Blender GIS - introduction and complete workflow 

Hi, you're correct. Its a known issue: github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/issues/81. But this is not a bug of the Blender GIS addon, but inherent to using the web mercator projection, which is a global map projection with significant distortions on a local level. Google maps/earth is automatically applying a correction to the measurement after projection. BlenderGIS is not. If you want accurate measurements, you'll need to use coordinate systems and projections that are optimised for a certain region of the earth. National grids are often used by individual countries, which you can use. However, since the addon does not 'reproject' maps that are in one coordinate system to another on the fly, and the imported google earth data is always in this inaccurate projection, you'll need to prepare your map in external software like QGIS. Or, and that's another option, install the GDAL extension to get this reprojection functionality. This is a bit of a technical procedure, but not too hard. It is explained here: github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/wiki/How-to-install-GDAL

@@4dresearchlab97 Hi. How do I use a national coordinate system? Why would I need to reproject what data from Google? Can I not use data from a national coordinate system and pair that with open topology data for heights? where does Google come into this in such a case? Thank you for your tutorial!

@@4dresearchlab97 I've installed GDAL, but the distance is still wrong

Thanks for the nice words

Hi, thanks! I discuss importing custom point data, assign altitude and an object to them in another video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t9CH-cg8scc.html The workflow for you would be the same.

​@@4dresearchlab97 Wow, I followed your link and watched it. It's the exact feature that I was looking for. Thanks again for your quick reply!

I had the very same problem. If you still haven't resolved it and gave up 1 year ago, I found out why: Camera clipping distance. The camera view is not scaled for such large scale objects by default, and you need to adjust it to 500m, 1000m, 2000m etc. depending on your needs. It's the "Clip start/end" in "Lens" in the camera settings. Took me way too long to figure it out.. They should mention that in tutorials that are not camera-specific since by default, you get a blank image otherwise.

@@igorzkoppt thanks so much for this one! in my case, i was also struggling with the camera. I was able to figure out a way to 'tame' the camera.. i first selected the 'terrain' object, then used the "view selected" feature, then navigated the view to get an angle i liked, then did [ view / view align / align camera to view ] , after that i modified the clipping that you mention. It ended being 120000 to be able to view the object. Camera still behaves a bit jittery when navigating, some weird rectangles shake by the camera frame as you move

you end up building some roads?

@@F1WestCoast Sadly, no

I used google earth pro and you can save to image to 8k .. I am getting better results but it’s not perfect .. selecting the same area you do with Gis.. but it’s. A higher quality image

I guess you're in the wrong shading mode in Blender. Check the little spheres on the top right of the 3D viewport. You may be in solid shading (= grey by default). Switch to 'material preview'. Or, still in solid shading, click on small downwards arrow next to the last sphere, and look for 'texture'. Select this.

The SRTM satellite data that is imported has a maximum resolution of 30 or 90 meters. If you need more detail, you will have to find another elevation map of your area. Some regions in the world have been lidar scanned and this data may be freely available. If not you can get a drone with decent camera and capture the data yourself ;)

@@4dresearchlab97 awesome! Been looking around for some Alaskan elevation data, but I sadly cannot find any. Because I need a URL source link set in the settings for it right?

You can find the location of the srtm map on your harddrive in the texture properties tab in blender (with the srtm object selected). Open this map in QGIS, and right click > export. Save it as geotiff and select 'rendered image'. This transforms the 32 bit floating point srtm tiff to an 8 bit tiff file. You can use that output as a regular height map.

@@4dresearchlab97 Got it! Thank you :)

The plugin doesn't work in blender 4.0, so you'll need to download and use an older version (3.6.9 worked for me)

Hoi Klaas, zeker! Dat is mogelijk. Je moet dan het betreffende AHN kaartblad downloaden also geotiff (downloads.pdok.nl/ahn3-downloadpage/). Deze kan je importeren als 'georeferenced raster' via het BlenderGIS import menu. Ik leg de algemene workflow uit in deze video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t9CH-cg8scc.html

