Can you match the view of an actual photograph?

valkama

Hello. New poster but long time Sketchup user. In 3D studio and FormZ i am able to match the view to an actual photograph. I have not had luck with this in sketchup. I tried using the matched photo feature but it does not seem to work when i have the geometry all ready created? I am export my renderings to maxwell and it would be nice to have the view setup prior to exporting.

Thanks for your help.

Jason

Chris Fullmer

Try just setting up the background image as a watermark in SketchUp. That can be found in the Styles dialog box. Go to the edit tab, then choose the watermark settings and click on the plus sign to add a watermark. you can choose to add your photo as a background or overlay. choosee whichever you would like, probably the background I would guess. Then manipulate your model to line up to the image. Hope that works,

Chris.

Here's a link where this was discussed recently. It might or might not help,

http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=12003

pmiller

Here's the text that describes the procedure in PhotoMatch:

Matching an Existing 3D Model to a Photo's Context
Use Photo Match to match an existing 3D model to a photo's context. To match an existing 3D model to a photo's context:

Take a digital picture of the location where you will place your building. This photo might or might not have an existing building where the model will be located.
Select the Open menu item from the File menu. The Open dialog box appears.
Navigate to your model.
Select the model.
Click Open. The model appears in the drawing area.
Select the Match New Photo menu item from the Camera menu.
Navigate to the photo where you want to place your building or structure.
Click on the photo. The photo is selected.
Click Open. The photo will appear in the drawing area on its own scene in SketchUp. You are also placed in a Photo Match session where you will calibrate SketchUp's camera to duplicate the position and focal length of the camera used to take the photo . The words "Photo Match" appear in the upper-left of the drawing area. Finally, the Match Photo dialog box appears. Refer to Photo Match Session Controls and Context-Menu Items for further information.
Click and hold the cursor on the origin. The cursor changes to a hand.
Move the cursor to a distinct origin-like point on photo (where three axes might intersect, such as bottom corner of building).
Release the mouse button. The origin is established.
Uncheck the Model checkbox in the Match Photo dialog box. The model will be hidden.
Click on an red axis bar grip (). The cursor changes to a hand.
Move the cursor to the starting point of a position on the photo representing a line parallel to the red axis.
Release the mouse button.
Click on the other red axis bar grip (). The cursor changes to a hand.
Move the cursor to the ending point of a position on the photo representing a line parallel to the red axis.
Release the mouse button. The first axis bar is aligned to the red axis.
Repeat steps 9 through 14 for the remaining three (one red and two green) axis bars.
Check the Model checkbox in the Match Photo dialog box. The model will reappear, oriented correctly to the photo (but likely not-to-scale with the photo).
Click and hold on any of the axes. The cursor will change to two opposing arrows ( ).
Move the cursor up or down the axis to scale your model. Your model will scale to fit the photo.
(optional) If your photo contains an existing building that is now represented by your model, click the Project textures from photo button in the Match Photo dialog box to project.
Context-click to invoke the Photo Match session context-menu.
Select Done. You are placed in a sketch-over-image session. This mode, unlike normal SketchUp drawing mode, is a 2D drawing mode. The words "Sketch Over" appear in the upper-left of the drawing area. See Sketch-Over-Image Session Controls and Context-Menu Items for further information.
Caution - Tools that manipulate your point of view force you out of a Sketch-Over-Image session into normal SketchUp drawing mode. These POV tools are the Orbit Tool, Position Camera Tool, Walk Tool, and Look Around Tool.

Note: Make sure that the model axes correspond to those of the photomatch before you import the model (rotate the model before you import, if necessary).

Anssi

Note that a photo used for PhotoMatch should not be manipulated, especially by cropping. The optical centerpoint should be located at the exact center of the photo for the feature to work, and that often gets distorted if the photo is cropped or perspective-corrected.

Anssi

sorgesu

boy oh boy, what a complicated set of instructions. Assuming that you follow Anssi's advice and you do know how to "Photo Match" a photo, all you need to do is "IMPORT" in an existing model and place it in front of the photo or on the grass or ground on the photo and it will be in the correct perspective because at that point the world axis has been set according to the perspective in the photo.

Nothing fancy once the photo match is done so long as you remember to "import" in your SketchUp Model.

DavidBoulder

26 steps does seem like a lot, and the note at the bottom really needs to be the first thing, and also really isn't accurate; no reason to move or rotate your model, that can create all kinds of headaches with other scenes you have or if used as a component elsewhere, not to mention shadows).

Here is my short version:
step 1: set the origin in your model at the same point that you plan to use as the origin in the photo. Blue will be up, but make a note of which axis is red and which is green (although you can fix this later if you get it wrong).
step 2: setup MatchPhoto scene like you always do.
step 3: one extra calibration setup is to adjust the scale to match your pre-existing model. I like to have the model transparent to do this.

Notes
1: (watermark note) if your background photo doesn't have any good reference geometry for MatchPhoto then watermark is a good option. Something to be careful about with watermarks (when stretched to fill window) is that you want to keep the aspect ratio of the source image more narrow than what you will ever use for your SketchUp window or exported image. The watermark will keep aspect ratio and scale based on sides or top and bottom (whichever it is snapped to based on aspect ratio). The model however will only scale based on the vertical size of your window. This means if you don't see your a gutter at the sides then your model will move in relation to your watermark. I have attached a quick demo of this. When you have gutter on sides circle fits in square, when you have gutter on top and bottom edge the the circle (which is modeled object) get bigger relative to the blue square on white background (which is jpg screen capture)

2: (my cool post on how to un-crop a photo even if you don't know how it was cropped) I thought this was cool, but didn't get much interest. I'm hoping SU programers are adding this ability to SU7 as we speak
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10895

watermarkdemo.skp

valkama

Thanks everyone for your comments. I will try them and see if I can get it to work.

Joshpatheal

Here is a great video by Mason Thrall at the 3D basecamp 2008

http://sites.google.com/site/3dbasecamp2008/all-sessions-2008/sketchup-and-digital-photography

he talks about the kind of photos that work with the "Match photo" tool in sketchup. You cant use it on every photo and you need to watch out for image distortion if your worried about accuracy.

Google posted all of the videos from the 3D basecamp and they are all quite use full. You can find the entire list here:

http://sites.google.com/site/3dbasecamp2008/

DavidBoulder

Image distortion exist to varying degrees in most photos. If you don't need to be accurate may not be issue, but if you do need to be accurate, doesn't mean you can't use that photo, just have to correct or minimize the distortion in third party app like Photoshop ahead of time. There are a number of plugins that read exif data and reference camera databases to help automate the process. I expect in a year or two typical workflow will either adjust in camera, or there will be good workflows to tag correction settings to photo when its brought into computer (mostly missing right now in Aperture and LIghtroom)

valkama

Thanks model head. Yes, i have that part down, saving the view in Sketchup and exporting to maxwell to rendering. My trouble is setting up the view in the first place in Sketchup so it will match the same view in an existing photograph. Some of the other posters have giving suggestions how to do this and i am trying those now.

Thank you for your time.

Jason

lapx

Is it possible to photomatch a one point interior perspective?

valkama

Chris. Using the watermark feature is great. Worked perfect!

Thanks

Jason