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I have a GeoTIFF file that QGIS has produced from merging multiple DEM TIFFs together. The gdalinfo for this file is:

Driver: GTiff/GeoTIFF
Files: ca_heightmap.tif
Size is 39601, 39601
Coordinate System is:
GEOGCRS["WGS 84",
    DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984",
        ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
    PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
        ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
    CS[ellipsoidal,2],
        AXIS["geodetic latitude (Lat)",north,
            ORDER[1],
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
        AXIS["geodetic longitude (Lon)",east,
            ORDER[2],
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
    ID["EPSG",4326]]
Data axis to CRS axis mapping: 2,1
Origin = (-125.000138888888998,43.000138888888898)
Pixel Size = (0.000277777777778,-0.000277777777778)
Metadata:
  AREA_OR_POINT=Area
Image Structure Metadata:
  INTERLEAVE=BAND
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left  (-125.0001389,  43.0001389) (125d 0' 0.50"W, 43d 0' 0.50"N)
Lower Left  (-125.0001389,  31.9998611) (125d 0' 0.50"W, 31d59'59.50"N)
Upper Right (-113.9998611,  43.0001389) (113d59'59.50"W, 43d 0' 0.50"N)
Lower Right (-113.9998611,  31.9998611) (113d59'59.50"W, 31d59'59.50"N)
Center      (-119.5000000,  37.5000000) (119d30' 0.00"W, 37d30' 0.00"N)
Band 1 Block=39601x1 Type=Float32, ColorInterp=Gray

enter image description here

How can I convert this to a raw file that I am able to import as a terrain in Unity? When I open this TIFF in GIMP, I just get a black/white image that loses the height map aspect (I'm not really sure what happens to it, but it looks like this in GIMP)

enter image description here

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    GIMP is an image processing program, while your TIFF is a dataset. GIMP won't be able to render a Float32 visually. Have you tried importing it in Unity at all?
    – bugmenot123
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 10:34
  • It seems that unity can only accept a raw file for a terrain
    – Hdot
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 10:37
  • 2
    And what is a "raw file" to Unity? Please link to some specification if possible.
    – bugmenot123
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 10:46
  • I'm new to Unity and QGIS, so i'm just going off of what im seeing people say over the forums etc. But when importing a file to be used as a terrain in unity, it expects a .raw file
    – Hdot
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 10:50
  • ah, I managed to get the correct format using gdal_translate –of ENVI –ot UInt16 –scale –outsize 1025 1025 ca_heightmap.tif heightmap.raw
    – Hdot
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 11:24

2 Answers 2

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Using the command gdal_translate –of ENVI –ot UInt16 –scale –outsize 1024 1024 ca_heightmap.tif heightmap.raw to get the correct format for Unity

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3

Gimp 2.10.24 insisted on producing an 8-bit raw file from a 16-bit TIFF height map. Looked terrible...

After fiddling for hours trying to get GDAL to work on windows, ended up using numpy on Python directly, instead ...

Here are 5 lines of code to do the job:

from PIL import Image
import numpy

im = Image.open('image.tif')
imarray = numpy.array(im)
imarray.astype('int16').tofile("image.raw")

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

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