We have a client who is in the business of Solar Panel design, placing these units on roof tops of buildings. They currently use an application called Helioscope which interfaces to SketchUp via a Plugin. - YouTube ~ They also interface with Google Earth Pro for importing their site maps, but sometimes these sites are not available, and for this reason, they then create their own aerial images captured with a Drone. (See attached example). It is important for them to be able to calculate and print out the “Shadow Study” using SketchUp. The question I have however, is how would they import these Drone Image Captures into SketchUp, placing them in the correct orientation and location to get an accurate Sun Study of the shadows. I have not had any experience in this field, and for this reason, any guidance in this area would be most appreciated. Does anyone have this process down to a fine art, and if so, could you furnish me with some information on how to meet this challenge. Much appreciated.
1)
Geo-locate the model manually.
The L,Lo coordinates of a geo-located SketchUp model coincide with SU’s World Origin [0,0,0]
By default, in a manually geo-located SU model, true north coincides with the +y solid green axis.
2)
One can easily import .bmp, .jpg, .png, .psd, .tif, .tga image files into SketchUp via File > Import
3)
Accurate placement of the image in relation to the geographic coordinates of the model would require knowledge of the geographic coordinates of a feature depicted in the image.
Accurate orientation of the image in relation to true north in the model would require knowledge of the real-world orientation of a feature depicted in the image. Be mindful SU uses true, not magnetic, direction.
In SU Pro, true north can be adjusted via the Solar North Extension — Extension Warehouse
Accurate scaling of the image to real-world dimensions would require knowledge of the real-world dimensions of a feature depicted in the image.
The four parameters one must keep in mind to display shadows that accurately portray the real world:
• Geographic Orientation — Relationship of True North to the model.
• Geographic Location — Latitude and Longitude
• Time — Year, Month, Day, Hour and Minute
• UTC Offset — The difference between local time and the Coordinated Universal Time standard.
***Be mindful SU does not automatically apply local Daylight Saving Time.
Hey George, Thank you so much for your valuable feedback, it is much appreciated.