fastest easiest way to 3d model my house

[mic-d]

I want to model some extensions to my home (open carport, pergola) and want the utility of a 3d model showing a simple model of the house (no fenestration needed for example) and the profile of the block. I haven't used Sketchup for a few years but I am familiar with it and can do a brute force model from measurements, but not sure how to model the land profile. I wondered if there is a cheap or free photogrammetry app that might help. How do draughts people get this info into a computer model?

[ForeverYoung]

I want to model some extensions to my home (open carport, pergola) and want the utility of a 3d model showing a simple model of the house (no fenestration needed for example) and the profile of the block. I haven't used Sketchup for a few years but I am familiar with it and can do a brute force model from measurements, but not sure how to model the land profile. I wondered if there is a cheap or free photogrammetry app that might help. How do draughts people get this info into a computer model?
try your local council website.
mine has a map link, used to be NearMaps, then it was Intramaps, but now is something else, called Experience I think
anyway you can map your property with boundaries, contours etc.
even draw dimensions on it, eg distance a structure is from a boundary etc.
once, when I was at the Council Offices they even printed it out for me on A3

[mic-d]

Thanks I had a look at that on our council site but it's not what I'm chasing. I checked on Google Earth 3D and that data is what I need but it is possibly too low resolution of my site to be useful and the programs I need to import it into (Blender for one) I can't run on my old mac. I will possibly have to bite the bullet and make it from scratch in Sketch up, but not sure how to input elevation data to plot the profile of the land.

[ErrolFlynn]

I used this https://www.sweethome3d.com/ maybe about 10 years or so ago. I was initially impressed but the feeling wore off quickly. Perhaps it has been improved over time. It was a cheap version of what we see in Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs TV shows.

[ForeverYoung]

I used this https://www.sweethome3d.com/ maybe about 10 years or so ago. I was initially impressed but the feeling wore off quickly. Perhaps it has been improved over time. It was a cheap version of what we see in Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs TV shows.

yep, I used that one years ago too.
simple to use but limited to floorplans and walls from what I remember
Don't think you could do rooflines? or split levels? so elevations would be out.

I tried SkecthUp which had a much bigger learning curve but better features, don't remember you being able to map ground contours onto it tho, but wouldn't be surprised you could manually input them somehow, maybe via floor elevations?

as OP said there a few ways to get the source data but automating it might be another issue.

[mic-d]

Think it would be easy if I had Sketchup up and running on my computer, which I don't anymore and the free web version can't do it. But it seems pretty easy to import a line drawing of my block boundaries and the outline of the house plan view and push up a basic house model and in the sandbox it'd be pretty straightforward to create a basic terrain and use the height data points I could derive from a bunch of laser level measurements. I've seen tutes using heightmapper data and downloaded a file but I don't think the data is as granular as I could get by measuring it myself. If anybody who sees this post and thinks they could do it I'd like to talk to you!

[ErrolFlynn]

I've used FreeCAD. I've found it difficult, but I liked the precision it offered. With your experience with Sketchup, you may find FreeCAD has something to offer.

Here are a couple of videos that demonstrate how it may be useful. The first shows it being used to place a road on a landscape. That may be similar to placing a building on a landscape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfwsqH8Tg_U and the second demonstrates some basics and some architectural examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkWOFQ2fGZQ&list=PLmKdGVtV5Vnt2cj4IZIv9FM39QHaE1ZaU

[mic-d]

Thanks for those YT links I'll go check them out

[mic-d]

I got stuck into FreeCad 1.0 and did a bunch of tutorials. The learning curve is indeed steep but not vertical. I've managed to knock up a pretty good parametric model of the house and once I input a point cloud I will be able to model the terrain and then I can look to model the additions I want. The starting point was a very old but reasonably accurate line drawing of the block and house outline. I created the slabs from the lines of the outline but gave them the exact measurements and it overlayed very well with the simple drawing. So I have the model positioned on the block and the corners of the boundary which will be good enough for what I need to do.
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[havabeer69]

I got stuck into FreeCad 1.0 and did a bunch of tutorials. The learning curve is indeed steep but not vertical. I've managed to knock up a pretty good parametric model of the house and once I input a point cloud I will be able to model the terrain and then I can look to model the additions I want. The starting point was a very old but reasonably accurate line drawing of the block and house outline. I created the slabs from the lines of the outline but gave them the exact measurements and it overlayed very well with the simple drawing. So I have the model positioned on the block and the corners of the boundary which will be good enough for what I need to do.
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Nice work

[ErrolFlynn]

point cloud

I presume that is a data representation of the landscape surrounding your house. Topographic data. The lines we see on maps that show altitude. I'd be interested in how you'll be doing that aspect of your project. Most topographic maps are not particularly detailed; even large scale maps.

If you have surveyers skills and equipment presumably you could assemble the data yourself.

There's probably some device you can get that allows you to walk around your garden collecting latitude and longitude as well as altitude, but whether GPS satellites would provide suitable accuracy may be an issue.

[mic-d]

I presume that is a data representation of the landscape surrounding your house. Topographic data. The lines we see on maps that show altitude. I'd be interested in how you'll be doing that aspect of your project. Most topographic maps are not particularly detailed; even large scale maps.

If you have surveyers skills and equipment presumably you could assemble the data yourself.

There's probably some device you can get that allows you to walk around your garden collecting latitude and longitude as well as altitude, but whether GPS satellites would provide suitable accuracy may be an issue.

Initially I intended to grid the block and use my laser level or a one-man water level to get exact topographic data. It wouldn't be too hard since the block is small and I can grid off house features such as run lines perpendicular and parallel to the house. You actually don't need many points to make B-splines that are good enough. Here is a link to YT tutorial that shows how to do it this way. https://youtu.be/s19VNCrzhCg?si=xsZp3KI4Rh1KwUP8

An architect friend said that online data (500mm contour lines) are good enough for a first hit so I have done this first. I found my address on the city council map and displayed the contour data, saved the map as a pdf and imported it into FreeCAD, scaled it and overlaid it on my old line drawing image that I used to get the house orientation on the block originally. Then I made B-splines from the contour lines and converted them to a surface. I followed this tutorial (well I didn't exactly because I have an error I'm trying to sort out when doing the truncations). Also the surface calculations has some artefacts so I have to modify some parameters or the B-splines) https://youtu.be/NF_OpRIr7zY?si=DskHlmlY1Xpd566n

The contours give the lay of the land. Obviously the actual site data would be better because it accounts for earthworks that have been done

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[ErrolFlynn]

A couple of interesting videos. You seem to be on your way.

It's good that you got some info from the Council. I wondered if a laser level would be useful if you wanted very precise data. If you went down that road, I imagine it could be a time-consuming task. I fancy that plotting the grid might be difficult, too, if the block is undulating. Paint markers on the ground, perhaps; where you place your measuring staff.