovy DEM. The top row of 3 icons controls
which palette is visible: Tools, Elevations, or
Options. In the default Tools Mode, the top group of 12
icons represents available tools. The lower group of 11 icons
are the available brushes.
12. Let's add some ridges to
the mesa top. Select Paint 
from the Tools palette.
13. Select the last Air Brush
 .
14. Show Options  and reduce the Opacity
to 50%. This is the strength of the paint effect, with
100% being full and 0% being none.
15. Show Elevations  and increase the Foreground elevation
to 100 meters. This is the maximum additive value of the
paint effect.
16. Enable Preview to
watch painting in realtime views.
17. Click and drag to raise terrain.
If you make a mistake, use the Undo Changes 
button on the titlebar. If you drag across a canyon, some of
the underlying topography is preserved with the lower Opacity.
Full Opacity would have raised everything under the brush to
100 meters.
18. You can also paint directly
on a realtime view. The DEM Painter
window may hide behind one of the other windows. If you want
to see it while you're painting, bring it forward with the Window
menu item and move it to another matrix quad.
19. When you're done, Save
 the DEM.
20. VNS gives you the option
of overwriting the existing DEM or creating a new one. Choose
Overwrite.
21. Realtime views will reflect
the painted changes.
22. If you're curious to see
what the new terrain looks like, save the project and render
a preview. This is a very simple application of the DEM Painter.
Read more about in the Interactive Reference Manual and experiment on your own.
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