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Looking for a free program or web software for 3D visualization. I'd like to have an ArcScene like abilities.
No editing needed, just need to see the data in a 3D format. It'd be really helpful for presentations. I used ArcScene a ton in college and liked it, but budget constraints do not allow for it here.
Is there anything out there?
1) For a full 3D GIS, the better is GRASS GIS, look at Screenshots of 3D data management or From drone-aerial pictures to DEM and ORTHOPHOTO: the case of Caldonazzo's castle, from example.
Some examples (interactive: you can scale, rotate the representation and many other things) :
DEM with 3D points:
Draped raster on the DEM
Draped geological map with 3D surfaces (2 thrust faults, blue, grey), 3D tubes (boreholes, blue), 3D lines (blue) and 3D points
2) You can also use QGIS and the Qgis2threejs plugin (interactive: you can scale and rotate the representation):
Draped raster on a DEM, with draped 2D polylines (black, red)
3) and you can also use Paraview (from GRASS GIS) , R and even, SketchUp (and Google Earth) or Blender (Visualising QGIS data with Blender, for example) -all the solutions are interactive.
You can also use ViziCities (in the browser using OpenStreetMap, WebGL and JavaScript), though it only supports 3D buildings and geographic features right now (data layers coming soon).
Disclaimer: I'm the developer behind ViziCities, though my only intention is to let you know about it and let you decide which tool is best for you.
Take a look into QGIS Plugins for that purpose. qgis2threejs is a experimental python plugin that is getting better and better as we speak. It allows you to transform any internet browser with WebGL into a 3D visualization tool.
You can check the code here: https://github.com/minorua/Qgis2threejs
Also check this usage example done by Anita Graser:
http://anitagraser.com/2014/03/15/3d-viz-with-qgis-three-js/
Check out the open-source Virtual Terrain Project, or VTP. http://vterrain.org/
Their goal is to foster the creation of tools for easily constructing any part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form.
This requires a synergetic convergence of the fields of CAD, GIS, visual simulation, surveying and remote sensing. VTP gathers information and tracks progress in areas such as procedural scene construction, feature extraction, and realtime rendering algorithms. VTP writes and supports a set of software tools, including an interactive runtime environment (VTP Enviro). The tools and their source code are freely shared to help accelerate the adoption and development of the necessary technologies.
