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Version: 3.4.7

Contours and grid lines

Following on from scale bars: contours and grid lines are the other way of letting a reader take measurements off a model without you annotating every feature.

The map grid draws lines at a spacing you set, in project ground units, with separate intervals and colours for the easting and northing directions — so the grid says both how far and which way. Contours follow elevation instead, and read like a topographic map draped over the outcrop.

Both are display options rather than objects: they cost nothing, they do not appear in the tree, and they can be switched off for a clean capture.

Pick an interval that suits the outcrop

A grid dense enough to be useful on a 20 m cliff is unreadable on a 2 km ridge. Set it from the scale of what you are showing, not once for the project.

The settings are under Map Grid in 3D View Display Options.