Plex.Earth Tools for AutoCAD®

User’s Guide

Version 2.5 - October 2011

© 2011 Plexscape. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Plexscape, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.

Trademarks PLEXSCAPE is a registered trademark of Plexscape, Inc. in E.U. and/or other countries. Plex.Earth™ is a trademark of Plexscape Inc. The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and other countries: AutoCAD, AutoCAD Learning Assistance, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Simulator, AutoCAD SQL Extension, AutoCAD SQL Interface, Autodesk, Autodesk Envision, Autodesk Intent, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Map, Autodesk MapGuide, Civil 3D, DWF, DWG, DWG (logo), DWG Extreme, DWG TrueConvert, DWG TrueView, DXF, Mechanical Desktop, TrustedDWG, Raster Design Google Earth™ is a trademark of Google Inc. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Published by: Plexscape, Inc. Konstantinoupoleos 24 142 34, Nea Ionia – Athens Greece

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1

The product ................................................................................................ 1

The User Manual ........................................................................................ 1

2. INSTALLATION ................................................................................................ 2

System Requirements ................................................................................ 2

Installation .................................................................................................. 2

Registration ................................................................................................ 2

Interface ..................................................................................................... 3

3. QUICKSTART .................................................................................................. 5

Basic Settings ............................................................................................ 5

Zooming Google Earth ............................................................................... 6

Importing Imagery ...................................................................................... 6 Mosaic .............................................................................................................................. 7 Area Image....................................................................................................................... 8

Exporting you project into Google Earth ..................................................... 9

Importing Terrain and Contours ............................................................... 10

4. FUNCTIONS IN DETAIL ................................................................................ 12

Overview .................................................................................................. 12

Working with Imagery ............................................................................... 13 Current Image ................................................................................................................ 14 Area Image..................................................................................................................... 14 Mosaic ............................................................................................................................ 14 Polygonal Mosaic ........................................................................................................... 14 Path Mosaic ................................................................................................................... 15 Align Image .................................................................................................................... 15

New Command Line Functions ................................................................ 16 PXIMGMERGE .............................................................................................................. 16

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PXIMGBORDERCLIP .................................................................................................... 17 PXIMGREPLACE ........................................................................................................... 18 PXSETSHIFT ................................................................................................................. 19 PXSETIMAGECAMERAFILE......................................................................................... 19 PXIMGWORLDEXPORT ............................................................................................... 19 PXIMGWORLDIMPORT ................................................................................................ 19

Zooming and Synchronization .................................................................. 20

Importing and Exporting ........................................................................... 21 Publish Objects .............................................................................................................. 21 Export Images ................................................................................................................ 21 Create Placemarks/Path/Polygon .................................................................................. 22 Import KML..................................................................................................................... 22 Digitize Points/Polylines/3D Polylines ............................................................................ 22

Terrain and Contours ............................................................................... 23 Terrain on Grid ............................................................................................................... 23 Terrain on Area .............................................................................................................. 23 Terrain from Current View .............................................................................................. 23 Pick Terrain from Google Earth ..................................................................................... 24 Along Objects ................................................................................................................. 24 On Points ....................................................................................................................... 24

Working with Surfaces ............................................................................. 25 Create Surface ............................................................................................................... 25 Reset Surface ................................................................................................................ 26 Build Contours ............................................................................................................... 26 Grid Volume ................................................................................................................... 26 Plane Volume ................................................................................................................. 27 Surface Labels ............................................................................................................... 27 Volume Labels ............................................................................................................... 27 Labels Settings .............................................................................................................. 27 Elevation on Points ........................................................................................................ 28 Elevation along Objects ................................................................................................. 28 Surface Inquiry ............................................................................................................... 28

5. SETTINGS ...................................................................................................... 29 File Settings ................................................................................................................... 30 Units ............................................................................................................................... 30 Images Overlap .............................................................................................................. 30 Object Segmentation ..................................................................................................... 31 Google Earth Timeouts .................................................................................................. 31 Start Plex.Earth automatically when I run AutoCAD ...................................................... 31 Terrain ............................................................................................................................ 32 Contours ......................................................................................................................... 32

6. CONNECTING TO A WEB MAP SERVER (WMS) ........................................ 35

WMS ........................................................................................................ 35

Using KMZ files ........................................................................................ 35

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Importing WMS Layers ............................................................................. 36

7. USING HELP .................................................................................................. 38

FAQ .......................................................................................................... 38

Plex.Earth Help ........................................................................................ 38

8. WHAT’S NEW IN V2.5 ................................................................................... 39

Plex.Earth 2.5 ........................................................................................... 39

Image Editing ........................................................................................... 39 PXIMGMERGE .............................................................................................................. 39 PXIMGBORDERCLIP .................................................................................................... 40 PXIMGREPLACE ........................................................................................................... 42

Automation ............................................................................................... 43 PXSETSHIFT ................................................................................................................. 43 PXSETAUTOGE ............................................................................................................ 43

Supplementary Files ................................................................................ 44 PXSETIMAGECAMERAFILE......................................................................................... 44 PXZOOMIMG ................................................................................................................. 44 PXIMGWORLDEXPORT ............................................................................................... 44 PXIMGWORLDIMPORT ................................................................................................ 44

INDEX ................................................................................................................. 45

1

Introduction

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The product Plex.Earth is an AutoCAD add-on that allows communication and data exchange with Google Earth. Using the program’s toolbox (or the ribbon tab if you are using AutoCAD 2010 or newer) the user can synchronize the two programs, import aerial imagery and terrain information into his drawings and publish his projects in Google Earth for presentation purposes, among other things.

