HOW TO RIP GOOGLE EARTH MODELS**********************************************************
This method is working up to the 20th of May 2022. Any future updates of the Google Chrome Browser &/or Google Earth may prevent accessing the model data.
I have adapted this tutorial to suit beginner to intermediate users so if I explain something that may seem ridiculously obvious to some, others may struggle with such concepts & processes so please feel free to skip ahead to what you're after as I've broken down & categorised each group step of the process.
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VIDEOS:
Part 1 of 3 - Ripping Google Earth 3D Models - Capturing Model Data
Part 2 of 3 - Ripping Google Earth 3D Models - Import into Blender
Part 3 of 3 - Ripping Google Earth 3D Models - Import into 3ds Max & Fine-Tune
WHAT YOU NEED:
1. A sturdy PC with a decent internet connection!!! - Can get resource intensive the more model data you accumulate. Was demonstrated using Windows 10 x64, so purely on that basis, I would recommend using the same as the processes have not being tested on any other operating system.
2. Google Chrome Browser (Current version) - The desktop browser updates automatically.
3. RenderDoc 1.13 [VERSION SPECIFIC] - To capture the 3D model data. Versions later than this will not work as the feature
'Inject into Process' has been removed.)
4. Blender 2.93.9 LTS [VERSION SPECIFIC] - To edit &/or export RenderDoc captured model data to another modelling 3D application)
5. Maps Model Importer 0.4.1 [VERSION SPECIFIC] - Blender Addon to import RenderDoc capture data.)
6. 3ds Max (OPTIONAL) - 2016 onwards recommended.
LINKS:Google Chrome Browser: www.google.com.au/chrome/Google Earth (Web version):earth.google.com/web/ RenderDoc 1.13
renderdoc.org/builds#stableBlender 2.93 LTS www.blender.org/download/releases/2-93/Maps Model Importer 0.4.1
github.com/eliemichel/MapsModelsImporter/archive/refs/tags/v0.4.1-rc1.zipAutodesk 3ds Max
www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/free-trial ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEPS A - SETTING UP CHROME FOR RENDERDOC1. Once all required programs are downloaded & installed
(Maps Model Importer 0.4.1 not required for now), right click the Google Chrome browser shortcut on your desktop & select
'Open File Location'.
2. Chrome's installed directory opens up. Right click on the
'chrome.exe' file & select
'Send to' --> 'Desktop (Create Shortcut)'.
3. Go to your desktop & locate the shortcut you just created & right click
'Properties'. Within the
'Shortcut' tab, go to the
'Target' field & paste the code below, click 'Apply' & close:
***If you have installed Chrome elsewhere other than the default directory, change the path accordingly.***
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "SET RENDERDOC_HOOK_EGL=0 && START "" ^"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe^" --disable-gpu-sandbox --gpu-startup-dialog" *** Your new Google Chrome shortcut icon should change to a command prompt icon.
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STEPS B - ENABLE CHROME & RENDERDOC LINK4. Start up Chrome by double clicking on your modified shortcut. The browser will freeze with a PID number popup notification:
'Google Chrome GPU' - 'GPU starting with PID: eg:12345'
***The PID number changes every time you start Chrome via the modified shortcut5. Take note of the PID number & open up RenderDoc.
Go to 'File' --> 'Inject into Process'. The Inject tab opens up. Type the PID number into the tabs bottom field. In the results window above, 'chrome.exe' shows as assigned to the PID number. Double click on the result & a new tab opens up
'chrome [PID 12345])'. The capture buttons are not active at this stage.
6. Go back to Chrome browser & click
'OK' on the Chrome PID number popup from earlier. Back on RenderDoc, the capture buttons should become active & the
'Connection Status' to the left should state
'Established'. Change the
'Capture After Delay' from
'0 secs' to 5.
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STEPS C - CAPTURE GOOGLE EARTH MODEL DATA ***In your Chrome browser you should have a RenderDoc Data displaying on the top left of the screen7. Go to
google.com/earth. Once there, on the left click on the magnifying glass button to search for a location. Today we are visiting Lower Manhattan NYC!
8. Once at the desired location, get familiar the navigational control shortcuts as you will need it for efficiency when capturing etc. As well as '3D/2D' mode & '+/-' (Zoom In/Out) buttons on the bottom right on the screen. Find the mouse shortcuts below:
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Google Earth Mouse Navigation:
Mouse Wheel = Zoom.
