Get started
Find your way around the studio and follow a complete first project.
- Studio tourFind your way around the TopoStack studio: choose a place, frame the map, generate terrain, switch previews, and save or import projects.
- Crater Lake exampleExplore the Crater Lake terrain preview in TopoStack, follow the project setup, and learn how to generate fresh terrain for layered or engraved SVG exports.
Make a map
Step-by-step workflows from choosing a place to exporting SVG files for your laser.
- Layered map guideMake a layered terrain map from real elevation data. Choose material thickness, preview your stack, and export SVG cut panels with an assembly guide.
- Engraving guideCreate a flat contour map for laser engraving. Set contour density, add roads and water, and export a single SVG at your chosen physical size.
Customize
Choose map details, labels and line widths, and engrave your own markers and routes.
- Map details and lineworkChoose roads, trails, water fills and boundaries, place elevation labels and the north arrow, and set line widths for laser engraving.
- Custom markers and pathsEngrave your own summit markers, hiking routes and boundaries on a topographic map from latitude and longitude coordinates.
Lakes and depth
How TopoStack builds lake floors from surveys and terrain, and which lakes have surveyed data.
- How lake depths workLearn how TopoStack combines lake surveys, shoreline terrain and depth estimates, handles missing data, and turns lake floors into cut layers.
- Lake depth directorySearch TopoStack's lake-depth catalog by name, region or source. Find surveyed grids and depth contours, then open a lake in the studio.
Help
Fix blocked exports, understand warnings and find answers to common questions.
Reference
Every studio setting, what each export contains, data sources and credits, and how the site handles your projects.
- Settings referenceEvery TopoStack studio control with its range, default and output type, from vertical exaggeration and kerf to linework widths.
- Export filesWhat each TopoStack download contains: SVG panels, colors and operation groups, kerf compensation, assembly guide, project file and attribution.
- Sources and attributionExplore TopoStack’s terrain, map, lake-depth, artwork, and software sources, how they are used, and their credits and licenses.
- PrivacyHow TopoStack stores project settings, requests map data, and measures visits and successful exports.
Can’t find what you need? Use the feedback button below to ask a question or suggest a guide.