Sebastian Sosnowski 3D Models

Geo-modeler Sebastian Sosnowski, with 114 3D models accepted to Google Earth, recently contacted me about his models for some of my collections. I noticed he had a beautiful and unique way of uploading the models with a parchment-style background. I wonder how it is done, as it is something I've never attempted.

Check it out!

Happy Mother's Day!

"Mother Nature & Co. - Saginaw, United States of America" by r-t-h

All the Buildings in New York

All the Buildings in New York from Marisa Guzman-Aloia on Vimeo.

I spotted this very cool [non-SketchUp] video about an artist who is attempting not to 3D model, but to draw, every building In New York. Sort of a parallel to the Google Earth 3D modeling project where users across the globe attempt to model every structure that exists in the world.

James Gulliver Hancock is an Australian artist based in New York. See more of his incredible project and beautiful drawings here:

http://allthebuildingsinnewyork.blogspot.com/

A Beautiful Model

Check this one out. It's by Manolo and it is one of the coolest and most unique 3D building models (and buildings) I've seen!

I have added the model to these 3D model collections: Castle, Favorite Thumbnails

Located in Slovenia. Read more.

Representin’ Tulsa

Chris Sardinas (photo by Zoungy)

Meet Chris Sardinas. Chris is one of the "super modelers" who recently attended the Google Mapper-Modeler Summit in Zurich, and a finalist in the Google Model Your Town competition.

In this article Chris describes what motivates him to be a prolific 3D modeler for Google Earth, using the town of Tulsa, Oklahoma as an example.

Why does he do it? Read on!

St. Mark's Basilica in Venice

A remarkable model of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, newly added to Google Earth by Antonino G. Video tour HERE. I have added it to these 3D model collections: Favorite Thumbnails, Place of Worship, My Favorite Models

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Auquicu, aka Jorge de Albertis Bettocchi of Barranco, Lima, Peru-- winner of the Google Model Your Town Competition!

The Barranco school district will receive a $10,000 donation from Google as a result of Jorge's winning town model, chosen by a public vote.

See the collection of his town models HERE. Read the Google blog announcement HERE. Congratulations to the four runners up whose really cool town models serve to inspire as well.

Photo of Jorge is from the Google SketchUp website.

Footloose Part 2

Recently I wrote about a new, automatic feature in Google Earth that helps keep your building models aligned to the ever-shifting and updating satellite imagery beneath it.

Sometimes you may get a message on your model preview page in the 3D Warehouse which reads, "Google Earth imagery has been updated. Please check your building position and update as required."

London Bridge Is In... Arizona?

You learn something new every day. Today I discovered that the famous London Bridge ("London Bridge is falling down") is in Arizona. That's right. At least, one of them is. Allow me to explain.

Footloose

The engineers at Google have come up with a great new idea-- automatic re-adjustment of your building model's footprint to match the updated Google Earth imagery! See the joyous announcement HERE.


Now there will (hopefully) be no more fooling around with this pesky problem of slipping imagery and crooked footprints!

NEW Earth View in Google Maps Features Models

Bruce Polderman of Google has posted an article about the new "Earth View" feature in Google Maps.

Now explorers have the option of using an embedded 3D view of Google Earth right inside Google Maps.

Also included are the 3D models created by many of you. Some of them are even featured for the launch in the left-hand side bar (maybe yours?). Click on them for a tour, and click on the creator's name to launch a new window featuring their other work.

De Belles Maisons De Cathy

De Belles Maisons De Cathy

If you look regularly at the Google 3D Warehouse, you may have lately noticed a beautiful series of maisons appearing there, all the creation of modeler Cathy Tritschler of France, and all beaux modèles!

Cathy is one of my SketchUp 'pen pals' and I thought I would showcase some of the beautiful work she is doing here. Then, if you care to see more, visit her collection right HERE.

Did I get the French right?

Wouldn't THIS Make a Great Model?

Gas station in Melrose, Louisiana in 1940. See the original high definition image (and thousands of other high definition photographs) HERE on my favorite historic photo blog, www.shorpy.com.

Photos like these would be a great starting point for those interested in a "historic buildings layer" on Google Earth-- or for people who simply want to model cool old places.

I wonder what's there now?

Modelers Run Amok in Zurich

One very late night at the 2010 Mapper Modeler Summit in Zurich, someone suggested we wake at 6:00 am to shoot pictures in Old Town for making 3D building models.

Amazingly, everyone agreed. On the following crisp, sunny Tuesday morning crazy 3D modelers met at the Münsterbrücke for this purpose, just below the statue of Bürgermeister Waldmann.

It may have been quite early, but those sets of photos turned into 3D magic. Check out this collection to see what I mean!

YES WE CAN... Model Our Towns

Don't forget to cast your vote in the most important election of the month! Well, one of the most important at least. It's time for the public (you) to choose your favorite town in the Google Model Your Town Competition!

TEN THOUSAND dollars ($10000) are at stake, which will go to the winning town's public school district. So...vote! Do it before May 1, when polls close.

Labor of Love

Check out the video below. Modeler Tobias Merk (who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Zurich Mapper-Modeler Summit two weeks ago) created a model of his hometown train station to a pleasing level of detail, and also a video tour.

I've added this model to the 3D model collection Golden Age of Rail.

Take a Walk On the Wild Side of Modeling

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!

Gipuzkoa3d has uploaded another great video of the work being done in San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain, by himself and others. It looks so real. Check it out!

And then probably you'll be wanting to check out the models in Google Earth to see if they really look that good (they do).

Why Do You Model?

We'll discuss this in Zurich at the Mapper Modeler Conference next week, and I may give a brief presentation too. I invite anyone to respond in the comments section about their own motivations.

Mine are varied. I have interests in history, buildings, photography, art, puzzles, modeling. About five years ago I realized SketchUp was a new "toy" with which I could combine all those interests.

3D Building Models Enhanced in Google Earth

I just noticed this post at the Google Lat Long Blog.

Apparently, the models we make in Google Earth now feature a new, pop-up "balloon" design, featuring photos of nearby places and links to what's nearby. Click on a link and it takes you to a second balloon that includes sponsored links (Google Ads).

SittingDuck's Masterpiece

Check it out:

SittingDuck has this to say about this model:

It's a small chapel in Brussels.  More than a year ago I modeled it in the traditional way.  Now a few weeks ago I remade it in Building Maker.  Now I decided to take the best of both worlds.  It took me about 8 hours in total, but I manually combined the photos I took with the Building Maker textures, and very painstakingly corrected all the geometry flaws in the model.  You can see that the colors and shading are still unified, but the textures have increased many times in sharpness/detail.

Cool stuff.