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=rkWO...v9FM39QHaE1ZaU

[mic-d]

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