Importing Reference Images TO SCALE in Blender

[@TheCGEssentials]

Hi everyone! Excited to start doing more with architectural modeling in Blender. Let me know your methods for importing scaled images into Blender in the comments below! :)

[@colinrichman4812]

Thanks very much for this - really helpful. I have just thought of an alternative way of doing this. I don't know if it is better or worse but it would be interesting to see what people think. It starts off pretty much the same way... Set your Units to match the units on your floor plan Import Image as Plane to bring in the floor plan Move 3D curser to your chosen reference point on the image (where you have a measurement between 2 points) Insert Single Vert and extrude it to your 2nd reference point Back to Object mode - select the vert and shift select the floor plan - then right click and select Parent - Object Select just the Vert and change it to the correct length by typing in the value in the N panel (the floor plan should change too) The Scale of that Axis will change - so hover your mouse over the changed Scale value in the N panel, hold the left mouse button and drag over to the other axis (not Z) so that the values are the same. Set scale on the vert and the floorplan using Ctrl+A Select just the vert, right click and select Clear Parent. If there has been a big change it might be difficult to see everything on the screen so select the floor plan and hit numpad period to reset the view. Now you can check the measurements and delete the vert. Apologies if this is unclear or if I have missed something!

[@colinrichman4812]

Sorry I got my clicking the select the wrong way round for the parenting bit. Should read: select the floor plan and shift select the vert. Sorry about that - I'm new!!

[@ofeyofey]

@@colinrichman4812 Go to Add > image > reference. That should import your image perpendicular to the camera. You can either already have the camrera orientated or you can select the image and go to the rotate settings to turn it as you wish.

[@Mechrank]

So helpful, exactly what i was looking for. ❤

[@chuctanundaspiderbone5407]

Thanks, this is handy. Modeling to scale is so un-intuitive in Blender, and I hadn't figured out how to scale reference images. Nothing like having a bunch of two meter tall mushrooms for your sim.

[@normg2242]

For some reason (probably completely newbie related...LOL) I couldn't get the vertex extrusion happening right, so I just used a cube scaled to the desired size and aligned the drawing to that. But your video still helped in other ways, so thanks!

[@TheCGEssentials]

Interesting - why do you think the vertex extrusion wouldn't work?

[@normg2242]

@@TheCGEssentials ... first of all I found the operation hard to see (not the youngest anymore...lol) and so I wasn't sure if my clicks caught or not or if I didn't quite get the sequence right. However when I cleaned everything up, there was a line with two vertices, but not where I wanted it...lol So I must have gotten it half right after all.... But I'm having big problems getting archipack to work. Some items load fine but others don't. I enabled the add on too. I'm totally at a loss why walls, windows and doors give me error messages. Walls work okay in the "add" menu but not in the "create tab". It's crazy. And textures don't show either ...

[@ericklestrange6255]

i used snap to grid and i used metric grid as reference instead of a line

[@catallaxy]

Excellent! Thank you, Justin.

[@mohameddawood1720]

finally someone making tutorials about how to use Blender in civil/archi way 💙💙 one of the best youtubers out there , keep it up man 😘😘

[@TheCGEssentials]

Trying my best - it's slow

[@fathimas5154]

when i drag the picture to blnder nothing happens..can someone help?

[@gretagiannoccaro4811]

When I drag the file across onto blender nothing happens?

[@fathimas5154]

yes..i have the same issues too! someone pzz help!

[@johndavid8632]

@@fathimas5154 I am having the same issue. Why does no one reply to this? Yet replies are given to all other comments.

[@sanugsanug]

See below.

[@sanugsanug]

@@fathimas5154 See below.

[@Mechrank]

How do you see sketch-up different than blender? In terms of ease in 3d modeling. Thanks.

[@Odminey]

Hi. I did everything like in the video, but faced an issue. The extruded reference line was hidden below my reference picture, so I couldn't see it when I was scaling. How can I arrange the objects to that one would show up on top of another if they are situated on the same plane?

[@ChrisRMaldonado]

I was with you until you deleted the dog.......... Thanks for these tutorials!

[@erynlynn4362]

This guy sounds like the Joker from The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger is teaching me Blender. Even got the mouth noises. Not necessarily a bad thing.

[@MattVarner]

This for sure adds to my meager knowledge base, but I'll need to play around further because my initial reference image is a non-satellite view map image with a given length for "50 feet," which I worked out a scale I think I like which will be something like 1 real foot = 2 pixels. But my reference image isn't really parallel like your reference image, so I've got some alignment to do. All I know by eyeballing the import is that the image should be a lot larger in relation to the default object, and it very much isn't, so that's another thing I have to figure out. But, it'll happen.

[@shokir85]

Thanks for the tip. Scaling in blender is so stupid. Why don`t they do scaling like for example in Rhino, where I can simply add reference line or input precise dimensions of height for example 🤌

[@johnpandolfino8663]

Ho do you lock the image on place so it doesn't move?

