Any Matterport users?


VisualDandD
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I am ordering a Matterport camera and wondering if any Chiefers use it and if so, how?   I am getting for a totally unrelated reason, but any integration into chief would be cool.   I know (if I figured out a good way) it can really speed up the process of 'as built' drawings. 

 

You can get a 3d OBJ file from the scans which I have played with.   But I am not sure the best way to translate this into say a floor plan in Chief?    If there are any users out there, I would love to hear what you are using it for.


Thanks!

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Ordered my Matterport today!    As I mentioned, it is really for something unrelated to my design work, but I will play to see if I can extract value from it as well on that front.

 

Matterport will do PDF floor plan (accurate to greater than 1% for only $15 +/- from a scan).  But I can also get the actual OBJ file it creates from the scan,


Anyone know a good way to go from OBJ to something 2d suitable for transfer into chief?

 

I have a OBJ extension for Sketchup, but it is hard to see how I could use it.  (other than maybe using a crosssection plane or something and then tracing?)

 

 

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51 minutes ago, mattyt12 said:

you could import into chief as a symbol, rotate the model on the x-axis in the symbol spec. dialogue so you can cut a section through it which gives you a plan view then cad detail from view. 

 

You can also simply take an Orthographic Overview>View Direction>Top View, use Delete Surface as necessary>CAD Detail From View>Cut/Paste Hold Position>trace.

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55 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

 

You can also simply take an Orthographic Overview>View Direction>Top View, use Delete Surface as necessary>CAD Detail From View>Cut/Paste Hold Position>trace.

I did think about this way as another solution which adds value to be able to use the imported model correctly oriented if required. I also thought you control the height of the plan view camera but that may be a throwback to revit many a year ago.

 

I just figured rotating the symbol was the easiest as youre in the dialogue to import anyway, plus adjusting the cut plane is simple by moving the camera in plan view.

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10 minutes ago, mattyt12 said:

I just figured rotating the symbol was the easiest as youre in the dialogue to import anyway, plus adjusting the cut plane is simple by moving the camera in plan view.

 

Ya.  It definitely has it's benefits.  Just throwing another option out there is all.

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Great dialogue.   I am experimenting around with some of the sample files they sent me.   

 

I imported a very large OBJ file they sent me as an example,   one issue is associating all the textures (which are the actual pictures of the structure.


I can go into plan materials and directly replace them one by one with the assoc pic.  (But there are 60+ pics in this file).

 

I am not sure if there were an easier way....but I was thinking if I could go into where Chief stores plan textures, I could just cut the ones chief stored for those materials (which are blank but have the correct file names associated with the model) and paste in the actual images.  Re-launch and see if the model loads fully textured!

 

Anyone know where chief store custom textures or have a better way?

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19 minutes ago, Chopsaw said:

Might be possible to convert the .obj to .dae somehow which seems to function fine if all the materials are in the same folder.

 

 

Man....I got so excited when I saw this idea.   Did not work.   When I go to export the OBJ file from Chief, it drops any of the materials that dont have associated texture files with them..... So the link between that section of the model and material is gone.


 

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I called chief support....they did not seem very interested in thinking outside the box to help.   Hmmmm Chief user 20+ years.   Current SSA holder consistently for the past 10.  


Totaly calls EVER to tech support.....3.


Na.....we only answer questions on how to use chief.....

 

Well, that is exactly what I am trying to do!

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2 minutes ago, VisualDandD said:

Man....I got so excited when I saw this idea.   Did not work.   When I go to export the OBJ file from Chief, it drops any of the materials that dont have associated texture files with them..... So the link between that section of the model and material is gone.

 

Yes I was not suggesting that it could be all accomplished within Chief.  You may need to look elsewhere to convert.

 

1 minute ago, VisualDandD said:

I called chief support....they did not seem very interested in thinking outside the box to help.

 

Yes  I asked about .dae export from chief one time and they sent me here so I know the feeling.

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If I only could figure out where Chief stores it's data for textures in the root directory structure.   I remember one time I found it when I was looking for an easy way to create normal maps.


I dont have the time now to hunt every program folder, but if anyone know it, that would be great.


With that option, I can just cut/past since file names are exactly the same....and BOOM, it would work in one shot!

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6 minutes ago, Chopsaw said:

There should be a bunch in Documents > CA.... Data > Textures

Correct.   IF>>>IF you have associated them.

 

When I do the OBJ import.   I get the obj model in 3d.   And then when I open plan materials, I have all the materials reverenced in the model, BUT there are no images with them.  I can by all means one by one open each separate material and associated the correct image with it (same file name that I get from matterport).


But that would take forever.

 

 

Your solution of converting to a DAE was a GREAT idea....except it automatically purges referenced materials that done have actual images attached.....  When you open the new DAE file, all those materials are now gone, leaving no association.

Capture.JPG

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13 minutes ago, rgardner said:

Any pointers on how you got it to work?

 

 

Sure.   Was not until I checked the box for 'advanced options' on the symbol import that I got an error file that it could not find the ".mtl" file.

 

Like a DAE, OBJ will most certainly associate textures with surfaces of a model.  But it does it differently than DAE (which just makes a simple file folder).   It creates a .MTL file of the same name.


All it took was going though the files Matterport sent me to play with and sure enough, I found the .mtl file of the same name.


Just create a file folder and put both the OBJ and MTL file in folder and do import.   Set unit of measure to meters (took some trial and error but figured out that is how dimensions are referenced.

 

Was more guesswork than anything and playing around.   Chief actually does this process better than sketchup in my opinion.  (I had been trying to play with conversions and plug-in's in sketchup).

 

 

I cant wait to try on some more normal structures.   I do almost zero remodeling, so I probably wont use it much, but I like to see what I can do with Chief.    

 

I have been playing with VR and Oculus and the matterport I can justify to work with some of my clients on marketing.   20+ years, and I still have not figured out what I really do for a living ;)

 

 

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I use chief in a lot of 'outside' the box ways.   I attached a portion of a design revision video.   I use these types of screen cap annotations of revisions for most of my major revisions.    It allows me to really walk the client through the process of how I came to the decisions to make the choices I do design wise.


There was discussion elsewhere about designing in front of a client.  I made the statement I NEVER do that.   What I do however, is show them clearly how and why I do things specific to thier design goals. 


These vids are often 30-40 min, but I chopped this down so you can see what can be done in chief model wise.   Everything was composed and brought together in chief (but using lumion to show it).   


The vid is an example of very tight site placement with the clients being concerned about seeing their neighbors on a tight lake lot.

I think there were 4 total models compiled to make this.

 

I still dont know what I will do with the matterport, but I am looking forward to figuring what I can do with it!   Already thought about topo modeling of a cleared site.   Costs me about $1000 to get an accurate topo made.   I am thinking I could shoot cleared ground and use the OBJ and sections for site topo???...:-)

 

Second one was a trick I posted a while back on how to get GIS data directly into chief.  In a modeling program, you can dress it up nicely!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Got my matterport today!

 

Used it right out of box without reading any instructions.   I did a quick scan of a small part of my house this morning.  (Excuse the mess! ;) )

 

This is really cool and I am going to start playing with all the features!  Not really sure exactly what I am going to use it for, but I am sure I can find some way to justify :D

 

House designed in chief too!  Built it 2 years ago.

 

 

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=jpTB21Nojnr&mls=1

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14 minutes ago, VisualDandD said:

Not really sure exactly what I am going to use it for, but I am sure I can find some way to justify

That's pretty stinkin' cool.  If nothing else, it seems like the ability to record and review basic site conditions alone might be worth it.  How long did that "scan" take, and how many sample locations did you use?

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