Triangulate Irregular Elevation

The Triangulate Irregular Elevation tool converts XYZ, DXF and other vector files to TRI (triangulated) files for use as elevation layers for TerraBuilder Projects.

The file formats that can be triangulated using the Triangulate Irregular Elevation tool are:

§ XYZ - Converts the .xyz ASCII points’ format to TRI format.

§ DXF - Converts the DXF points’ format, points and break lines format or TIN (triangulated) format into a TRI format.

§ QUE - Converts the .que format to the TRI format.

§ 001 - Converts the .001 format to the TRI format.

§ REG – Converts the .reg format to the TRI format.

§ GD - Converts .lf and .pf formats to the TRI format.

The Triangulate Irregular Elevation tool creates a triangulation elevation file. This file can be divided into tiles that can be used individually for calculations. Since it is difficult to triangulate with large datasets, breaking a large file into tiles is recommended. An additional benefit is that using tiles uses fewer resources and saves time. This tool can automatically calculate an optimal tile division.

To convert a vector file to TRI Format:

1. On the Tools tab, in the Convert group, click Triangulation. The Triangulate Irregular Elevation dialog box opens:

Triangulate Irregular Elevation Dialog Box

2. Enter the following information:

Field	Description
Input File	Click and browse to the required source input file (see above for the available file types).
Output File	Click and browse to the required target TRI output file.
Resolution	Type the UPP for the created source file.
Tiles number Horizontal	The number of tiles along the horizontal axis.
Tiles number Vertical	The number of tiles along the vertical axis.
Overlap	The extent of the overlap between tiles (in percentages).

3. If you want to automatically calculate the optimum values for the tile numbers in the grid and for the overlap, click Calculate Automatically.

4. Click Convert to create the TRI output file.

5. Click Close to close the dialog.