[@PP3D]

Excellent, please keep going. Thanks.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Thanks, will do!

[@timwilliams126]

Nice video, I'm coming from sketchup and am stuck with how to scale and how to bring in the photo, thank you VERY much

[@TheCGEssentials]

Lol - This doesn't seem to be mentioned very much online, so hopefully it's going to help some people :)

[@BrannanR]

Can you do a video about the workflow of how to build a house with a roof, doors, and correct wall measurements in Blender? I switched from SketchUp and its a little difficult. Many videos don't put the exact measurements... This was helpful though.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Something like that is the plan

[@TheNewBloodDan]

Why can't we use a reference size from a photo editing program like photoshop and plug it into an image in blender? this is frustrating...

[@TheCGEssentials]

I don’t understand exactly what this means

[@TheNewBloodDan]

@@TheCGEssentials you know how you can scale an image in photoshop by inches, why not do that in blender?

[@TheCGEssentials]

@@TheNewBloodDan Well you're literally scaling an image to match a set distance, so I don't see how that's different

[@sekmanimohamedamine1237]

Why you don't share the image? so we can follow your tutorial with the same image. Any way thanks for the helpful tutorial, I much enjoy watching to it.

[@georgioschasiotis3390]

Waiting for the upcoming series , really nice video !

[@TheCGEssentials]

Yeah I'm excited about this one - I'm hoping I can get something put together that kind of simplifies the architecture process in Blender - guess we'll see :)

[@sumguy5978]

@@TheCGEssentials I hope you do a lot more architecture, this is some great stuff.

[@TheCGEssentials]

@@sumguy5978 Working in it! :)

[@unreasonablebastards753]

legend

[@kasunmaduka5668]

whauu The CG essentials , nice work, interesting, keep it on we follow you...❤🧡💛💚💙

[@ofeyofey]

Good video Justin, amazing there sren't more tutorials on this topic. Where do you get the box in the bottom left @2.:20 from and how do you just make the vertex 20? Thanks

[@innaznassah367]

what i took away from this tutorial.... how to import an image file, scale it from a different pivot point using imperial system( used metric) and how to measure distance and angles... sweet... thank you for your time .......

[@AnneGatchell]

A+! Thanks! Getting into Blender for a project. I've only used Maya and that was years ago!

[@hugoantunesartwithblender]

I use measure tool, calculator and scale ;)

[@TheCGEssentials]

Lol :)

[@gabisaintro]

i m viewer 14.432, thanks

[@louis0910]

Thank you very much for your help!

[@robertoalejandrogonzalezde1334]

thanks so much for this very explained tutorial

[@niadhson]

I use a very good addon (blender 2.82) 'like' the SketchUp line tool. You can make the lines and activate if you want: the option to create faces, intersection, snap to other vertices, grid increments, colors, etc. This tool is part of a set of four other tools, but it seems that at the moment it is not available for sale .. however, the author made the line tool available for free: github.com/Mano-Wii/Addon-Snap-Utilities-Line

[@TheCGEssentials]

Interesting - I'll give it a look - thanks!

[@robertfleming6752]

At Soixante-neuf (ans) I find that @ .75 speed I can just about keep up. But it's very excellent. Will have to invest in two screens.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Totally worth it - it's SO much easier to learn new things with multiple monitors

[@aneesdzin5400]

Great sir and great help, thanks

[@nellysea2792]

Hi, I am new in blender and I followed the steps one by one, Thank you so much for your helpful videos. Although I faced an issue.. Rescaling the picture I imported, only works when I bring the picture in my space, but then I gets completely stuck on it's position and I can not rescale it or even move it after I clicked on anything else or used another tool! How to fix that?

[@TheCGEssentials]

Something like this maybe? blender.stackexchange.com/questions/43878/cant-scale-whats-wrong

[@sudipto30]

Very nice tutorial

[@iModel-ft6kh]

You may like to look into my workflow also coming from Sketchup. Import DWG image or convert the image to SVG or DWG Scale the import with Exact Edit addon (Like the Tape measure tool in SKP). I would be please to hear what you think of that method. Regards and thank for all your effort with Blender and Sketchup

[@TheCGEssentials]

Interesting - I'll have to check out this add-on - on paper I really like it! :)

[@blenderado3d879]

How to convert the image to SVG or DWG?

[@sheermagic]

Thanks. Neat trick, it's going to save a lot of time.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Glad it helped! :)

[@robertfleming6752]

Investing via eBay of course. Goodbye Universities - free education for all.

[@TheCGEssentials]

Lol - the KZbin economy

[@davidross3054]

Welcome to Blender, new user! Have you memorized every keyboard shortcut in Blender? No? ... USER ERROR 404 PROGRAM CANNOT CONTINUE.

[@ARNAVRAJBHANDARI]

can I talk you with you in your email

[@jithupmohan5045]

✌✌

[@TheCGEssentials]

:)

[@user-tz8qi]

stop yapping

[@TheCGEssentials]

Nah I'm good