[Plugin] KML Tools (2.0.0-beta) — updated 31.05.2013

Aerilius

is this working with SU version 8 on mac or is there another solution in the meantime?

Hi 3dworks,
It is not yet tested on mac, but it shouldn't contain anything specific that doesn't work on both platforms.

@3dworks said:

[...] the ability to batch capture a sequence of aligned terrains.

That's probably not in the scope of this plugin, but it's a question that many people ask. Technically it is not possible to do the batch part automatically (because one had to interfere with the Add location tool in a way that is impossible), but one could imagine a tool that helps to perfectly align the selection rectangle to the previous terrain.

ccreynol

It is hanging up on the "importing styles" when I try to import a Google Earth made .kml file, any thoughts? Your previous tool worked fine to import a simple ground tracing from a Google Earth .kmz file, is this new tool any improvement for this simple function? Thanks!

Aerilius

Hi,
the importing will probably be the problematic part of KML Tools because there is no simple and clean way in ruby to parse xml files and because kml files can occur in many different kinds.
If you open the ruby console before starting the import, can you send me the error message (first lines of the error)? Or you can pm me the kml file so that it's easier to find the cause of the problem.

If you refer to the KML linestring importer, this tool here is not limited to only "linestrings" but it's also ways more complex. So the simple tool is not a bad choice if it does the job sufficiently.

ccreynol

Why does this not work on international locations? My shapes are imported at strange sizes, occasionally with angles changed as well. Thoughts?

Gaieus

What do you mean by "internationallocations"? (Are there "nationallocations"? )

thomthom

I've been looking around at the various ruby based importers for SketchUp and I see that no one uses the Importer class. If this class is used the importer can be found in the native import list which would be very nice.
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/importer.html

Aerilius

@ccreynol said:

My shapes are imported at strange sizes, occasionally with angles changed as well. Thoughts?

If you can tell me more details and send me an example file that does not work as expected, I can have a look at it. SketchUp documents can only cover an area of some kilometers, so one shouldn't import too distant places, otherwise SketchUp behaves very weird (navigation won't work properly, clipping occurs and shapes can look strange).

Aerilius

@thomthom said:

Importer class

I had looked at it, but since no other plugin used it I had thought users would expect to find the importer in the Plugins menu. In general I like the idea of using existing standards, so I will add this in the next update. Especially that the Importer class also allows options dialogs ( Importer.do_options) sounds promissing.

thomthom

I think the reason why no-one else has used it is because it's simply over-looked. Which is a pity as it'd help clean up the menus and integrates the ruby importers with the native ones.

(I kind of spammed the forum of the importers I could find... .. in an attempt to bring focus to this unused class. )

Jim

But there isn't a corresponding exporter class. So if you did use the Importer class, the exporter would still need to go in the standard menus which would make the UI inconsistent.

thomthom

@jim said:

But there isn't a corresponding exporter class. So if you did use the Importer class, the exporter would still need to go in the standard menus which would make the UI inconsistent.

True, this would do well as a feature request.

lbatt3

I'm new to SU, and this is completely awesome, exactly what I've been looking for.

BUT, installed it, and it worked great once to bring in a KML line (GPS "track" from Garmin opened in Google Earth and saved as KML). Also brings in KML points (GPS waypoints) no problem. But then I go to download another line KML and no luck at all. I tried removing and re-downloading/unzipping, still no luck.

I'm on Windows XP using FireFox, if that matters.

Aerilius

Hi,
can you give me a link to that file?

A possibility is that the lines are in a "network link" in the KML file. Then Google Earth loads them from the internet (so the lines are not in the file). The importer plugin cannot download network links.

lbatt3

@aerilius said:

Hi,
can you give me a link to that file?

A possibility is that the lines are in a "network link" in the KML file. Then Google Earth loads them from the internet (so the lines are not in the file). The importer plugin cannot download network links.

Here is a link to one of the KML files I had trouble with:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11217841/Garden.kml

I did find a fix - tracing the track as a regular line in GE, then exporting. These imported just fine. So I guess it's the original track files from GPS that the plugin has trouble with. GE is loading them from the MapSource software I have which holds the Garmin/GPS data. Would they still be a network link? just odd that it worked for the first one, then not after that.

Thanks again for your time creating this plugin. Can't tell you how valuable it will be in creating site layouts (we do horse farm planning).

burgemj

@pixero said:

I have the same problem as lexmonteiro (above).
IE 8 Windows 7 64bit. SketchUp 8 Pro.

I also have the same problem as lexmonteiro with regards to the fetching elevation data and am running the same setup as Pixero. I believe lexmonteiro was running an older version of IE that solved his problem. Pixero and I are not, however. Has this issue been resolved and I'm just missing it somewhere?

asteinberger

I'm having an issue which I don't think anyone else has mentioned yet. I'm trying to import extruded building footprints into Sketchup. The terrain on which they are supposed to sit is quite hilly, and what I've noticed is that when the kml files are imported, they seem to pitch in such a way that they are perpendicular to whatever slope they sit on.

The kml files themselves look fine, it's when they get imported into sketchup that the problem occurs. Any ideas???

Source KML

Aerilius

I found the reason and solved it. There was something not clear in the kml documentation. While not-extruded polygons relative to ground follow the terrain, extruded polygons don't.

asteinberger

@aerilius said:

I found the reason and solved it. There was something not clear in the kml documentation. While not-extruded polygons relative to ground follow the terrain, extruded polygons don't.

awesome! works perfectly now! I owe you a beer.

huckrorick

Thanks. This is just the tool I've been looking for. I only used it once so far but it worked beautifully (well, actually when I used it without first importing the location (just imported the kml) it was kind of screwy, but when I imported the location first it worked perfectly.
One thing that I thought might be useful to people: I didn't unzip the kmz. From Google Earth I just saved the polygons etc as kml, then imported that with you plugin.

thanks again,

Huck

cyb

The import hangs when connecting to some website. Is it a neccessary process?
Could this part be eliminated?