I am a student who is becoming slightly more confident using Sketchup thanks to you all!
I am wanting to create a side elevation (2d) similar to the attached images. It will be more basic however and include a house, deck (some hardscaping elements) and planting details on a sloped section. I was thinking I could add all these details in layout.
However, the bit I am stuck on is creating the slope line. I would like to import the property map from GEOMAPS and create a section cut and then trace a thicker line as a hill so my side section reflects the real life slope/contours.
Any advice on how I cam achieve this would be much appreciated. I am planning on doing a Sketchup course but in the interests of having an assignment completed in time I am simply self-taught
What operating system are you on? Your profile says ‘no idea’ but it should be easy to tell if you’re using Mac = OSX (version) or PC = Windows (Version). That may be part of the confusion. Also re: outdated, the icons colors changed but the core SketchUp and LayOut functionality has literally not changed in a decade or more so older tutorials are still good.
This may be easier to do in LayOut than in SketchUp since SketchUp doesn’t have 2D drawing tools like LayOut does. That said, here’s how I would attempt it in SketchUp:
Grade your terrain however you want to reflect the final design. Then use an extension like Fredo Joint Push Pull to give your terrain surface a ‘thickness’ (again, you could skip this step and trace over the section cut in LayOut instead).
Add design and entourage as needed along the section cut. Note if you’re cutting after you add entourage then be sure that the entourage is in the same group as the terrain so it cuts out stuff in the background.
Fab that’s exactly what I am after. I just need to figure out how to import the map from Geomaps with the terrain/slope showing and then do a paralell projection shot and export it to Sketchup Layout. This is the bit I am stuck on. I like your software but as I am a student I am looking for a free solution haha! Any tips so I can trace over it in Sketchup would be very much appreciated. You guys are legends!
A. You didn’t answer my first question (see above). Please go back and correct your profile information as this info helps us help you. Then I will answer your other question re: GeoMaps import.
B. It’s not ‘our software’ - it’s owned and maintained by Trimble. We are but humble users who support the community forum.
C. SketchUp and LayOut are two different applications that work together. SketchUp is the 3D modeling part of the software whereas LayOut is the 2D documentation part of the software. Your subscription comes with both - Speaking of which - do you use an EDU license as a student?
D. The other tip method was presented by @mihai.s - Make a ‘slice’ from section. This will create a section cut line in your model that is editable.
E. The other other method I recommended is to do the cut in LayOut. Does your university/school offer any training in SketchUp? Have you completed any online courses that teach you the basics?
Apologies, I was responding on my phone this morning and the full content didn’t load : )
I am a MAC user, I understand how SketchUp and LayOut work and know how to import my site from Geomaps : )
I have a student licence. No training provided on Sketchup, I am self-taught. However, after this semester I would like to enrol in some online tutorials (when time pressures aren’t there!) : )
ok, so you used the standard geolocation tool. and yeah, this is as good as it get.
you can check things like topoexpoert, cadmapper, placemaker… some free, some not.
what you’re showing doesn’t have contours. it’s already terrain.
if you want the contours, the altitude lines, you’ll either need to slice your terrain by hand or use plugins like toposhaper.
Or intersecting with faces (note: this is for relative contours which should be fine for school projects but not for actual ones where people are digging/filling/building on a site).
Ok so my OCD made me want to take another pass at this after seeing how low resolution the Add Location terrain came in at.
Firstly, I found the location’s municipality does offer decent free data online. The challenge is that it’s GIS data - that doesn’t play nice with SU by default.
But that gave me flat contours…and the whole point here is to cut a section across the slope of the property. So I finally tested GISBridge - which is not cheap but offered a free trial. Worked seamlessly to bring in parcels, curbs, bldg footprints and 1m contours with Z-Values preserved. Bonus, got the high res aerial from the GeoMaps as well and imported manually.
Site looks great. Very accurate with 1m contours. So much more information to work with here when it comes to analysis, section cuts, proposed grading, etc
Interesting, I’ll have to check GISBridge out. The curb lines and building footprints tell me they must have some kind of segmentation function they’re building into their system?
Another source I always check is the USGS. They offer various formats like DEM rasters and .las/.laz point clouds that are actually really well classified. These can then be brought into QGIS or CloudCompare to obtain contours like this.
Anyway, thanks for introducing me to a new extension!
