Show Output (Elevation) Info

[BrianLockett]

Hi’yall! I’m Brian. I go way back in the WM Forum community, but I’m back for a return.

Anyways, I’ve just updated my World Machine license (took me long enough!) and I like the new changes a lot. Glad to be back with the latest World Machine.

One small feature I noticed missing (or perhaps just hidden really well), though, is a small feature I actually requested almost a decade ago.

It soon became “Show information about this output” button in earlier World Machine releases, shown here:

Any chance we could see this feature again, or (if it still exists) could someone point me to where it is?

I do see the “Show elevation of the terrain under the cursor” feature in Layout View in current releases, but that’s not quite the same.

I still use a couple of “traditional”-style game engines (such as Godot Engine) where good ol’ fashion inputting the heightmap (heightfield) elevation info is need, and that little info feature was pretty handy.

Anyways, I like what you’ve done with the place, Stephen!

[BrianLockett]

Also might could use a handier name. “Show information about this output” was a bit of a mouthful.

Maybe “Show Elevation Info” or something might work better.

[HYLK]

Hey and welcome back!

The feature is still available, but very well hidden indeed. Sadly, it is no longer incorporated in the 3D Viewport, which is a bummer and I hope it gets re-added there as well.

Right now, to get height information is a bit more convoluted. You’ll want to use the Report Height device, which can be found in the Parameter tab (or just press Tab and type its name, a much easier method).

The nice thing of this new device, is it exposes that height information as scalar parameters. This allows you to use that information to base effects on it etc., which is really cool.

I hope this helps!