3D View

The 3D View in Global Mapper allows registered users to view gridded elevation data and any overlying raster or vector data in a true perspective 3D manner. In addition, any vector data with associated elevation values can also be displayed in true 3D and videos may be created using the Global Mapper Fly-Through feature. The 3D viewer can also display 3D model formats, and render multiple terrain layers in a stack.

To open the 3D view, select the 3D view button from the Viewer toolbar, or select 3D View... from the View menu.

When selected, the 3D View button displays a window containing a 3D view of the data in the current workspace. The 3D view can show in its own window, or be docked inside of the main application. For more information see Window Docking.

Any imagery or vector data being drawn on top of the elevation grid(s) in the main Global Mapper view will automatically be draped on top of the elevation data in the 3D View window. If so configured, any 3D vector data will be displayed in space as well.

The following features and tools are available in the 3D View:

Rotating, Moving and Zooming in the 3D View

The 3D view has multiple navigation modes that change how the mouse and keyboard move the camera in relation to the data scene.

Display Options

Wire-frame View

The Wire-frame view can be toggled on and off to change between a Wire-frame (TIN) and the full textured solid view of the 3d models, terrain data and 3d vectors.

Default view

Press the default view button to return to the full data extent at the default orientation (looking north and slightly down on the loaded data).

Show Compass Rose

This option displays a compass on the map. For more settings go to 3D View Configuration.

Show 3D Axis

This option displays a 3D pivot axis. This axis shows the current center-point of the navigation. The pivot axis constantly updates as the display is zoomed and panned, to allow for free movement throughout the data.

The axis display will display shaded darker when it is behind the visible data. For more settings go to 3D View Configuration.

Shortcut to toggle on/ off the pivot axis display: P key

3D View Configuration

This button is used to access the 3D View Properties dialog, which contains options to configure the 3D view settings, including the vertical exaggeration, the water display, background color, 3D vector display, as well as the terrain and draped image resolution. For more information see 3D View Configuration

2D/ 3D Link

To link the 2D and 3D views, select the Link 2D/ 3D views button found on the Global Mapper Viewer Toolbar. This will link the relative panning and zooming of the 3D view when the primary 2D map view is panned or zoomed. The 3D view will also refresh based on any changes to the Overlay Control center, such as loading data, turning on and off layers, or running tools that create new data. The link is turned on by default.

When the link is disabled, the 3D view will not refresh to match changes in the primary 2D map view display until the cursor is over the 3D window. Panning and zooming the 2D view will not change the 3D map display.

Keyboard Shortcut: To refresh the 3D view, use the CTRL+3 or F5 hot keys in the 3D viewer.

Feature Selection, Measuring and 3D Digitizing Tools

The Selection and Measure Mode tools allow for the selection of vector features in the 3D viewer, and provide options for measuring distances and areas. Right-click with either of these tools to access additional options and settings.   

Digitizer Mode

Activating the Digitizer Mode in the 3D View will enable selection of lidar, point, line or area features in the 3D View window. To select multiple features at one time (sweep select), enable the Digitizer, then click and drag your cursor over the features of interest in the 3D View. Once you stop this action, your features will appear selected in 3D View and in 2D.

The right-click menu will bring up the following Digitizer feature creation and feature editing options in the 3D View.  

Keyboard shortcut: Pressing the D key will enable or disable digitizer mode in the 3D view.

 Measure Mode

Activating Measure Mode will allow you to left-click in the 3D View to define a line for distance measurement, or a polygon for area measurement. Right-clicking will end the line or polygon feature to finish the measurement. In the upper left of the 3D View window measurement values will be displayed, right-click to access the 3D View window's Measure Tool menu.

Note: The Measure tool is linked between 2D and 3D, and selecting either button will enable the tool in both 2D and 3D.

Keyboard shortcut: Pressing the M key will enable or disable measure mode.

