Modeling for the Ocean layer in Google Earth

If you’ve been following the blog, you saw the tour of 3D models under the ocean for the Google Earth 5.0 launch. With the SketchUp maintenance software that released yesterday, you too can model your very own underwater world! The first thing you’ll have to do is to download the latest version of SketchUp here. Once installed, a few simple options in SketchUp enable you to select whether your model is above or below the water:

1. Go to ‘Window’ then ‘Preferences’
2. Choose ‘Extensions’ in the left column
3. Toggle on ‘Google Earth Ocean Modeling’
4. Hit OK

This will give you the option to place your model wherever you want it. Next import your desired terrain from Google Earth by finding the area you want and choosing ‘Get Current View’ in SketchUp. Underwater terrain will import just like above water terrain. It’s easy to lose your sense of scale in the ocean, and if you get a warning that reads ‘Camera altitude too high…’ just move closer to the ocean floor. With your terrain imported into SketchUp, you can start your model.

Once complete, decide whether your model will be on the ocean floor or on the surface. You can find that option under the ‘Plugins’ menu. If you’re modeling on the land, or wish to model on the surface of the water, toggle it off, like this:

If you’re modeling under the surface of the water, toggle it on, like this:

If you want your model to be somewhere in-between the ocean floor and the surface of the water, simply choose ‘Model on Ocean Floor’ and place your model above the terrain:

Last, view your model in Google Earth by choosing ‘Place model’, and see how it looks. If you are satisfied, load your model onto the 3D Warehouse by selecting ‘Share Model’ and it may show up in the 3D Buildings layer. The same terms that apply to buildings on land also apply to underwater models. Your submissions must be real, accurate, and correctly located. There are lots of opportunities for geo-located models underwater; ship wrecks, diver destinations and offshore structures! Don’t forget to fill out the appropriate information on the upload page, and to check ‘Google Earth ready’. And that’s it! Piece of cake. Sponge cake.

Posted by Adam Hecht, 3D Data Specialist

A Maintenance Release for Google SketchUp 7

As you may recall, we launched Google SketchUp 7 last November. Today I’m happy to announce our first maintenance release for version 7 with fixes to many of the most commonly reported problems. The list of fixes in our release notes is pretty long, so I asked Tommy from our Support team what he thought would be good to highlight. Here’s what he had to say:

• Place models underwater in Google Earth: Google Earth 5.0 launched earlier this month and added ocean floor terrain, which made it possible to place models under the water. But SketchUp didn’t have a way to support that…until now. Those of you working on secret plans for underwater hideouts (laser sharks) can now place those models in Google Earth.
• More accurate model placement in Google Earth: Models placed from SketchUp into Google Earth sometimes came in with rotational errors, making it difficult to properly position a model. Likewise, edges that weren’t part of a face were being dropped, which made kites, bridge cables, and some windmills look a little odd. We’ve fixed both of these issues.
• Authorizing Pro is easier: On Windows Vista®, SketchUp Pro folks had to run as an “Administrator” to authorize. You don’t have to do that any more.

Update To verify that you have the latest release of SketchUp:

• On Windows, choose Help > Check for Update
• On a Mac, choose SketchUp > Check Web for Update…

Posted by John Bacus, Product Manager

SketchUp in your language

Google SketchUp is ‘3D for Everyone’ but, of course, not everyone speaks English. For some time now, SketchUp has been available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese. But that still left out lots of the people in the world.

Today, I’d like to say “witamy, bem-vindo, Добро пожаловать, and welkom” as we release new language support for SketchUp in Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Dutch. If you don’t see your language yet, don’t worry. We’re not done yet, and we’ll have more news to announce soon. Enjoy, and happy modeling!

Posted by John Bacus, SketchUp Product Manager

Tour 3D models in the new Ocean layer

For the exciting release of Google Earth 5.0, the Google SketchUp team built a series of 3D models to highlight the new Ocean layer. Google Earth 5.0 now allows you to navigate under the surface of the sea and explore the ocean floor to see shipwrecks, submarines, buoys, and much more. We’ve put together a placemark tour to help easily find the 3D models in the ocean. To access the tour, download the kml file from the Google Earth Gallery page. The tour will visit models such as the Titanic, Batttleship Bismark, Aquarius underwater laboratory, as well as other submarines, shipwrecks, and dive destinations. Please make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth 5.0 and the 3D Buildings layer is turned on.

You can also find these models in the Google Earth – Ocean Layer collection in the Google 3D Warehouse. The SketchUp team added over 80 3D models to the 3D Buildings layer including models of NOAA moored buoys taking wind, wave, meteorological, and oceanographic measurements around the coasts of the United States.

Posted by Adam Hecht, 3D Data Specialist

Rendering plug-in released for SketchUp 7

The Cadalog team just released their latest version of SU Podium 1.6.1 Beta a photo-realistic rendering plug-in for Google SketchUp. Version 1.6.1 includes new wide screen resolution options, support for SketchUp’s parallel projection, and also fixes some significant bugs. The update to version 1.6.1 is free for Podium 1.5 or 1.6 users and it works with Google SketchUp 6 or 7, Pro or Free, Windows or Mac.

The SU Podium team has also announced the 4th Podium render contest. The render contest will enable users to produce photo-realistic renderings of any type of Google SketchUp model. The images will be judged on their creativity, originality, and their inspirational qualities. Prizes include a Nikon SLR Digital Camera, Apple iPod Touch, and a Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive. Please visit their contest page for more details.

Posted by Tasha Danko, Google SketchUp Team

Get closer to your models in the 3D Warehouse

If you thought the 3D View for models in Google 3D Warehouse was cool, you will flip for the new “Zoom and Pan”. Now you can orbit, zoom in, pan around, and zoom out — right in the preview window without having to download the model. Use your mouse wheel to roll in for a closer view. Click and hold the Shift key to pan around. You can even change the view when zoomed in! Check out this model of the Eiffel Tower.

1. Click on the 3D View button in the preview window.
2. Click and hold the left mouse button to swivel your view.
3. Now the really cool part…roll your mouse wheel forward to zoom in.
4. Click and hold the left mouse button to swivel the zoomed-in view.
5. Hold the Shift key and pan up, down, left and right.

Now it’s possible to get a clear idea of the model before you decide to download it!

Posted by Tom Stamm, 3D Warehouse Team

Calling all designers: Open Architecture Challenge

At the SketchUp 3D Basecamp last year, we were fortunate to have Cameron Sinclair (Co-founder, Executive Director and “Eternal Optimist” of Architecture for Humanity) as our keynote speaker. Cameron came to the Googleplex, shared his inspirational work, and motivated everyone to get involved in the Sportables design competition.

To kick off 2009, and to get the creative juices of the SketchUp community flowing again, we’ve partnered with Architecture for Humanity for the Open Architecture Network Challenge. This year’s challenge invites the global design and construction community to collaborate directly with primary and secondary school teachers and students to create safer, healthier, and smarter learning environments.

We’re encouraging the SketchUp community – that means you! – to get involved. Safe, healthy, and comfortable environments are vital to learning, and you know how to design them.

Posted by Chris Cronin, SketchUp Team

Dive into the new Google Earth

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

As you read this, I am at the beautiful California Academy of Sciences, announcing the launch of the newest version of Google Earth. This launch is particularly special to me because it marks the moment when Google Earth becomes much more complete — it now has an ocean.

Didn’t Google Earth always have an ocean? Technically, yes, well, sort of. We have always had a big blue expanse and some low-resolution shading to suggest depth. But starting today we have a much more detailed bathymetric map (the ocean floor), so you can actually drop below the surface and explore the nooks and crannies of the seafloor in 3D. While you’re there you can explore thousands of data points including videos and images of ocean life, details on the best surf spots, logs of real ocean expeditions, and much more.

We were joined at the Academy by many of the dozens of ocean scientists and advocates who helped make this project a reality: friends from National Geographic, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the US Navy, Scripps Oceanography, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to name just a few. Above all, I would like to acknowledge the work of Dr. Sylvia Earle, who cornered me at a conference three years ago and told me that Google Earth was great but that it wasn’t finished (you can read more about that encounter on the Lat Long blog). As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. We on the Google Earth team had been working hard to build a rich 3D map of the world, but we had largely ignored the oceans — two thirds of the planet. Inspired by Sylvia, the team got to work. I hope you are as excited as I am to explore our new Ocean and all of the fascinating stories and images our partners have contributed.

But that’s not all we launched today. In addition to Ocean, we introduced new features that we hope will enhance the way people interact with Google Earth and use it to communicate with the world.

• Historical Imagery: Until today, Google Earth displayed only one image of a given place at a given time. With this new feature, you can now move back and forth in time to reveal imagery from years and even decades past, revealing changes over time. Try flying south of San Francisco in Google Earth and turning on the new time slider (click the “clock” icon in the toolbar) to witness the transformation of Silicon Valley from a farming community to the tech capital of the world over the past 50 years or so.
• Touring: One of the key challenges we have faced in developing Google Earth has been making it easier for people to tell stories. People have created wonderful layers to share with the world, but they have often asked for a way to guide others through them. The Touring feature makes it simple to create an easily sharable, narrated, fly-through tour just by clicking the record button and navigating through your tour destinations.
• 3D Mars: This is the latest stop in our virtual tour of the galaxies, made possible by a collaboration with NASA. By selecting “Mars” from the toolbar in Google Earth, you can access a 3D map of the Red Planet featuring the latest high-resolution imagery, 3D terrain, and annotations showing landing sites and lots of other interesting features.

For those of you who keep track of version numbers, this is Google Earth 5.0. We felt the addition of the ocean and “time” merited a major bump from 4.3 to 5.0 🙂

Members of the Google Earth team will be publishing in-depth posts about all of the new features in Google Earth 5.0 on the Lat Long blog all week, so be sure to check back there often. And check out our video tour below.

Posted by John Hanke, Director of Google Earth and Maps