DEM to height map results in ugly stepped terrain

General Discussion
1

I’m having some trouble here. I’ve got a DEM from my home area and would love to use it to create an overview in 3D for some sport events in the area.
I’ve tried both 3Dem and MicroDEM to export as 2K and 4K.

I originally thought the problem could be that 3Dem and MicroDEM exported 8-bit images. Then I got a friend with Global Mapper to export a TIFF file, which I would’ve thought would be at least 16-bit, and he exported in a massive resolution of 8K.

But I get the same result. This is straight from the File Input device with Extended Overlay applied. See the images attached.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there anything wrong with the DEM and heightmap it exports?
I can provide the DEM and heightmaps if anyone wanna try.

2

could the source DEM map be an 8 bit Tiff file you are using?

An easy way to check is take your source DEM file and open in photoshop and check under Mode to see if it is really a 16bit Tiff file.

Also, if it originally was an 8 bit file and then resaved as a 16bit I dont think that would work either, and would still give you the steps.

In the past the only time I ever got stepping was when I was using 8bit files.

3

What version of World Machine are you using?

4

The source is a USGS DEM file downloaded from a government service who’s just recently released the entire country in different kind of maps.

I brought the height maps I created and the one I was provided from Global Mapper in Photoshop, and checked that they all are 8-bit, and when I apply an intense S curve I clearly see the banding.

I purchased WM yesterday, so I’m on 2.3.5

5

Yes, that looks like the classic 8 bit heightfield problem, and the reason why a higher bitdepth format is so important. Unfortunately I can’t help with getting a clean 16bit DEM export file, but if you’re stuck using an 8bit one in World Machine the classic solution is to apply gaussian blur to smooth the stairsteps. This will give you a smooth terrrain at least, even if the 8bit original still obliterated most of your details!

6

So it’s possible the original .DEM file I downloaded is 8-bit? There’s no given that a .DEM is 16-bit?