topic Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 16 (Mac) in Collaboration with other software

Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-only)

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:55:25 GMT

Dear Users,

The INT/US and GER versions of the Google Earth Connections tool for ArchiCAD 12 are available for download from the Graphisoft web site, with further localized versions coming in the next two weeks:

http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/solutions/google_earth_connection.html

Release notes:

· As the available public Google Warehouse API does not support the Macintosh platform we will not be able to release a Macintosh version of the Google Earth Connections tool for ArchiCAD 12.

· The ArchiCAD 12 version of the Google Earth Connections tool supports SketchUP file format up to v6. Please set this file format when downloading models from the Google Warehouse.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:00:54 GMT

Just curious (I'm a student) what will we be able to do with this?

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Erika Epstein — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:11:35 GMT

sharon wrote:
Just curious (I'm a student) what will we be able to do with this?

Follow the link provided.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:13:52 GMT

sharon wrote:
Just curious (I'm a student) what will we be able to do with this?

Um... did you read the entire page, and watch the videos, that you reached by following the link in the announcement? THAT is what you can do! 🙂

Cheers,
karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

graan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:03:14 GMT

why is the import in AC12 changed, now we have an object from Google Earth in AC11 it was a mesh, please bring back the mesh.....

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:09:49 GMT

graan wrote:
why is the import in AC12 changed, now we have an object from Google Earth in AC11 it was a mesh, please bring back the mesh.....

I have never seen a mesh come in from the Google Earth Connectivity add-on - only objects, either terrain as object, or Warehouse elements as objects.

The SketchUp Importer add-on (plug-in), a separate download, attempts to convert surfaces to ArchiCAD elements. Might you be confusing the two? (Or else I missed the mesh thing in 11)

Karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

graan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:47:46 GMT

I have been using the GE add-on ever since it was introduced. Always importing a mesh with terrainheights and a material on the top surface with a google earth snapshot on it. Works great, specially with mountains. Anyway it worked till AC12.
I checked it today on AC11, still works.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:30:20 GMT

graan wrote:
I have been using the GE add-on ever since it was introduced. Always importing a mesh with terrainheights and a material on the top surface with a google earth snapshot on it. Works great, specially with mountains. Anyway it worked till AC12.
I checked it today on AC11, still works.

I stand corrected. Just verified that the behavior has changed (since I'm on a Mac, I usually use SketchUp to get my terrain, so end up with an object anyway via that route).

I agree. The mesh in 11 is much more useful than the object in 12 - mesh points for snapping, can trim the mesh, add more contour data if it is available to get a smoother mesh where it might matter, etc. Odd that they changed it.

Karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:15:27 GMT

Between AC11 and 12 we have changed the terrain generation method because the mesh object doesn’t support any advanced texture mapping. In the case of a hilly terrain this drawback causes image distortion in 3D view. The object based terrain usage provides a more sophisticated mapping possibility >> in 3D the user can use exactly the same terrain texture as in Google Earth.
Our aim with the snapshot function was providing a temporary visual aid for the users with which they can position their 3D models in the virtual space of Google Earth. For this purpose the correct mapping is essential.
Using the Google Earth's terrain surface in ArchiCAD as a reference for the real building site is problematic. Because of the low terrain quality (accuracy) of the snapshot the object/mesh can’t substitute the on site geodesic measurement.

Karl wrote:
graan wrote:
I have been using the GE add-on ever since it was introduced. Always importing a mesh with terrainheights and a material on the top surface with a google earth snapshot on it. Works great, specially with mountains. Anyway it worked till AC12.
I checked it today on AC11, still works.

I stand corrected. Just verified that the behavior has changed (since I'm on a Mac, I usually use SketchUp to get my terrain, so end up with an object anyway via that route).

I agree. The mesh in 11 is much more useful than the object in 12 - mesh points for snapping, can trim the mesh, add more contour data if it is available to get a smoother mesh where it might matter, etc. Odd that they changed it.

Karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Erika Epstein — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:54:30 GMT

Peter,
To get around this I had tried importing the mesh created in 11 from GE into 12. I was surprised that this Mesh disappeared and it became became just the [GE-warped] drawing.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:36:23 GMT

Erika,

Please send me the plan file in a compressed file in a PM.

Thanks,
P.

Erika wrote:
Peter,
To get around this I had tried importing the mesh created in 11 from GE into 12. I was surprised that this Mesh disappeared and it became became just the [GE-warped] drawing.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

graan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:55:38 GMT

I save it as a module in AC11, and open the module in AC12, works great for me.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Erika Epstein — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:56:03 GMT

I just redid the exercise as I just clean installed AC. This time the mesh came in fine. The drawing was visible in plan but not the 3D window.
Files sent to Peter!
Thanks

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

graan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:05:09 GMT

for a good 3D you need to load the GEsnapshot used for the top surface material of the mesh in your librarie

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Erika Epstein — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:40:38 GMT

You are right, it should work that way. But it doesn't. Perhaps it's my local AC version.

Creating a mod file of it also has the same problem. The work around I've found is to bring the same GE site into AC12 then you see both the mesh and the site drwg.

Of course, this could all be operator(me) error

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Karl Ottenstein — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:22:45 GMT

PeterKis wrote:
...because the mesh object doesn’t support any advanced texture mapping. In the case of a hilly terrain this drawback causes image distortion in 3D view.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for posting! I wish that there had been the possibility to provide advanced texture mapping to the mesh object instead. This is the first time someone from GS has acknowledged this problem to me - which I reported years ago and experience on a regular basis, with no workaround.

For example, attached is an OpenGL view of a mesh that I created from surveyor data with an image applied to it. You'll notice crazy distortion of the image (should be trees and contour lines like elsewhere). Adjusting the mesh points - which makes the mesh inaccurate - can shrink these distortions but not eliminate them.

The LW render of the same thing gives a different, still wrong, results.

So, I understand the problem. But, it would be nice if either the base problem was solved, or perhaps the GE Connection add-on offered a choice of mesh or object so that we could choose the lesser of two evils depending on our intention. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Karl Ottenstein — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:24:45 GMT

Slightly off-topic, but here's the same terrain mesh rendered in LightWorks - different kind of distortion of the texture, but still not usable.

Thanks,
Karl

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

vistasp — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:01:17 GMT

Karl wrote:
But, it would be nice if either the base problem was solved, or perhaps the GE Connection add-on offered a choice of mesh or object so that we could choose the lesser of two evils depending on our intention. 😉

I'm pro-choice here. 😉

The work-around means I have to install AC-11 even though I skipped it and have no projects in that version.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

Erika Epstein — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:18:03 GMT

I think 10 was ok. I'd give it a try. Let us know if it works - or doesn't.

Re: Google Earth Connections Tool for ArchiCAD 12 (Windows-o

vistasp — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:02:41 GMT

Thanks Erika, I will. Had tried it when I was a complete newbie and had gotten v. frustrated then.