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    Modelling an Island using SubD & Vertex Tools?

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    • K Offline
      kaas
      last edited by

      Maybe Curviloft could be an option as well. Easy to transform contour lines to terrain, quads for uv mapping, easy to control complexity. It all depends on the typology of the terrain.

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      • thomthomT Offline
        thomthom
        last edited by

        Yea, there is also TopoShaper which might help: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=52039

        Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
        List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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        • S Offline
          skeerc
          last edited by

          I hope this photo reference for my query is helpful, the scale here is deceiving as this island has daily 7 metre high tides. The red shading indicates the survey detailed areas.


          Barnicoat-LOW-tideWW.jpg

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          • thomthomT Offline
            thomthom
            last edited by

            How will you present it? Close ups at your sites? Large overviews, birds eye perspectives? This comes down to level of detail in relationship to the camera you will be using for your presentation.

            Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
            List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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            • S Offline
              skeerc
              last edited by

              Mostly I'll be only dealing with the two surveyed areas in my presentations for the Concepts & later Construction drawings as per documentation Sets. This project is for an open ocean fish farming company & they have requested an overall view of the whole project in context. The close views will be isolated to Building perspectives, maybe some early sections & groups of buildings which would only hint at immediate surrounding terrain. Then also some large overviews, birds eye style perspectives as well. Do I need to use two different approaches to achieve the one out come?

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              • K Offline
                kaas
                last edited by

                I think I would start:

                1. making a low-poly version of the whole island (low poly = keeping SketchUp alive and work speed fast)
                2. setting up all my camera positions
                3. refine a few areas to high-poly versions for close ups (if needed) in the individual camera positions

                Start with massing everything and refine from there.

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                • thomthomT Offline
                  thomthom
                  last edited by

                  I second that.

                  Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                  List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                  • S Offline
                    skeerc
                    last edited by

                    Thanks for all the replies, maybe I was a bit naive with my initial approach & will now need to reconsider the process. Is there any recommended video tutorials that would help me get started with large area terrain modelling?

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                    • C Offline
                      cadmunkey
                      last edited by

                      Do you live locally to the island? A drone survey would make short work of that easily.

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                      • S Offline
                        skeerc
                        last edited by

                        Thanks yes I've just got onto that & have contacted a drone survey operator, it's quite amazing the amount of information that can be gathered from the drone.

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                        • jiminy-billy-bobJ Offline
                          jiminy-billy-bob
                          last edited by

                          You could model the island automatically with photogrammetry, using the pictures from the drone.

                          25% off Skatter for SketchUcation Premium Members

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                          • panixiaP Offline
                            panixia
                            last edited by

                            @skeerc said:

                            I've already created a detailed outline of the island using Google Earth in SKP. The Island is mostly quite rugged terrain overall. I'm fairly new to SubD/Vertex Tools & see the advantage of using the Quad mesh. Do you think SubD/Vertex Tools would work for this approach? I was going to break the Island up into large blocks (sections) to work on at first with maybe a grid format of 5000mm? to get started & then infill areas as required. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve

                            Sorry if i answer late (too late i suppose) i missed this post at all.
                            This can actually work. i'm pretty sure because i did a similar project and achieved a good result with the very same process you've described..
                            you can convert the low poly google earth mesh to quads, then detach some plate in the areas were you need more detail and use a mix of sub-d and vertex tools to add geometry and deform it as required..
                            you will get an heavy, but still workable model, if you manage it properly.. πŸ‘

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