The User Manual

This manual is divided into the following parts for easy reference:

- Part 2 will take you through the installation and user-interface aspects of the software.

- Part 3 is a quickstart guide designed to introduce you to the most popular functions of Plex.Earth.

- In Part 4 you will find a detailed presentation of every software function. - Part 5 addresses the available settings of Plex.Earth. - Part 6 shows how to connect with a Web Map Service in order to be able to

customize the aerial imagery you import by incorporating geographic and cadastre data from other resources (e.g. NASA, USGS etc).

- Part 7 presents the available options to deal with software issues and receive customer support.

- Finally, Part 8 introduces the new functions available in version 2.5 of Plex.Earth

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Installation

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System Requirements Plex.Earth works with any AutoCAD 2007 or newer version, including:

AutoCAD Civil 3D AutoCAD Map 3D AutoCAD Architecture

Plex.Earth runs on Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. However you must be aware whether you have the 32 or 64-bit version of AutoCAD and download the appropriate installer.

Installation The installation process is straightforward, unzip the contents of the package you downloaded and run setup.exe. The program will be installed under \Program Files\Plexscape and will run automatically when you start AutoCAD.

Registration If you decide to obtain a Plex.Earth license you will be supported with a license key. Go to Settings → Service Tab → Enter License Key and use that key to activate your plan.

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Interface Plex.Earth opens up in the form of a Toolbox (see Image 1) which is available in all versions of AutoCAD and as a Ribbon Tab named “Plex.Earth Tools” (Image 2) in the latest versions of AutoCAD. Which one you use is a matter of preference since both options offer exactly the same features. In the rest of this user guide we will be referencing the Toolbox since it is common for all users.

Image 1: The Plex.Earth Toolbar

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Image 2: The Plex.Earth Ribbon Tab

You can use the AutoCAD commands PLEXEARTH and PLEXRIBBON to restore the Plex.Earth Toolbox and Ribbon Tab respectively in case you remove them by accident.

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Quickstart

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Basic Settings

Presented above are the toolbar’s basic components. Before you start using the program you must set up some of them in accordance to your project’s specifications. Namely:

Zone: Select the zone in which your project is located. You can choose between individual countries (and sub-regions in the major ones) and wider areas such as continents.

Grid: The specific coordinate system that your project has been built on. If the one you are using is not supported by Plex.Earth you can contact Plexscape to add it to its list. However if your project is not based on one of the available grid options there are very few functions that can be used. (such as “Align Image”, see part 4)

Units: The default units used by Plex.Earth are meters. If your drawing uses a different metric system you must alter this by clicking on the “Settings” button and changing the appropriate field. (see Part 5)

“Overlap” is another user-defined option in the settings menu which affects the way images are tiled when you import a mosaic of them. See more in Part 4: Importing and Exporting.

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Zooming Google Earth

Typically the first thing to do after setting up Plex.Earth is to have Google Earth zoom into the area your project is located. To do this, simply use the “Synchronize Google Earth” command:

Google Earth will open automatically (if you are not using it already) and will zoom into the area displayed in your AutoCAD window. You can now proceed to survey the surrounding region and decide which parts of it you want to import into your drawing.

Importing Imagery The most popular Plex.Earth function is importing aerial imagery into your AutoCAD project. In this chapter we will go through the two basic commands shown below:

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Mosaic

Unlike Area Image which will import a single image, Mosaic lets you import a series of images to fill a specified rectangular area, creating a grid of aerial imagery, taken at the zoom level that Google Earth is currently set to.

Each image imported from Google Earth shows the program’s logos on the bottom (as well as the navigation tools on the right side if they are not deactivated). To create a smoother mosaic you can change the Overlap values in the “General” tab of “Settings” so that the imported images are positioned party on top of each other, the logos thus appearing only on the bottom row of the mosaic.

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Area Image

Use “Area Image” to fill a specified rectangular area in your drawing with a single Google Earth image. When you define the desired region Google Earth will zoom in/out automatically to make the appropriate capture which will then be imported in your drawing.

Google Earth aerial views are imported as raster images on your drawing’s current layer. Use Objects → Send to Back to bring your project back to the foreground. Working with Imagery in Part 4 shows all the available options to import images in detail.

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Exporting you project into Google Earth

In order to create a quick presentation of your work directly in Google Earth you can use the Publish Objects command:

You will be asked to select the objects you wish to export as well as an altitude mode (select Clamped for a 2D representation and read the Importing and Exporting section in Part 4 for more details on the 3D options). Your project will appear inside Google Earth, its components grouped under Temporary Places.

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Importing Terrain and Contours Another popular use of Plex.Earth is fetching terrain information from Google Earth via a grid of 3-dimensional points and using it to create contours. Select the “Terrain on Grid” command:

You will be asked to input the following:

Grid Base point: the lower left corner of the grid.

