Terrian Area From Google

[johnny]

Is there anyway I can see in a 2d top view the image associated with a terrain area I brought in from Sketchup?  Here is a screen image what I mean.

 

This is what I see in the standard 2d top view:

 

 

This is what I see in the "perspective overview":

 

 

My issue is I want to draw a quick concept over the image, and I can clearly see the boundary lines (for rough concept) in the image, but can't seem to draw over that area in 2d mode with the image showing.

 

Thanks.

[rlackore]

I'm guessing that the image is a material texture and you'll have to switch Chief's render method to Standard to see it in plan view.

[johnny]

I'm guessing that the image is a material texture and you'll have to switch Chief's render method to Standard to see it in plan view.

 

It doesn't seem like I can change the option for the default view - is there a way?

[rlackore]

Oh, of course. I'm being stupid. Give me another minute to think.

[rlackore]

Ok, maybe you can extract the texture image from the object. In 3D view use the Adjust Material Definition tool to select the terrain object and open the material dialog box, then check Texture>Texture Source>Texture File to find the path to the image file. Close out of the dialog box, go to plan view, use File>Import>Import Picture and navigate to the image file. Then it's a matter of aligning the imported image with the existing terrain object.

[johnny]

Honestly, I had to give up using Chief for this project.  When you venture off the beaten path with CA it can be a very lonely place.

 

I'm sure there is a work-around for everything, but I was sitting there trying to edit shapes for a block version (massing model) of the surrounding buildings, and I couldn't get it done with ease using Chief's primitive tools.

 

Admittedly Chief doesn't promote their product for this type of work, but I just love their street and sidewalk tools I thought it might be worthwhile to try.

[Bill_Emery]

Johnny,

From Earth Pro I do a screen capture from the overhead view, saving it as a JPG to a convenient location. I then import it into a plan as an image and scale it to fit using a known distance.  Google Earth Pro (now free!) gives you the tools you need to establish a known distance.  Nothing very difficult about it.

 

You can put the image on it's own layer so you can turn it on or off as needed.  You can align the image with your terrain perimeter.

[dshall]

Johnny,

From Earth Pro I do a screen capture from the overhead view, saving it as a JPG to a convenient location. I then import it into a plan as an image and scale it to fit using a known distance. Google Earth Pro (now free!) gives you the tools you need to establish a known distance. Nothing very difficult about it.

You can put the image on it's own layer so you can turn it on or off as needed. You can align the image with your terrain perimeter.

Bill, this sounds interesting. Is this worth a workshop and would you be interested in taking the lead?

It seems to me a while back I learned how we can import existing model of existing buildings into our own plan.

[johnny]

Id love to see this in action.  I spent too many hrs yesterday trying to figure out how to do this in Chief (which I think would have been a much cooler presentation to the City Council), and so I had to revert back to simply preparing 2d drawings - but they got good reviews from people at the meeting.  I still think a 3d presentation would have made a huge impact - but this is what I ended up going with...

 

It did only take me about 30 min to draw this up, since I used elements of another project I did recently (yes, I cheated).