Learn tips for exporting your 3D AutoCAD design into Google Earth faster, better, and more efficiently!
Productivity is one of the most important factors in the workflow of a company. This way you can offer better services, have satisfied customers and win more contracts. For this reason, in this tutorial, you are going to learn how to optimize the process of your 3D drawing exports, from AutoCAD or BricsCAD, into Google Earth. Especially in large designs, the tips described below, for example, can even reduce the export time by around three times or more.
The tips are quite simple, can easily be implemented in any design, and are the following three:
Tip 1: Define your Elements as Blocks
Tip 2: Group Objects into Single Model
Tip 3: Export your Drawing in Parts
Tip 4: How to Export Heavy Drawings Including Multiple Types of Objects
For this tutorial, we will use as an example a project with 625 photovoltaic solar panels (presented in the picture below). This means that our design is quite "heavy" and Google Earth cannot easily handle its export.
Tip 1: Define your Elements as Blocks
One of the most common mistakes when creating a 3D model that is consisted of various elements (lines, circles, 3D solids, etc) is to repeat this design throughout the drawing with a simple copy/paste. This way when exporting it, Google Earth is forced to render these repeated models over and over again from the beginning, as Plex-Earth cannot recognize their similarity and instruct Google Earth respectively.
For this reason, it is suggested to create a block from the elements of this model, in this example of the photo-voltaic panel, and subsequently copy-paste the block along the area. As a plus, AutoCAD will also perform better.
Tip 2: Group Objects into Single Model
Now, in order for Google Earth to recognize that these models are the same and render the block only one time and repeat it along with the different coordinates, the drawing must be exported as a single model. Differently, each block is rendered from the start and consequently, the export time increases. How much important this setting is can be seen in the time comparisons below.
Export time as single model with blocks: 4:11 minutes
KML size: 1,79 Mb
Export time as not a single model with blocks: 4:50 hours
KML size: 250 Mb
Export time as single model with separate elements: 6:59 hours
KML size: 212 Mb
Tip 3: Export your Drawing into Parts
The final tip is for very large drawings where, because of their size, the resulting KML/KMZ file is too large, causing Google Earth to slow down significantly or even hang.
In this case, the best solution is to divide your drawing into various parts and export each one separately. You can either choose different groups of objects or export different drawing layers individually if elements are grouped well in this way.
Although the process will still be time-consuming here, it will make the export possible and you will then be able to activate each KML/KMZ file individually in Google Earth, having control over the load you assign to it.
Tip 4: How to Export Heavy Drawings in General Including Multiple Types of Objects
In some cases, you will have to deal with large drawings containing multiple parts, either 2D or 3D. In these situations is preferable to follow the process below:
- If the drawing consists of a lot of blocks, explode them until you separate the drawing into more simple parts.
- After exploding the blocks into simple parts, choose one of the repeating objects and use "Select Similar"
Then select to export as 2D or 3D, depending on the type of the object. You can choose to hide the objects after exporting them to help you.
In case of 3D exports please give them some time to load in Google Earth
-Repeat for all the types of objects and proceed with multiple exports.
You can see the above process briefly in the following video:
Keep in mind that each drawing may need a different approach depending on what type of software is created. You can always contact us at support@plexscape.com to help you with your export.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above, when exporting large designs, three things should be taken into consideration. One, to define the models that are repeated as blocks, two to export everything as a single model, and finally three, when needed, to divide the drawing into parts. This way more time can now be spent on designing and not waiting in front of a computer. And we are pretty sure that this is something your customers and colleagues will like.
We hope that you have found these tips to optimally export solar farm projects to Google Earth, helpful. Feel free to contact us at support@plexscape.com for any questions you may still have.
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Compatibility includes:
AutoCAD Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
Civil 3D® Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
AutoCAD Architecture Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
BricsCAD Pro: V23 , V22 , V21