Which version of google earth?
-
I am not sure if this post needs to be moved so if it does feel free to move it to a more appropriate section.
I am looking to possibly purchase google earth to be able to do better site plans for some builders and I have some questions to google earth users:
Which version do you currently use?
What are the differences between versions? (I have read the documentation but I wanted a users point of view).
Is it easy to use?
How hard is it to add buildings and move/scale them in GE?
Can other content (trees, cars, people, etc be added fairly easily?
How well does it go over with clients?
Is the cost to go to pro worth it for the ease of use?
Are there any other programs that are comparable for use?Thanks for you time and comments,
Scott -
Hi Scott6,
Well, for most of your question even the Free version is more than enough. Note that once exported to GE, you cannot move/scale anything there. You will need to position everything carefully in SU. Any other geometry (than buildings) can be exported from SU - it's just not encouraged by the SU/GE Team because it can slow down the performance. Clients may still like it.
I have never used the pro version so I cannot tell anything about that - neither about how clients like it (as I'm not an architect). Try the free versdion and see what you can achieve and later on you can decide whether you subscribe for the Pro or not if you find a feature you think you would need.
-
Scott, I've been working on a simulation for a project and since our work as to be defensible in court, we have to use the pro versions of all software. Having said that, I've had a heck of a time using sketchup to model a subdivision of homes and then importing it into Google Earth Pro. I even imported the site directly from Google Earth before I started the model. What I've found when I bring the model back into Google Earth is that the front half of the subdivision is buried below the terrain and you can't see it and the back half is floating approximately 12' off the ground. It's frustrating, to say the least, but I'm still trying to find a solution.
-
Now that You mention the different versions a while back I was working
on couple of projects where I needed one or the other pro versions they
offered. I believe the quality of the picture is beter among other things- better resolution. The payment wouldnt go through , I wrote a dozent e-mails
and nobody ever got back to me so finally I gave up.
- better resolution. The payment wouldnt go through , I wrote a dozent e-mails
-
by the way, bcoleman, you might see this post to help you with that terrain mismatch, its an import resolution issue:
-
I recommend against paying for the pro version of Google Earth- we purchased it for a masterplan project in our office and it did not deliver as expected. There were a LOT of problems trying to get high quality images to export out of it, and upon calling the service department, I was informed that they knew about the problems and were trying the fix it.. the problem is that the bugs in the program are exactly the features you need by buying the pro version!
Importing and exporting terrain was not different from the free version,
High res exports from google earth would either chop off parts of your model or chop off terrain that was above the horizon when your view angle was shallow,
let me know if you have any questions, because I thought for $400/yr it did not do anything it said it would well- Overall a very amateur product.
-
@bcoleman001 said:
What I've found when I bring the model back into Google Earth is that the front half of the subdivision is buried below the terrain and you can't see it and the back half is floating approximately 12' off the ground. It's frustrating, to say the least, but I'm still trying to find a solution.
Boyd,
You need to build a base with the Sandbox tools that reflects the ground directly under you model.This base sits on top of Terrain (I ususally try to get the edges of the base to be a little below the level of the terrain.) Then your model sits on top of the base. Since you build the base to fit the model, nothing floats or gets burried. You can use the color JPG download from GE of your scene to paint the base to match the surrounding Terrain.
Good luck,
Tom -
thanks for the input guys! I'll have to give them a try!
-
Thanks to everyone for their input. I think for the time being I am going to stick with the free version as I can not see the value of going to the pro version for what I am doing.
Scott
Advertisement