Grid Rotation: the orientation of the grid.

X Spacing: the distance between the imported points along the X axis.

Y Spacing: the distance between the imported points along the Y axis.

Upper Right Corner: the upper right corner of the grid. Plex.Earth will then import the points needed to create the grid and the corresponding contours as shown in Image 3.

Google Earth sets an upper limit for exported points per session, which is approximately 5.000 and works cumulatively. Whenever you reach this limit while importing points, you will be prompted to restart Google Earth and hit “Retry” and Plex.Earth will pick up from where it had paused.

You may specify which elements to create (points, contours and/or surface objects – TINs) through Plex.Earth Settings → “Terrain” Tab or by choosing the “Settings” option from the command line when you run any of the terrain commands.

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Image 3: Grid with Contours

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Functions in Detail

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Overview

The Plex.Earth functions are divided into the five groups shown above: Working with Imagery : Contains all the different options with which you can

import Google Earth images into your project.

Zooming and Synchronization : Provides the set of tools to synchronize either of the two programs with the other before using the more advanced features.

Importing and Exporting : Includes the options to import KML files, export your project into Google Earth and create Placemarks from within AutoCAD.

Terrain and Contours : This menu provides the functions to import terrain information from Google Earth and use it to create contours.

Working with Surfaces : Is the set of tools that allow the creation of surface structures in your project and the calculation of various of their properties.

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Working with Imagery

There are several ways to import aerial imagery into your project which are illustrated in the following table:

Current Image fetches the exact contents of your Google Earth window into your project as a single image.

Area Image allows you to specify an area in your AutoCAD project that you want to fill with a singe image and then automatically adjusts Google Earth to capture that image.

Mosaic creates a mosaic of images that cover the area you specify in AutoCAD. The captures are made at the current zoom level used in Google Earth.

Polygonal Mosaic works like Mosaic but the user specifies a polygonal region instead of a rectangle.

Path Mosaic allows the user to define a (or select an existing) path and then specify ranges on both sides thus creating a band that will be filled with imagery.

Align Image can be used to import the current image displayed in Google Earth anywhere in your project and then manually adjust it.

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Current Image

Imports the aerial imagery currently displayed in Google Earth into your AutoCAD drawing.

Area Image

The user is prompted to specify a rectangular area in AutoCAD and Google Earth zooms accordingly to provide a capture of that area.

Mosaic

When importing imagery using the Mosaic command you might want to avoid having the Google Earth logos on the bottom and the Navigation tools on the right appear on each imported image. To do so you can change the default zero values in Settings → General Tab → Images Overlap section. The exact number varies depending on screen resolution and display setting but typically 15% will be sufficient. You may also completely disable the Navigation tools by selecting View → Show Navigation → Never inside the Google Earth window.

While importing the images the toolbox will change allowing you to select between color and gray-scale images and to manually fetch or skip images in a step-by-step fashion by using Next and Skip respectively. If you want the process to be completed

automatically simply press Automatic

Polygonal Mosaic

This command can be used when the user needs to fill a polygonal area with aerial imagery. Plex.Earth will take the Google Earth captures and crop them appropriately in order to fill the specified area. There is also the option to not apply the final cropping, see Part 5: Settings.

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Path Mosaic

When choosing Path Mosaic you will be asked to define a band to be filled with imagery. This is done in 2 steps, first by specifying the polyline that will be central to the band (by either selecting several points that will form it, or by pressing the “Down” button and using an existing one) and subsequently by specifying the band width on both sides of the polyline (which do not need to be equal). Plex.Earth will then import all the necessary images and crop them accordingly to fill the path.

Align Image

This option can be used when your project is not created on a coordinate system supported by Plex.Earth, or does not exist altogether. You will import the current content of you Google Earth window as a single image whose bottom left corner will be the point you select when you run the command. Subsequently the Align Image Pop-Up will appear and you will be prompted to align it by selecting 2 points (called control points) on your newly imported image and their new positions in your drawing. The image with then rotate and stretch accordingly. You can use Specify point displacement to select each point and its new location in one step, use the “Specify point in AutoCAD” icon to pick positions in your drawing (note that Position in GE Image refers to points in the imported image whereas Position in Drawing refers to each points’ new position after the displacement) or even manually input their coordinates. Note that for best results it is advised to select control points near two opposing corners of the image.

Plex.Earth takes screen captures when it imports imagery. Therefore when you use 3rd party aerial imagery in Google Earth (you can do this by opening the appropriate KMZ file, also see Part 6: Connecting to a WMS) this is what is going to be used when invoking any imagery command. Note that depending on your internet connection and the provider’s server speed you might need to change the Timeouts values in Settings → General Tab.

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New Command Line Functions

Version 2.5 brings a new array of command-line only functions to give you improved versatility when working with images. These include image merging, displacement adjustment and accompanying file creation commands:

PXIMGMERGE

Merges the selected images into one. That way you can have a single, large, high-resolution background image instead of the many smaller ones that are created when using the mosaic commands.

