I am a master plumber in Minnesota and thought this would expedite the process of making and submitting plans with the state. I found polycam and purchased a subscription, then figured out that wasn’t enough. Now I am have purchased a subscription to SketchUp pro and thought I could just intuitively merge my PolyCam scans to SketchUp and then draw the desired changes to the structure there. It seems that there may be a bit more of a learning curve than I anticipated. I’m curious how to proceed. How do I take scans of structures into SketchUp, modify them, and then delivery a building plan to my state review board?
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Start here to learn the basics: learn.sketchup.com
After that you can search the SketchUp YouTube channel for videos about scans..
https://youtube.com/@sketchup?si=wzQn8WujD8ncNB35
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Start with the basics. Then advance into more specialized uses…
But you should be solid on the basics, move into producing 2d plans with LayOut, then adding scans into the mix.
SketchUp is not magic, although sometimes it allows us to make things that seem magical…
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Fundamentals (Desktop)? I don’t see a category for “basics”.
yep, fundamentals are basics 
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As usual, our other users beat me to the first post but they are correct, start with the fundamentals and get a good understanding of them before you jump into advanced workflows. SketchUp is a great tool to have, but knowing how to use it well is key to long term success.
Also, do not be afraid to ask questions if you are stuck on something or if you find part of a lesson to be confusing. Team members like me and our lovely sages are happy to help you learn proper workflow and good modeling habits. The sooner you start to build good habits the faster you can learn later on.
Good luck learning SketchUp!! I hope it is helpful to your workflow.
Finally and somewhat unrelated, I have huge respect for plumbers, I had to replace my garbage disposal over thanksgiving. It was not an easy task. It also made me realize how often I take my kitchen sink for granted.
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This is really reassuring. The fact that the community here jumped right in to help me and then an actual team member also replied within minutes of me posting gives me confidence that I chose the right product. I had tried a competitor, in a previous life, and found the support there lacking. I can dedicate some time to learn this new skill, but I cannot afford to get a completely new degree in order to accomplish a portion of my job. I look forward to seeing what’s possible.
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You will be happy to learn that the community is very supportive and the learning materials are pretty easy to follow. It also helps that the product itself is one of the easiest solutions to learn!
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I would encourage you to hang in there and not get frustrated. What I mean is many have a vast background in cad applications and still have a big learning curve with a new application. If you dont have that background its a bigger hill to climb in one way and a benefit in another as you dont have bad habits to overcome. You can learn solid practices from the start. One tip is you may put more energy into importing from other sources, (I dont know what polyscan is) Than creating your own geometry from a set of plans. You might not need much detail on the existing walls or ??? and put your energy into the things you are proposing. Know what you really need. Many plans dont need detailed drawings of pipes for plumbing or ducting for HVAC. Realize what you really need for a plan set to submit for permitting. Often the detail is in notes and symbols.
Don’t be afraid to open the Instructor Window from time to time to see quickly all the facets of the tools at your disposal.
You can easily close this window when you don’t need it.
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I’m guessing you purchased the pro version and have made a significant investment now. I do architectural design for a living and it is taking me considerable time and focus to learn to use SketchUp for construction drawings. I can’t imagine this being a simple, or easy, or even a cost effective way to get your building department drawings ready. For your sake, I hope I’m wrong. Here in Virginia, for residential work, they don’t require that the Plumbing details be shown on the permit drawings. You call out a sink, or a toilet, and show the location on your floor plans. The inspector then inspects the project while it’s being built at various phases. What exactly do you need to show them? Do you just need to show them a basic floor plan with the locations of the plumbing fixtures or do you need to show where all the different supply and drain lines will go? Can you get somebody who already has computer skills to draw things up for you?
I am stumbling my way through the fundamentals now and it isn’t that heavy. I suppose it has taken a few days, but with tons of interruptions. I would guess it will take me about 30 hours to be functional for what I need it to do. I am trying to scan a building, import the scan, draw on the floor plan, and then submit those drawings to the state for approval. We are required to show both the fixtures and piping plan.
Best of luck to you! Yes, learning the fundamentals is very fun. I have no experience importing scans and modifying them. I guess I would suggest that you just relax and enjoy, but don’t expect it to be cost-effective anytime soon if it turns out otherwise, let me know!
ROI is probably in a dozen jobs or so. Hand drawn plans is what we were using and they were pretty inaccurate and time consuming.
