importing google earth topo?

[huntch3]

Hi

I was wondering if it is possible to import sections of google earth topo into 3ds max?....maybe even google ocean topo aswell? If anyone knows how to do this, let me know...thanks!

[aaron-cds]

If you have Google Sketchup Pro you can import terrain from Google Earth then export it as a 3ds file. You could also go to www.maps.google.com and hit the terrain button to get a topo as a base to model from.

[BrianKitts]

we use the Google Earth Extension for autocad.

 

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/google_earth_extension_beta/

 

Once setup, all you have to do is navigate to the terrain you want to capture in GE. Switch over to autocad and click the import button. It will pull all the terrain and the texture map for the terrain perfectly mapped on the mesh into autocad. Then you just export that as a dwg, and you can pull it right into 3dsmax.

 

If you have a google earth pro license it will allow you to pull a nice large full color texture map for the terrain. Otherwise it comes in black and white.

[kwdevine]

"Once setup, all you have to do is navigate to the terrain you want to capture in GE. Switch over to autocad and click the import button. It will pull all the terrain and the texture map for the terrain perfectly mapped on the mesh into autocad. Then you just export that as a dwg, and you can pull it right into 3dsmax."

 

 

Brian, thanks for this. I am having trouble, however. Once in AutoCad, I click the import button and am prompted to select the file I would like to import. In Google Earth, I don't see any option to save the topography I am viewing. Am I missing a step?

 

Thanks,

Kerry

[AJLynn]

That's fantastic - I remember having to import 3D from Google by running an OpenGL capture

[kwdevine]

AJLynn,

 

Were you able to do this successfully? I am not seeing how I can import directly from Google Earth to AutoCAD even after the extension download. I simply have both programs open, but am I suppose to save my view somehow in Google Earth?

 

Thanks

[AJLynn]

I managed it but it was a monumental pain in the ass.

[kwdevine]

Any chance you can share the general idea??

[AJLynn]

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.

[kwdevine]

Ok, thank you. Then what is the purpose of the Google Earth Extension? I thought this was it's role...

[jsf]

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/google_earth_extension_beta/

[Thablanch]

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.

[Thablanch]

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 obj format

 

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

[diesellam]

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.