After selecting the images you want to merge you can decide on their relative position as they will be merged. We recommend you use the Z → A button so that the order in which they have been imported by Plex.Earth is retained. Also remember to check “Remove original images from drawing” unless you want to experiment with various alternatives before making the final changes.

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This command works with ANY image in AutoCAD, not just the ones created by Plex.Earth, and can be used to merge images with different X and Y-scales, something that Raster Design was not able to do. However it is strongly recommended that the images you decide to merge overlap one another otherwise gaps will appear in the merged image, see PXIMGBORDERCLIP below.

PXIMGBORDERCLIP

Crops the borders of an image by a selected number of pixels. Many users have pointed out that the shadow that appears in the outer region of the Google Earth images is imported when Plex.Earth takes screenshots, resulting in suboptimal results. Using this command you can remove it, and then merge all the new images into a seamless large one, using the PXIMGMERGE command.

You may select how many pixels you want to crop on each side (default is same for all) and remember to click “Remove original images from drawing” to only keep the cropped images that will be created.

As shown in the images below, if the images that will be border-clipped and merged originate from a Mosaic with no overlap, the final image created will contain empty areas. Thus it is recommended you create overlapping Mosaics (by setting the Image Overlap value in Settings, usually 15% will be sufficient) and by then setting the pixel clipping to 25 pixels, so that the cropped images still overlap on one another and can therefore be merged seamlessly into a final large image.

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Non-overlapping Mosaic

Original Mosaic Border-clipped Images Final Merged Image

Overlapping Mosaic

Original Mosaic Overlapping Border-clipped Images Final Merged Image

PXIMGREPLACE

Replaces an existing image with another one saved on the hard drive. This command is useful to Google Earth Pro users, which provides high-resolution images. However these can only be saved to the hard drive, not be displayed on the program window, and thus cannot be accessed directly from Plex.Earth, which uses Google Earth screenshots. This command can be used in conjunction with PZOOMING, allowing the user to save high-quality aerial images of his existing Plex.Earth files and then replace them while keeping their georeference.

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PXSETSHIFT

Have you noticed a small displacement of objects in the aerial imagery imported with Plex.Earth? This happens in various regions around the world due to Google Earth inaccuracies and while it usually is too small to notice in some cases it can be quite obvious. Using this command the user may define a displacement that will counter this effect and which will be used in every subsequent Plex.Earth function, including terrain and KMLs. Note that the specified displacement even has a Z component in case there is an altitude discrepancy with Google Earth at the region.

PXSETIMAGECAMERAFILE

Sets Plex.Earth to save a Camera File which accompanies every image imported from Google Earth. The Camera File is a KML file with the same name as the imported image which is used to bring Google Earth to the exact location of the saved image. The user may then save a high-quality image of the area (feature available in Google Earth Pro) and replace the old image in this drawing with the new one, using PXIMGREPLACE.

PXIMGWORLDEXPORT

Saves an accompanying World File for any image selected in AutoCAD.

PXIMGWORLDIMPORT

Imports an image into AutoCAD and it performs georeference, according to the accompanying World File.

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Zooming and Synchronization

Use this menu to synchronize AutoCAD and Google Earth before using the more advanced functions. Select:

Zoom Area Specify an area in your project and have Google Earth zoom into that region.

Locate Point Select a point in your project and have Google Earth zoom into that point.

Synchronize AutoCAD Bring AutoCAD in synch with the current display of Google Earth.

Synchronize Google Earth

Have Google Earth zoom into the area currently displayed in your project.

PXZOOMIMG (Command line only)

Zooms automatically to the camera position of the image selected in AutoCAD. The image must have an accompanying Camera File.

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Importing and Exporting

This menu includes all the functions to export elements from your project directly into Google Earth such as objects, images, placemarks, paths and polygons. It also supports the capability to import KML files and to fetch 3D data directly from Google Earth in the form of points and polylines.

Publish Objects

The most commonly used option, serves to publish your project (or part of it) into Google Earth for presentation purposes. When you activate it you are first prompted to select the objects you wish to export and then select an altitude mode. The 3 alternatives are:

Clamped if you want a 2D representation of your objects projected on the earth surface.

Absolute when you want to retain the 3D aspect of your exported project. Note however that due to possible discrepancies between your design and local Google Earth data the exported objects may appear either elevated or submerged into the ground.

Relative when you want your exported objects to maintain their Z-axis component but to be placed on ground level. For this option to work correctly you must first change all the Z-axis values of the objects in your project from absolute to relative, meaning that ground-level surfaces should have a Z-axis value of 0.

Export Images

This function serves to export into Google Earth any kind of image contained in your project.

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Create Placemarks/Path/Polygon

These functions are used when you want to specify an element in your drawing and have it created directly into Google Earth. Placemarks Style also allows the user to customize the way placemarks will appear. Paths will appear as polylines in Google Earth (and will be filed under Temporary Places) and polygons as white-colored areas.

Import KML

This command is used to import into your AutoCAD drawing, all the data contained in a KML file.

Digitize Points/Polylines/3D Polylines

These functions are used to fetch data into your AutoCAD drawing. Selecting one of them will invoke the Plex.Earth digitizer inside Google Earth which can be used to specify a number of points of interest or a path which will then be transferred to your drawing as a set of points or a polyline respectively.

