Walkthrough of models
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I'm looking to use SketchUp to create walkthrough models of some of our industrial facilities. Is this possible?
I saw on the Official Google SketchUP Blog, in the Michelle Kaufman Designs video that they allow their clients to download a model of a home that they create. Then the client downloads that model to their Google Earth and then this allows them to do an actual 3D walkthrough of the home? Is this accurate?
Many thanks for your patience.
Kevin
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I'd say yes and no.
Starting w/ the Google Earth part, last I heard it takes quite awhile, once you submit a model to Google earth for it to actually be reviewed and accepted and placed into the program. I believe there are also very restrictive requirements to how much geometry a model can have (they like boxes w/ textures painted on). That may be old info so if anyone else can jump in please do.
That said, it should be able to do what you want it to w/o google earth. There are 2 methods I've used w/ success.
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create a model and use SU to create an .avi animation. Advantage is that the client doesn't need to download anything. They just open the file and the movie plays. Disadvantages; animations can take 4-8 hours easy to render & client can't manipulate the model.
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Just send them the model and let them play with it. Advantage is that they can orbit and rotate and zoom however they want. Disadvantages; they have to download google sketchup (but, hey, it's free!) also they'res a bit of a learning curve to be able to orbit and zoom and pan (not much though, even for those who aren't real computer literate from my experience).
If you want more specifics feel free to ask.
-Brodie
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Thanks Brodie, I appreciate it.
Can you show me some samples of some of the stuff you have done? Typically how long does it take for Google to accept submissions to Google Earth? Because our company has so many facilities throughout North America, I'm thinking submission to Google Earth would be ideal. Something "permanent" on the web - know what I mean? Would they be able to navigate through the model while on Google Earth?
The other option whereby they open up an item in sketchbook - sounds really slick, but I'd just as soon as not have to have them learn sketchup in order to walk through the rendering, though I suppose the same would be true if they walked through it via Google Earth. Is one method of walkthrough easier than the other?
Many thanks -
Kevin -
When you say walkthrough, I'm getting the impression you're talking about wanting them to be able to both look at and orbit around the exterior as well as be able to "walkthrough" the interior as well?
Google earth models will not have any interior geometry. I'd suggest zooming around chicago on google earth and pick a building to test out. My guess is that it won't be to the level of detail you'd want to show a client, the site is just a flat image, and it's not really intended to zoom around a single building. Also note that either way the client will have to download a program (Google Earth or Google Sketchup) and learn to navigate around.
As for time schedules on getting stuff into GE, I heard someone talking about waiting 9 months for GE to process the model before rejecting it on account of there being too much geometry. That said, I think that was some time ago and I've heard they were trying to improve so maybe today it's much speedier.
If you want someone to be able to walk around the outside and through the front door look around the living room and then maybe walk upstairs to the bedroom, that's pretty tricky w/ SU (it's pretty tricky w/ all programs really but SU has some unique issues). I'll get in to those if you want, but I should probably ask first if that's what you're looking to do. Also if you could describe the type of building that may be helpful too. Is this a big church, a residence, hotel, etc.?
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Oh ya, if you want to PM me your email address I'll see if I can send you a couple examples.
-Brodie
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Brodie -
I work for an industrial cleanup/recycling company. So the facilities will be industrial in nature. Most of the "touring" will occur outside of the building, but what if we wanted them to walk into a particular room? Could they for example, walk in door A - walk past some furniture - then out door B and into another room?
I have fiddled around with Second Life and am less than pleased with the attention to detail when compared to objects created by SketchUP. I'm also not to happy with some of the crowds that SL tends to draw either (yes, I know there are private areas with blocked access - but I'd just as soon as not ask learners to have to figure out how to use SL in order to tour a building). Not only that, but I don't want them to have to wade through some of the "mature" content in SL in order to get to where I want them to go.
Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Kevin
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Glad to help.
My only experience w/ SL is from the Office where Dwight created a Second Second Life. However, I'd simply say that if you aren't satisfied w/ that level of detail you probably won't be satisfied with Google Earth. The GE models tend to be very simplified SU models. If you do a SU model GE might be a good secondary way of looking at it but probably not a primary way, especially since you can't do interiors.
Here's 1 of the main issues w/ going from Ext. to Interior. Usually you use a narrower field of view for Ext. (about 35 degrees) but for interiors you use something more like 60 degrees to allow you to see more of the room. If you use 35 deg for both you won't see much interior and you'll get massive clipping issues. Use 60 deg for Exterior and it'll look really distorted. All that means is that if someone just wants to zoom around and then zoom in, it might cause issues for an inexperienced user.
Another issues is that SU doesn't really do animation. So if you want to walk up to the door, have it open, and walk through, you can't. So you either walk through a closed door or you have all doors open (or just don't have doors at all, only doorway openings).
Here's what I would probably do. I'd do a SU model w/ a simple walkaround and walkthrough animation, nothing fancy and you can do it right in SU. I'd send them that along w/ a slightly customized SU file. It would have the exact same model but I'd create different Scenes (not sure if you're familiar w/ SU scenes but basically they're just different camera settings).
I'd have a scene called exterior w/ would zoom to the exterior of the building and change the field of view to 35 so they could then zoom and orbit around as they please. I'd have another called Interior which would zoom to some interior room and change the FOV to 60 degrees so they could zoom around the interior. I'd probably put in another scene w/ the roof layer turned off so they could get a broader view of how the layout worked from exterior to interior. Then I'd probably add in maybe 6 other predetermined views, so if they got stuck or couldn't figure out the zoom/orbit/pan they could at least click those scene tabs and get around to different parts of the building.
