Trouble creating a landscape ! Please help!!

Question

Hi,
In my project I have to input a 2D map of a landscape (geographical map) and then turn it into a 3D image using java3D.
First I divide the map into grids. And in the 2D plane , for each point (x ,y) I calculate the RGB value, using "image.getRGB(int x,int y)" . I have succeeded up to this.
Now I need to convert this RGB value of each point into a "height" , so that I can use them in the Point3f array and then creat the 3D view.
I'm using this idea because geographical map colors are refering to their height.
My problem is how to convert this RGB value into a height.
Any idea?Any algorithms?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

That depends a bit on the colour scheme of your sample maps- often people use a greyscale and you can just use darker or lighter areas to judge height, but if your source maps are using colours then you are going to work it out for yourself- perhaps you could build a half-way point application that loads in the map and displays the image and the rgb values for each grid point- you could use this to train your system as to what the appropriate colours might be or to find a way of mapping the rgb values.