I want to ask if I could change/alter the Cesium tileset {The Cesium World Terrain} to create ground craters? Is it possible? If Yes, How? What are the approaches?
Hi @dis_afise,
Thanks for posting. There isn’t currently a feature within Cesium that could modify a 3D Tileset in this way. As you know the source data remains the same from Cesium ion so modifying the terrain locally would be overridden in a given location.
A simple implementation might be to generate a crater as a circular 3D Object, with the surface modeled, and apply that object in the location of the explosion and draw cartographic polygon points around the edges to clip out the existing terrain. In this way the craters could even be moved easily since it’s managed as a separate object outside of the 3D Tileset.
Now the nuances of how a crater looks based on the terrain before the explosion isn’t accounted for in the example above, but you could in theory collect all vertices of the 3D Tiles mesh within a blast radius, and modify the crater object based on the initial state of the terrain. This example is also visual, it won’t effect how you call functions like “sample height most detailed”.
We are working towards ways in which tilesets can be modified more frequently or regularly. Those features could potentially cover this use case.
I hope that helps
Hello,
I think this should be also possible statically (not in client runtime, so not feasible for some kind of interactive animated simulation) by uploading heightmap tiff, that only defines heights inside each crater area, as Raster Terrain to Cesium Ion and selecting Cesium World Terrain as base terrain. see: Terrain – Cesium Though this would create quantized-mesh terrain not 3D Tiles.
one could then switch between the uploaded terrain and Cesium World Terrain.
Hey,
You can’t directly modify the Cesium World Terrain, but you can create craters on it in a few ways. A simple approach is to place shapes or 3D models, like circles or cylinders, on the ground to represent craters. For a more realistic effect, you could create a small custom terrain, lower the ground in the desired areas, and overlay it on the existing terrain. Another option is to use textures or visual effects to make the surface appear cratered without actually changing the terrain. In short, shapes and textures are good for visual effects, while a custom terrain provides a more lifelike result.