Match or Correct Heights for Incoming Data

When you bring real-world DEMs or heightmaps into Gaea, the numbers often don’t match Gaea’s expected height conventions. Some datasets are already in meters (with negatives), some are biased, some are scaled oddly, and many don’t line up with how you intend to use vertical range in your graph.

A clean way to “re-home” that data into a predictable altitude ceiling - without guessing multipliers - is to use a Constant + MATCH workflow. It lets you say: “This imported terrain should top out at X meters,” and then forces everything to conform.

The goal: define a correct “highest altitude”

Instead of trying to eyeball scale, you explicitly define the maximum elevation you want your imported terrain to represent (e.g., 2400 m, 8849 m, 500 m - whatever your project needs). Then you match the imported data to that reference.

That means:

• You keep your import unclamped (so you don’t crush data).
• You normalize the incoming range (so it behaves nicely).
• You match it to a known reference height (so the final amplitude makes sense in Gaea terms).

Step-by-step workflow

1. Create a Constant as your “altitude ruler”

1. Add a Constant node.
2. Set its Height to the highest altitude you want to use, in meters.
3. Gaea will convert that meter value into its internal percent-based height representation automatically.

Think of this Constant as your “this is what 100% height means for this project” reference.

2. Import your dataset with File (keep it unclamped)

1. Add a File node and load your DEM/heightmap.
2. Make sure it stays Unclamped.

Why: clamping can silently flatten anything below/above the expected range, and imported DEMs often include values outside a neat 0–1 span.

3. Autolevel right after the import

Place an Autolevel node immediately after File.

This does two helpful things:

• It remaps the incoming terrain to a clean min→max range (no wasted headroom).
• It makes the next step (matching) stable and predictable.

4. Use MATCH to conform to your Constant reference

1. Add a MATCH node after Autolevel.
2. Plug the Autolevel output into MATCH’s main input.
3. Plug the Constant into MATCH’s Reference Input.

Now MATCH uses the Constant as the “target height context,” scaling your normalized imported terrain so its overall height aligns with the altitude you defined.

Why this works so well

• You declare intent (“max altitude is 2400 m”) instead of guessing scale factors.
• Autolevel ensures you’re matching a well-behaved, full-range signal.
• MATCH then handles the conversion cleanly, so your terrain sits correctly within Gaea’s vertical expectations.

Quick practical notes

• If your dataset includes bathymetry / negative elevations, keeping File unclamped is important. You can decide later how you want to treat below-sea regions (offset, mask, clamp, etc.).
• If you’re working with tiles, try to apply the same reference Constant across the whole set to keep consistent vertical scale.
• This workflow is about getting the imported terrain into a correct, predictable altitude framework inside Gaea; you can still do final vertical scaling in your DCC/engine if you’re targeting a specific displacement range.

Alternate Technique

If you expect your data to have no negative values, use the File node to import the data, then apply the Autolevel modifier in the Modifier Stack. Then apply the Height Remap modifier and clamp the values to whatever height you want.

This is a much simpler technique and may be useful in most cases. However, for exact precision, it is better to use the sophisticated technique shown above.