Chris MacDonald Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Hey guys, Working on a project at the moment where I could really do with having the LIDAR/3d scan data from Google earth in the background. I've tried using some (apparently) old software called 3D Ripper DX which just seems to crash google earth for me. I've browsed to forums a bit and many people have asked this, but the 3D ripper DX software appeared to be the choice in the past, but as I said; not working for me. Does anyone know how you can get hold of this 3D information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolai Bongard Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 This blogpost from Xoio may be relevant, allthough Google Earth is not the subject but rather something called Open Street Map (osm). http://xoio-air.de/2017/3d-cityscapes/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 Yeah, that's similar but nothing (free) seems to import the OSM data; I'm a bit reluctant to purchase a piece of software for what is likely a one-off job. Thank you for the help though. Ideally I want the photogrammetry data that you can see on google maps - 3d buildings, trees, terrain etc to save me having to remodel it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolai Bongard Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Another solution may be to experiment with a free photogrammetry software and feed it with lots of pictures from google earth, perhaps that will do? Just a though, not sure if it would work. If you do discover something that works, it would be nice if you share your findings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 This blogpost from Xoio may be relevant, allthough Google Earth is not the subject but rather something called Open Street Map (osm). http://xoio-air.de/2017/3d-cityscapes/ Without doing the hard work of actually reading the link, Open StreetMap, last I looked, was surface data. And the 'open' part means its not hard to get data. I think I did see some program to get the info, but would have to look for it again. Ideally I want the photogrammetry data that you can see on google maps - 3d buildings, trees, terrain etc to save me having to remodel it all. 3DripperDX used to work well on the defunct Mocrosoft version of GoogleEarth, which was in some ways better. That is because it was DirectX-based, while GE is OpenGL-based. I have tried a few other programs that are supposed to work on OGL and no luck. There was someone who made it all work and ripped a number of cities and was selling them online through a model site. I bought the NYC ones. They are out of date now, but still useful. They were land and buildings, seperated into zones or chinks, but not trees. Funny you should mention photogrammetry. I have used a photogrammetry program to get the topo/buildings/tree data of an area by outputting a series of views from Google Earth (desktop--the old 'Pro' version, now free) and outputting a model. The problems are that it takes time to do all that, and the result is a massive spiderweb, and the UV map is for the whole model and therefore almost impossible to edit. So it's a bit of work, but for a background you could just use it as-is. Some counties and states are publishing raw geo-referenced LIDAR, which also comes in as a mass of land, buildings and trees. Alternatively, there is always regular landform heightfield data (DEMs, now called something else but the same info) from the USGS (probably similar agencies in other countries for GIS data) which is good for hilly or mountainous. It can usually be found in 1meter and/or 10meter resolution. What city/area do you need? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyderSK Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I wanted to rip Grand Canyon last year which looks just amazing with their new tier of 3D models added in. But in vain, it was not doable at the time at all, all the older methods no longer applied. You won't find similar quality anywhere, it's not actually just geometry from heightfields like previously (this tier still exists and might be rippable), it has overhangs and just amazing stuff... Needless to say I was very unhappy and used heightfields from some Geo agency and mixed it in Worldmachine. Subbing in, perhaps there's a solution to it now :- ) But given it's Google, I highly doubt. The photogrammetry workaround is actually super smart, I am almost sure I've seen it in some tutorial too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolai Bongard Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I tried 3DF Zephyr, a free photogrammetry program that looked promising and fed it 44 pictures taken from google earth in the browser, and got this result. The geometry seems to be even more deformed than what appears in google earth, but at least it works. Would perhaps not use it for anything except background geometry in a scene. https://imgur.com/a/93imB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I tried 3DF Zephyr, a free photogrammetry program...and got this result... Yeah, that looks pretty good. I used RealityCapture, which is Euro 99 for three months. By using the old GoogleEarth desktop program, you can output images up to 4800 pixels wide, so lots of detail to work with--and no lens distortion since they are renders. And you output a LOT of images from GE. Don't forget about Apple Maps 3D, either. You can screencapture on an ipad and also have pretty high resolution to feed photogrammetry apps. It just feels wrong to build 3D from fake photos of 3D data that is ON your computer (has to be to use OGL). So close, but just out of reach... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Tomorrow I have to start a project on an area of lower Manhattan. I just looked at it in Google Earth, and then in Apple Maps on my ipad. The Apple 3D is much more recent, and somewhat better detailed than Google Earth. Neither is perfect, but one could still get a good start on a site or a good background as-is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbird Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Take a look at flux.io's Site Extractor app. It collates OpenStreetMap data with aerial photography to pull a good-enough-for-background context model directly into 3ds max, Sketchup, or Rhino in a handful of clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Luckett Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 hi macker, try this method.. pretty stratightforward. open google earth pro, find your site, has to have 3d buildings on obviously. Incrementally orbit/rotate around the site (shift + arrow key), save each screenshot, maybe about 30-40 rotates at most. Open recap, load the images, build the model, export it to 3dsmax, scale it up to your unit size and voila... simples good luck! cheers, j Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted October 11, 2017 Author Share Posted October 11, 2017 That's very good (and I will use that technique in future), though I'm not sure it'll work for the scale of things that I'm looking to achieve - a whole city and it's surrounding hills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Garrison Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Yeah in my case most of the time I'm trying to rip entire areas of a downtown. Anything small I just model myself. I've been searching for an easy way of doing this for years. I'm surprised things haven't really changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notamondayfan Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 I have spoken to, but never acutally used, these guys http://vertexmodelling.co.uk/products/3d-city-models/ If I remember, they can add detail, textures, etc too, for a fee of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 We've used them before Dean, by chance they happened to have already modelled the site we wanted. Alas, this project was too late in the day and being done as a bit of a "freebie" by the practice, so doubt they'd have wanted to shell out for such a model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyroebuck Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Hi Have you tried OSM2World ? It creates 3d models from openstreetmap. Not as accurate as google earth but may be good enough if you only need a block model... I did have some success in the past with 3D Ripper DX - but you need to use an old version of google earth. Newer versions of the google earth software seemed to block Ripper hope that helps :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Vella Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 Seen a thread on this the other day which may be of some use, similar to what Jon mentioned there is some tools to extract the openstreetmap data http://maxforums.org/threads/extract_size_images_diffuse_displace_earth_programs/0002.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now