The following steps were taken from the Google tutorial linked to here: http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=167461 Geo-modeling with SketchUp: the Extruded Footprint method Some Basic FAQs What kinds of buildings can I model using this method? This geo-modeling method works for buildings that have vertical exterior walls that terminate in flat or sloped roofs. If this doesn't describe the building you want to model, you should choose another geo-modeling method (or choose another building). Will using this method yield an accurate model of my building? Not really. Most of the time, geo-models don't need to be very accurate in order to look good in Google Earth. Because this method relies on tracing photographs rather than taking precise measurements, the models it produces are good-looking approximations of real-life buildings. What information do I need before I begin? Most importantly, you need to be able to see the top of your building clearly in Google Earth. This method relies on tracing the aerial view of your building to produce an outline; if you can't see the shape of your building well enough to do that, you won't be able to use this method. What information will I need to gather during the process? You'll need to find out (or estimate) the overall height of your building, as well as the heights of any other roof levels it might have. You'll also need to procure photographs of your building; you can take them yourself or you can use ones that might be available online. Terms Geo-modeling: The process of building 3D models of actual buildings for display in Google Earth is called geo-modeling. Geo-located: A model which includes information about its precise location on the planet is geographically-located (geo-located). Geo-located buildings can be displayed in Google Earth. Geo-location snapshot: An aerial-photograph-and-3D terrain object brought into SketchUp using the Add Location dialog box (SketchUp 8 and SketchUp Pro 8 only). A geo-location snapshot is necessary for giving a SketchUp model a geo-location. Photo-textured: A model which has had photographs of the building it represents applied to its surfaces is called photo-textured. In order to be included in the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth, models must be photo-textured.

Process Overview: Building Your Virtual Building The Extruded Footprint method of geo-modeling with SketchUp involves the following steps: A) Creating a new SketchUp file for geo-modeling Before you begin, you'll need to download and install SketchUp on your computer. You can use either Google SketchUp (free) or Google SketchUp Pro for geo-modeling. Refer to Installing Google SketchUp for more information. Follow these steps to create a new SketchUp file for geo-modeling:

1. Launch SketchUp. The Welcome to SketchUp dialog box appears. If it doesn't, choose Help > Welcome to SketchUp... from the menu bar.

2. In the Welcome to SketchUp dialog box, click the Choose Template button.

3. Select one of the Google Earth Modeling templates. 4. Click the Start using SketchUp button. 5. Choose File > New from the menu bar to open a new SketchUp file.

B) Geo-locating your model Before your model can appear in Google Earth, you must give it a precise geographic location by importing a geo-location snapshot into your SketchUp file. A geo-location snapshot is an object that provides the following critical information:

• Geographic coordinates • Color aerial imagery • 3D terrain

To import a geo-location snapshot into your SketchUp model, follow the steps in Add Location: Adding a location. C) Re-positioning the main drawing axes The building you're going to model should be visible in the geo-location snapshot you brought in. Aligning SketchUp's red, green and blue drawing axes with the orientation of your building makes it much easier to trace its outline later on. Follow these steps to align the colored drawing axes to your building:

1. In SketchUp, choose Camera > Standard Views > Top from the menu. This gives you a top-down view of your imagery.

2. Choose Camera > Zoom Extents to make sure you can see everything in your file. 3. Choose Tools > Axes from the menu to activate the Axes tool. 4. Click once on a corner of your building. 5. Move your mouse until the red axis is lined up with the edge of your building, then click

again. 6. Move your mouse again slightly, then click again.

D) Tracing your building footprint The easiest way to build a 3D model of a building is to start by tracing its footprint. You do this by drawing the outline of the building based on what you can see on the imagery snapshot. Follow these steps to get set up:

1. In SketchUp, choose Camera > Standard Views > Top from the menu. 2. Choose Camera > Zoom Extents to make sure you can see everything in your file. 3. Use the Pan and Zoom tools to frame a good view of top of the building you want to

model. You need to be able to see the building clearly in order to proceed. 4. Choose View > Face Style > X-ray from the menu. This allows you to see through your

building footprint to the top view of the building in the imagery snapshot photograph below.

There are many ways to trace a building footprint, but one of the easiest is to use the Rectangle tool. If your building footprint is mostly rectilinear (the corners are 90-degree angles), you should try this technique: Follow these steps to trace your building's footprint using the Rectangle tool:

1. Choose Tools > Rectangle to activate the Rectangle tool. 2. Click once on a 90-degree corner of your building.

3. Move your mouse to start drawing a rectangle. 4. Click again to finish drawing a rectangle that defines part of your building footprint. 5. Repeat steps 3 through 5 until the entire building footprint is defined by overlapping or

adjacent rectangles. Make sure there aren't any gaps or holes; if there are, fill them in with more rectangles.

