Grayscale to 3D surface?

Hi

Anyone knows which software or add-in can convert Grayscale to a 3Dsurface base on the 8bit value of the pixels?

And how to convert grayscale image to a true color image with acolor map (like a rainbow color map)

I need those for data visualization purpose.

I know MasterCAM can do something of it, and Photoshop CS4 Extendedcan do it, please suggest something else... cheaper is better,

ThanksSolidworksGeneral