Hi, I am new to 3d programming, Currently I am doing a college project in which i need to convert a depth map into a 3d map–give the end user ability to view the 3d map only [no animation or collision required… just need to generate the map and make the user be able to view it ] ----- so is panda 3d the right choice for this purpose and if yes please provide guidelines for this purpose[ i mean what things i need to install, preferred programming language…[other part of my project is in coded in c++/java , this is just the last part], and how the end user is going to view the map–i mean extra software required or it may be done in the window that runs the sample programme supplied with the panda 3d setup…]----please help asap…[by depth i mean i know the height(z) of every point in a 2d plane (x,y)
panda mostly is used to code in python, however it has perfectly fine c++ interface so you can finish your project in c++ if you choose. what you want is to display a heightmap terrain, which is described here. You will also probably want some kind of free-look camera. Search forums, there are plenty examples how to do that bit.
thnx for the reply
For viewing you don’t need to write anything. Panda has a nice camera control builtin and enabled by default. To convert your depth map to a 3d map you could procedurally create a mesh and for each pixel place a vertex that is connected to its neighbors. I believe there was a guy here on the forums one who did 3d models out of graphics in a similar fashion, that is depending on the pixel color.
The manual has a few pages regarding mesh generation. Look out for MeshDrawer.
You can use the GeoMipTerrain or HeightfieldTesselator to convert a depth map into a 3d model.
Woah, totally forgot about that 
That’s of course way easier than my approach.