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Inserting a SU drawing into a photo

RogerS

RogerS

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This thread is taken from an exchange of emails between me and DaveR. Hopefully it will help give some idea of how to do this.

I rashly thought I could create a SU diagram of a window and insert it into a jpeg of the house it's destined for. Then I realised that I had no idea where to start. If you have time, I'm not after a step-by-step guide but a pointer at the command and then I can research the rest. That's the best way to learn, I find, and addresses the frustration of not knowing where to start!


Are you thinking of putting the drawing of the window in the image of the house as if it was actually in the opening? If so, the basics are:

In a new drawing session Import the JPG of the house using File>Import. Set file type to JPG and make sure Use as Photomatch (I can't remember the exact wording.)
Set the red and green lines to align with lines in the drawing. This sets the camera position and angle of view.
Set some guidelines to give you a reference point for the location of the window.
Import the window and move it into place. Note that if you orbit you'll lose the image of the house but you can click on the scene tab at the top to get it back.
After the window is in place you can export a JPG image to send to the client.

Do search on the Google SketchUp site for PhotoMatch. I think there's a video or two showing how to set up the photomatch image. DaveR
 
I burst out laughing when I got my first result and just had to send it to you! I thought I'd wandered into the battle scene from Star Wars!



It does kind of look that way, doesn't it? From there drag the yellow square down to the near corner of the house and align the red and green lines lines on the house. Hopefully every thing works alright then.
 
I've worked out how to do all the alignment but not sure how I can insert or import a SU drawing of a window, for example, to overlay the existing window in the photo.

Once you have SketchUp's camera matched to the photo, which is what you are doing by moving those lines around and so on, you may need to do some scaling of the image to make it the right size. Draw a line along something in the photo whose length you know. Then measure that line with the Tape Measure tool and enter the known length to resize the model.

After you've got things sized correctly, place some guidelines to identify a corner of the window. Import your window model into this model and place it as needed. You may need to rotate the window and you might find it easier to orbit and zoom to make the placement easier. Once you have it in place, though, you can click on the scene tab for the PhotoMatch to return to the camera position for the image of the house. DaveR
 
Clearly I am not doing something right. For example, if I use the perspective shot that I sent to you and align SU's camera, then when I import the window model, its' perspective does not match that of the house. If I go to orbit then I lose the shot of the house and even if I orbit the model to approximately where I think it should be then when I click back on the photo tab (to display the photo) the model slowly swings back round to where it started from!

I did think about using a frontal (ie effectively a 2D shot) but If I try a frontal shot of the house then as I have no perspective I'm not sure where I should put the green lines as they go 'into' the screen.

A 2D shot won't really work with Photomatch. ....... Also give me some know distance in the photo so I can scale it correctly. DaveR

What I'm trying to do is to fit the model to replace the window in the foreground. But ideally I'd like this other frontal shot to have the image inserted...ideally with the glass showing through from the original jpeg but maybe that's a bridge too far?

This was just a quickie. Does it show what you have in mind?

I think the reason the perspective was so far off in your attempt is that the window component is aligned with the red axis but the wall on which I placed the window is on the green axis. I just rotated the window component after bringing it into the model. Keep in mind that you can orbit away from the view to edit the SketchUp elements in the model and return to seeing the image by clicking on the scene tab.

Before importing the window component I set the two horizontal guidelines to represent the top and bottom of the window. Then, still using the Tape Measure tool, measured the distance between them. A vertical crossing guideline is helpful for that. Measure from intersection to intersection and then enter the real distance. Click on OK to resize the model.

Then I imported the window component with File>Import and file type set to SketchUp SKP. I rotated it and moved it into place.

As to the other image, try importing it as an Image not as Photomatched. Then resize it the same way and import the window component. DaveR

 
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