Using google maps 3d data in Enscape

Quote from renderwiz

Almost certainly isn't... clearly it has occurred to Google that their 3D dataset would be useful outside of their application. If Google wanted to provide this capability they would have. Sketchup would have been a logical connection but they chose to only allow for 2D import. More recently Google Studio has provided great access for this type of use case (via a different methodolody) Google again chose not to allow for export of the 3D data.

It is unlikely they will go after a user like Herbo. A software developer enabling this type of use to be scaled up might raise eyebrows.

Yes, you are probably right!

This is great. I really like it. Thanks for sharing with our community.

Thank you! Great method! I wanted to try those steps on the video for a while, glad you give it a hard try and compile this excellent tutorial; thank you, Herbo, for sharing it to the community; maybe added it to the tips and tricks post? Demian Gutberlet?

This opens a nice array of possibilities

Quote from Herbo

4. Getting the .obj into sketchup

Software used: Transmutr

This one is simple. Use Transmutr to open the OBJ and save it as a sketchup file. If you havent used Transmutr before, you have been missing out on an awesome program. It is basically a sketchup plugin, that allows you to import various 3d formats, and convert them to .skp’s with a lot of options, including automatic enscape material setup, enscape proxy generator, advanced poly reduction system and much more.

During this phase there is one more thing we can do to optimize our model (and its size!).... namely, the packed textures. These were probably saved as heavy PNG’s, and they take up a lot of video memory in Enscape. I therefore tend to edit my textures in photoshop, and save them as .jpg’s with a medium quality of around 7-8. This drastically reduced file sizes, and it is baraly noticably in the final model. Another trick is to add an “unsharpen mask” sharpener to the image. This inreases the crispness when viewed in enscape later on.

The good thing about changing the textures in Transmutr’s material editor instead of in sketchup, is simply that transmutr handles the heavy model much better, and it is therefore quicker and easier.

And now it is just a question of pressing “Transmute” and your brand new sketchup site model is complete J

5. Working with the model in Sketchup
Software used: Sketchup and Enscape

The generated model can be extremely heavy (above 1 GB is not uncommen for larger sets), and it is therefore almost impossible to work directly in the model. What I do to combat this, is utilize the “proxy” functionality of enscape, that allows you to place a linked model in sketchup. That way our heavy site model is only represented by a wire box, and it wont hamper performance.

To achieve this I open the heavy site model, I make a box in the shape of the plot my new building is located on. I then intercept that shape with the sitemodel, thereby generating lines that allow me to select the plot itself. I then make the plot a group, and the rest of the site model a component. It has to be a component, as this allows us to right click it, and select “save as external model for enscape”. This converts the component to a wireframe proxy, placed in the EXCACT location of the original model, thereby aligning perfectly with our plot.

We now have a light and nimble model to sketch in, and when we launch Enscape, our awesome new google maps surroundings are rendered beautifully.

And you can even (as i have done in the original movie) redo the whole proces for a way more zoomed out model that can surround the first detailed model, thereby extending the “draw distance”. This model can be lighter and simpler in geometry and textures, as it will never be seen up close.

I know this was a lot, but i really hope some of it makes sense. The whole process requires a lot of trial and error, but it can produce some truly awesome results. Let me know if you get stuck at any of the steps J maybe i’ve encountered the same issues, and have a work around, hehe.

And if you come up with further tips, please share as many as you can! I’m looking forward to seing some great site models, hehe.

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Hi Herbo,

Yesterday I've found, after your post, the video you also refer to;
I'm already stuck at 0:53 I don't get the tick box after selecting the zip file.
Even having the file not unzipped, when finding through Blender, It seems to be unzipped and I see this; utils.py/ rdutils.py/ properties.py/ prefenrences.py/ panels.py/ operators.py/ and so on. Any thoughts?

Wow amazing job!

I have a simple question, how do I cut the ''terrain'' at 1:01of your video when its in Sketchup? What plugin do I use to cut that part out.

Very cool, nice work Herbo! Extracting photogrammetry data from Google Earth has long been a wish of mine, and I'm glad to see there's finally a practical way to do it.

Has anyone else seen the new 3d Textured Mesh Cities option from Placemaker though? I believe they must be using a similar process to yours to get the GE data into Sketchup. The catch is you have to pay for it and it only appears to be available for North America and Australia at the moment. Given how involved the import process is though, I could see it being worth it for a lot of folks. They have a price estimator if you scroll to the bottom of their page, around $200/ sq. kilometer, which isn't bad unless you're trying to download a whole city...

https://www.suplacemaker.com/3d-mesh-cities/

Quote from TowerPower

I believe they must be using a similar process to yours to get the GE data into Sketchup

Not really, Placemaker doesn't use Google Earth's data. They use 2D and 3D data from Nearmap.

You have to pay because Nearmap provides a paid service, accessing their data is not free. And I guess Mind.Sight.Studio probably takes a small margin on top of it to cover their own costs as well.

Quote from jiminy-billy-bob

Not really, Placemaker doesn't use Google Earth's data. They use 2D and 3D data from Nearmap.

You have to pay because Nearmap provides a paid service, accessing their data is not free. And I guess Mind.Sight.Studio probably takes a small margin on top of it to cover their own costs as well.

