3D Models Archives

November 21, 2008

Google Earth Captures Tsunami Striking Fiji Island

It's a Friday, so I thought I would share with you this interesting find from GEB reader Peter K. It appears Google Earth captured a giant tsunami about to strike this remote island in the Pacific. You can see it yourself right here Google Earth File. You must have GE installed. . No tricks, this is really inside Google Earth! However, this isn't a real wave. Instead this is an anomalie in Google Earth's terrain data. The world is a big place, and 3D terrain data is based on billions of data points and then later processed to remove errors. However, not all errors are properly processed, so you occasionally get anomalies like this. These errors can be reported to the GE Data Error Compendium, and eventually Google fixes them.

Here are some other interesting data errors found (terrain, imagery, and other errors). Some of these errors may have been fixed, but others are still there:

Posted by FrankTaylor at 08:00 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

November 17, 2008

Google SketchUp 7 Released

Google has released a big upgrade to Google SketchUp 7 - their 3D modeling tool. SketchUp 7 is available in a free version, and a Pro version which includes a number of features helpful to professional modelers (such as a presentation tool, more model making features, printing, and e-mail support - see comparison). The Pro version costs $495, but is available for free to educators and only $49 for students.

The free version of SketchUp allows you to create models, upload/download them to/from the Google 3D Warehouse, and place them in Google Earth. The new SketchUp 7 has even tighter integration with the 3D Warehouse allowing you to view and download models directly from within SketchUp 7.

SketchUp 7 also supports a major new feature for Dynamic Components - doors that open, wheels that turn, etc. Unfortunately, models with the dynamic component do not show the animations in Google Earth - yet. We'll probably have to wait for a future version of GE to get that support.

Here's the rather silly announcement video (which covers a few of the new features):

Although there are not substantial new features for Google Earth in this release of SketchUp, any improvements in model making capability will enhance the quality of 3D models seen in GE.

Stefan Geens at OgleEarth was first to report on the SketchUp 7 in my blog roll.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 07:47 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 14, 2008

New 3D Cities in Google Earth: Pittsburgh, Seattle

GEB reader Chuck Alcorn wrote earlier today to let me know Pittsburgh, PA is now available as a 3D city in Google Earth.

After confirming this was true, I did some looking around, and I found at least one other new city - Seattle, WA:

Also, I forgot to mention after the October big 3D city update, that Google also added downtown Miami after they earlier added Miami Beach. The current list I have for other cities where Google has a substantial portion of the city modeled in 3D includes: US: Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Nashville, Philadelphia, San Diego, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, Clearwater, Miami, and Miami Beach, San Francisco, Baltimore, Raleigh, Atlanta, Charlotte, Boston, Orlando, Austin, St. Louis, Oakland, Dallas, Tampa, Memphis, and Phoenix. Also, Zurich, Munich and Hamburg in Europe

If you find any other cities where the majority of the city has been rendered in 3D, please leave a comment here.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 02:20 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Famous Tourist Sites in 3D

Google Earth's 3D dataset continues to grow and improve in quality over time. Many of the most famous tourist sites around the world are viewable in 3D. And, if you haven't visited these sites recently, it's worth checking back. Google has been gradually improving the resolution of the 3D terrain around the world. Places like the Grand Canyon, Mount St. Helens, and the Matterhorn are much better than they were when Google Earth was first released. Famous sites like Stonehenge, Christ the Redeemer, Pyramids of Giza, and many others have recently had improved 3D models added. Many of these models are coming from modelers who submit them to the 3D Warehouse and were selected to be included in the Google Earth 3D Buildings layer.

To give you a taste of many of the best tourist sites visible in 3D in Google Earth, I've put together a tour in Earthswoop of some of my favorites. You can view the collection of 3D Tourist Sites at Earthswoop Google Earth Plugin. You must have GE PLUGIN installed. . You will see about 25 locations around the world including: the Sphynx, Big Ben, Big Buddha, Disney World, Taj Mahal, and many others. Have fun on your free world tour!

NOTE: Earthswoop uses the Google Earth plugin, which only runs on Windows at the moment. But, Google has been promising a Mac version is in the works. You can search inside Google Earth for almost any of these locations (e.g. "Christ the Redeemer"). You might also get better quality viewing these locations inside the real Google Earth (depending on your graphics card), and especially the terrain if you increase your terrain quality settings inside Google Earth's Options. However, keep your terrain quality lower for normal viewing to keep your graphics speed up.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 09:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 12, 2008

Ancient Rome in 3D for Google Earth

[UPDATE 11 PM: As mentioned in the post below, the layer for Rome is found under "Gallery->Ancient Rome 3D". However, this just loads the placemarks describing the key buildings. First, uncheck the "3D Buildings" layer. In order to see the Ancient Rome 3D models: 1) you have to click on one of the placemarks where you will see three links. 2) Click on the first link - which is the terrain for ancient rome (that hides the modern Rome and raises it above the new city. 3) Then load the second link which loads the 250 most detailed models. CAUTION: these models have a lot of complexity and you may need a newer machine with a fast graphics card to get these to load and update well. I'm sure Google will be working to simplify these models to make them load faster in future updates. If you load the third link with 5000 buildings - don't expect it to load all 5000 buildings at once. These buildings will only show when zoomed in close and only the nearby buildings will appear.]

For the first time, Google has published a 3D model of an ancient city as a layer viewable in Google Earth. For decades archaeologists, students, scholars, and architects have studied the history and remains of Rome and worked to understand the city's history. The new layer, found under Gallery->Ancient Rome 3D, depicts Rome in the year 320 AD - at the peak of its development with over a million inhabitants. At this time it was the largest metropolis in the world. The 3D models are actually based on a physical model of the city called the “Plastico di Roma Antica” - created by archaeologists and model-makers from 1933 to 1974 and housed in a special gallery in the Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome. 3D digital models were created based on scans of the physical model. Google joined forces with the Rome Reborn Project and Past Perfect Productions to create the Ancient Rome 3D layer. Google helped convert the models into a format suitable for viewing in Google Earth. According to an interview with Bruce Poulderman of Google, there are about 200 buildings which are classified as "Class I" models which scholars and historians know a lot about and have been rendered as faithfully as possible.

The layer contains more than 6700 3D building models. You can learn more about some of the buildings by clicking on more than 250 placemarks on many of the key sites and the placemark descriptions link to more advanced information including a topographical encyclopedia, ancient literary sources and bibliographical information about each building. The layer's placemarks are available in: English, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Dutch.

See Google's video introducing the layer: