Build a 3D City in ARCHICAD using CADMAPPER, SKP & Google Earth Imagery

Learn how to create a 3D Site model in ARCHICAD using free GIS sources online, combined with Google Earth imagery.
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To ready more about this approach, check out the blog
www.contrabim.com/blog/3dcity...
Intro: 6:30
Learn how to export GIS site data 12:26
Learn how to import Sketchup into ArchiCAD 19:30
Learn how to explode, and work with Morphs 22:30
Learn how to export Google Earth Imagery: 29:28
Learn how to texture map aerial images to topo surfaces 41:05
Learn how to create topo lines 49:45
Learn how to combine morph topography 56:30
Learn how to add elevations in google earth 58:50
And a bunch of other little tips and tricks along the way.
3Dconnexion Mouse: amzn.to/35ZSQ6m

[@Marvuel]

Fantastic video! Thank you very much! Very well explained and good to follow! Would recommend :)

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks Marvuel. I'll have to do an update to this one here soon it's been some time since I posted it!

[@saulomenezes3764]

Parabéns! Belo trabalho! Obrigado! Congratulations! Good Job! Thanks!

[@user-fg6gw6rg9s]

Sim City finally caught up to Cityscapes and my dreams have come true

[@lazarrazvan]

Thanks man! A very good Tutorial!

[@CONTRABIM]

Glad you liked it!

[@etienneboois]

Awesome work. Etienne from Namibia

[@ignaciofagetti9966]

Thanks. I did´t know about this web. Its very helpfull for my student works

[@CONTRABIM]

Ignacio Fagetti that’s great hope you can do a lot with this resource!

[@narekyengibaryan6596]

Thank you very much!!

[@CONTRABIM]

Thank you Narek!

[@LearningArchicad]

Like and Shared !

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks!!!

[@caterinaquarta]

Grazie!

[@yomaroh]

Hello! I didn't understand the part where you used worksheets (at around 30 min in), how did you create it with the GIS-data in there? Did you have another file from cadmapper or any additional data? Thank you!

[@CONTRABIM]

At the 30 minute mark, I use the worksheet to add the google earth satellite imagery as a reference. I traced and referenced the converted skp/morph from the floorplan view, to align. Just a trace and ref, not any additional data there. Hopefully that makes sense!

[@timothykovea9254]

Genius

[@nikosalexandrou]

Hello thank you for the tutorial it was very helpful. As a feedback I would like to say that I wanted to know beforehand what are the pre-made layers and options that you 've made and when u pull a menu from the left of the screen or a new option explain which command u clicked , or where you found it because I will have to google the name of the menu to find it on the top of the screen.

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Nick! Thanks for the question, sorry for delayed reply here! So I believe you're referring to the "Selections"? This is under the Window>Palettes area and is totally customizable and can be setup however you'd like. The Layers I use are largely built around Uniformat II Systems, and CSI Masterformat, with a few additional layers sprinkled in for other misc. purposes.

[@elarquitecto8435]

man maybe a stupid question but I did not find that selections window at 25:23 ... I am using Archicad 23 and never used or see that window before. Also dont find anything on the Helpdesk. Great Video good to understand and works perfectly ! Thank you for sharing.

[@CONTRABIM]

el arquitecto the selections palette is under the palette options or toolbars, can’t remember exactly where but I think under window>palettes. Glad it worked well for you!

[@msizinhlanhlandlovu4127]

hello grateful for the tutorial, and also would like to know if I can't change colour/color of my morph individually what do I do? PS it says "some selections are not solid."

[@CONTRABIM]

Thanks for the comment. You should be able to select and change the texture of the morph as well as contour pens, regardless of whether the morph is solid or not. Play around with it and hopefully you'll get it to work!

[@paryagolgoun606]

Thank you for the great video!! I have a question... now cad mapper has an option to export the file specially for Archicad; but when I open the file in Archicad, it doesn't show me as 3d file, and it only shows as a 2d drawing. Do you know what is the problem?

[@fightkostka]

thanks for the video, i did the terrain with mesh and it looks exactyl like in reality, thanks for that, but now the roads are above the new terrain, is there a way to put them on the mesh, or in anyway put a morph on a mesh that will bend with it?

[@CONTRABIM]

If the roads have a depth that intersects with the terrain mesh, you could definitely use an SEO to cut it to mesh. Use a double SEO, where you intersect the road into the mesh, and then subtract the road from the mesh.

[@stacymelkubator185]

Hello! thank you for your videos! I followed all the instructions in the video, but when I converted objects to morphs (and before that) I can't select a specific building (or road, anything) out of the whole model. Everytime I select the building, Archicad selects everything (the whole model). Sorry if the question is stupid, I tried different ways of clicking on the object :D, still nothing

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Stazi. Thanks for the comment, sorry for the delayed reply. You may have to suspend the grouping, or ungroup elements to prevent selecting the entire model. Hope you figured it out already!!

[@lyuboslavborisov2320]

Great video and easy to follow. Any idea why highlighting the layers doesn't work with my Archicad 25? When I press F5 at the end nothing happens?

[@CONTRABIM]

F5 for me is typically a way to isolate the selection in 3D. It is not layer based, but selection based. Or when using the marquee tool from the floorplan it'll take that selection into 3d. Hope this helps clarify!

[@brunafranciscos]

Importei e ele não aparece em uma layer só, fica em cada piso uma parte da topografia :/

[@soufianeadly7247]

hello, thank you for the tutorial can you tell me please where can i find selection window '' add selections'' ?)

[@CONTRABIM]

If you go to the Window Menu, Palettes, you'll find the Selections tool there. Thanks for the question!

[@soufianeadly7247]

@@CONTRABIMthank you

[@dougmcintyre7045]

Sydney

[@MP-The_General_Music]

Great video!...What should I do when the google earth Pic is bigger than the GSI I got from Cadmapper? because currently I cant successfully fuse the google image with the morph it just gets cut and start again hence My Road and building Morphs stays out of scale

[@CONTRABIM]

If the image is larger than the working space, then it helps to create a dummy slab of the exact same size of the picture. Place that slab where it needs to be, so the image overlays with your site. Then set the origin based on the corner of that dummy slab. You'll need to align the 3d texture of your mesh/morph to that same image origin point at the corner, and may need to set the direction as well. Hope this helps!

[@ebeahimebrahimmohamed9014]

Can i make the building hollow in cenima 4d by cadmapper

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

Hi. I had to discontinue trying to get the hang of due to deadlines. I have an extension of time till August 15 and I just installed Sketch Up Pro. I hope I can get around the manual.

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Stephen. Did you get stuck somewhere in the video? I'll do a compressed version of this one here soon it's been a few years but I see a lot of people are still watching this version. Time for an upgrade:)

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

@@CONTRABIM Hey. I certainly did. I followed the process and even did the map.osm thing but didn't generate the 3D model as expected. Remember I complained about having a short attention span with manuals...

[@johnclinton7706]

I have been trying for a long time now to produce a suburban area of Glasgow to use in my game to be exported and converted could you show me how to do it as every other method i do never works, it' was to save time

[@CONTRABIM]

That sounds interesting. I guess it depends on what file format your game can receive. I did a quick search and this came up: arcg.is/1CPO5y

[@erikleypoldt8275]

What about outside the cities? Hows that work?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hey Erik! So the CADMAPPER tool is really only as good as the content they have loaded into their database. In more rural areas, they may not have much data, and in which case another system may be better. Google Earth does ok for quick surveys, you can always create a quick topo from that if you don't have any other available resources. Totally depends on the location, some countries are well mapped, others not so much. Where are you trying to collect info on? I'd search around for another geospatial mapping system may have better results!

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

Hi. I am too good with manuals. I there anyway around the clicking?

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Stephen, at which part are you referring to? It seems with any CAD program there's always a lot of clicking:)

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

@@CONTRABIM my apologies. I had to dash off . I am using Archi 23 to be specific. I really am not good with manuals and so I learn by trial and error. I get lost when trying to follow instructions even for simple program installations.

[@CONTRABIM]

@@StephenLonewolfMakama No worries well my recommendation is to just stick with it! If you put your mind to it you'll figure it out one way or another, no matter how many tries and failures you have, once you succeed and get it to work it's all worth the trouble. I get it though, some of these videos (especially the older ones), i'm trying to cover a lot really fast so I don't always explain it as clearly as it could be for easy understanding

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

@@CONTRABIM many thanks! I sure will. I usually get it right after a few fits and starts!

[@noeliabravo_arq]

I don't know why, but my image doesn't line up with the texture

[@CONTRABIM]

Hi Noelia. Yes sometimes you'll have to do a slight scaling to get the imagery in a best fit. Also you'll likely have to use the set origin and set direction of the 3d texture settings. I'll do another video on this workflow soon, it's been a while now:)

[@jacknjaramba778]

nairobi

[@taoarchitectsltd2542]

valley arcade

[@sudique]

cape town

[@user-fg6gw6rg9s]

Embarrassed to say I wasted a few months of my early years in Sim City Floppy, SimCity 2, 3000, 4000, Cityscapes and Sim City Build it. It was a 1 player city building game that was endless but not like today's Mobile Games that suck money out of our virtual wallets Jumped at the opportunity my first 2 high school years to learn drafting geometry architecture. Bring your kid to work days I walked theme parks with dad for Baker Concrete. 25 years later I've gone from Sim Mayor to Structural Mentor. There is more information in that 3D High Rise Model than my 30+ dreaming about Contrabim. Are there any plans to make Contrabim "in the box" native, slave, or cross platform export? Sketchup is gone. Is 32GB Ram, I7 8 core 4ghz 3x SSD, before 3050 GPU exceed requirements?

[@ilyasselmoussouli141]

My brain hurts

[@StephenLonewolfMakama]

Ooops , meant NOT too good.