6. Choose Tools > Eraser to activate the Eraser tool. 7. Use the Eraser tool to delete all of the edges in the interior of the building footprint you

just drew. When you're done, you should have a single face (shape) defined by a perimeter of straight edges.

Tips:

• If you haven't already done so, you should consider re-positioning the main drawing axes before you trace your building footprint.

• If your building outline includes non-90-degree corners, curves or other shapes that you can't trace with the Rectangle tool, feel free to use whichever other drawing tools you need to trace your building's footprint. Take a look at these Geo-modeling drawing tips for more information.

• Zoom in to get a better look at what you're tracing. Use the Zoom tool or roll the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.

E) Subdividing your footprint for different wall heights Some simple buildings have a single exterior wall height, but most have more than one. Follow these two steps to subdivide your building footprint into multiple faces, each corresponding to a different exterior wall height:

1. Choose Tools > Line to activate the Line tool. 2. Draw edges to subdivide your building footprint into two or more faces. Each face should

correspond to a section of your building with a different exterior wall height. Later on, you'll extrude each face up to its correct height.

Tips:

• Refer to Geo-modeling drawing tips for advice on drawing edges. • If you can't see detail on your building well enough to draw over it, try looking at some

other resources. For example, you might want to look at the building in Street View or if you have direct access to the building, you might be able to figure out its shape by looking at it carefully in person.

• If you're still unable to proceed, don't worry – you can come back to this step later on. Often, it's possible to infer useful information about a model after you've applied photo-textures to its sides.

F) Extruding your footprint to the correct building height Before you turn your 2D (flat) building footprint into a 3D form, you need to know the height of the building you're modeling. If you don't know the height, there are a few different ways you can make an educated guess. Refer to Estimating building height for more information. In fact, it helps to know multiple dimensions before you proceed:

• Overall building height. This is the distance from the ground to the top of the roof. If your building sits on a sloped site, it's helpful to know both the minimum and maximum heights.

• Additional flat roofs heights. For buildings with multiple flat roofs, try to know the height of each roof level.

• Eave height(s). An eave is the part of a roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building. Most buildings with sloped roofs have eaves. Some buildings have eaves at multiple heights.

Follow these steps to extrude your building footprint into a basic 3D model: 1. Choose Camera > Standard Views > Iso from the menu. 2. Choose View > Face Style > X-ray to de-activate X-ray mode (if it's still active). 3. If necessary, use the Pan and Zoom tools to 4. Choose Tools > Push/Pull to activate the Push/Pull tool. 5. Click once on your traced building footprint. If your footprint has more than one face,

click on the face that corresponds to the tallest exterior wall height on your building. 6. Move your mouse up slightly and click again. 7. Before you do anything else, type the height of the building section in feet (') or meters

(m). 8. Press Enter on your keyboard. The extrusion amount updates to reflect the precise

number you typed in the previous step.

9. Repeat Steps 2 through 6 for each of the remaining faces in your traced building

footprint. Use the Orbit tool to get a good view of each face before you extrude it.

G) Applying photo-textures to the sides of your building Photo-textures are pictures of the actual building which you apply to the walls and roof of your model. These pictures can come from a few different sources:

Tip: Sometimes it's useful to subdivide a face on the side of your building into smaller faces before you apply a photo texture. This is especially true for very long street-facing walls that are difficult to see in a single photograph. Use the Line tool to draw edges that subdivide a face. Using Street View imagery The easiest way to apply a photo-texture to the side of your building model is to use imagery from Street View in Google Maps. Of course, your building must be visible in Street View for this to work. Refer to Where is Street View? to see if it's there. If it isn't, you'll need to use your own photos for geo-modeling. Refer to Using Street View images to photo-texture buildings for more information. Using your own photos You can use almost any photograph as a photo texture in SketchUp. If possible, the best approach is to take your own pictures. Refer to Taking pictures for geo-modeling for advice on what kind of pictures you should take. If you aren't able to photograph the building yourself, you can sometimes find images of well-know buildings online (just make sure you're allowed to use them). Searching on Google Images is a good place to start. Note: After you've taken (or otherwise obtained) photos of your building, you need to optimize them for use as photo textures in SketchUp. Refer to Optimizing photos for geo-modeling for information on file format, cropping, resolution and file size. Follow these steps to apply photographs to flat faces in your model as photo textures:

1. Use the Orbit tool to orient your model so that you can see the face you want to photo-texture.

2. Choose File > Import... from the menu. The Import dialog box opens. 3. Choose All Supported Image Types from the Files of Type (Windows) or Formats

(Mac) drop-down list. 4. Locate the image file you want to use as a photo-texture. 5. Make sure the Use As Texture radio button (Windows) or drop-down list option (Mac) is

selected. 6. Click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac). The Import dialog box closes and the image is

"loaded" onto the tip of your cursor. 7. Click once on the lower-left corner of the face you want to photo-texture. 8. Click once on the upper-right corner of the same face. Your photo texture is applied.

