I am fortunate enough to be associated with a private trust in Scotland which owns and manages an 'auld kirk' as a holiday home and place of retreat. Dalvrecht, as it is known, is a place I am very familiar having spent many family holidays there.
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| The former occupation of the building is fairly evident |
I had returned from a few days respite at 'Dalv' and decided to construct a 3D model of the property. I had prepared by walking around the building, taking rough measurements in 'feet' and 'hands'; my shoes were close enough to being exactly 30cm in length!
I used
Google Sketchup to provide the facilities to model the building. It has a quick learning curve, is reasonably simple and thus easy and best of all is free! In addition, it has the ability to import other peoples models, to scale, into your own. I was able to quickly furnish Dalv with furniture as a result.
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| Details were done from memory - I say it is close enough! |
A great feature of Sketchup, as a result of being owned by Google, is it's integration with Google Earth. I was able to place my mock-up on location and recreate some of the views one could encounter looking down at Dalv from the surrounding countryside!
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| Dalv sits along the river Avon, in Speyside |
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Google Earth's terrain isn't quite right - misinterpreting
a 20 ft drop to the river as a gentle slope across the site. |
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| The internals with some of the basic furniture; beds show scale well. |
I hope to be getting more involved with Dalvrecht and lending my professional experience as a civil/structural engineer to help with maintenance, up-keep and renovation. Having a model to play with could help persuade other trustees to my visionary ideas!
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