CAD-Earth

CAD-Earth

Win64, English

CAD-Earth
Import & export objects, images, terrain meshes, and 3D models between Google Earth™ and Autodesk® AutoCAD®.

General Usage Instructions

  • Get images from Google Earth and other providers. You can select different service providers (Google Earth, Google, Bing), image resolution (normal, medium, high, highest), and image mode (satellite, map, hybrid). Images can be imported to AutoCAD in full color or grayscale in major image formats (BMP, JPEG, TIFF) and can be clipped inside a closed polyline. 

  • Get terrain meshes, contour lines, profiles, and sections from Google Earth (Plus version). A terrain configuration mesh can be created inside an existing closed polyline or along a polyline path calculating point elevations from Google Earth. By specifying the rotation angle and resolution, the mesh density and precision can be adjusted. The resulting mesh can be used to obtain contour lines, dynamic profiles, and section drawings complete with annotations. The terrain mesh can be exported to a LandXML file to be imported by another application that can create surfaces from a LandXML file, such as Autodesk® Civil 3D®.

  • Import Google Earth objects to AutoCAD. Polygons, routes, and placemarks can be imported from Google Earth to AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products, such as Civil 3D©. Polygons can be imported as 2D or 3D polylines projected to terrain, optionally applying fill color. Placemarks can be imported as blocks with elevation, including placemark names and descriptions. A symbol library is included where you can select the placemark block to be inserted or you can add your own blocks.

  • Insert georeferenced images. If you have image files with the corresponding world file containing spatial data information, you can accurately place them in the drawing, automatically applying XY scale and translation transformations.

  • Export CAD objects to Google Earth. Lines, polylines, arcs, circles, points can be exported to Google Earth as polygons, routes, or placemarks. Object line thickness, outline, fill color, and opacity can be adjusted. Curve smoothness can be controlled by specifying the maximum segment length and deflection angle. Placemark name, description, scale, and icon can also be set.

  • Export CAD screenshots to Google Earth. AutoCAD drawings can be exported to Google Earth as image overlays. Image capture can be in full color, grayscale, or B&W and can be in any of the major image formats (BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF). Background color can be completely transparent or can be changed to another color if desired. Screenshots can also be taken in sections to increase final image resolution.

  • Advanced commands (Premium Version): You can instantly get cut-fill earth volume calculations and reports, visualize the terrain mesh by contour lines, elevations, and slope ranges, use mesh editing, and import commands in the Mesh Explorer and Mesh 3D Viewer.

Commands

Installation/Uninstallation

CAD-Earth doesn't need any additional requirements from the ones needed to run your CAD program optimally (please consult documentation).

Additional Information

What are the limitations of the CAD-Earth trial version?

The CAD-Earth trial Version has a limit of 500 points when importing a terrain mesh from Google Earth™.

Only 10 objects can be imported to or exported to Google Earth™.

Also, all images imported to or exported to Google Earth™ have ‘CAD-Earth Demo Version’ text watermark lines.

The CAD-Earth Registered Version can process any number of points and objects, and the images don’t have text watermark lines.

What are the system requirements to use CAD-Earth?

Currently, CAD-Earth works in Windows 10-11 64-Bit and on the following CAD programs: AutoCAD and verticals

Known Issues

Contact

Company Name: CAD-Earth
Support Contact: support@cad-earth.com

Author/Company Information

CAD-Earth

Support Information

If you get any errors or have any problems using CAD-Earth, you can contact our technical support department.

It is recommended that you send your request by selecting 'Contact technical support' in the CAD-Earth help menu. This way, information about your computer hardware, Windows, and AutoCAD version will be sent to us with a detailed technical error description.

This will help us fix the error in the quickest way possible. You can select 'Request new feature' in the CAD-Earth help menu if you would like a new function or capability to be included in the next CAD-Earth version update.

If you would like, you can attach files to describe your suggestion in more detail (Word©, Excel©, DWG©, image, and PDF files preferred).

You can also contact us at the following email addresses:

support@cad-earth.com

info@cad-earth.com

sales@cad-earth.com

Version History

Version Number Version Description

8.0.5

***VERSION 8.0.5 11/30/2023 -When exporting screenshots from AutoCAD 2022/2023/2024 to Google Earth, only the background was captured when the hardware graphics acceleration mode was on. The issue was resolved by programmatically disabling the graphics hardware acceleration mode before capturing the screen and re-enabling it after the capture was completed. -Fixed gaps between image tiles error when exporting a screenshot from AutoCAD to Google Earth using the 'Set image tiles' option. -The option to use AI to enhance the image was not working when importing a geoimage due to API changes by the AI provider. The code was updated to fix this issue.

