Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual

Shooting Photos for Photo Match

You use SketchUp's Photo Match feature to help you draw a three-dimensional model using a two-dimensional photograph as a reference tool. It's not surprising that some photos work better than others. For example, a photo taken with an extremely wide angle lens may be so distorted that straight lines appear to be curved. Not helpful. If the object you want to recreate in three dimensions is very small in a photo, you may not have enough useful detail. That's often the case in photos where a building isn't the main subject. To get the best results when taking photographs for Photo Match, you need to shoot carefully and follow these guidelines:

• Keep in mind that you want to be able to identify the blue, green, and red axes within the photo.

• Photo Match works best with models that have parallel lines, like buildings with rectangular windows. SketchUp can use these lines to determine the perspective or focal length of the camera view. Roof lines may work well depending on how the roof relates to the face of the building's walls. The line where a building meets the ground is often uneven, so it's not much use.

• Shoot the building from the corner so that you can see two faces of the building. Ideally you want that corner to be in the center of the photo.

• Shoot with a normal-view lens to avoid distortion, like the equivalent of a 50mm lens on a 35mm film camera. Don't zoom in to a telephoto view or zoom way out to a wide angle or fisheye view.

• Get close enough ...