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Input

• Group containing edges.
• Raw edges or faces.

Only edges are embedded.

Operation

Direct

1. Pre-select valid input, per above.
2. Run Embed.
3. To adjust result, type values.

Embed is a Pick command.

What Is Embed?

Embed is a core command in Landshape.

Embeds are edges that you have enmeshed into your terrain, just where you want them.

Embedded edges add definition to to the terrain, so that you may express a local feature.

Embeds enable you to make a sharp border between two different terrain materials. For example between a green and a fairway in a golf course.

Embedded edges let you express a sharp transition in the terrain shape. Such transitions are often called for where the general terrain mesh meets a building, a retaining wall, a flight of outdoor steps. Or for other built or designed features.

The basic terrain mesh works as a coarse representation of general terrain elevations.

Embed lets you express sharp terrain features with full crispness and accuracy.

The Digital Image Analogy – The Best of Both Worlds

Consider a Landshape terrain, seen from the Top.

If you create a new terrain via Form or Plot, you get a terrain mesh. This terrain mesh is regular.

If you look closely, you will see that it is built up by quadratic cells. These are called 'cells' or 'quads'. You could conceive of each cell as a pixel in a pixelated image.

Now, consider a group of regular Sketchup edges hovering above the terrain.

In Sketchup, edges let you express features with practically infinite sharpness. In mathematical language, edges are vectors.

If you select a few Sketchup edges, then Embed them into the terrain, Landshape will replace some pixel-cells with vector-edges. Landhape will embed the edges into the cells.

This means that you can get the best of two worlds.

The regular cells express general terrain elevations. This is great for context, general transitions, and infill.

The embedded edges express specific local features. This is great for sharp features, local transitions, and nature-culture interfaces.

In short, Embeds are edges that you have enmeshed into your terrain just where you want them.

Plasticity everywhere. Sharpness exactly where you need it.

Why Embed?

1. Define a Sharp Border between Terrain Materials

For instance to separate a gravel path from surrounding grass, or to separate the golf green from its fairway. Also when they share the same elevation.

The border between two different materials in the terrain is also called 'Zone Bounds'.

2. Define a Sharp Feature in the Terrain

For instance along a retaining wall, a flight of steps, a street curb, a traffic island. Or the intersection of the terrain with some separate built feature.

Also when both sides share the same material.

Embed with Caution

Embed tries to give all edges in your selection a representation in the terrain. Even edges that are very short, even tiny.

However, like Sketchup itself, Landshape terrain does not like tiny edges. Tiny edges may break the integrity of the terrain mesh.

Therefore, always try to avoid embedding tiny edges.

If you run Embed on input containing tiny edges, Embed will try to warn you.

Troubleshooting Embed

Embed is fairly robust. After Embed saw some fragility in early versions of Landshape, Embed's underlying algorithms have been hardened and refined.

But sometimes, Embed can still fail.

If this happens, try one of the following:

Update Landshape

First, make sure that you are running the latest version of Landshape. Run Update….

Use Simpler Input

It is best practise to use edges that are not much shorter than the resolution of the terrain where you embed.

Try to edit your input, so that it does not contain short edges.

If you create a new terrain mesh, and Embed a simple rectangle or circle made with native Sketchup tools, this Embed will almost always work.

If you can, make your input yourself, and make sure to not to use excessively short edges.

Always Clean Input Edges from External Sources

Note that edgework from external sources, such as .dwg imports from e.g. Autocad, often contain lots of tiny edges, and other bad geometry. This will often make Embed fail.

To try to automatically remove tiny edges from your input, select your input and run Clean. Note that currently, Clean only works on edges connected to a face. It will erase open edgework. Learn more about how to clean input..

Find Tiny Edges

• About to embed linework that you did not draw yourself?
• Do you have reason to suspect that your input contains tiny edges?

🦉 Do the right thing - Check your edges.

To check, use Landshape's built-in command Inspect Nonterrain Edges.

Erase Embeds

To remove embeds, you can use Mesh or Mesh Brush on the area.

Fencing Edges

Fences are terrain edges with a special property, called Fences. Embed itself does not Fence anything.

Fences make standrad brushes able to stop at the embedded edges. This can greatly facilitate feature-aware edting. Also, Fenced edges are persistent across iterative embeds and remeshing.

You can set the Fence property by running Fence on control edges. Alternatively, you can use Draw Fence.

Note that the edges that you Fence need to already exist in your terrain, before you Fence them. The best way to make sure that an edgepath exists in the terrain is to Embed it.

Currently, there is also a special command, Embed Fence, which does two things, first an Embed, then immediately a Fence.

To learn more about Fencing, see Fence.

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Embed Practices - Try Embed Yourself

Basic Example – A Simple Golf Green

First, create a new Landshape terrain, using Plot or Form.

Then, create a circle using Sketchup's circle tool. Group the circle. Place it above the terrain plot. Paint it with a green color. This is your control group.

Select the circle. Run Embed.

If you have hidden edges turned on, you should be able to see that Embed has indeed created new edges in your terrain, coresponding to your input. Try undoing, and Embed again, this time with hidden geometry turned on.

To also paint the terrain, select the green circle again. Run Zone. Now, the the terrain should be painted green, exactly below your control group.

To understand hands-on the difference that embedding makes, undo again. This time, without embedding, run Zone on the green control group circle. In your terrain, you should now see a jagged mosaic effect. This is because you had not pre-embedded any edges to correspond to your control group.

This example should make clear some of the advantages of embedding.

All these commands can be found in the toolbar Holygon Landshape Pick.

Advanced Example – Retaining Wall

Let's say you have a slope, and wish to create a terrace by adding a retaining wall, made of corteen steel, ¼ inch thick. In Landshape, remember that terrain may have any slope, as long as it's not vertical. A 89.9° precipice is fine.

Draw a circle in the model void, group it, and rotate it in green or red, using standard Sketchup tools, to slant it.

Select the group, and run Form. This should create a new Landshape terrain plot.

Now, model your corteen steel sheet using standard Sketchup tools. It can be rectangular or sinuous. If you do a series of planar curves, select them and offset them 1/4 inch, and connect the ends to close the loop and make a face. Pushpull the face to make it an extruded solid, group the geometry. Position the object in the model at desired position.

Then, enter the group, and Select only its upper face. It should be a single face 1/4 inch wide. A face by necessity is bound by edges. These edges we are going to embed. With the face selected, run Embed Fence.

Landshape will now project the any edge in the selection into the terrain, and enmesh it there, and make the appropriate new faces. This gives the terrain the required local definition.

The final step is to shape the terrain. In this case, we wish to move into place two existing terrain areas, that of the upper and that of the lower terrace. There are several ways. Here, we'll show two.

A. If you prefer the expressivity of brushes, you can may use Level Brush. Here, you can click Alt to sample e.g. the upper part of the corteen wall, and while in Level Brush also right-click and pick Stop on Fence, and keep brushing. Use e.g. 100% strength and 50% blend.

B. If you prefer the accuracy of pickers, first make some target geometry. In this case, it could be two groups with a rectangle, one for each terrace. Make sure to leave a gap where the retaining wall is. Now, select both groups, and run Fit. Make sure to use 100% strength and no falloff.