Snap Cursor

With snap cursor enabled, the digitizer selection tool, digitizer feature creation, or measure tool will show a point feature indicating the nearest selectable point or vertex if one is nearby.

With snap mode enabled, the cursor point in 3D will change color to indicate what is being snapped to. A green point indicated terrain is snapped; an orange point indicates snapping to the vertex of a vector. For more information see Create New Feature in 3D with Vertex and Terrain Snapping

When snap cursor is not enabled, the selection cursor will change color to red to indicate when a selection is available at the current cursor location.

Vertical Exaggeration

Water Level

Drop Down SkyBox Menu

The drop down menu may be used to set a specific sky texture background or to set a solid background (None). The color of the solid background may be specified in the 3D View Properties dialog.

Fly-Through Videos

Save Image

Selecting this tool will bring up the 3D Screen Capture Options dialog (below), used for saving an image of the 3D view to a JPEG, PNG, TIFF or BMP image format. Additional sizing options are also available.

Window Controls

The buttons at the far right corner of the 3D view may be used to make the 3D window full screen when undocked, or close the 3D window. Grab the top bar of the 3D view to move and dock or un-dock the window. For more information about windows see Window Docking

3D Display and Navigation

Note: *SHIFT and CTRL Keys are modifiers that increase or decrease the operation
 CTRL + 3
  • Open or refresh the 3D view
    		•
      F5 Refresh the 3D view
      Arrow Keys
  • Pan 3D view left, right, forward, and back or move in.
    		•
    Page Up/Down
  • Zoom out and in*
    		•
    Home/
    Number 5 / CTRL+SHIFT+D    		 Return to default view
    CTRL + Home
  • Center the 2D view on the current selection
    		•
    Numbers 8 / 2 Control tilt forward and back *
    Numbers 4 / 6
  • Control rotation right and left*
    		•
    Numbers 7 / 9
  • Move up*
    		•
    Numbers 1 / 3 Move down*
    Mouse Wheel Roll to zoom in and out or raise and lower the walk mode height. Click and drag to pan
     Left Mouse Button Navigate the view. Forward / back movements tilt the scene up or down; left/right movements rotate the view. *
      Right Mouse Button Forward / back movements zoom in or out. *

    Walk Mode

    Left Mouse Button Forward / back movements move forwards or back in the scene. Left / right movements rotate the view.
    Right Mouse Button Raise and lower walk mode height.
    Mouse Wheel Click and drag to change the pitch. Roll to raise and lower the walk mode height
    Arrow Up / Down Move into or away from the scene. *
    Arrow Left / Right Rotate the view around the current location. *
     Page Up / Down
  • Raise and lowers walk mode height *
    		•

    Advanced 3D Display and Navigation

    V Locks movement to the vertical plane
    H Locks movement to the horizontal plane
    F11 Decreases the field of view by 5 degrees*
    F12 Increases the field of view by 5 degrees*
    Home /CTRL+SHIFT+D/ 5 key Default View. This is the standard view that you get when you open the 3D viewer.
    Ctrl+Shift+T  Top View.
     Ctrl+Shift+U Bottom View.
    Ctrl+Shift+L Left View.
    Ctrl+Shift+R Right View.
    Ctrl+Shift+F Front View.
    Ctrl+Shift+B Back View.

    3D Tools and Settings

    W Enable or disable wireframe
    CTRL +W Enable walk mode
      CTRL+SHIFT+W Enable/ disable water level display
      T Enable or disable display of textures on meshes
    M Enable or disable Measure tool
    D Enable or disable Digitizer tool
      CTRL+SHIFT+D Sets the default view
      E Resets vertical exaggeration to 1.0
    CTRL+E Lower vertical exaggeration
    SHIFT+E Raise vertical exaggeration
    P The P key enables / disables pivot axis display.
      CTRL+SHFT+P Enables / disables the path profile display
      CTRL+G Enables / disables display of GPS tracks
      Numpad +/- Raise/ lower water level
      CTRL + B Enables / disables backface culling
      CTRL + N Toggle display of vertex normals for meshes
      SIFT+ N Toggle display of face normals for meshes
      N Toggle normal display mode for meshes (vertex normals and face normals)
      CTRL+C Copy 3D view image to clipboard
      CTRL+SHIFT+C Copy 3D view image to clipboard without notifications

