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| 1'st century Jerusalem from southeast toward the Via Dolorosa (unfinished sketchup model) |
Trouble is, because we're such visual/experiential creatures the unconscious consequence of this is that they get mentally "filed" there too.
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| Holy Land topography for printing |
Virtual Jerusalem - Sketchup model
Virtual Holyland - Google Earth + plain historical layers idea
Real Maps - plain topo maps for printing/sketching
........
Virtual Jerusalem
While working on a computerized stations of the cross for E' one day it occurred to me how much I'd like to walk the actual via doloarosa Jesus did, that is, walk the actual route he did. Only without the airline/time-travel. This is how I got there..Web searches:
1'st century Jerusalem
Via dolarosa
... these and various other phrased searches yielded hundreds of usefull images of which these were the best:
Load and resize best image in Sketchup
- The image should import as something roughly ten feet square, I need something ~3 miles square...
- looking at the image's scale the largest drawn increment to measure from is 1/4 mile or 1320 feet, hmm..
- a less-than-obvious trick in sketchup is the resizing of whole models via the "tape measure" tool. Say you have a part of your model (a map in this case) which gives one of it's lengths in the real world
- measure it in the model with the tape measure tool
- nevermind what the tapemeasure says, input it's real-world length in the input field (the status bar at the bottom right of the program window:
- the model should now be roughly the same size as the map's given dimensions
- Now your map/image is a "special" component of the right size and orientation at sea-level (0 feet in the model). This component is wrapped in digital saran-wrap so that other model pieces don't "stick"to it well. You don't want this.. right-click the map and select the ominous-sounding "explode" option..
- Using the freehand tool, several cups of coffee, and multiple usages of the save-command trace all the contour lines onto the surface of the image (making SURE the pencil always starts and ends on the surface of the image)
- After tracing each chunk's edge completly, verify that sketchup sees it as distinct (and thus will let you select and raise just that portion to its correct elevation later)
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| A distinct "chunk" will highlight if selected, |
- Several hours/days later..
- Use the "push/pull" tool to extrude the sections of your flat image upwards, use the input field to get them to their exact levels
- I don't remember how I did this
- I erased all the "dirt" extruded up from sea level to the hill surfaces by erasing just the vertical lines in the sketchup model
Virtual Holyland
Our family has a custom where the kids move nativity-scene figurines through the home and towards the manger scene as Christmas Eve approaches... A further development of this happy tradition could be to "join" the Holy-Family in their journey from the hills of Nazareth to those of Bethlehem, partaking somewhat in their hardships and moments of insight along the way. For they journeyed the length of a rough land drenched in salvation history. I had hoped to do this via Google Earth, but attempts have fizzled.
So with a blank slate, and few helpful limits/precedents, without even a clear idea of what I want to accomplish, it's time to ask a few questions..
What would I most like to do?
Have something information-ally, and visually rich to help bring forth insight and internally "tie" those memories to.
More specifically, what would I most like to find ready to go?