Yellowstone National Park

The first of the requested maps, Yellowstone National Park. The large flat area in the center of the print is Yellowstone Lake. This model helps students understand watersheds and how they impact the terrain around them.

Colorado River

This model shows the Colorado River somewhere in the Southwest United States. The different changes in elevation on the west and east sides of the print show the effect of the Colorado River cutting through the mountains.

Topographic 3D Prints

Every now and then someone reaches out with a project that’s incredibly simple on the surface but much more complicated when you dig in. In the winter of 2020 a UNL professor reached out about having some 3D models printed. He was looking for topographic models with simulated gradient lines to help his students transfer 2-dimensional topographic maps to 3-dimensional real world shapes and structures.

After a lot of research and development I was able to create a process that would enable me to print models using real world terrain data with multiple colors to simulate these elevation gradient lines. The UNL instructor uses these and other models that I’ve printed as class teaching tools.

Hover over each image to read more about the process.