Terrain To STL

This is a simple browser-based editor which creates printable 3D terrain models (.stl) from just latitude and longitude input.

Demo: https://terrain.modelrift.com

Built by ModelRift team. ModelRift is an AI-enhanced browser-based IDE for OpenSCAD.

Uses awesome OpenSCAD WASM build by @DSchroer so all the magic happens right in your browser.

UI is built using React and Shadcn. Three.js is used as a model viewer.

How it works

• Step 1 downloads elevation tiles and builds a grayscale heightmap of the chosen lat/long. Terrain data is downloaded from this public dataset. Interesting read on how the terrain tiles are encoded

• Step 2 generates OpenSCAD code and compiles an STL in the browser (WASM worker).

• Three.js renders the produced .stl model in a browser, with a beautiful lightning applied.

What you can control

• Center point: latitude and longitude
• Area size in km
• Heightmap resolution
• Tile zoom level
• Model size in mm
• Z exaggeration
• Base thickness

How To Run

Docker Compose

docker compose up --build -d

Open http://localhost:8083.

Development (Docker Compose)

Big map rendering is slow in dev mode!

docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up --build

Open http://localhost:5176.

Development (Local pnpm)

pnpm install
pnpm dev

Then open the Vite URL from terminal output and: 1. Click Download Terrain 2. Click Generate STL 3. Download terrain.stl (or terrain.scad)

Notes

• Terrain data is fetched from Terrarium elevation tiles.
• Internet access is required while fetching terrain data.