WARNING: 3DRipperDX has been reported by several sites as containing a virus/malware. Wether it is a false positive or a real threat, I am not sure. Proceed with caution.

In my last post, I described how to export geometry from Google Earth into an OBJ file, using GLIntercept.  And despite the lengthy setup instructions, that is a solid approach to capturing geometry from OpenGL applications.  However, there is no direct way to export the geometry with the texture data/coordinates mapped automatically.  For my purposes, the goal remains to export a city from Google Earth into a modeling application.  And while Google Earth does NOT have stellar textures by any stretch, it would be nice to have these included in the exported model.

3D Ripper DX (link removed, see warning above) seems to do exactly that, and the setup time is incredibly faster.  In just a few minutes I was able to follow this video tutorial to capture, export, and import an entire neighborhood, with textures, into 3D Studio Max.

 

As you can see the textures aren't really that great, but it is perhaps better than none at all!  Also, based on the instructions given in the video tutorial, I might be able to capture crisper textures if I play around with it a bit more.  The only other downside (for me) is not knowing how to use 3D Studio Max, at all, but that is obviously a personal issue.

Up next?  Exporting this bad boy into UDK.  🙂

Here is another video that you may also find useful by Paul Fatkins:

See these updated posts for more info:

Part 1 – Exporting Google Earth Models into UDK

Part 2 – Exporting Google Earth Models into UDK