Stretching a photo texture to make it look right In most cases, you need to position (stretch) your new photo texture so it fits the face to which it's been applied. You use SketchUp's (mostly hidden) Position Texture feature to do this. Follow these steps to stretch a photo texture after it has been applied to a face:

1. Choose Tools > Select to activate the Select tool. 2. Right-click on the face with the photo texture you want to correct and choose Texture >

Position from the context menu. 3. Right-click on the face again and choose (uncheck) Fixed Pins to switch to Free Pin

Mode. You should see four yellow push-pins – one on each corner of your photograph. 4. Click once on the lower-right pin to "pick it up". Be careful not to click and drag. 5. Click to "put down" the pin at the point on the photo that you'd like stretch to the lower-

right corner of the face. 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each of the other three yellow pins. Use them to define the

corners of the photo texture you'd like to see stretched to the corners of the face. 7. Click down on a pin and drag it to its corresponding corner. The photo should distort as

you move the pin. If it doesn't, make sure you're holding down the mouse button as you drag.

8. Repeat step 7 for each of the other three pins. 9. Right-click on the face and choose Done from the context menu.

H) Geo-modeling roofs Painting a color image onto your roof Whether your building has a flat or a sloped roof, you should follow these steps to photo-texture your roof using the color image in your geo-location snapshot:

1. Choose Tools > Paint Bucket to activate the Paint Bucket tool. 2. Hold down Alt (Windows) or Command (Mac) to turn your cursor into an eyedropper,

then click on the color image in your snapshot to 'load' the texture into the Paint Bucket tool.

3. Click on each of your building's top faces to photo-texture them with the color image in your snapshot.

See image Modeling flat roofs If the building you're modeling has a flat roof, you're in luck. All you need to do is photo-texture it with the same color image you applied to your geo-location snapshot, and you're done. Go through the steps in 'Painting a color image onto your roof' above, then move on to the next article. Modeling sloped roofs If your building has a sloped roof, you're in for a little more work. Modeling sloped roofs takes some practice, and since there are so many types and shapes of sloped roof in existence, detailed instructions for modeling your specific roof can be difficult to find. One method is to trace the ridges and valleys of your roof, then use the Move tool to 'pop' it up into a 3D form. Refer to Geo-modeling roofs: the Pop-Up method for instructions on using this technique to model your sloped roof. I) Adjusting your building's position on the terrain You need to make sure your building is sitting correctly on its site. If it's floating in the air, sunken into the ground, or shifted sideways, it won't be accepted in the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth when you submit it. Before you begin, follow these steps to make your building into a single group:

1. Right-click on your Google Earth snapshot and verify that it's locked. 2. Press Control-A (Windows) or Command-A (Mac) on your keyboard to select

everything in your SketchUp file (except your snapshot). 3. Choose Edit > Make Group from the menu to turn your building into a single group.

Adjusting horizontal position You might need to adjust your building's sideways position on the snapshot. For tall buildings, it's common to base your model on the roof instead of on the base. Where the two don't line up, adjustment is necessary. Follow these steps to fine-tune your building's horizontal position on the Google Earth snapshot:

1. Choose Camera > Standard Views > Top. 2. Choose Camera > Parallel Projection to turn off perspective. 3. Choose Tools > Move to activate the Move tool. 4. Move your building into the correct location on the snapshot. You might need to zoom in

and out to get a better view of what you're doing. 5. Choose Camera > Perspective to turn perspective back on.

Adjusting vertical position Follow these steps to adjust your building's vertical position on the Google Earth snapshot:

1. Use the Orbit tool to view your building from the side. 2. Choose Tools > Google Earth > Toggle Terrain from the menu. Your snapshot

becomes 3D and reverts to its black-and-white imagery. 3. Use the Select tool to select your building group. 4. Choose Tools > Move to activate the Move tool.

5. Off to the side of your building, somewhere in midair, click once to start moving your model.

6. Tap the Up Arrow on your keyboard to lock yourself in the blue (vertical) direction. 7. Move your building up (or down) until it's intersecting correctly with the 3D snapshot.

