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Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by thatcherc on Tuesday February 02, 2021 @06:24AM (#25999727)
Terrain2STL - http://jthatch.com/Terrain2STL/

Creates 3D-printable elevation maps of Earth's surface. I originally made it because I couldn't find a tool to make a particular 3D model I wanted, and then decided to open source it. However, to use the code you need to download ~80 GB of elevation data, which I thought would be a stumbling block for a lot of other hobbyists, so I put together a little web interface and hosted it myself.

It sometimes breaks even over a month from the occasional donation, and I think it's gotten me at least one job, but the best thing is the emails I get from users showing me what they've made with it. Seeing these really cool art and education projects from people more creative than me is pretty awesome!

Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by madvoid on Tuesday February 02, 2021 @02:32PM (#26005454)
I'm planning on buying a printer soon elevation maps are one of the things I was hoping to print - thank you for the awesome tool! Assuming the users are okay with it I think it would be cool to show some of the pics people send you for inspiration.
Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by runnr_az on Tuesday February 02, 2021 @07:27AM (#26000172)
This is awesome. My next print is gonna be a model of the mountains that surround my house
Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by aaronfc on Saturday February 06, 2021 @03:30AM (#26045158)
It would be very nice you had some gallery with what people end up printing :)
Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by peterbraden on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @09:04AM (#26089226)
What data are you using for the DEM?
Re:Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” proj... by thatcherc on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @05:06PM (#26095441)
SRTM3! It's all available from the USGS. I'm in the (slow) process of upgrading to SRTM1, which offers 3x better linear resolution, so 9 'pixels' to each of the current 'pixels' I have now. The drawback for me, though, is that the file storage requirements are 9x higher with the higher-res data