PyCon 2019 |Terrain, Art, Python and LiDAR
Speaker: Andrew Godwin
Seeing the Earth from above is truly breathtaking, but it takes a lot of time, fuel and opportunity – so instead, why not make miniature art of the world’s famous terrains?
This talk explores using Python to take raw terrain data – from aerial lidar and space-based radar scans – and processing it into 3D models, and CAD/CAM toolpaths, with the ultimate result of making Python-powered artwork of some of Earth’s natural wonders.
See how to reduce each National Park to a small, intricately-milled metal carving, how to laser-cut a side-on relief of a whole Hawaiian island, or how to 3D print tiny versions of cities where you can make out each individual building – and the strengths and challenges of using Python to handle 3D and GIS data.
We’ll also look at some basic 3D modelling code, discuss the wonders of different map projections, and how personal LiDAR is slowly, but surely, becoming affordable.
Slides can be found at: https://speakerdeck.com/pycon2019 and https://github.com/PyCon/2019-slides
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