Looking for Mac users to beta test Terrain2Sketch

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yeah, but here is the catch, your pdf describes a situation where the user has the ability to center their view on the place they need.

In my case, I’m not grabbing a 1km2 tiff by choice. it’s the way they are provided, I can’t center on an area or anything, they cut the country in a 1x1km grid. and all I can do is download pieces of it.

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you just posted here. in this thread. scroll up.

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Terrain2Sketch_Beta_2.zip (8.6 MB)

Thanks — your testing has already been very useful. :slightly_smiling_face:

I’ve made a new beta build with a few fixes based directly on what you found:

  • Terrain face orientation has been corrected, including the skirts.
  • Folder names no longer need to contain DTM/DEM/DOM for the SketchUp auto-import to work.
  • Different terrain datasets are now handled as Terrain 1 / Terrain 2, regardless of what the source folders are called.
  • A few interface issues have also been cleaned up.

I’ve also added a note to the GeoTIFF guide about providers like IGN that supply fixed 1 × 1 km tiles. Your feedback there was absolutely correct.

I’ve attached the updated beta. Just replace both the app and the Ruby plugin with the new versions.

And keep breaking it — that’s exactly what I need from a beta tester. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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When you post newer versions, please remove the old versions. It may also be best if you put the zip (or rbz) archive in the original opening post. (You can edit that post as many times as needed to update the archive file to release new versions.)

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Soon you can.. we added a adress search and center around that as an option.

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The original goal was simple: remove as much friction as possible from the workflow between georeferenced elevation data and a usable SketchUp terrain model.

What started as a GeoTIFF importer has gradually turned into a fairly complete terrain pipeline.

Under the hood, Terrain2Sketch currently handles things such as:

  • Direct GeoTIFF reading, including GeoKeys and georeferencing
  • DTM / DEM / DOM elevation data
  • Float32 raster data
  • LZW-compressed TIFF
  • TIFF floating-point Predictor 3
  • Raster origin, pixel size and geographic extent
  • EPSG / CRS interpretation
  • Coordinate transformation using PROJ
  • WGS84 ↔ projected coordinate systems
  • Multiple GeoTIFF tiles and terrain mosaics
  • Geographic cropping by coordinates or address
  • Adaptive terrain mesh generation
  • Terrain normals, scale and orientation
  • GLB export
  • Automatic import into the active SketchUp model through a small Ruby side
  • Export of geographic metadata such as bounds, centre coordinates and terrain dimensions

I’ve also been working on a companion module called Sidecar.

Sidecar uses the same geographic reference as the exported terrain and retrieves matching OpenStreetMap context for the area, including:

  • Roads
  • Building footprints
  • 3D building context
  • Water polygons
  • Woodland / vegetation areas

The idea is that the terrain and surrounding context arrive in SketchUp already aligned geographically and organised into separate Tags.

The workflow is essentially:

GeoTIFF → Terrain2Sketch → 3D terrain → Sidecar → geographic context → SketchUp

I’ve been testing primarily with Norwegian DTM/DOM data, but also with USGS elevation data and different GeoTIFF formats.

Terrain2Sketch is currently macOS only. A Windows version is planned later.

I now have a working beta and would be very interested in feedback from people who regularly use terrain, GIS data, architecture, landscape design or visualisation in SketchUp.

If anyone would like to test it, leave a comment or send me a message.

I’ve also made a few short videos showing the workflow, which I can add here if useful.

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G’day Karl.

Trevor here from Melbourne Australia.

If you still require feedback for your app I am able to do some testing.

I am running SKetchup Pro on my Mac mini

Regards

Trevor

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FYI: It’s pretty easy to turn off all the glass-like stuff. Also, despite all the bruhaha about the transparency, there’s very little of it - because it was a half-hearted implementation to begin with.

In Settings, go into Accessibility and simply click the ‘reduce transparency’ button to On.