If you youtube sketchup animation you'll probably get some decent ideas of what to expect. I recall one very decent example of a church that really seemed to portray the idea well. Maybe go to youtube and search "sketchup church animation" I'll look for it later and post a link if I find it.
-Brodie
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I was really impressed with the architectural design firm's sample that they did a video for using SketchUP. It showed first person view of someone walking through a room which was pretty cool.
As far as the level of detail? I'm more worried about the level of detail in the building in question, not so much the surrounding elements (ex: all other structures besides our model facility). In SL all the PRIMS just look so jagged, you know? All of the walls seemed so "thin" - as if they were made of paper whereas I look at the models created with sketchUP and everything seems relative to its surroundings in terms of scope.
That make sense?
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Hi Kevin,Hi Brodie,
The problem with GE is not necessarily that it takes ages until they upload your stuff to the 3D layer since you can always provide a link either in the WareHouse of hosted elsewhere (that said,it can be as complex as you want).
The main problem is that if it is really complex,it will be very hard to naigate even if one downloads it.
Another problem might be that it is rather hard to "fine navigate"in GE and you can easily find yourself stuck between walls or miles away. You cannot "enter" a building because when you are too close,it will simply clip off and you won't be able to stay within walls.It is more for some kind of "flythrough" rather than "walkthrough".
There are much more proper ways for a commercial company to present their ideas. Have a look at the different demos at WireFuion's website here:
http://www.demicron.com/gallery/ -
Thanks Gaieus for the GE info. Good to know.
Stagg, that makes sense to me. Could you provide the website you're referring to? I'd like to see that sample. I guess I'm still not clear on the use. You are the facility, and you're thinking about sending this rendering job to an arch. firm (or are you doing this yourself?), then who will be the "clients"?
As far as detail, it shouldn't take a great deal of skill to achieve the level of detail I think you want. SU can make really complex models if you have lots of skill and time so I don't think the program should hinder you in that regard. It won't be Photorealistic w/o using some other programs, but it doesn't sound like you really need that. You can represent a building very well w/o having to make it photorealistic.
-Brodie
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Sure Brodie:
http://sketchup.google.com/green/mkd.html
The first video there on the page is 2:52 minutes long. Watch that video, especially from 2:13 thru 2:19 where it shows one navigating through their home.I would be doing this mockup myself and am comfortable with web design software, but have never done anything remotely like SketchUP and its CAD-like feel, so this will be new to me. I am sure I can "pick it up" however. I am a trainer in our corporation (which deals with handling of industrial wastes, recyclable material, etc..). The customers would actually be our own employees as they would take this as a training element. Perhaps we were to talk about our recycling efforts and we would want to show them the inner workings of one of our recycling centers? So we could show the trucks dropping off the materials at the warehouse bays, and then to where the material is cleaned, sorted, etc....
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Gaieus and Brodie - thank you so much for all this information. It is proving itself invaluable. It is really helping me get a better grip on what I need to concentrate on and how I would tackle this task.
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Gotcha. Yeah, I've seen another video I think of the same Architect, very interesting. I think you're on the right track w/ what you're doing and looking at.
Here's the video I referred to above. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPh7pj3onqk It's not the best example but it conveys the point pretty well w/o having to know to many fancy SU tricks.
If you're primarily looking at this as a training tool for staff on hand then I actually quite like the method that was used in the video you mentioned. She sort of walked you through the kitchen area and towards the living room. You could imagine her doing this w/ a client and explaining various features as she walked them through as a real estate agent might walk buyers through a house. So maybe something like that could work for you, or if it isn't all in-house perhaps doing an animation of the same thing while recording a voice-over and then joining the two together. I guess there's all sorts of ways to do what you're wanting is the point.
But I think the basic answer to your question seems to be, yes. I think SU is probably the tool you're looking for. It'll get you quick results w/o much of a learning curve and you shouldn't hit a dead end where you get a model finally done and then find out you can't use it. Once you've got the model you can show it directly, animate it, put in on Google Earth, put it into the 3D warehouse, make 2d images of it to print out, etc. Any other 3d program is either going to be too limited (SL or buying some $20 architecture visualization software from Best Buy) or too time consuming (learning Rhrino, Viz, or many of the other 3D modelers takes quite a long time).
To get started, I recommend what I did. I just sat down and watched some of the SU training videos (you can find them on youtube or under the help menu in SU I think) for a couple hours. You could just sit down and start into SU and teach yourself but I think eventually you'll watch some videos and kick yourself for doing things the hard way or finding things you didn't think you could do which are actually quite simple.
I also highly recommend the videos at http://www.go-2-school.com/podcasts which I just found awhile back. There very helpful and actually quite entertaining in their own right.
Good luck, feel free to keep asking questions as they come up.
-Brodie
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Again, good to hear I'm on the right track. Thanks for the tips and when I get to a point where I can show you something, I'll put something on my server for you to look at.
Many thanks -
Kevin
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Look forward to seeing it.
-Brodie
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Hi folks I've been seaching all over for Michelle Kaufman house models, nada anywhere not even on her web site. Ive been trying to follow the tutorial on youtube, u know sketchup show. Is it wrong to ask anybody if they have copies of her models to share.
Dave -
what about walkabout3D http://www.walkabout3d.com/
it let's you create a walkthrough of your model that clients can interact with for about a hundred bucks. try the demo!
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What I am anout to suggest may not be the simplest road to follow, BUT it will give you the best interaction possibilities for your clients.
Once you are done modeling with sketchup, import the model in Blender. If do a search for game blender you can then implement a first person moving camera in the model. Once texturing and lighting is done (although I have no idea if texturing passes correctly from one program to the other), you choose your first viewing angle, then save an exe file that works exaclty as a first person shooter videogame. Except from the part with guns and monsters/zombies
give it a try it's easier than it sounds!
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