Method for the automatic material classification and texture simulation for 3D models

1. A method of creating a computerized 3D model to include material property information for one or more regions of image textures of the computerized 3D model, comprising:

creating, with one or more computer processors, a computerized 3D model having image textures;

examining, with the one or more computer processors, a portion of a first image texture of the image textures of the computerized 3D model having unknown material properties;

assigning, with the one or more computer processors, a material having a material property to the portion of the first image texture to indicate a physical material of a physical object represented by the portion of the first image texture, the material property having material property information about the physical materials;

storing, with the one or more computer processors, the material property information of the assigned material;

associating, with the one or more computer processors, the material property information with the portion of the first image texture of the computerized 3D model; and

replacing, with the one or more computer processors, the portion of the first image texture with a simulated texture of the assigned material.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying, with the one or more computer processors, an image resolution of at least one of the first image texture and the simulated texture to match one another.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material property information is stored in fields in the computerized 3D model.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stored material property information includes a unique identifier for the assigned material, and wherein the method further comprises retrieving the material property information from a list or database of material properties using the unique identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image texture is based at least in part on imagery captured by a camera.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the imagery is aerial imagery.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the imagery is imagery captured by one or more hand-held camera.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the imagery is one or more of nadir imagery and oblique imagery.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code that when executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

creating a computerized 3D model having image texture;

locating image texture representations of structural roof elements in the 3D model, utilizing an edge detection algorithm on the 3D model;

examining at least a portion of the image texture representations of structural roof elements in the 3D model;

assigning a structural element texture with a best match to the examined portion of the image texture representations of the structural roof elements found in the 3D model;

associating material property information about material of the structural element texture with the best match with the 3D model at the same size and position as the examined portion of the image texture representations of the structural roof elements as found in the 3D model by the edge detection algorithm; and

replacing in the 3D model the image texture representations of the structural roof elements with a simulated texture of materials of the structural element texture with the best match.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , storing computer executable code that when executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the step of: modifying an image resolution of the simulated textures of materials of the structural element texture to match an image resolution of the examined portion of the image texture of representations of structural roof elements in the 3D model.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the step of associating material property information is defined further as storing material property information in a field in the computerized 3D model directly.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the step of associating material property information is defined further as the steps of storing a unique identifier for the material with the best match in the computerized 3D model and subsequently using the unique identifier to retrieve the material property information from at least one of a list and a database of material properties.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the simulated texture has an image resolution greater than an image resolution of the image texture representations of structural roof elements in of the 3D model.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the image texture representations of structural roof elements are based at least in part on imagery captured by a camera, and wherein the imagery is one or more of oblique imagery, nadir imagery, aerial imagery, and captured by one or more hand-held camera.

15. A system for automatically creating a computerized 3D model to include material property information for one or more regions of image textures of the computerized 3D model, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code that when executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to:

create a computerized 3D model having image texture;

examine at least a portion of a first image texture of the image texture of the computerized 3D model having unknown material properties;

assign a material having one or more material properties to the 3D model at the same size and position as the examined portion of the first image texture to indicate a physical material represented by the examined portion of the first image texture;

store material property information of the one or more material properties of the material in the non-transitory computer readable medium; and

replace the portion of the first image texture with a simulated texture of the material.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the material property information is stored in fields in the computerized 3D model.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the material property information includes a unique identifier for the material and wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium further stores computer executable code that when executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to retrieve the material property information from a list or database of material properties using the unique identifier.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first image texture is based at least in part on imagery captured by a camera, and wherein the imagery is one or more of oblique imagery, nadir imagery, aerial imagery, and captured by one or more hand-held camera.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the simulated texture has an image resolution greater than an image resolution of the image texture of the 3D model.