8.0.4

***VERSION 8.0.4 06/21/2023 -Corrected display problem of pressurized pipe networks in Civil 3D when loading CAD-Earth.

8.0.2

***VERSION 8.0.2 05/26/2023 -Added GPXZ terrain provider when importing objects from Google Earth. -Fixed elevation calculation errors when importing objects from Google Earth.

7.0.8

***VERSION 7.0.8 05/06/2022*** Fixed some SPC geographic coordinate conversion problems.

7.0.7

***VERSION 7.0.7 04/15/2022*** -Fixed problem activating commands to apply, pause, and get CAD-Earth license information.

7.0.4

***VERSION 7.0.4 10/04/2021*** -Only indexed contour lines could be generated. Fixed problem to generate regular contour lines.

7.0.3

***VERSION 7.0.3 07/21/2021*** -Fixed error when exporting a solid sphere to Google Earth -Fixed error when importing a 3D model and the texture image files are not found.

7.0.2

***VERSION 7.0.2 06/09/2021*** Added chat support command

7.0.1

***VERSION 7.0.1 05/25/2021*** Fixed alignment issue when importing images from the Google or Bing server. Fixed empty variable value error when exporting points entities to Google Earth.

7.0

***VERSION 7.0 04/05/2021*** **New in CAD-Earth 7.0 Import and export 3D models from DAE, 3DS, FBX, and OBJ files to AutoCAD, and export them and other 3D entities such as 3D solids, regions, meshes, or polymeshes to Google Earth. 3D entities contained in regular or nested blocks can also be exported. Edit the mesh using commands to insert, delete, move, adjust elevation, flatten vertices, and invert, delete, or cut triangles. Break lines can be inserted to refine the terrain configuration. The mesh can be smoothed and adjusted to a control mesh or control points. Create terrain meshes from existing entities, such as points, 3D faces, contour polylines, or 3D polylines. Import a mesh from Lidar LAS and DEM files (TIFF, DEM, HGT, E00, MEM, CAT.DDF), specifying mesh properties and refinement options and other processing parameters, with the option to process the entire file or to select the area to process. Export the terrain mesh to a text XYZ or a GeoTIFF file. **Mesh visualization styles Display one or several mesh terrain elements, such as vertices, triangulation, boundary, contour lines, elevation and slope ranges, and slope arrows. You can edit, create, delete and save a visualization style and choose which elements you want to display. Color, line type width, and scale, text style and size can be adjusted, and parameter values can be modified. **New tools Terrain Mesh Explorer. A floating palette tool to organize your projects and have access to mesh importing, editing, and visualization commands. By right-clicking on a tree node, you can add subproject folders and terrain mesh nodes. Right-clicking on a node, a context menu will be displayed to select commands according to the node selected. Profile Viewer. Display profile sections from selected terrain meshes by defining a cutting line specifying two points. You can adjust the vertical scale for the profiles, measure distance and slope by selecting two points in the Profile Viewer, and zoom to extents or to a window, increase or decrease the view size, pan view, and show or hide the reference grid. **New Earth Takeoff commands Perform cut/fill volume calculations by the grid method. Depths between the mesh and a comparison mesh are calculated at every grid intersection inside a defined region. Every element of the grid can be customized, specifying line type, color, layer and scale, text size, style, and color. A summary volume report can be created, showing the average cut/fill depth, the cell partial area, cut/fill area, and volume at each grid station. The grid cell width and height, shrinkage percent, strip topsoil depth, and net cut/fill areas and volumes will also be shown. This spreadsheet will be automatically opened in Excel® after finalizing volume calculations. **New improvements Option to save the image in the drawing when importing images or terrain meshes, avoiding empty images when the file is not found. Entities contained in blocks and nested blocks can now be exported to Google Earth. A KMZ file will be created containing all the information to display the objects in Google Earth. When exporting AutoCAD screen captures to Google Earth, a KMZ file will be created with the image files included, to avoid displaying empty images when the files are not found.

6.2.0

***VERSION 6.2.0 03/03/2021*** Fixed a georeference problem when the coordinate system chosen in AutoCAD doesn't have the default origin, rotation, and scale.

6.1.9

***VERSION 6.1.9 10/12/2020*** Fixed demo version notifications.

6.1.8

***VERSION 6.1.8 09/24/2020*** Fixed 'mscorlib' error in AutoCAD 2021 when using some CAD-Earth commands.

6.1.6

***VERSION 6.1.6 08/31/2020*** Fixed issue retrieving demo licenses from the database server. A message was added when CAD-Earth is starting.

6.1.4

Added command to pause/start the subscription.
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