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    Modelling an Island using SubD & Vertex Tools?

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    • Rich O BrienR Offline
      Rich O Brien Moderator
      last edited by

      As Thom says, without some image to describe the scenario, it's hard to advise.

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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.

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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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