AR mode outdoors at 1:1 scale (Is model geo-referenced?)

Greetings,

I’ve been using SketchUp on and off for years. I’m new to the web version, though; and I also decided to purchase the mobile viewer to see if it might work for some visualizations I have in mind.

I tried it out today without much success. My aim was to depict a proposed bridge onsite at the planned location. However, despite having added a location in SU and aligned the model to it, the model is not oriented or located properly in AR mode.

I just assumed that the model was georeferenced and would simply appear in place and at scale when I used the AR viewer onsite. I mean, my phone knows where I am and which direction I’m facing, so it’s unclear why the model doesn’t just appear at the proper location and orientation - or at least reasonably close such that only fine tuning would be required.

That’s not what happened, however, and after nearly an hour of fiddling with trying to get it into position, I gave up. Am I misunderstanding or perhaps overlooking something?

Thanks for any info or insights you can provide!

It would be a nice feature request!
The way it is now, it’s not implemented.
You need to have a surface to put it on, and then place and scale it.

What you want is implemented in Trimble SiteVision, but that’s a different ballgame ($)

Thanks for the reply, Mike!

Oi! That looks sweet! But I don’t need that level of accuracy for my nonprofessional use. The GPS and compass would work well enough it seems - even if I had to nudge the model a few meters into place.

Speaking of positioning the model, is there a limit to how far it can be moved after being anchored to the surface? I was trying to position the model about 20 meters away, across the street. It just wasn’t cooperating. Using the street as the surface and then choosing 1:1 as the scale was simple enough, but trying to position it was an exercise in frustration. :frowning_face:

I only tested this idea in my living room, but could you walk across the street, plop down the model, then walk away and then scale it? Scaling it up from some distance may be easier that trying to nudge it over there.

Thanks, Colin! In fact, that just occurred to me as well. I’ll be giving it a try tomorrow.

Additionally, I’ve been experimenting a bit, and I just learned something else that should come in super handy. I couldn’t figure out how to control the point about which the model rotates in AR mode. That was causing me lots of grief, since it was rotating about a point way outside the physical structure (which is not symmetrical), so the model would rapidly whiz into and out of view when rotating.

I initially assumed it was rotating around the origin of the coordinate system, but nope. Turns out it’s simply the geometric center of the entire model! So, my solution was simply to enclose the entire model in a big circle and position the model so that the desired pivot point is at the center of the circle. Then, I tagged the circle so that I could hide it in AR view.

Works great inside on the floor, so I’m eager to try it outside. It should simplify positioning and orienting the model in the field! :slightly_smiling_face: :+1:

I’ll post back with an update when I get a chance to try it.

Post some screen shots from the phone on site if you can. I’m interested to see how this relatively new feature works out.

They are more suitable for making simple drawings only, since they do not consider special challenges with mobile AR 3D sketching, including the lack of stereo display, narrow field of view, and the coupling of 2D input, 3D input and display.