Interesting, I guess I didn't realize the degree to which the two services are distinct from one another. This quote from their CEO seems to explain it well.

https://www.quora.com/How-is-n…-better-than-Google-Earth

Thanks for posting the PlaceMaker link. We have looked at NearMap but the base subscription is fairly costly. Seems odd that they would allow mind.sight to sell their data a la carte without the subscription.

Will be interesting to compare PlaceMaker with the Google Earth capture. From what I understand NearMap is updated more frequently and may have a higher resolution mesh (though it still looks fairly chunky.) For all the grief Apple got when they first released their "melting" 3D maps, they were kind of ahead of the curve on that. And the current Apple 3D data generally looks better than Google (or NearMap, from what I've seen.) I wonder if their underlying captures are available through anyone else.

Quote from rifkin

Thanks for posting the PlaceMaker link. We have looked at NearMap but the base subscription is fairly costly. Seems odd that they would allow mind.sight to sell their data a la carte without the subscription.

Will be interesting to compare PlaceMaker with the Google Earth capture. From what I understand NearMap is updated more frequently and may have a higher resolution mesh (though it still looks fairly chunky.) For all the grief Apple got when they first released their "melting" 3D maps, they were kind of ahead of the curve on that. And the current Apple 3D data generally looks better than Google (or NearMap, from what I've seen.) I wonder if their underlying captures are available through anyone else.

We at mind.sight.studios (PlaceMaker) have a contract with Nearmap that allows us to legally resell their 3D and 2D data to our PlaceMaker end users.

Unfortunately, the Nearmap 3D data is not on par yet with Google in terms of quality but it will continue to improve over time. It is still extremely useful for bird's eye views. We are also pursuing other sources to allow our users to access this type of textured 3D context legally (and provide coverage for more parts of the world). As has been said already, the process mentioned above to import Google's 3D data is not even close to legal.

I also wanted to mention that you don't need to purchase a subscription to PlaceMaker to access the Nearmap data. You can use the new Pay-As-You-Go system or even place an order directly from our website (without needing to even get a Pay-As-You-Go license first). That way, users of non-SketchUp applications can also make use of the data.

This posting should be copied on the tutorial.

Edit: in case it wasn't clear, I wasn't just making a complement to Herbo. I was requesting the Enscape team to actually copy the post to tips&tutorial forum. The tips tutorial forums don't have many useful postings, but I've seen really good and helpful postings on other forum sections, including this one.

I'm trying the methodology right now! Wish me luck.

I'm in the RenderDoc step; I will attach images if I was successful in my test.

I will comment on my hiccups and how to avoid them; this is an amazing method with great potential for context, aerial renders, I think any type of application for enscape or SketchUp can be improved with this method, I think you can extract other data from chrome not only google earth.

I'm happy

the first of many hiccups:

you will need this in order to make it:

• Windows: This add-on is not available on Linux nor MacOS for technical reasons.
• Blender 2.82 or above (2.91 recommended): https://www.blender.org/download/
• RenderDoc 1.10 (NOT 1.11): https://renderdoc.org/builds
• Chrome or Microsoft Edge () - current build for chrome is required also (had a lot of problems with this, also you will need to enable hardware acceleration - I hate the amounts of insane RAM that Chrome needs to function)

when you are capturing in the modified version of Chrome, you need to move the map ( I used google earth web as suggested by Herbo) and sometimes you need to move quicker or slower ( that happens with me a bunch of times).

For installing plugins in Blender is very simple check this video timeless

When you install the plugin you need to wait to appear on the list and check the box ( you can also search for it)

so going to use transmutr now!

Quote from arqcova

I'm trying the methodology right now! Wish me luck.

I'm in the RenderDoc step; I will attach images if I was successful in my test.

I will comment on my hiccups and how to avoid them; this is an amazing method with great potential for context, aerial renders, I think any type of application for enscape or SketchUp can be improved with this method, I think you can extract other data from chrome not only google earth.

I'm happy

Goodluck I'm stuck pretty much from in the beginning... see above. I hope you have more luck...

And now I'm 100% stuck in Transmutr...

trying to export a 117 MB obj from blender and leaving Transmutr working for several minutes, any estimate on the amount of time for this? and the size of the corresponding skp file?

Leaving the files here if someone can help me! good CPU and GPU maybe is the trick? the jpg texture is in the same folder

nevermind! it worked!

Thank you so much for this Herbo. I am just going through the process now. I wondered, how did you manage to cut the site area out of your model in sketchup @1.01 in your video?

I have a residential site area I would like to cut and replace certain buildings with but not sure how to do it!

Quote from Herbo

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the method.

The cutting of the terrain is actually very basic. I simply make a plane in the shape of my site (in 2d), extrude it to a tall "box" form, and then group it. now, simply place it over the imported context model in the exact location, and make sure it intercepts with the geometry. Now, choose "intercept with model", and the box should draw lines in the context model in the shape of the site. This should make it easy to delete anything on the site itself, leaving a precise cut-out in the context model. now you can replace it with whatever you want.

In the case of my video, i already had a 3d model of my site, with gradings and everything.

I hope that helps!

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Do you do this within Blender itself Herbo ?

Quote from Herbo

sorry, no, this is all done in sketchup, when the import process is all done

OK great thank you so much, will give it a go!