If Google Earth’s Show Terrain is enabled (Tools → Options), then the commands will fetch 3D data.

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Terrain and Contours

Plex.Earth can import terrain information from Google Earth via a grid of 3D points and then create contours based on that data. The user has a number of options available:

Terrain on Grid

With this option the user if prompted to define a grid in the AutoCAD drawing by inputting the following parameters:

Grid Base Point The bottom left corner of the grid.

Grid Rotation The orientation of the grid.

Grid X Spacing The density of the grid along the X axis.

Grid Y Spacing The density of the grid along the Y axis.

Upper Right Location The upper right corner of the grid. Plex.Earth will then import all the points needed to create the grid and will subsequently use the data to create contours. (See Part 5: Settings for specific terrain options)

Terrain on Area

Using this function you only need to specify a polygonal area in which the grid will be created, along with X and Y spacing, as in Terrain on Grid.

Terrain from Current View

This option will fetch terrain information on a grid corresponding to Google Earth’s current content. The user will only need to provide the total number of points he wants to be imported.

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Pick Terrain from Google Earth

This function allows you to use the Plex.Earth digitizer inside Google Earth to specify a polygonal area from which the corresponding grid will be created. After making the selection the user will be returned to AutoCAD and will be prompted to input X and Y spacing, as in Terrain on Grid.

Along Objects

When you want to use an existing polyline in your drawing to import points on (and/or have those points form a 3D polyline superimposed on the original one) use this command. You will be prompted to input the desired segment length which corresponds to how close together the imported points will be and choosing between fetching single points, the polyline connecting them, or both. Note that when using this function the imported points/polylines stand on top of the original one so might be difficult to distinguish.

On Points

Use this option to create a series of 3D points inside AutoCAD that correspond to Google Earth surface points. Simply select consecutive points in your drawing and their 3D values will be imported.

PXSETAUTOGE (Command line only)

Sets Plex.Earth to close and re-open Google Earth automatically every time the latter reaches its maximum points per session allowed. (Google Earth has a default setting of around 4.000 points per session, which is frequently exceeded when importing terrain using Plex.Earth). Instead of manually accepting the warning issued by the program when faced with this event, the procedure can now be automated, allowing for the import of millions of points.

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Working with Surfaces

This menu contains commands that allow the user to create 3D surfaces, obtain several key characteristics and calculate volumes between them, among other things.

Create Surface

Using this option the user can create a 3D surface out of any set of points he chooses to use. The Delaunay triangulation method is used to produce the surface which will be a polyface mesh. When the command is invoked the Create Surface pop-up window will appear that allows the user to select the points from which the surface will be created as well as add constraints in the form of breaklines and boundaries. Clicking on the “+” symbol on the top of the Definition tab brings forth the available options. Use:

Add Points To make a selection of points that will be used to form the 3D surface.

Add Breaklines To add breaklines to the creation of the 3D surface. Breaklines are defined as edges upon where abrupt slope changes occur, such as the sides of a road and the brink of a cliff face, and adding them as building blocks of the 3D surface rules out major misrepresentations in the model.

Add Outer Boundary To confine the surface within a defined area.

Add Inner Boundaries To exclude specific internal areas from the surface that will be created.

Parse Text as Points

To add 3D points from text objects provided as elevation labels.

The Contours Tab allows you to automatically create contours on the created surface. (See Build Contours below for settings)

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Reset Surface

When a surface is created AutoCAD applies a unique ID which is used by Plex.Earth for reference. The link is lost at the end of each AutoCAD session, so, in order to process a surface in a subsequent run of AutoCAD, the link must be re-established, by selecting it and by using this command.

Build Contours

Build Contours takes a 3D surface (a polyface mesh in AutoCAD) as input and produces contours for that area. The user is required to define:

Base Elevation The base height where the first contour will be created.

Minor Interval The step that will be used to apply subsequent contours.

Major Interval A larger step than minor interval which will be used to created contours of different color for better visual representation. Usually but not necessarily a multiple of the minor interval value.

By default the contours will be created on the current layer but the user can define a separate layer for major and minor contours respectively.

Grid Volume

Grid Volume calculates the volume between 2 surfaces (where they overlap). The user is asked to specify the 2 respective polyface meshes and the following volumes are produced: (assume base surface represents ground level and comparison surface the lowest level of a project)

Cut Volume The total volume of the parts where the comparison surface lies beneath the base surface, i.e. where digging should take place.

Fill Volume The total volume of the parts where the comparison surface lies above the base surface, i.e. where filling must take place.

Net Volume The difference between the two.

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Plane Volume

This command calculates the volume between a given surface and a horizontal plane of specific elevation. As in Grid Volume, Cut Volume is the total volume of the parts where the surface lies beneath the horizontal plane, Fill Volume represents the total volume of the parts where the surface lies above the horizontal plane and Net Volume is the difference between the two.

Surface Labels

When the user needs to show elevation at specific points (or in grid-like fashion) Surface Labels can be used. The user selects a surface object (i.e. a polyface mesh) and the size of the text to appear and then specifies a series of points where elevation labels will appear. Alternatively he can specify a grid as in Terrain on Grid (see Terrain and Contours) on each node of which an elevation label will be created.

