Triangular Irregular Network

The triangular irregular network (TIN) is a software-created model based on triangles rather than square cells. Every point in the digitized contour plot is the vertex of a triangle which is shaded and colored. The shading algorithm is the same as that used by hillshades and the colors are assigned by elevation. The "bird's eye" and four other 3D views of the Valley were made from a TIN model.

The image above is part of a TIN with approximately 440 thousand nodes and 1.5 million triangles. The TIN used for the 3D Valley views has "only" 290 thousand nodes and 570 thousand triangles because that's all the 3D software could handle. [Back to pictorial guide main page]

Contours

DEM

Hillshade

Shaded DEM

Shaded DRG

TIN