[GRASSLIST:8131] r.profile and working in 3d?

[Phillip J. Allen]

Hi all,

After reading the "r.profile & subsequent chart plot" threads during the 
last few days, I would like to throw in a comment. 

As a geologist/geochemist I need to make cross-sections, which r.profile 
can make.  I know that I can then take r.profile's output and create a 
new ascii-grass vector file, open it up into a new location and mapset 
and then cut up the imported cross-section polygon into it's individual 
geological units.  So now I can complete the most basic requirments of 
my job.

But the direction that my geological job is taking is that  I need to 
take my surface geology and my  various geological cross-sections  and 
put them into a full 3-d model.  NVIZ is a very nice tool for 
visualization but the problem is how to get everything into 3d. 

I haven't tried it yet but can I import a "vertical" polygon vector file 
into grass61?  If I can, is it possible to then edit it and then draw 3d 
polylines to start to build up a 3d model and then wire-frame?

For a while I was experimenting with a 3d modeling & animation program 
called "Blender".  It has some brilliant 3d editing capabilities but it 
can only use coordinates between +/-10000.00.  So it has limited use for 
3d geological modeling with real-world coordinates.

Considering the "very" high cost of 3d geological modeling software, 
grass has some real possiblity here.

Thanks,

Phillip J. Allen