    3D Digitizing and Editing

      CTRL+Z While digitizing or editing, undoes the last point.
      ESC Clear the current selection, cancel the current digitizing operation, or cancel the current measurement
      ENTER Complete the current digitization operation or measurement.
      DELETE Delete the selected features.

    3D Snapping to types of Features

    Note: Only one of these modifier keys may be active at a time.
      P Hold down when Selecting, Digitizing or Measuring to filter to point features
      A Hold down to filter to area features
      L Hold down to filter to line features
      M Hold down to filter to mesh features

    3D View Keyboard Shortcuts by function 

    These modes govern how you interact with objects in the view.

    • Default Mode : this is the default mode. You can move around the scene, but you cannot interact with objects in the scene.
    • Walk Mode : Ctrl+W to enable or disable walk mode.
    • Selection Mode: this mode is for selecting one or more objects in the display. Use the ‘D’ key to go to Selection mode.
    • Digitizing Mode: this mode is for creating new features. When in Selection mode, use entries on the right-click menu to create new features.
    • Measure Mode: this mode is for measuring distances or areas among items in the scene. Use the ‘M’ key to go to Measure mode.
    • Snap Mode: this mode governs whether selection or digitization actions are snapped to the nearest geometry vertex. Use the ‘S’ key to toggle this when not in default mode.

    There are some predefined views that can help you to navigate in the 3D scene:

    • Default View: This is the standard view that you get when you open the 3D viewer. Use the Home key, Ctrl+Shift+D, or the 5 key to go to default view.
    • Top View: This is a view from directly above the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+T to go to default view.
    • Bottom View: This is a view from directly underneath the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+U to go to bottom view.
    • Left View: This is a view from the left side of the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+L to go to a left view.
    • Right View: This is a view from the right side of the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+R to go to a right view.
    • Front View: This is a view from in front of the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+F to go to a front view.
    • Back View: This is a view from directly behind the scene. Use Ctrl+Shift+B to go to a back view.

    Sometimes it can be useful to restrict the movement of the 3D scene in one dimension or another. You can lock the movement to either a horizontal or vertical plane using the H or V keys. Note: locking is not allowed in Walk mode.

    • H: The key enables horizontal locking if it’s disabled, otherwise it disables it. Horizontal locking only allows movement in a plane that’s horizontal to the pivot axis.
    • V: The key enables vertical locking if it’s disabled, otherwise it disables it. Vertical locking only allows movement in the plane defined by the screen center and the pivot axis.

    3D vector data is exaggerated along with the terrain so it will align correctly. A bridge going over a gorge with heights of 100m and 110m on either end would not match up with the terrain heights of 100m and 110m if both weren't exaggerated. If relative elevations of 0m and 10m are used with a vertical exaggeration set to 3, those would display at 0m and 30m which would still allow the bridge to match up to the terrain.

    The extrusion and altitude mode of 3D Vectors can be controlled globally in the 3D properties, by layer or for individual features using the modify feature info settings.

    Obtain additional control over how 3D vector features are rendered by providing attributes for those features. The supported attributes are as follows:

    3D_EX_HT— the value of this attribute will override the default extrusion height and extrude just that height in meters

    3D_ZOFFSET — the value of this attribute allows you to provide an additional offset (in meters) when rendering a 3D vector feature

    EXTRUDE — used to extrude 3D areas down to the ground. If an area has the EXTRUDE attribute with a valid boolean value (YES, Y, TRUE, T, or 1 for enabled, NO, N, FALSE, F, or 0 for disabled), that setting will be used in place of the 3D View Options setting to extrude 3D areas down to the ground.