This is for anybody who is concerned about importing large Point Clouds into SketchUp.
We have to design, and install all of the glass elements for this really interesting project.
So I drove 130 miles yesterday to do a digital laser scan, only to find the building still cloaked in the scaffolding that was “definitely coming down on Wednesday” 
Because of the scaffolding, I had to do 25 separate scans to capture all the geometry I needed which is the most I’ve ever done, and the resulting point cloud file came out at just over 25GB.
I was a bit concerned but for no reason as it imported in SketchUp using the Undet Plugin with no problems at all, and I’m now happily modelling the building from it.
Here’s a quick video to show off my editing skills:
3 Likes
Nice work. Problem solved. But remember to ask, “which wednesday”, next time.
1 Like
Great advice 
I made another short video last night just to see if I could merge the Point Cloud in SketchUp with some drone footage I captured on site.
It makes my imagination run wild thinking about the videos I could make for social media using drone footage and SketchUp once the model is complete:
1 Like
I like it!
When I put the SU + PC + AR equation together a few years ago I went nuts! I got a drone asap and started flying it in my living room (because it was in the middle of the ice-cold winter). Then a commercial drone pilot’s license. I pushed my little integrated graphics card to the limit with Pix4D Photogrammetry (12 hour processing times). I’d try to capture big trophy models - like 1,000 images just to see if it could be done. Then with Undet and the best fit box fitting method I started ‘tracing’ my SU models from PCs (yes, learn the basics first says someone who did the opposite).
I go berserk thinking of how cool it would be to have a legit scanner like you have to play with. I’d be scanning everything.
Here’s a playlist of a jobsite where I did something similar to your vid:
Golfing Green: Drone, Mixed Reality, Landscaping - YouTube
One thing to consider is that Pix4D can generate point clouds from videos. Could be pretty seamless transitions doing it that way.
Oh - It so happens that I have some smashed corrugated polycarbonate sheets that I need to replace and I keep thinking of asking how I might make a poor man’s greenhouse… have any plans on hand for a cheapo greenhouse ;^)? Oh wait - Your stuff is really nice :^).
Anyway, tag me if you make any more videos.
I guess with todays technology the only limit to what we can create is our available time and our imagination.
Thanks for the link and the advice.