Volume Labels

This command is used, if instead of the absolute elevation, the user wants to create relative elevation labels. The user is asked to select a base surface and a comparison surface and the may then create labels that reflect the relative elevation difference between the two in a series of specific points, or in a grid-like fashion. By default points where the comparison surface lies above the base surface will appear as green and points where it lies beneath it as magenta, settings that can be changed in Label Settings.

Labels Settings

The way in which the labels are presented can be altered in the following ways:

Label Format Controls the number of decimals and whether the plus/minus signs will appear.

Volume Labels Color Allows the user to define the color of the label text for each case concerning Volume Labels and whether a point will be drawn at each location.

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Elevation on Points

This command creates 3D points from a specific area. The user is prompted to select a surface object and then specify a series of points on that area that will be created as 3D objects.

Elevation along Objects

This command creates 3D polylines which are essentially projections of an existing path onto the selected surface object.

Surface Inquiry

Surface Inquiry provides the user with a graphical as well as numerical representation of surface attributes at selected points. The user is prompted to select a surface object and then a series of points on that object for which a vector is created illustrating the slope direction (useful in civil engineering projects for quickly appraising the direction of water streams for example) along with detailed values in a pop-up window:

Elevation Shows the Z-component of the specified point.

Grade/Slope Are essentially the same attribute, presented in percentage and ratio form respectively.

Slope Direction The numerical value of the graphically represented direction attributes.

You can change the slope format (H:V → V:H) in Settings, see part 5)

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Settings

5

Using the button will bring up a pop-up containing all program settings as well as support and license info arranged in the following tabs: The General tab holds the basic Plex.Earth options:

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File Settings

Sets the options concerning the files created for the captured images: Image Format You can choose one of the available file formats:

BMP - Bitmap Format

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group

PNG - W3C Portable Network Graphics

TIFF - Tag Image File Format

File Prefix Specifies the prefix for the automatic file naming of the captured images. The format is: [Prefix][ImageNumber].jpg

Reset Numbering Resets the counter for the filename suffix of the captured images. Path Type Specifies the save location of the captured images. If the default

Drawing Path is selected images are saved in the “Plexscape.Earth” subfolder that is automatically created in the folder of the drawing. Alternatively you can select Specific Path and have the images saved in any folder of you choice.

Export World Files Click the checkbox to set Plex.Earth to save a world file of the same name as the image file for every imported image. The file contains georeference information that can be used by any CAD or GIS program to correctly import the saved images.

Units

Sets the linear units used by Plex.Earth Tools (it can be different than the units specified in AutoCAD). Coordinates Sets the linear units used by Plex.Earth Tools, which can be

different that the units specified in AutoCAD. Click on “Show warnings for mismatches in selected drawing units” if you would like Plex.Earth to inform you every time there is such a discrepancy.

Slope Format Slopes can be formatted either as run:rise or rise:run.

Images Overlap

Specifies what percentage of each image will be covered by the next imported image on each axis while using any of the Mosaic commands.

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Tick “Crop images into the coverage boundaries of the mosaic” to have Polygonal Mosaic and Path Mosaic confine the imported imagery in the specified polygon and band respectively. Otherwise every image that has even part of it lie in the specified regions will appear in full.

Object Segmentation

Since Google Earth only supports polygons when exporting circles and splines via Plex.Earth you must specify how many line segments will be used to create an approximation of each object.

Google Earth Timeouts

Sets timeouts what will result in error messages if Google Earth has not been able to perform any of the specific actions within the corresponding time limit. Initialization The time to wait until the initialization of Google Earth has

completed, when it is opened automatically via a Plex.Earth command.

Streaming The time to wait until Google Earth has completed the data fetch by the Google Earth servers.

Capture wait The time to wait until an image has been captured.

Max delay per point Specifies the maximum allowed time span to capture every single point, during the operation of terrain import. Whenever the span has exceeded, the program will prompt you to close Google Earth and then the operation will be automatically resumed from the last point.

Start Plex.Earth automatically when I run AutoCAD

Check this option to have the Plex.Earth Toolbox appear every time you run AutoCAD. If you disable this option you may use the PLEXEARTH command (and PLEXRIBBON for the Ribbon Tab where applicable) in the command line.

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The Terrain tab contains the settings concerning the terrain and contours functions:

Terrain

Allows the user to select which item (or combination of items) to import, when using the terrain commands. The options are:

Points

Contours

Surface object (TIN) Check “Optimized terrain import” to safeguard against large discrepancies between terrain points due to Google Earth not having imported final elevations quickly enough. (You might have noticed that the surface layer is created gradually when you move to a new point in space). Note however that this optimization results in an overall slower procedure as well as a quicker exhaustion of the approximately 5K points per session that Google Earth allows.

Contours

Sets the attributes that will define the formation of the contours. Namely: Base Elevation Specifies the relative base elevation for the contour intervals.

The contour at the base elevation is a major contour.

Minor Interval Specifies the distance between minor contours. The interval is relative to the Base Elevation value.

