Applying georeferenced drone image to site model

[J. Wallace]

Hello everyone. I have just imported some geoeferenced contour data, created a site model as well as importing a high resolution image. These came from a drone survey.

After watching a VW university video on Enhance site file collaboration with georeferencing I see that in VW 2020 (I'm using VW Landmark 2022)you can place a georeferenced image onto a site model.

In the video example the image was downloaded using an ArchGIS service.

I'm hoping to simply place my drone image onto the site model but I don't see any information on this.

I'm assuming that this should be possible.

I appreciate any feedback anyone might have.

Thanks

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by J. Wallace

[Jeff Prince]

@J. Wallace

 I believe the only practical way to do this is with a texture applied to the site model.  Fortunately, your aerial image matches the extents of your topo model, so that makes this easy so things line up correctly.  You just have to set the texture size to match the real world length of your site model for it to work nicely.  I'm trying to upload a screenshot for you, but the website is rejecting it...

 

 

[Jeff Prince]

Here we go.  The length of my topo model in the long direction is 450' in this case.  So, I made a non repeating texture with the long edge of the image = to 450 and then applied it to my site model as shown.  I'm working with units = Feet on this project just for reference.  In an ideal world, Vectorworks would give you a simple method for using our own aerial photography (not hosted on a GIS server) within the site model settings instead of doing this hack method.

 

[J. Wallace]

Thanks very much @jeff prince. When I posted this question I thought you might be the one who could/would answer it.

I'll give it a go tomorrow morning and post the results.

Thanks again. 😀

[Jeff Prince]

52 minutes ago, J. Wallace said:

Thanks very much @jeff prince. When I posted this question I thought you might be the one who could/would answer it.

I'll give it a go tomorrow morning and post the results.

Thanks again. 😀

Happy to be of service 😉

[J. Wallace]

@jeff prince thanks again. After some fiddling around I got it to work.

[Phillip Tripp]

I am running into the same situation and I too can fiddle around to get it to work using the texture/scale/adjust settings to make it align with the model, but I was wondering if there is a more exact way to ensure it aligns.  While my fiddling around looks fine, it seems like there should be a more guaranteed set of steps for alignment if the starting image is georeferenced.  My starting point:  site model georeferenced, then aerial drone image is georeferenced, all aligns correctly.  The site model is cropped to fit the property lines which is much smaller than the provided topography linework.  The drone image is square and uses the same property line limits to also crop the aerial, so in top/plan view, the cropped site model and cropped aerial align.  Next question is what steps after this would lead to a texture image that is the right scale and auto aligns correctly without me having to adjust scale and alignment manually?  My attempt involved exporting a top/plan image, then using that as a texture image, but I was uncertain on image resolution settings, texture scale settings, etc., so I resorted to trial and error until visually it looked close enough.

[Jeff Prince]

8 minutes ago, Phillip Tripp said:

I am running into the same situation and I too can fiddle around to get it to work using the texture/scale/adjust settings to make it align with the model, but I was wondering if there is a more exact way to ensure it aligns.  While my fiddling around looks fine, it seems like there should be a more guaranteed set of steps for alignment if the starting image is georeferenced.  My starting point:  site model georeferenced, then aerial drone image is georeferenced, all aligns correctly.  The site model is cropped to fit the property lines which is much smaller than the provided topography linework.  The drone image is square and uses the same property line limits to also crop the aerial, so in top/plan view, the cropped site model and cropped aerial align.  Next question is what steps after this would lead to a texture image that is the right scale and auto aligns correctly without me having to adjust scale and alignment manually?  My attempt involved exporting a top/plan image, then using that as a texture image, but I was uncertain on image resolution settings, texture scale settings, etc., so I resorted to trial and error until visually it looked close enough.

Vectorworks has not provided a way to do this yet, so we are forced to use the texture method.  There isn’t really any “fiddling around” required, you simply make your texture the same size as your model as described earlier.  I think I posted a more detailed explanation here on another thread if you search.

[Phillip Tripp]

Thank you.  I discovered what you meant between actual distance and the texture setting box to enter that amount.  Worked like a charm after that.