Snapping your drawing's objects at an imported terrain is a very convenient visualization process. Plex-Earth can do just that for a dynamic interaction between a design and its environment.

Introduction

One of Plex-Earth's many features, is the ability to snap DWG objects at an imported terrain. This way, the designer, can have the capacity to place their object with high accuracy and have a very good understanding of their projects for their proposals.

In the following tutorial, we are going to see how we can snap an object to a terrain model, created with Plex-Earth 5. 

Step 1: Import Terrain

In case you don't have a surface to work on, luckily Plex-Earth has got you covered. Plex-Earth 5 gives you the opportunity to import great analysis terrain from our providers, Bing Maps and Mapzen, straight into AutoCAD. You can witness yourself by following the steps described here.

Step 2: Insert the object in AutoCAD

After georeferencing your drawing, go to the AutoCAD ribbon, choose the "Insert" command and click "Insert" to import your model to AutoCAD.

Alternatively, if there is already a design in the workspace, this step can be ignored.

According to the various needs, the user can specify an insertion point and choose some other settings.

In this example, the project's models are the Wind Turbines, presented below and placed in various places around the island.

Step 3: Snap Object

In the final step, the "Snap objects" command will be used, in order to snap objects to the selected terrain. 

You will then be asked to specify the target type and choose between "Surface" and "Elevation".

By choosing "Surface", the object will be snapped on top of the terrain and by choosing "Elevation", the height for the objects can manually be specified.

Following that, the terrain must be selected as well as the objects of interest that will be snapped.

Then, the anchor point must be specified, so as Plex-Earth to know which point it will use (bottom, top, origin), for placing the model on the surface. Specify and then click "Enter".

And here it is! In this case, we can visualize our Wind Turbines in their environment and investigate the area of installation.

Before

After

Step 4: Drape Image to surface

The level of visualization can further be improved in AutoCAD, by converting the imagery and terrain, into a 3D imagery. For more details, you can follow the steps described here. 

Tip: Export to Google Earth

Now that the design is finalized and the models are placed to the desired points, the drawing can also be exported to the real-life space of Google Earth. For more details, click here. 

Conclusion

Plex-Earth is the connection bridge between your designs and the real world! This way, the designers will give less effort to the project's completion, they will earn time and money and have better presentations of their proposals. Visualizing your projects at any place in the world, from the comfort of your desk, without having to travel long distances, is simply mind-blowing!

If you don't already have Plex-Earth, just download your fully-functional weekly trial now.

Feel free to contact us at support@plexscape.com for any questions you may have and don’t forget to start your free trial today.