Major Interval Specifies the distance between major contours. The value entered here is divisible by the minor interval. The interval is relative to the base elevation value.

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The Support tab provides a handy user interface to submit requests, make suggestions and subscribe to Plexscape forums:

Support request

Takes the user to the Submit a Request webpage where he can input his inquiry and have it resolved by the Plexscape Support Team.

Suggest a new feature

Takes the user to the Ideas & Feature Request forums where he can see ideas submitted by other users and comment on them or start a new thread.

Join our community Takes you to the Community Help forums where common user issues have been addressed and tackled by the online community.

The Messages tab brings up the latest info on the product and allows the user to search through older entries and contact Plexscape via live chat. The Service tab holds all your personal registration and subscription info including the expiration date of your license: Registration Contains registration information including name,

company information and AutoCAD version used.

Subscription Contains all the relevant subscription information: License type, which depending on the selected plan. Expiration shows when your plan will expire. You will also be notified by email when this date approaches. Images Limit/Terrain Limit is the maximum number of images and terrain points that are allowed to be imported by this account. Images/Terrain is the total number of images and terrain points committed by the specific account. When it reaches the respective Limit, the account will no longer be able to import imagery or terrain points.

Service License Key This is where you must paste the license key provided by Plexscape or an authorized reseller when you purchase any of the available plans. (If you have registered the program but your license key does not

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appear, double-click on the box to see it) The About tab provides the exact version number of Plex.Earth to reference when contacting support as well as links to basic program resources. For any inquiries you may have you can contact our support team directly at support@plexscape.com.

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Connecting to a Web Map Server (WMS) 6

WMS WMS (Web Mapping Services) is a standard protocol for serving geo-referenced map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS database, developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Plex.Earth supports WMS and it can be used to apply image overlays in Google Earth, in effect using the overlays as the imagery that is imported via the Plex.Earth functions. There are two ways to use WMS. You can either open a KMZ file that contains all the WMS specifications with Google Earth or you can manually connect Google Earth with a WMS Server:

Using KMZ files When opening a KMZ file containing WMS information with Google Earth the available layers will appear under “Temporary Places” in the Places tab, and you may select the ones you want to be applied. Use the following file (high resolution maps used by the Hellenic Cadastre) for an example of a WMS KMZ file: http://www.plexscape.com/public_info/maps/plex_maps_ktimatologio.kmz

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Importing WMS Layers If you want to manually connect to a WMS Server you may do so from within Google Earth by using Add → Image Overlay. In the pop-up window you may specify a name for the overlay that will be created and use the WMS Parameters button within the Refresh tab to connect to the desired WMS Server.

For best results it is advised that the values of View-Based Refresh are changed to “After Camera Stops” with a respective 0 (instant) time value and the View Bound Scale is set to 1, setting the size of the overlay to 100% of the window. From the Web Mapping Services Parameters window the user you can either select an existing WMS Server or add a new one by selecting Add and entering its URL address. When the connection to the server has been established a list of available layers will appear on the left and you can add the ones you need in your newly defined Image Overlay.

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When defining overlays according to this procedure they will appear under My Places in the Places tab and will be available every time you use Google Earth.

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Using Help

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FAQ The most common user problems are addressed in http://www.plexscape.com/faq.aspx, the online FAQ page. It is advised that users read it before beginning with the program and check with it first whenever an issue occurs.

Plex.Earth Help

The new toolbar help menu includes all the options you will need to get your issue resolved in the most efficient way:

Online Help takes you to the Plexscape 1, 2, Desk home page where all the available options can be seen in a glance.

Getting Started Tutorials takes you to the tutorial section that takes you through all the functions of Plex.Earth in a visual step-by-step fashion.

Invite a Friend provides a handy interface to suggest Plex.Earth to people you might think that benefit from using it.

Suggest an Idea takes you to the Ideas & Feature Request webpage where the user can input his suggestion on how to make the program more usable or how to enhance our services in any way.

Support Ticket will redirect you to the Submit a Request webpage where the user can issue a ticket and have his inquiry addressed directly from online support stuff or answered via e-mail.

Ask the Community will take you to the Plex.Earth forums where you can find issues other users have encountered and the solutions that have been given.

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What’s new in v2.5

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Plex.Earth 2.5 The new version of Plex.Earth has just been released and brings along an array of new functions to produce even better results when working with images. These new features are available through AutoCAD’s command line only and were tailored to address the most common improvements suggested by users. The new functions are divided into 3 categories: Image Editing, Automation and Supplementary Files.

Image Editing Plex.Earth 2.5 provides users with a powerful command to merge images, a new crop tool to get rid of annoying shadows near the edges of imported images and finally a function that replaces any given image with another with the same georeference:

PXIMGMERGE

Merges the selected images into one. That way you can have a single, large, high-resolution background image instead of the many smaller ones that are created when using the mosaic commands.

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After selecting the images you want to merge you can decide on their relative position as they will be merged. We recommend you use the Z → A button so that the order in which they have been imported by Plex.Earth is retained. Also remember to check “Remove original images from drawing” unless you want to experiment a bit before making the final changes.