Left Mouse Button =
Pan.
Middle Mouse Button = Move left/right = Rotate; Move up/down = Tilt.
Right mouse button = Smart zoom/Rotate/Tilt. (Move up/down = Zoom; Move left/right = Rotate; when close to the ground = Auto Tilt)
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***You will notice while moving around, zooming in & out on specific locations, the 3D model definition increases, loading more detail the closer you get to a specific point & decreases the further you are from it. We want to capture the highest detail possible. The drawbacks of photogrammetry is that dark/shadowed & ground details are compromised & lack definition for eg: shadowed sides of buildings/vehicles & ground objects. Essentially not everything will be perfect but the more detail the better!9. Once at the your first capture location, using
'3D' mode, rotate around & zoom into your object/area as close as possible to load all of the detail. Switch to
'2D' mode & set your scale using
'+/-' & the Scale Bar to
'40m'
***Its important to capture all model data consistently from the same scale as two different captures will be at different scales once imported into Blender. It can be fixed but its just more work so lets keep it consistent & uniform! As a result I recommend capturing the models at a height of 40m from the ground.
***Any objects/buildings taller than the 40m scale should be captured at a higher scale, imported into Blender & rescaled manually to fit the rest of the model data captured at 40m. This can be demonstrated in another tutorial.
***The Scale Bar also updates according to where your mouse pointer is positioned on the screen, so make sure when capturing, its hovering over ground or water & NOT a large structure!
10. With your capture view in position, switch over to RenderDoc & press
'Capture After Delay:'. Switch quickly back to Chrome
(You have 5 seconds) & holding down left mouse button, using Pan, only slightly wiggle the view till 5 seconds is up. The screen will briefly freeze. In RenderDoc, an image should appear in the
'Captures Collected' window.
11. Double click on the image to load the capture. Then go to
'File' --> 'Save Capture As'. Save your RenderDoc
.rdc file.
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STEPS D - INSTALL BLENDER ADDON - MODEL MAPS IMPORTER
*** I had issues installing the blender add-on so I've added this instruction to assist others that may experience the same.
12. Open up Blender & go to
'Edit' --> 'Preferences' --> 'Add-ons' button. - At the top click 'Install' & navigate to the 'Model Maps Importer 0.4.1.zip file you downloaded previously. If
'Enable Add-ons Only' is checked, it should show on the list of add-ons. If it does not, uncheck it and look for the name amongst the greyed out list. Once you find it, check it & it should now display in the enabled add-ons list. Close down Preferences & it should also show amongst the list of importers when you go to:
'File' --> 'Import' --> 'Google Maps Capture' (.rdc)'
*** If Model Maps Importer/Google Maps Capture (.rdc) is still not showing either in Add-ons or Import, then a workaround is to unzip/extract the addon-file downloaded,
copy & paste the contents into your Blender installed add-ons directory & repeat the above steps.:
C:\ //WHERE YOU INSTALLED BLENDER// \blender-2.93.9-windows-x64\2.93\scripts\addons
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STEPS E - IMPORT RENDERDOC CAPTURED DATA INTO BLENDER13. Go to 'File' --> 'Import' --> 'Google Maps Capture' (.rdc)' & navigate to where you saved your RenderDoc
.rdc capture file, double click on it & wait for it to load.
It can take awhile to load the file depending on the capture size/content. Eventually your captured model data will appear in the Blender viewport(s). You can delete what mesh parts you don't want or keep as is.
For more info on how to use Blender, please visit:
docs.blender.org/
***From this point onwards is purely optional depending on your needs or preferences. If you'd prefer to stay in Blender, edit & add to your collection of captured model data, by all means!.. though I wont be joining you unfortunately.. If you prefer to use another 3D application, the next steps are more or less universally capable whatever platform you use. From here I will be demonstrating exporting from Blender & then import & fine tune the model in 3ds Max...
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STEPS F - EXPORT TO COLLADA .DAE FORMAT 14. Press
'A' to select all of the model meshes in the viewport. Once they're all highlighted, go to
'File' --> 'Export' --> 'Collada (Default) (.dae)'.
15. Within the Collada export settings, go to the
'Geom' tab & under
'Export Data Options', uncheck
'Triangulate' (Distorts the meshes & textures). Go back to the
'Main' tab & under
'Global Orientation', change the
'Forward Axis' to 'Y' & the 'Up Axis' to 'Z'. Also check
'Apply' just above.
