hi there I am wanting to mesh a terrain made from surveyors notes with surrounding geo map terrain that I imported to sketch up. I tried using dropgc and it just dropped the trees 
below is a snapshot of what I where im at, trees in the right place …
I think I have some inherited problems from when I imported the original surveyors files as a dwg from CAD in that the components and groups are unorganized and I have things that are tagged in the tag window that I can not find in the outliner window. I say this because I have been exploding the group of terrain and its features (trees) to drop them into the larger map below but then the terrain gets left behind… looking forward to the hive mind creating the grace of honey… thanx ahead of time
Upload your file so we can take a look. Are you wanting to replace the terrain below the surveyors notes with that mesh to make a single terrain mesh? There is likely to be some extensive healing required around the perimeter of the replaced mesh as the edges will be unlikely to match up.
@endlessfix yes, that’s what I was thinking to replace the map underneath the surveyors notes. is there another way to do it? could I bring the surveyors contours onto the geo map and then adjust the geo terrain to match the surfers notes? when I try to upload the file a pop up window says its too big…
You may need to use a file sharing service, such as OneDrive, Googe Drive, etc.
There are a lot of ways to do it, depending on how end the edges of the two terrains I would use vertex tools, select the contours and relax the vertices, if there’s a big gap I’d use artisan to sculpt and make the contours fade, with native tools it could be a nightmare to fix that.
See how this look like - WeTransfer - Send Large Files & Share Photos Online - Up to 2GB Free (yellow - new terrain)
First, I retopologized your terrain with quads, which match those of the geolocated terrain for an easier clean geometry to work with.
It’s just an idea, it’s good to wait for answers from others.
Yes, it is possible, it is what Francisco recommended to you. Vertex Tools (Merge, Merge Close Vertices, Merge to Point) is a very good extension, but in this case I prefer my method I showed you, with creating a clean and simple topology (quads) and native merging (by sticky raw geometry).
Read the information message carefully and watch my clip. It is clearly specified that the geometry is not quads (you can see that it is purple instead of light green).
What I showed you in the clip are the general lines of work and the extensions used on a particular method. If you want to learn well, study each extension/plugin separately - find well-made tutorials on YouTube, and only then apply what you’ve learned to easily draw the projects.
You can also try just making the clicks you see in the clip, it seems easier, but… you will probably encounter hiccups every step of the way.
thank you been studying videos all day 
really awesome to see the possibilities…
hi there. I really appreciate all your chiming in, I have been redoing the same map almost daily since this thread. trying to figure out the things I’m doing wrong. the little steps I’m missing, etc. It has been very frustrating and at times I’ve wanted to quit or destroy my laptop. but I’m still here and determined. thank spirit for all the forum helper and you in particular!
- one thing that I’ve noticed is how mesh gets distorted between actions at times. an example is when I did the paste in place of the terrain that was then flattened and quadded, the rings were not all straight, they would bulge in some areas, all on the same plane but not parallel to each other. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
in my many re-dos of this I’ve reorganized my order of operations (leaving importing the road and building drawings till after the original satellite imagery is done.) and changed some of the means to the end because of learning new extensions
a) imported the geolocated terrain first ,
b) then in an separate file i used toposhaper to make the terrain from the surveyors contours,
c) then copy and pasted them into the same file as the geolocated file.
d)Then I used your method of first placing and lowering the toposhaper terrain as close as possible to the geolocated terrain and adjusted with mesh as needed.
e)then I selected , copied, and pasted in place a rectangle from the geolocated file, moved it up, flattened it with vertex tools, Quadded, added mesh rings/loops with quad face, and painted it orange
f) then I used align ends to drop it back over the geolocated terrain and the toposhaper terrain.
2)now im at the point of trying out the artisan extension to smooth… I downloaded the trial of artisan2, but it won’t let me use the brush. attached is what it looks like. overall I’m exited to play with this extension because I will be adding graded roads and pads on to the surveyors terrain area. it seems like maybe it has to do with the mesh style? I heard that artisan prefers triangulated mesh. if I have quads that have diagonals across them that should work, no?
- SO… to keep trying to get this map done I started trying to apply the satellite texture/paint
I took the flat geolocated satellite image unlocked it and moved it up into the the terrain model like you did. (both are the same size and already alligned) I clicked on it to find the edges of the segments and then drew lines connecting them. I used the sketch UV path select tool and it went all the way across the mesh but only as a blue selected line. I could not get it to go solid black. each time I selected the next one the last one would disappear
I have trouble following what you are doing when you change the styles. (im still getting used to how each one looks like/ what it does/ how it responds) maybe that’s part of my problem?
here’s the working file:
The first thing you have to take into account now is that you are trying to learn in too short a time how to work with many extensions and it is normal that it does not turn out as you hope.
It takes time, study and work.
I know Vertex Tools and Fredo TopoShaper have been recommended to you by others (very good extensions), but if you want to follow my method, none of these extensions are necessary.
For the moment, just try to follow a working method, if you choose the one I showed you in this clip, just follow those steps and normally you will succeed.
definitely clear that I am reaching for a high bar with learning SU and many extensions.
my number 2 and 3 questions are based on following your method.i actually learned about vertex tools when you showed it to me for both flattening the rectangles paste in place for align ending back over the terrain as well as adjusting vertexes to lower the geolocated terrain beneath surveyors terrain.
After showing you the ‘multi-plugin’ method, I created a slightly different one where you can use only one plugin. Try this one and it should be easier for you, and in the future try the one with more plugins.
To answer your two questions, a short clip:
Thank you! unfortunately my artisan2 (in Mac) is not giving me the option to triangulate the mesh:(
Most likely Dale (@Whaat) will be able to lend a helping hand regarding Artisan. TIA!
When using the sculpt tools in Artisan 2, make sure you are at ‘face-level’. The tools and triangulation will not work if you outside the group or component. You must be able to select the individual faces.