This command works with ANY image in AutoCAD, not just the ones created by Plex.Earth, and can be used to merge images with different X and Y-scales, something that Raster Design was not able to do. However it is strongly recommended that the images you decide to merge overlap one another otherwise gaps will appear in the merged image, see PXIMGBORDERCLIP below.

PXIMGBORDERCLIP

Crops the borders of an image by a selected number of pixels. Many users have pointed out that the shadow that appears in the outer region of the Google Earth images is imported when Plex.Earth takes screenshots, resulting in suboptimal results. Using this command you can remove it, and then merge all the new images into a seamless large one, using the PXIMGMERGE command.

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You may select how many pixels you want to crop on each side (default is same for all) and remember to click “Remove original images from drawing” to only keep the cropped images that will be created.

As shown in the images below, if the images that will be border-clipped and merged originate from a Mosaic with no overlap, the final image created will contain empty areas. Thus it is recommended you create overlapping Mosaics (by setting the Image Overlap value in Settings, usually 15% will be sufficient) and by then setting the pixel clipping to 25 pixels, so that the cropped images still overlap on one another and can therefore be merged seamlessly into a final large image. .

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Non-overlapping Mosaic

Original Mosaic Border-clipped Images Final Merged Image

Overlapping Mosaic

Original Mosaic Overlapping Border-clipped Images Final Merged Image

PXIMGREPLACE

Replaces an existing image with another one saved on the hard drive. This command is useful to Google Earth Pro users, which provides high-resolution images. However these can only be saved to the hard drive, not be displayed on the program window, and thus cannot be accessed directly from Plex.Earth, which uses Google Earth screenshots. This command can be used in conjunction with PZOOMING, allowing the user to save high-quality aerial images of his existing Plex.Earth files and then replace them while keeping their georeference.

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Automation If you had encountered issues with minor discrepancies between the coordinates of you project and those of imported aerial imagery, or had to deal with the nuisance of getting too many warning messages when importing terrain from Google Earth, the new version has something for you:

PXSETSHIFT

Have you noticed a small displacement of objects in the aerial imagery imported with Plex.Earth? This happens in various regions around the world due to Google Earth inaccuracies and while it usually is too small to notice in some cases it can be quite obvious. Using this command the user may define a displacement that will counter this effect and which will be used in every subsequent Plex.Earth function, including terrain and KMLs. Note that the specified displacement even has a Z component in case there is an altitude discrepancy with Google Earth at the region.

PXSETAUTOGE

Sets Plex.Earth to close and re-open Google Earth automatically every time the latter reaches its maximum points per session allowed. (Google Earth has a default setting of around 4.000 points per session, which is frequently exceeded when importing terrain using Plex.Earth). Instead of manually accepting the warning issued by the program when faced with this event, the procedure can now be automated, allowing for the import of millions of points.

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Supplementary Files The new version introduces the creation and use of Camera Files as well as some extra capabilities in the functionality of World File types that were already in use.

PXSETIMAGECAMERAFILE

Sets Plex.Earth to save a Camera File which accompanies every image imported from Google Earth. The Camera File is a KML file with the same name as the imported image which is used to bring Google Earth to the exact location of the saved image. The user may then save a high-quality image of the area (feature available in Google Earth Pro) and replace the old image in this drawing with the new one, using PXIMGREPLACE.

PXZOOMIMG

Zooms automatically to the camera position of the image selected in AutoCAD. The image must have an accompanying Camera File. The equivalent of opening the Camera File, but from within your drawing.

PXIMGWORLDEXPORT

Saves an accompanying World File for any image selected in AutoCAD.

PXIMGWORLDIMPORT

Imports an image into AutoCAD and it performs georeference, according to the accompanying World File.

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Index Border-clip, 17, 18, 41, 42 Contours, 10,11,12, 19, 21, 22, 28

Builld Contours, 22 Camera File, 19, 20, 44 Digitize, 18 Displacement, 15, 16, 19, 43 Elevation, 21,22,23,24, 28 Help, 29, 34 Online Help, 24 Plex.Earth Help, 34 Using Help, 34 Image

Align Image, 13, 15 Area Image, 7, 8, 13, 14 Current Image, 13, 14 Export Images, 17

KML, 12, 17, 18 Labels

Labels Settings, 23 Surface Labels, 23 Volume Labels, 23

Merge, 16, 17, 18, 39, 40, 41 Messages, 27, 29 Mosaic, 5, 7, 13, 14,26

Path Mosaic, 13, 15, 27 Polygonal Mosaic, 13, 14, 27

Object Segmentation, 27 Placemarks, 12 17, 18

Create Placemarks, 18 Publish Objects, 9, 17 Replace Image, 18, 19, 39, 42 Settings, 2, 5, 10, 14, 25, 26 Basic Settings, 5 Support, 1, 2, 25, 29, 30, 34 Surface

Create Surface, 21 Reset Surface, 22 Surface Inquiry, 24

Terrain Pick Terrain from Google Earth, 20 Terrain from Current View, 19 Terrain on Area, 19

Timeouts, 15, 27 Volume

Grid Volume, 22, 23 Plane Volume, 23

WMS, 31, 32 Zooming and Synchonization, 12, 16