Make a Snow Globe of YOUR House With Google Earth!

In this instructable you will learn how to turn your very own house into a snow globe, without ever having to leave it! This can be achieved by using basic DIY snow globe materials, paint, a 3D printer, and some software. The way that you get your house into 3D model form is by using photogrammetry. Photogrammetry, a type of 3D scanning, takes many images from different angles and turns them into a 3D model. Using google earth we can obtain these images easily, and it lets you scale and capture whatever you want, wherever you want in THE WHOLE WORLD!

1. Open Google Earth
2. Press the search button in the left menu
3. Type in your address
4. Press enter
5. Take many photos (at least 30) of your house from different angles. Make sure to zoom out some if you want the surroundings in your snow globe!

1. Open the photogrammetry app of your choosing
2. Go to wherever you can upload photos, and choose all of the ones you have taken of your house
3. Create the model by pressing the crate model button in your software
4. Inspect the model. See if you have the right area that you will need for your snow globe. If any is missing, it won’t work! If the model has holes or is too small, try again with more photos or a bigger area
5. if you are satisfied with your model, save it as a .obj file.

1. Open the Mesh editing software of your choice. I don’t have much experience with these, so instead of doing a general overview, this will be specific to Meshmixer. If you know how to work an alternative one well, you should be able to decipher what’s to do in yours. However, if you are having trouble, consider downloading Meshmixer.
2. Upload your .obj file of your house.
3. Choose the select tool, and select your whole model. I did this by double clicking on it.
4. Select the extrude tool, and extrude negatively to the height of your choosing. Make sure the end is a far bit past the bottom of your original scan. Don’t be worried about extruding too much, you can cut it down in later steps.
5. Open the end type menu and choose flat.
6. Export as an STL file, and save it to your downloads. Alternatively, you could upload straight to your editing software.

1. Upload your model into your CAD software.
2. Rotate your model so that it is flat on the floor.
3. I didn’t do this, but if you make the end too extruded, cut the bottom of the end to make it shorter. From the ground to the lowermost point of the landscape, my model was about .25 inches
4. Measure the base of your baseball display case or other case.
5. Create a shape with the exact dimensions or your case. If it is circular, make sure to make the shape a circle.
6. Extend the shape tall enough that it covers your model fully when they are intersected.
7. Drag your shape into your model and make the shape translucent so that you can still see the model.
8. Scale and move ONLY THE MODEL and NOT THE SHAPE to achieve the desired area within the snow globe. Anything within the shape will be displayed in the snow globe.
9. Now that you have your shape, see if there are any trees or other large objects cut in half by the border. If there are, remove them, or leave them as stumps, as seen in the photos. This is so they will not obscure the view of your house within the snow globe.
10. Select both the shape and the model, and then intersect them. You should be left with a piece of your model shaped exactly to the base of your snow globe.
11. Do final touching up and remove any other stray, floating, or blocking parts, mainly ones cut in half by the edge.
12. Export your model as a .STL file and save it. If you worked in inches, make sure to export using millimeters, as this is what most slicing softwares use.

1. Open your slicing software.
2. Open your finished .STL into it.
3. Slice it. Use a low layer height, .18mm-.12mm. If you can, use variable layer height such that the bottom layers with no details have a layer height of .3mm. The infill can be as low as 10%. Unless your house has intense overhangs, it should not need any supports.
4. Print it. Mine took about 4 hours with .18mm layer height. I would suggest white PLA or PETG as it is the easiest to paint. PLA is a bit easier to paint, however, PETG is waterproof so your case, assuming that you made the dimensions of your model right, shouldn’t need much waterproofing itself. The PLA will then not absorb any water either. I used Flashforge White PLA. If you use PLA, the plastic will eventually absorb some of the water, leading to a small but noticeable air bubble at the top. I didn’t find this to be too big of a disadvantage, but if you are a perfectionist, you might want to use PETG.

1. Take your model off the printer. If you used supports, remove them thoroughly.
2. Paint the flat parts of your model. You do this first because some spots of paint fly, and you do not want them getting onto the focus of your model, the 3D part, after it is painted, as it is harder to repaint.
3. Paint the 3D parts of your model, starting with the larger parts like the house, and transitioning to harder to paint smaller details. I would suggest that you, as I did, leave the houses around yours white, to draw attention to yours. If you want to see how that looks, scroll to the end to see finished photos of the model from all angles. If there are spots on the other houses, cover them up with a layer of white paint.
4. Paint a rim of green (or black if you have mainly streets such as in a city) around the whole model. Make sure it is at an even height.

1. Get out your hot glue gun, your hot glue, your model, your display case, your glitter, and your glycerin.
2. If you used a baseball display case with a hole as I did, these steps are important. If not, skip to sped 4. Place duct tape on your base, fully covering the hole
3. Flip your base over and fill the hole with hot glue. Once it dries, put duct tape over that side as well.
4. Glue your model to your base using hot glue. I would suggest that you trace a line glue around the edge or your base for best adhesion. After all, you will be shaking it.
5. Grab the top, clear part of your display case and flip it over. Then, fill it most of the way with water. It is important not do have too little water, so if you don’t trust your estimation skills, you might be better served by filling the whole thing up.
6. Put in 1-3 teaspoons of glitter, depending on how much snow you want and how big your display case is. I used 2.5 spoonfuls in mine.
7. Add a few drops of glycerin. The more you add, the more viscous your snow globe will be.
8. Turn the base, NOT THE CLEAR PART, over, and put it on the clear part. Water will drip over the sides, and if a lot does, you should dry the sides with a paper towel before the next step.
9. Use your hot glue gun to add a rudimentary seal to the edge of your model. Make sure to keep it from dripping down the sides. I achieved this by tackling each side one-at-a-time using a pencil, but I’m sure there are other feasible methods.
10. Flip your model back over and apply a second layer of glue. This one should be thick and cover the whole perimeter of the base.
11. Tilt your model to one side and shake it. If any water drips out, patch the spot that it did with more hot glue. Repeat this with all other sides and corners. Once you think do are done, do a second check to make sure.
12. Flip your model over and add the rubber feet. This does not apply to all models, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget. I know I would’ve had I not stuck it onto my cutting mat to make sure I didn’t!

Congratulations! You’ve finished your own custom house snow globe. You can now proudly flaunt it in the face of loved ones, or subtlety start removing all the other decorations on the shelf/counter you put it on until it is the center of everyone’s attention. You can give it away, or make more for friends and family. You can also put it on the corner of a shelf and forget about it for a couple years. Whatever you choose, the possibilities are endless!