Hi,
Another update again. I've been exploring SketchUp quite heavily of late; in particular the terrain tools and various extensions. Even though this project's modules will be fairly flat, I'd wanted to see what can be done in SketchUp to help generate prototypical terrain based on real locations and providing a means of creating "contoured" terrain for the modeller to work from.
The caveat is that the GeoLocation feature is only available in the Pro version; earlier free versions of SketchUp did have this feature under Google. Also the other problem is the accuracy of the terrain data which I will touch on later.
I'll present a brief sequence of photos of how one can generate layout elements used with two free extensions by Fredo6 (available via
SketchUcation). A more detailed approach would have to be put in a separate topic.
Firstly a flat GeoLocation of the area was grabbed and formed into a terrain sheet;
Using Fredo6's JointPushPull Extension in the vertical direction I created a "skirt" for the terrain, this is required in order to use the next extension;
Next using Fredo6's Slicer extension we have two options for creating a workable model maker's terrain.
First is two slice the terrain into horizontal sheets for say Styrofoam sheets (I've set here a 3mm styrofoam sheet in real world scale from N i.e. 3*160=480mm). I also set an option to flatten the sheets with reference numbers.
The other method is to generate transverse members again slicing but with gaps to form the terrain (dimensional lumber of 25mm real world scale is 25*160=4000mm with gaps of 200mm real world scale 200*160=32,000mm).
From the flattened pieces generated from the above two methods one can export these as png or dxf files which can then be scaled down for printing (3d, laser cutting or ink print), or even with some file conversion to other CAD packages.
As can be seen in the transverse pieces two corners don't extend fully which may need editing.
To illustrate the problem of geographic data accuracy I dropped my 3D model of the warehouse on to the terrain sheet, and it can be seen closely that the terrain is a bit bumpy;
Higher resolution terrain is obtainable but at a price and can be imported into SketchUp via suitable Ruby scripts. I have found a place to purchase XYZ files (Cloud Point) for separate features i.e. terrain, buildings and roads in Austria; an option for very accurate modelling.
A final piece of advice if anyone does intend to use SketchUp for model making don't use model scale dimensions (SketchUp is not good at small values) work in real world scales and then for a final output i.e. 3D printing etc scale it down to your model scale.
Hope this was of interest.
Cheers