Hi Aniad,
I’m an architect in NYC. Kudos for taking this on, none of the tradespeople I work with here have the slightest interest, in my view it’s a lost opportunity. Beyond simply getting off paper the usability for 3D planning, coordination, material takeoffs, communication are tremendous. Contrary to some of the above I find a specific real-world need to be the only realistic time to learn something new.
I find SU to be an excellent tool that is underused in the industry, but poorly supported for professional construction industry use. I think you will find much of Trimble’s actual investment is unfortunately aimed at architects using it only for schematic design, accepting they will use Revit for documentation. Trimble’s tutorials glaze over the rigorous demands even very small real life building construction documentation demands - Aaron’s videos in particular have suffered from this and I have long since stopped watching them out of frustration.
I’m not familiar with PolyCam, but I assume your workflow will be Polycam scan to Sketchup to Layout to PDF. Your 2D floor plans will start out as orthographic camera views of section cuts set at the right position, saved as a ‘scene,’ then viewed as 2D floor plans in Layout.
You will have to decide where and how you want to create the conventional graphic drawing elements that are not part of the scan/model - door swings, wall hatching, plumbing layout lines and symbols, etc. Same for annotation - text, notes, leaders, the text bits that go with your symbols, dimensions. Pretty much for sure you will want to do your notes with leaders, dimensions and any significant blocks of text in Layout. The rest can be theoretically be done either place, and you will find folks here using Layout for a lot of drafting work, but I get the general sense that most folks doing construction documentation of any size prefer to avoid Layout as much as possible. That is certainly my own preference, as I find it to be frankly miserable software - the Achille’s heel of SU. Though there are people who are happy with it - perhaps you will be one. Again contrary to what Trimble’s tutorials probably suggest, I have evolved to a hybrid 2D/3D (workaround) approach to making “plans,” all inside Sketchup, and I know I’m not alone. Nick Sonder’s (old) videos illustrate this approach, João Queiroz Lima is also following this approach.
I work almost exclusively modifying existing buildings, as I believe many of the Europeans on here do, but I think fewer of the US folks, and last I looked there was little from Trimble on this use case. In years gone by I spent a lot of time and effort measuring existing buildings, then manually inputting to 2D or 3D. Most recently I have had third-party scans made, but have so far gotten poor ROI for what I need. I would be very interested to see what you can get out of PolyCam as this kind of approach might be a good compromise for me.
You might consider reaching out to napperkt to see if he thinks you would be a good fit for the IFC / BIM / Sketchup+Layout Advanced Workflows group we have formed. You can see some documentation being made by members of that group on the thread of that name. It’s at a higher level than your current need, but I’m always encouraged to hear of US construction industry folks using the same tools as myself for real-world documentation, and personally I think it would be great to have someone doing what you are trying to do.
And feel free to contact me off the forum - my preference is to chat on the phone, probably easier/quicker.
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Hi - I am also working with Polycam (and an Apple IPhone 12 Pro) and have found it to be an excellent combination with SketchUp to streamline the survey and documentation process. I also have a few drones which are helpful for site plans (using DroneLink to plan and run missions to generate aerial plans of larger sites, then import into Polycam )
Firstly in Polycam I suggest you switch from the default “Lidar” coloured point cloud scan view (found in Polycam in layers) to “3D Floorplan”, (a simplified view without the textures,
Then export this as a .dae file.
Open SketchUp.
Import the .dae file.
create a plan view scene.
Create a rectangle approx 1500mm above ground level.
Create a section view on top of this rectangle. This will be useful in layout when you want to be easily able to show where doors, windows etc are.
Save your SketchUp file.
Open Layout.
Insert the SketchUp file (I like to do this on its own layer called “SketchUp Scenes”.
Choose the style “shaded with textures.
Create a scene called plan or top.
Lock the “SketchUp scenes” layer.
Create a new layer called “notes and dimensions”
start adding your icons for various as built items. You may find some in the “scrapbook” but likely will be better off having a look at something like the excellent iconfinder website which has lots of good icons in a range of styles, these can be imported into layout’s scrapbook (suggest you make your own plumbing page/s to streamline your markups).
add any other text notes / dimensions.
Create a legend table to explain what your symbols/icons mean.
Add a note to clarify all dimensions are approximate.
Export the PDF.
