Can't get Drop ruby script to work AUUUGH

Quicknabel

Hi all, first time poster here. I'm having some serious difficulties with the Drop ruby script.

I have about 20 buildings that I'm trying to drop onto a Google Earth terrain model(within SU). The buildings will not drop into their correct elevations no matter what I do.

Here are my steps leading up to this point:

Created new, empty SU file...imported image of area I wanted from Google Earth into Sketchup.
Traced out building shapes on top of Google Earth image file.
Used push/pull tool to extrude buildings to their correct height.
Activated the Toggle Terrain option, which turned my flat image into 3D sloped image. Because the actual terrain IRL is a steep slope, half my buildings end up underneath the new terrain model.
Used Group/Component command to make buildings all one item, then used Move tool to move buildings straight up from original(correct) position on blue axis.
Right-clicked on building group to get Drop option...chose Drop at Intersection. Buildings immediately return to original position, but still in a flat plane.
Tried unlocking and exploding terrain model to make it a TIN, re-lifted buildings above model, then tried Drop command again. No luck.

What am I doing wrong? I would really like to make this work, as the terrain is quite varied and it will take me forever to tweak each building into it's correct elevation and position. Please help!

alpro

Thats the way drop.rb works, try these, I think they'll work better for your needs.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=24676&p=211661&hilit=mesh+sticker#p211661
SmartDrop

Quicknabel

@alpro said:

Thats the way drop.rb works, try these, I think they'll work better for your needs.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=24676&p=211661&hilit=mesh+sticker#p211661
SmartDrop

Thank you for that link, I appreciate it. However, I'm still confused as to why Drop doesn't work the way I've seen it before.

For instance, I've seen video demonstrations of (regular)Drop being used to drape trees and whatnot onto terrain, and it seems to work fine. The trees, originally in a flat plane, are dropped, and then match the terrain they were dropped on to.

I'm essentially doing the same thing...buildings are constructed on a flat plane, then dropped onto a terrain model. But in my case, the buildings don't drape onto the new terrain, they stay in the same flat plane and just move down. Why?

xrok1

sounds to me like your buildings are all 1 group or component. they need to each be seperate otherwise drop sees them as one big blob and drops as one chunk, as soon as they touch the highest point on your terrain they'll stop.

Chris Fullmer

Here's what drop does. IT takes the origina of a component and then finds the first geometry directly below that and then moves the component/group straight down to that point. So as was said before, each bldg will need to be its own group so that they drop independently of eachother. Another thing to know is that drop does not look to see wheather or not geometry is hidden or visible. So there is a chance that your buildings rae dropping straight down and hitting the flat Google Earth image first, even though it might not be visible. You can delete that flat image if you do not need it. Or you could redrop the components and they will drop down to the next thing they find, which should then be the non-flat google earth.

Hope that helps understand what is going better,

Chris

@rocky.....my little kids love to look at the avatars on the forum.....I'm gonna have to censor it now.

Quicknabel

@chris fullmer said:

Here's what drop does. IT takes the origina of a component and then finds the first geometry directly below that and then moves the component/group straight down to that point. So as was said before, each bldg will need to be its own group so that they drop independently of eachother. Another thing to know is that drop does not look to see wheather or not geometry is hidden or visible. So there is a chance that your buildings rae dropping straight down and hitting the flat Google Earth image first, even though it might not be visible. You can delete that flat image if you do not need it. Or you could redrop the components and they will drop down to the next thing they find, which should then be the non-flat google earth.

Hope that helps understand what is going better,

Chris

Chris, that was IMMENSELY helpful. As soon as I turned each bldg into a group, the drop worked perfectly.
Thank you so much.

Of course, now I have a new problem. There is a stream on-site as well...I have traced it out, and now have a flat image of the stream floating above the terrain model. I tried turning it into a group and dropping it, just as I had done with the buildings, but the stream won't drop. It's not that it won't drop correctly, it doesn't move at all.

Now, my buildings were relatively straight geometries...but the stream is much more curvy. Are the arcs and curves causing the problem? If so, how can I best drop/drape the stream onto the GE terrain model?

xrok1

i think you'll need to trace the shape onto your terrain then project the texture onto that part.

Chris Fullmer

I made a video to show how to do it. (No sound)

[flash=800,475:2bre8gtc]http://www.youtube.com/v/mIsaATIedtI&hd=1&fs=1[/flash:2bre8gtc]

Chris