@@4dresearchlab97 Weer een stap dichterbij. Bedankt voor de uitleg en linkjes. Ik heb ook het andere filmpje gevolgd met een gedownloade TIFF via die link. Als CRS voor die ED50 /UDM zone 33N gekozen en DEM as displacement texture, maar krijg als resultaat een paar enorme spikes over de hele breedte van het vlak. Is er nog iets waar ik op moet letten bij het importeren van die AHN3 TIFF's? Moet ik een andere referentie kiezen? Ik probeerde al de Amersfoort / RD New, zonder goed resultaat. Of is de gedwonloade TIFF van 500MB simpelweg te groot. EDIT: Het lijkt er op dat Blender iets raars doet met de TIF file. In de browser ziet hij er normaal uit, maar in blender krijg je een strepen patroon. Zie link voor een screenshot: photos.google.com/album/AF1QipPD8RN__4YSzJZ1JuP1zmRY1q1Onlk4Z4CQ8lGn/photo/AF1QipM0Aou8pKOcyvpbqDcc-dNcXh-ByaYFRPoejy7p

@@Kamiklaasie Ja, je kan beter wel Amersfoort/RD new als coordinaatsysteem selecteren. Geen ED50/UDM zone 33. In de video werk ik op een andere geografische locatie (italie), en in een ander coordinaatsysteem. Maar het coordinaatsysteem heeft geen invloed op die spikes. Dat heeft denk ik te maken met extreme uitschieters in de AHN data. Je moet dan eigenlijk eerst de AHN data (de geotiff) naar een GIS programma halen (QGIS, ArcGIS), de uitschieters filteren en weer exporteren als geotiff. Als de uitschieters alleen aan de rand zitten hoef je niet eens te filteren, maar kan je de zo tiff clippen ('uitsnijden') dat de waardes erbuiten vallen. Zoek op youtube/google voor uitleg als je niet precies weet hoe dat werkt.

Hi, this is new to me as well. Perhaps you tried this already, but this worked for me: 1. go to opentopography.org, create an account and request an API key. 2. In Blender > add-on preferences > elevation server (select opentopo 30 or 90) > edit > replace portal.opentopography.org/API/globaldem?demtype=SRTMGL1&west={W}&east={E}&south={S}&north={N}&outputFormat=GTiff with portal.opentopography.org/API/globaldem?demtype=SRTMGL1&west={W}&east={E}&south={S}&north={N}&outputFormat=GTiff&API_Key=123YourAPIKeyHere123 Repeat the steps for the other opentopo elevation server (so the 30 or 90 one, depening on which you modified first). If this doesnt work, check for typo's! More info: github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/pull/620 portal.opentopography.org/apidocs/#/Public/getGlobalDem

@@4dresearchlab97 Much appreciated! I basically tried that exact method before, but your link above worked better. It works now, with my API key. I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between what I was trying and your format above, but at least it works here too now! Many thanks!

@@4dresearchlab97 Thanks for letting us know about this process. It actually worked. :) Keep going.

Hi, such error can have many causes. It often means there is a setting wrong. But I can't tell exactly without seeing the exact content of the error. But I'd advise you to check out the Blender GIS wiki. Ensure you followed the exact steps of installation and setting up. github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/wiki/Quick-start If that doesnt help, try the issues section on the Blender GIS addon page: github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/issues Good luck!

@@4dresearchlab97 I followed the installation guide that you presented, as well as another RU-vid channel, and the GIS addon page. I don't think that that is the problem. I did however find a thread on github forums were someone had a similar problem. One person mentioned that the error was caused by python GDAL not being installed. Could that be my problem as I do not have it installed?

​@@messo_9732 Well, I doubt it. For basic functionality you do not need GDAL. GDAL is a library only needed when you want to reproject your data on the fly. So, when your data is in one georeference system, while your blender scene is in another. If you happen to have set your scene georeferencing to a system that doesnt match the one of the SRTM, then you could get an error like that.

@@4dresearchlab97 I still don't know what the cause was but I fixed it by removing a reinstalling the addon, that hadn't worked before but now it did. Thanks for your help anyway.

@@messo_9732 How did you fixed the error. I have same tracebase error.!

github.com/domlysz/BlenderGIS/issues/265

@@4dresearchlab97 big big thanks!

During searching after pressing G, yes

No, your camera stays the same, since you locked it with L, the zoom is being incresed, you just don't see it. But you should see a text line in the upper left showing that it is downloading a larger number of tiles with each scroll step.

Correct!

The video is just 24 minutes mate. Don't be so ungrateful

Yeah, I know. Sorry for that.