Google Building Maker Review

Google [GOOG] have created Google Building Maker which is a program that allows you to create 3D buildings for Google Earth.

By using this software you become part of a world wide team that is creating a virtual planet a single building at a time (although you don’t get paid, it’s all done with a passion for wanting to create something cool).

To get the software you need to load up the Google Building Maker page (link above) and click to download a 3D plugin the loads right up in your browser. After that you are presented with a map (see image above) where you can zoom right in to where you want to start designing. The problem here is that not all places have good enough imagery, so the other options you have is to find a place that does, or use one of the suggested locations that Google lists.

Once a location is selected, you are presented with the following page where you see eight angles from above to let you more easily align the buildings.

Now that you are ready to build you can start picking building shapes to work with that can be found the top right of the page. First off, select a viewing angle then select a shape and drag the corners to match the corners of the building. Once done you pick another angle and drag the corners to get them to match up on a different axis, then repeat for all angles of images. Once done, you then pick other objects to define the shape of the building such as a gable end and repeat the process as seen below…

Although the process can be a little time consuming, I do have to admit that it’s quite relaxing and a way to spend an hour without realising where the time just went. Due to my lack of time today I was only able to spend a few moments creating this and as you can see, google has attempted to skin my feeble attempt at the bottom corner of the building, but I think with a bit of extra work I could easily get some decent results.

Via: RedFerret