Viewer
You will need Google's free Google Earth viewer to view these scenes. The latest version is Google Earth 5.0. Many of our samples were made for Google Earth 3.0 and will run under any version 3 or newer. A few new scenes are made specifically for newer versions to demonstrate new features. Every scene is labeled next to the download link to indicate which minimum Google Earth version it requires.
Scenes
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The Rocky Mountain National Park Flyaround project demonstrates flying around a mountaintop of existing Google Earth terrain.
Notes: This scene has no terrain or vegetation or image texture in it. It is simply to demonstrate VNS 3 Scene Express' new capability to generate Google Earth 5 giuded Tours from VNS Animated Cameras. When you open this KML file, the 9-second tour will begin to play automatically even as the Earth loads. If you would like it to repeat, click the circled-arrows button at the right edge of the Guided tour toolbar in the lower-left of the Google Earth view.
This scene is 41Kb
GE5 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/ROMO.kml
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The Denver University project is a demonstration project to show how facilities can use interactive 3D visualization tools to familiarize people with their buildings, campuses and sites. This scene features half-meter color orthophotos combined with a building database and a vegetation survey all supplied by the Denver University Geography Department. This project contains several viewpoints, each created from a WCS/VNS Camera. All of the foliage is rigged with Actions (KML Descriptions) which when clicked, display GIS attributes indicating the species and condition of the tree in question. Actions are also employed on the various Camera and Videocamera symbols in the scene, which show georeferenced photos or webcam views respectively. Actions can be used to display images, text, video or any HTML from any scene object.
Notes: Vegetation is implemented as KML Icons. Google Earth seems to bias Icons slightly closer to the camera when deciding if they are or are not visible behind structures like buildings. This results in vegetation sometimes being visible through buildings. Also, Icons maintain their apparent screen size no matter how close or far away you are from them, so they only properly represent their real-world sizes at a certain range of distances. This size and therefore the useful viewpoint range can be controlled during export from Scene Express.
This scene is 3.1Mb
GE3 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/DU.kmz
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This project contrasts the detail available in a stock Google Earth scene of a remote area, with what can be assembled from public data sources. We have constructed a scene containing 1m color orthoimagery from the 2005 NAIP orthophoto project, as well as buildings created from footprints digitized from the orthophoto. Building height attributes were randomly assigned based on building area and adjustable weights. Buildings were then created from this GIS database with VNS's Walls component. Roof colors were also randomly based on several typical colors taken from the actual orthophoto.
Notes: The orthoimagery is split into multiple tiles by Scene Express, to reduce memory consumption and improve performance in the viewer. This results in a slight seam being visible from distant viewpoints, but is not present up close.
This scene is 3.7Mb
GE3 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/Fairplay.kmz
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The PowerPlant add-on scene is intended to be used with the Fairplay scene above. It depicts a (fictional) proposed power plant project. By placing the PowerPlant in a second KMZ file, it (or other variants like it) can easily be turned on and off individually or in combination to show multiple alternatives, or before and after. The KML draw order (controllable during export) is set higher in this file, to ensure it lays over top of the underlying Fairplay file. The drape image uses Alpha blending to smoothly feather out the imagery in this file into whatever lies below it in draw order. The building is a 3D object that comes with WCS/VNS. The road and parking lot are made with the Terraffectors and vector-bounded Ecosystems features. The Possible Contamination Plume outline is a GIS polygon that was styled and exported and the Possible Contamination Plume sign is a VNS Label.
This scene is a little under 450KB.
GE3 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/PowerPlant.kmz
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The Google Earth 4 Park add-on scene is intended to be used with the Fairplay scene above. It adds several park trees to the scene. By placing the Park in a second KMZ file, it (or other variants like it) can easily be turned on and off individually or in combination to show multiple alternatives, or before and after.
Notes: The trees are "Crossboards" -- made of two textured polygons placed in an X arrangement (viewed from above). Google Earth 4 does not support billboarding of 3D objects, so this is the best available option. Also, current releases of GE4 do not seem to properly z-sort polygons that have transparent textures (like our trees) resulting in some display artifacts on trees. 3D Nature has verified that our transparent COLLADA tree objects do work properly in other COLLADA-supporting applications, so this is a fix that will have to be made by Google. There is one COLLADA tree object per species, and these are instanced into the scene multiple times in the KML file to reduce scene size and ensure each tree floats properly on the GE ground. Each of the four tree species images is 512x512 pixels, which is the reason for the large file size.
