Using FME as part of a workflow to create models for use in Blender, an open source 3D modelling application. Includes lidar and raster analysis to create surfaces and textures used in visualisations and bespoke maps.

1. 3D VISUALISATION WITH
BLENDER & FME
Owen Powell

2. Owen Powell
Senior Consultant, Arup
Infrastructure Midlands, UK
Spatial data analyst
Certified FME Professional

3. THINGS
I MAKE
WITH FME

5. £1.24bn
revenue
12,800
people in 89 offices
14,000
projects across 146 countries
Arnhem Central Station
Arnhem, Netherlands

6. Sir Ove Arup, The Key Speech 1970
“Our work should only be
interesting and rewarding. Only
a job well done, as well as we
can do it – and as well as it can
be done – is that. We must
therefore strive for quality in
what we do and never be
satisfied with second-rate.”

7. BUSINESSES
Architecture
Aviation
Digital
Energy
Highways
Management Consulting
Rail
Planning
Water
ARUP

11. BLENDER
Blender is a free and open
source 3d modelling and
animation package
Supports common 3d
formats and python
scripting
Node based materials and
compositing – JUST LIKE
WORKBENCH

15. MICRO
DISPLACEMENT
Adaptive subdivision of
a mesh

19. TRADE ME
High res topographic maps

20. NEW ZEALAND’S
LEADING ONLINE
MARKETPLACE

21. HIGH RES CUSTOM MAPS
5GB of Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission 30m (SRTM) data in
WGS84
Separate images for each region
with consistent colour gradient
Single national composite image
Ortho-rectified and
georeferenced renders
High res png with transparency
for water courses and ocean
CREATION OF

22. CLIP AND REPROJECT
FROM WGS84 TO NEW
ZEALAND NATIONAL GRID
SCALE DATA RANGE
TO FIT 16 BIT IMAGE
MOUNT COOK * 17
WRITE REGION
BOUNDING BOX TO
OBJ

23. CREATE MASKS FOR
COASTLINE AND
WATERCOURSES

24. CREATE MASKS FOR
COASTLINE AND
WATERCOURSES

31. SITE
DEVELOPMENT
RENDERS
*not a real site

39. ALBION CYCLING
Lidar visualisation

42. 2m DTM 2m DSM

43. DTM DSM

45. FME MAKES LIFE IN A
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
ORGANISATION SIMPLE
And accurate

46. THANK YOU!
owenpowell.wordpress.com | owen.powell@arup.com