How to take a Contour Map and Convert to a Plane

SketchUp
1

Hi All,

I have a contour plan of my property. Its made up of contours at 0.2m intervals (about 0.6ft).

I’d like to create a land profile I can set my home on and plan an extension out the back by filling in between the contour lines to create the slope on the property and document off (I have explained this terribly I’m afraid).

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image1564×1050 124 KB

How do I do this?

Cheers

2

Start with the basics of SketchUp at https://learn.sketchup.com/

3

Basically if you have placed your contours at their correct elevations, you can use the Sandbox from Contours tool or Fredo6’s TopoShaper extension to wrap them with a ground surface.

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4

Use the sandbox tools. Whatever program you have the contour lines in, export it to a SketchUp compatible file, import it into SketchUp, explode or open the group, select all the contour lines and finally click the contour button in the sandbox tools. This should create a seamless plane for you.

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5

Contours.skp (683.9 KB)
Thanks Anssi and Katherine1110. I tried the sandbox tools but didnt work. I’ll keep plugging away but I suspect the open ends on the contour lines might be the issue. Please see attached file.

Cheers

6

Did you import the contours from a DWG or DXF file? Your whole model is very small, less than 50 mm across, which makes me wonder if you used Millimeters instead of Meters as the import unit. The import units can be changed in the Options dialog that opens by clicking on the Options button on the Import File dialog box. Currently your lines are too small for the sandbox tools to work.
This is what I got after scaling it 1000x and using the Sandbox from Contours tool
Contours.skp (983.0 KB)

7

Thanks for the response Anssi. Thanks also for making it work. I’ll respond to your prompts below;

Did you import the contours from a DWG or DXF file? - DWG.

Your whole model is very small, less than 50 mm across, which makes me wonder if you used Millimeters instead of Meters as the import unit. - I used millimeters because the model I am drawing up for the house is in millimeters and the DWG is also in millimeters.

The import units can be changed in the Options dialog that opens by clicking on the Options button on the Import File dialog box. Currently your lines are too small for the sandbox tools to work. - Noted. Thanks for the tip.

This is what I got after scaling it 1000x and using the Sandbox from Contours tool - Champion. Thankyou. I’ll have a go myself now. Do the changes in scaling make the model larger (as in files size)?

Much appreciated.