Getting to know Lands Design and having some issues that I cannot get my head around. I’ve tried following tutorials and searching and cannot find reference to this error anywhere on the internet when I google search either.
I’ve created a terrain from a 1m gridded terrain mesh. All good so far. When I try to add a contour to change the form of the landscape, I get the message:
‘The selected terrain has its elevation data consolidated and it is not possible to add new contour curves.’
I have no problem using the cut and fill command or dividing, but cannot use the contour tool.
When you create a terrain from curves and/or points, this elevation data is stored in the terrain object, and you can add new cotours or remove the existing ones. When Lands generates the terrain, it evaluates a set of samples from the curves and triangulates them to have a mesh that represents the source elevation of the terrain. Then Lands starts to model it with the earthmoving operations.
User has the option to consolidate the elevation data so that the terrain object stores the triangulated mesh. This way there is no need to evaluate the curve samples and triangulate them each time. However, while elevation data is consolidated user cannot add/remove contours or points. But user can revert the consolidatino at any time.
In the other hand, when you create a terrain from a mesh or by importing earth data, rather than from curves/points, the terrain elevation data is always consolidated. The terrain object stores only the mesh. User can’t add new contours/points because the elevation data is consolidated, and it can’t revert the consolidation because there are no curves or points the mesh comes from.
This is why you receive this message.
Since other users have complained about it, we have added the option to revert the consolidation even on terrains that never have had curves/points. In that case Lands will just take the mesh points as elevation data (having to triangulate them each time the terrain is generated), and user will be able to add new points, contours or 3D curves.
Personally, I don’t see the utility to add contours to a source mesh. Contours work well when combined with other contours, not when combined with a set of points, I think it’s much better to use earthmoving operations. But anyway it will be possible in Lands Design 6.2, together with many other improvements and new options in the terrain object.