PhotoSketch is a photo-centric urban 3D modeling plugin for Google SketchUp. Three tutorial videos are presented below to demonstrate the versatilty of PhotoSketch. A full description of this tutorial is available in the user manual.
NEW PROJECT / CAMERA POSE RECOVERY / FLOOR ALIGNMENT In the first video show below, a tutorial is presented describing how to set up a new project in PhotoSketch. We show how PhotoSketch proceeds to extract and match geometric features derived from a collection of overlapping photos of an urban scene. This is used to perform camera pose recovery in which the positions and orientations of the cameras that acquired the photos is computed. The
purpose of this stage is to infer where the photographer was standing
in the scene so that the resulting image can be properly projected onto
the created 3D model. Modeling is enhanced by using these projected images as tracing paper upon which the user can sketch the footprint of
the model. In this manner, we use these images as visual cues for standard SketchUp
extrusion and taper operations.
2D FOOTPRINT SKETCHING / EXTRUSION
In the next video, a tutorial is presented describing how to use the SketchUp interface along with an extended set of PhotoSketch plugin tools to build 3D models. The PhotoSketch workflow requires the user to draw 2D rectangular footprints directly on the calibrated photo. These footprints are then extruded to embed 3D volumes directly into the 2D scene photos. The photos thereby serve as visual cues as well as textures that are projected onto the extruded geometry to produce photorealistic 3D urban models.
TAPER / REFINEMENT / ADVANCED TEXTURE MAPPING
The next video describes how to use the SketchUp interface along with an extended
set of PhotoSketch plugin tools to build 3D models. This video segment
focuses on the use of extrusion, taper, and advanced texture mapping tools.