Ok - so I think I can deal with projecting parallel... although if there's a way of projecting from the point perspective, I'd love to find out about it...

Thanks also for the link to the rotated rectangle script... certainly useful.

Before I bog you down with more specific technical use questions, here's the broader one:

-> Can you, with your skill set, easily create a rectangle that precisely matches an arbitrarily given viewpoint, without having to move your vantage point from that view?

I'll admit that I have no clue as to what you meant when you said "Pull up the triangle and delete what you don't need, make it a group and you can move as you see fit." - so if you felt like elaborating, that'd be super rad- but even with the rotated rectangle script, I can make things generally on the right plane, but it involves orbiting around and moving it from other vantage points, vaguely guesstimating it, and then coming back around to the original viewpoint, and going back out to tweak it... certainly not practical for frequent manipulation.

Ideally I'd like to be able to make Sketchup temporarily "forget" that it is looking at a 3d scene, and just draw a rectangle flat on my screen, in whatever plane I happened to have oriented myself. But of course it keeps on trying to move into the depth of the scene, and put points on other objects in the background. (Very useful behavior in general, just not right here...)

Just you have a general idea why I'm asking, if you're at all curious... I'm a finalist for a mural commission that would span a few buildings in a tricky architectural space... and I'm a photographer, so most of my background is in straight 2d imaging and most of my images are displayed online, in print, or framed on a wall. I used sketchup for modeling another public art project that I was also a finalist for last year (but didn't get) - but for that one, everything was pretty straight images on the walls... where here I'm trying to do this playing with perspective stuff... ( Long story short, my expertise is in photo, not modeling, so if you ever have any random photo questions and I can return the advice favors, you can find me at http://www.jjtiziou.net )

Thanks again!
-jj

Hmm- so I think I'm getting the hang of how it works- But I don't think that it's working quite like a movie projector... It looks like the image is being projected in parallel rather than perspective, right?

I think I can manage that- but here's an interface question: is there an easy way to align the axes not with an existing face, but rather with the current screen position? Ideally, I'd like to be able to construct a rather elaborate model, and then navigate the space with the look around tool, and place the projections from there. But right now, I'm having trouble just creating that first plane that would be at arbitrary angles to the rest of my model, but perfectly parallel to my chosen viewpoint... Is there an easy trick for this?

Again, many thanks for your time and assistance..
-jj

@unknownuser said:

Try looking over this model, you may get some ideas.

Hi again Patrick, and right on.

So yes, that's kind of what I'm getting at.

Here's a question though:
In the example that you gave, the optimum viewing perspective is from far back, outside of the room/space. How would you do this if you wanted the image to line up from a viewing point within the room itself?

Here's an example using the same space and texture - but trying to create that image from a specific vantage point within the surrounding:

(Mind you, I made this in photoshop, not Sketchup...)

again, thanks - and Gaieus, I've upgraded to v 7 - thanks for the reminder, and the tutorial!

Hi there Patrick and Csaba- thanks for the responses!

So this seems like a good start... but I have a few more questions for you, some of which are just my lack of comfort with the interface.

First of all-> Any suggestions for placing the image? I find that when I import the file, it tends to want to snap to one of the axes, or to the surface of one of the shapes. I'm not very comfortable with the tools to rotate that image around... Ideally I'd like to be able to go to my chosen viewpoint (down, low at eye level relative to the building) and then import the image, flat relative to the screen and that perspective... does that make sense?

Once I get the image in there where I want it, the next question is with capturing the individual pieces... because my goal here isn't the 3d model... it's just the tool to get to an actual installation in the physical world. So I need to then actually generate images of the individual facets so as to print them out and install them on the building. Any suggestions for that?

Again, many thanks for your time!
-jj

Dear kind folks,

Greetings! I've only worked with SketchUp once for a project a year ago, but found that it was quite brilliant and intuitive. Now I've got a bit of a trickier need, and I'm wondering if someone out there can point me in the right direction.

I'm trying to figure out how to project some 2d photographic imagery onto the 3d model, but not just in the regular flat matching sort of way. The goal is to fragment and distort the image so that it only looks right from one particular vantage point, as if it had been projected onto the architecture from that exact spot.

For an example of what I'm talking about, see these architectural art installations:
http://www.2loop.com/3drooms.html
(I've forgotten the artist's name, but saw this piece with the blue rings while traveling:
http://www.2loop.com/3doutdoor.html
The effect of walking into the space was quite striking-> you rounded a corner and saw the image perfectly aligned, and then as you moved into the space it all disintegrated.

At any rate, this artist was working with an overhead projector and some paint, but my goal is to make some photo murals. So ideally I'd like to be able to pick a 2d image and designate a viewing point, and from that, be able to output a series of distorted image fragments that, when put up on the wall in the architectural space, would recombine to create the image from the proper vantage point.

Any suggestions would be muchly appreciated. Thank you!

-jj