You may need to switch to the Orbit tool mid-move to get a good view of what you're doing.

8. Click again to stop moving your building. Correcting terrain issues Sometimes, you need to make alterations to your model in order for it to sit properly on the snapshot. When the 3D terrain from Google Earth isn't completely accurate, buildings (especially ones that are sited on hills) often have one end that's floating and another end that's buried too far underground. The best solution to this problem is to create a small amount of 'custom' terrain to accompany your model. Refer to Creating terrain for geo-models for instructions on how to proceed. J) Previewing your building in Google Earth You need to preview your model to make sure it will appear the way you expect it to after you submit it for inclusion in the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. Go through this step carefully to ensure that your building will be accepted.

1. In SketchUp, choose File > Preview in Google Earth to export your model to Google Earth on your computer. Google Earth becomes your active application, and your model appears on the terrain in the location you specified.

2. In Google Earth, inspect your model to make sure it looks the way you expect it to. Refer to Google Earth Acceptance Criteria for a list of things to look for.

3. If anything about your model looks like it might be a problem, go back to SketchUp and do your best to fix it. When you're done, repeat steps 1 and 2 above to preview your model again.

Note: At this point, the model you've placed in Google Earth is visible only on your computer – no one else can see it. In order to make it publicly-visible, you need to upload it to the Google 3D Warehouse. K) Uploading your geo-model to the Google 3D Warehouse The Google 3D Warehouse is a vast online repository of user-created 3D models. In order to submit your building for consideration by the folks who moderate Google Earth's 3D Buildings layer, you need to upload it to the 3D Warehouse. Note: The maximum file size for uploaded 3D Warehouse models is 10MB. If your SketchUp file is larger than this, you won't be able to upload it. Refer to Optimizing a SketchUp model for Google Earth for advice on slimming down your file. Follow these steps to upload your building to the Google 3D Warehouse:

1. Use SketchUp's Camera tools (Orbit, Pan and Zoom) to frame a view of your building. This view will be the thumbnail image for your model in the 3D Warehouse. Note that the Google Earth snapshot won't appear in the image; you can ignore it when composing your view.

2. Choose File > 3D Warehouse > Share Model. A "Sign in" page appears. Note: You must have a Google Account to upload models to the 3D Warehouse. Click Create an account now to create a new Google Account.

Note: Your Google Account login information is the same as your login for any Google product, including iGoogle, Gmail, Picasa Web Albums and Google Docs. Note: You are already signed into a Google Account if the "Upload your model to 3D Warehouse" page appears instead of the Sign in page. The name of the account appears at the top-right of the page. You can sign out of that account and sign in to a different account if you like. If you do, click the back arrow in the upper-left corner to return to the "Upload your model to 3D Warehouse" page.

3. Enter your Google Account username and password in the relevant fields. Note: If you signed up for 2-step verification, the first time you sign in, you'll you need to enter an application-specific password in place of your regular account password. You can generate an application-specific password on your Authorizing applications and sites page.

4. Click Sign In. The Sign in page closes and the "Upload your model to 3D Warehouse" page is displayed.

5. Fill in the form (see below). 6. Click Upload to upload your model to the Google 3D Warehouse. Your model is

uploaded and the 3D Warehouse Model Details page appears. Here are some suggestions for filling out the 3D Warehouse submission form:

• Use a descriptive title. If your building has a name, use that. If it doesn't, describe it by its function or street address.

• Provide a good description. Descriptions should include any information about the model that might be useful to anyone viewing it. You might add historical information, the date the building was completed, notes about the architecture, and so on.

• Be sure to include tags. Tags are keywords or short phrases that describe your model. Tags make models easier to find during a search. Try to anticipate what terms searchers might use to find your model. Separate each tag with a comma (,)

• If you can, fill in the address. Doing so makes it easier for other modelers to find your building when they need it.

• Google Earth Ready. Make sure this checkbox is selected; if it isn't, your building won't be considered for inclusion in Google Earth.

• Website. Fill in the 'website' field if you have a web page that contains more information about your model.

• Logo. Click on the 'Add a logo' link if there is a logo image, such as a company logo, to associate with your model.

• Select the Allow anyone to view this model and see it in search results if you want everyone to be able to view and download your model. You can specify who can view your model if you do not select this checkbox.

• Select the Show list of links for containing collections to display a list of collections that contain this model.

• Select the Allow 3D warehouse users to contact me about this model to display a "Contact" button on your model's details page allowing others to contact you.

After you upload your building Keep checking the bottom part of your model's Details page on the 3D Warehouse. When you're logged into the Google Account you used to upload, you'll see updates on your model's status. Good luck!