CompuServe Thread

Daniel, Which version of 3DS did you start out with? The reason I ask is you may already have it on a floppy disk that Autodesk provided as a 'bonus' disk with an older release (rel. 2, I think). What they mailed out to registered users was a Bonus disk that had various files on it, including .shp files of all the states of the United States. All you would have to do is take each shape, extrude it in the 3d lofter and then composite each of them together in their respective places geographically. If you didn't own a version older than release 3 perhaps our handy sysops can point you to where they may be hidden in some remote and dusty library.(achoo!) Try a library search beginning with the two letter designation of the given state, followed by the .shp extension (ex: az.shp for Arizona). That is how they are listed on the floppy they sent me. Good Luck! Kevin p.s. The disk has the following info on it in case the Autodesk people do not remember these meshes and need more info to track the files down: 'Bonus DOS 386 Version 1.0 4036-D4-3D-1/1-M'. The floppy is dated 1990. See ya!

I made a mesh of the US by taking Corel Draw's U.S. map into the shaper and selecting each state's outline and lofting separately (they all loft into place). The only problem with this scenerio is that there were two states (Utah was one, but I forget the other) that wouldn't "separate". If I were doing this again I'd probably boolean the outline to get the remaining two states. Anyway, if you have Corel Draw you can do the same thing in about fifteen minutes (it's a VERY high quality and detailed U.S.).

Download STATES.ZIP in DL4. It's a collection of .shp files of the states. You can easily convert them into objects and put the whole puzzle together. – Jack