This scene is a little over 1.7Mb.
GE4 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/FairplayPark.kmz
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The Ididaride 2006 trail map shows the route of the Ididaride 2006 Adirondack Bike Tour, noting start and finish lines, points of interest as well as route slope (climb/descend) along the entire course. Visual Nature Studio's extensive cartography features were used here as well as for other mapping projects for the same event. Each numbered signpost is provided with an Action that displays the event's web site URL when clicked upon. Actions (KML Descriptions) can be used to display images, text, video or any HTML from any scene object. This scene was built by James Zack.
This scene is a little over 5.6Mb.
GE3 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/Ididaride2006.kmz
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The Google Earth 4 Red Rocks LIDAR demo shows off the ability to convert terrain into 3D geometry for display (since KML doesn't really provide for the functionality of adding/replacing terrain). New in GE4 is the ability to support textured COLLADA 3D objects, which we are employing to place the pseudo-terrain. Here, a small patch of very-high-resolution LIDAR-scanned terrain is inserted into the Google Earth environment to demonstrate the lack of detail in the base terrain model. We are using the same USGS Urban Areas hi-resolution orthophoto imagery that Google themselves uses in this area. Google has slightly altered the coloration in their images to reduce the excessive yellow color -- our image is uncorrected. This allows you to see where our data ends and Google's begins. Note that the Scene Express terrain and imagery data line up exactly with Google's base data. Notes: This scene can stall GE4 for a short time when it is loaded.
This scene is about 574KB.
GE4 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/RedRocksLIDARnewGE4.kmz
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The Google Earth 3 Red Rocks LIDAR demo shows off the ability to convert terrain into 3D geometry for display (since GE 3's KML doesn't really provide for the functionality of adding/replacing terrain). In Google Earth 3, this added geometry cannot have any texturing, only a solid color (which is controlled by the user). Here, a small patch of very-high-resolution LIDAR-scanned terrain is inserted into the Google Earth environment to demonstrate the lack of detail in the base terrain model.
This scene is about 450KB.
GE3 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/RedRocksLIDAR.kmz
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The Google Earth 4 Matterhorn demo also shows off the ability to convert terrain into 3D geometry for display. Here, a small patch of 30m DEM data is inserted into the Google Earth environment to demonstrate the lack of detail in the base terrain model. Since no higher-resolution imagery was available that permitted free redistribution, VNS's Snow, texturing and fractal subdivision features were used to improve the look of the relatively-coarse imagery and introduce more apparent detail and variation. This project was done in response to Ogle Earth demonstrating the poor resolution of GE's basic terrain. Try toggling the KML file on and off in GE's left Sidebar to compare the before and after terrain quality.Notes: This scene can stall GE4 for a short time when it is loaded.
This scene is about 1MB.
GE4 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/Matterhorn.kmz
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The Google Earth 4 Sollenau Highway demo shows off applications of VNS, Scene Express and Google Earth in civil engineering and highway design. This scene is part of a planned motorway-bypass south of Vienna. A textured CAD model of the interchange is integrated into the environement, along with nearby buildings and vegetation. Due to the low resolution of Google's imagery, a high-res color commercial orthophoto is used to texture the surrounding terrain and building rooftops. This project was a trial to evaluate the the potential of Scene Express with Google Earth, and the client was very happy with the outcome. Notes: Due to the speed of loading numerous identical objects (trees) in the current release of Google Earth, the Trees and Woods KML folders are disabled be default. Turn them on in the left Sidebar to see the vegetation.
This scene is about 4.3MB.
GE4 KMZ: https://3dnature.com/sx/gekmlkmz/B17_Sollenau.kmz
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Tips
If you do have trouble viewing these files, check and make sure you have current, stable OpenGL drivers, and you aren't simultaneously running any other OpenGL applications (like WCS or VNS) that will consume OpenGL resources.
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