('Z' Up axis is native to 3ds Max). Under
'Texture Options', check
'Copy' & 'Only Selected Map'.
16. Navigate to your chosen directory & press
'Export'. The exported .dae file is now awaiting to be imported into 3ds Max.
***Collada (.dae) is recommended) &/or .obj format as it provides the option to uncheck 'Triangulate' whereas .fbx does not appear to.
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STEPS G - IMPORT INTO 3DS MAX
17.
Go to 'File' --> 'Import' --> //The .dae file you just exported from Blender//. - You are then prompted with a
'FBX Import' settings prompt window, just click
'OK'.18. Once imported, you will discover that RenderDoc also captured the 'Earth Sphere' mesh that you're presented with when opening up Google Earth for the first time. It is hovering above your captured model so it just needs to be deleted. Using marquee select by
'Left click & drag' a corner of the Earth mesh &
'Delete' it. Now press
'Z' for 'Zoom Extents' which should bring your captured model into view.
19. To further inspect the model, maximise your Perspective viewport (bottom right viewport) by pressing
'Alt+W'. Then press
'Ctrl+R' to enable
'Orbit View' mode. Hover your mouse pointer over the inside the Orbit gizmo, then
'Left click & drag' to rotate the model to your liking. You can also use 'Ctrl-P' to Pan the view & the Mouse scroll wheel to Zoom.
***For more information on how to use 3ds Max, please visit the below links:
knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/3DSMax-Basics/files/GUID-010B3CF4-0D7E-4886-8C65-BF332313D423-htm.htmlhelp.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2021/ENU/defkey.com/autodesk-3ds-max-2021-shortcuts20. Marquee select your entire model & note how many objects are selected:
RenderDoc generates duplicate meshes when capturing the model data. The duplicates are not needed & only add to the file size of your scene so they need to be deleted. Press
'T' to switch to
Top view. Position your model within the viewport so it is clear & easy to select the individual meshes. Holding down
'Ctrl' & 'Left click' each individual mesh piece of your model. Some meshes will be segmented, just make sure you select those as well as ensuring you don't select the duplicate & the exact same mesh piece you want to keep otherwise when it comes to deleting what you have selected, your model will be missing parts! - Press
'Delete' once finished selecting.
***Do not 'Ctrl+A' OR 'Marquee Select' the entire model to delete duplicate meshes otherwise you will have no model remaining!... (just in case :b)
21. Your model should look the same as before deleting the duplicate meshes.
NOW marquee select the remaining meshes & see the quantity of objects selected like shown above.. it should a lot less!.. hopefully half of what you started with but a few duplicates left behind is no biggie.
22. Now with the entire model still selected, go to
'File' --> 'Export Selected' --> //NAME YOUR FILE.fbx// - Set your directory & ensure you select
the format
'Autodesk .fbx' within the
'Save as Type' dropdown selection box. Press
'Save'. An
'FBX Export' settings window appears. Ensure
'Triangulate' is
NOT checked.. scroll down & check
'Embed Media' & select
'Baked Materials' for the
'Shell Materials' - 'Export:' dropdown selection box. Press
'OK'. Your .fbx model is now exported.
*** Embedding & baking the texture maps within the .fbx file is recommended as when dealing with so many meshes/maps/different formats from the start of this tutorial, you are left with no longer needed model data & texture maps.. It can start to take up a lot of space on your hard drive. so once you have fine tuned your model & exported the final .fbx, you have only the desired meshes & texture maps of the captured model incorporated into the one file. The rest can be deleted.
Maybe just import the .fbx back into 3ds Max & ensure it exported everything fine before deleting everything.
***.fbx is the recommended for format distribution as it supports large file sizes up to 2-4GB, depending on the FBX version. If you are planning on capturing & accumulating vast amounts of model data, I recommend it, unless you stick to native 3d application formats such as .blend or .max.
23. Now finally import your the .fbx you just created by repeating the steps
17-19. Inspect the model & make sure it is not missing any meshes or textures.. & that's it!.. You can add additional captured model data from Google Earth to your current scene by repeating all the steps!!!...
.. platform bigotry will get you nowhere 
... I use 3ds Max towards the end & is purely optional.. I'm not as fluent in Blender so I fine tune the meshes & textures in Max instead. The tutorial is aimed between beginner to intermediate users so most people on here will fly through it & just skip to what they need to know...