Note suggest you setup the document setup (in layout) to be medium quality when viewing, but high quality when exporting to PDF.
Hope that helps. You’re onto a good thing/process - stick with it and it will pay off big time. It can be hard finding your feet with learning SketchUp online under pressure to deliver a commercially viable output is a challenge.
Should you be interested in some one on one coaching let me know, I charge $80/hr + GST (AUD) and happy to do short teams video sessions where I guide you through only what you need to know at a speed that suits you. I am based in Melbourne Australia. Have been in the construction industry for many years working on signage & branding as well as a range of construction documentation projects including supermarkets with plumbing and drainage plans for new deli counters, refrigeration etc. josef@godingprojects.com
Hi Aniad, I am a carpenter and use SketchUp Pro for plans and permit drawings. We do a lot of residential remodeling and I am learning to use LayOut for 2D plans. SketchUp Campus, free on the SketchUp website, the tutorials on YouTube and SketchUp LIVE on Fridays have been a big help. Aaron Dietzen, Matt and Justin to a great job with the live demonstrations. The group chat is very useful as you can post questions live. Be sure to learn to use Groups and Components and name the Components as they will save a lot of time and frustration. In other work I model plans for furniture and the ability to make a materials list with one click is genius. Next on the list is for me to learn to use scans as up until now I use a tape measure and laser measuring device called a Magpie to measure buildings. SketchUp was used to plan the new Aquarium in Seattle, Washington. Cheers, Steve (AKA Transom on the live stream Fridays at noon mountain time)
You and I share the same personality trait: just jump right in!
So what you’re looking for can be done and as others have said you want to learn some basics but I know for myself I learn better when I can use real-world projects that I’m actually working on.
Polycam is a decent piece of software but its not the only one that can generate 3D mesh models via photogrammetry: Reality Scan, Matterport, and Pix4D are solid contenders in the space (Reality Scan is actually free!), but results will be dependent upon the device you’re using to capture the data (images) and your methods for dealing with lighting (I’m guessing you’ll be dealing with areas that may not have the best lighting conditions).
Polycam and the others are using a process called “photogrammetry” to convert images to mesh models. It’s actually a pretty old science but has rapidly developed with new remote sensing technologies, especially drones.
Speaking specifically about workflows in SketchUp: I would recommend trying the Skimp plug-in: the scanning apps will let you download a mesh model (usually in .obj, .ply, and .stl file formats) and Skimp will import them into SketchUp very efficiently. It can also simplify the meshes in real time so you can make your own decision in regards to balancing detail with mesh counts.
On a slightly deeper subject, I would also recommend looking into “Guasian Splatting” as an alternative to photogrammetry: not only does SketchUp labs offer a plugin to import guassian splats (it will also create them from data, but I’ve found this to be a little bit of a struggle for the software compared to stand alone software like Postshot). Once imported, you can model from them for your work, which may be a better workflow. Pix4D - which I mentioned above - is leaning heavily into guassian splatting and their outputs are getting really impressive.
Your biggest challenge will be simplifying mesh models if you want to include them in your plans. The more detailed and impressive your Polycam mesh’s are, the more tiny faces they’ll have and therefore CAD software like SketchUp will get a little bogged down.
If you’re just looking to model off of what Polycam generates and you’re confident with the precision to submit your plans, well, then you really just need to focus on how to capture the images/data to generate consistent results that you can work with.
Polycam actually simplifies the process by offering a (big) mesh or (small) geometry only option - the latter imports great into SketchUp and requires very little rework.
Best results are with a device that has lidar.
It really depends on the users needs, right. I find a lot of people who praise lidar haven’t done a lot of modeling from it (genuinely not throwing this accusation at you, its just my go-to statement when I talk LiDAR) and the software companies that advertise feature extraction capabilities to be greatly exaggerating.
I will say that SketchUp (Studio) does a fantastic job of bringing in point clouds. I tried the Undet plugin and it continually crashed but Scanned Essentials handles the .las files with ease. I like it so much that my go-to workflow is to convert a mesh to a point cloud in CloudCompare, and then model off that via Scan Essentials. The fact that it now lets you texture from the point cloud is even better since its a more complicated process to re-map textures from a mesh.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand: I really do see gaussian splatting as the in-between for photogrammetry and LiDAR. People are achieving some serious detail in their splats and now that SU and a few other CAD systems are offering some importing functionality into it we’re going to see a lot more.
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