importing google earth topo?

[Jay Foster]

After you have installed the extension. Use these commands:

importgeimage (type this in the autocad command line to import the Google Earth image into Autocad)

importgemesh (type this in the command line to import the mesh)


Download the Extension here:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/g...xtension_beta/

[Alain Blanchette]

Get some software that captures OpenGL from the display (sorry, I don't remember what it's called, but it only takes a bit of web searching). You run Google Earth, and the capture software, and hit a button on the capture software that copies the geometry from the OpenGL subsystem and dumps out something in a common format like OBJ. But what you get is at some weird microscopic scale with some inexplicable objects and the geometry isn't very clean, and they claim you get it textured but that doesn't work. Don't bother unless you've eliminated all your other options.

3d ripper DX, in cunjunction with Bing Maps or Google earth, grabs what is in the card, and does have a direct import in 3dsMax once installed.. a matter of seconds, and if you are in a dense urban zone ( in Bing Maps) it will get all the buildings mapped and everything.. A really well spent 2 minutes...
Simplest, fastest and more efficient solution.

[Scott Dombrowski]

I've used 3d ripper also. It works well with Bing Maps, though it seems Microsoft hasn't updated their Baltimore map in quite some time. They still have some large office/apartment buildings missing from the Harbor East area that were built a few years ago.

[Stephen Thomas]

Worth noting that the 3d ripper DX import plugin for 3ds max is only compatible with max v9 32-bit.

[Alain Blanchette]

Worth noting that the 3d ripper DX import plugin for 3ds max is only compatible with max v9 32-bit.

Compatible with 2009-2010-2011 - both 32 and 64 bits
And you can always use the obj export to have <universal> obj format

http://www.deep-shadows.com/hax/3DRipperDX.htm#Overview

[David Lam]

The google earth extension doesn't work in my computer (both AutoCAD Architecture 2010, 2011)
I can get the toolbar show up after the installation. You have to do the "appload" command to load the .cui file, but it doesn't recognize the .arx file. It's not recognized.

It simply fails to recognize the command after i click on any icons on the toolbar.

What's the trick to get this work? I've search almost every single source online and found no clues.