audrey Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 hi i am starting to learn max, and i was wondering if it is advisable to model in sketchup then render in max? i've learned i can import my SU model into max 9 by saving it as .3DS... however i am not so sure if this is advisable... maybe you guys can give me tips or sumthing.. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Not recomended. Search the forums and you will see the problems that people face when trying this. SketchUp is good for some things, but not as a primary modeling app to work in conjunction with another package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mskin Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 I dont have much experience with this, but once.... someone in our office modeled a space in sketchup. when imported into max, many normals were facing the wrong way and there weren't any solids. Masses were just a bunch of planes if yo get my drift. it was a complicated work flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 SketchUp is good for some things, but not as a primary modeling app to work in conjunction with another package. to append CHG's comment, sketchup is great for design exploration and quick studies but it doesn't transfer well into any other application. If you have to use sketchup as a modeler you are actually better using vray for sketchup as a rendering engine. I have a few designers that have sworn by sketchup and rather than exporting their model's I've have better luck using my 3dsmax/vray knowledge to teach them to use vray for sketchup for creating quality renders without leaving sketchup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrwag Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 ähmm... I usually modell everything in Sketchup and then render it with 3ds max or Cinema 4D. And it works perfect. Yes, the normals can be flipped, but there is a way to change the normals in SketchUp before exporting. Oh, and when you work with C4D flipped normals isn´t a problem at all C4D always shows polygons two-sided. To export my modells I use dxf for C4D and dwg for 3ds max. Never had any problems. And never found an ap that offers faster modelling (for architectural modells). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audrey Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 ähmm... I usually modell everything in Sketchup and then render it with 3ds max or Cinema 4D. And it works perfect. Yes, the normals can be flipped, but there is a way to change the normals in SketchUp before exporting. Oh, and when you work with C4D flipped normals isn´t a problem at all C4D always shows polygons two-sided. To export my modells I use dxf for C4D and dwg for 3ds max. Never had any problems. And never found an ap that offers faster modelling (for architectural modells). could you please give me some tips on how i should model so i won't be encountering too much complications as i import it into max? is it ok that i export the model as a 3ds file? or should i just export it as a dxf file? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audrey Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 Not recomended. Search the forums and you will see the problems that people face when trying this. SketchUp is good for some things, but not as a primary modeling app to work in conjunction with another package. yay... so would i was wondering if i could do the modeling in max as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrwag Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 If you want to use max I would export the model as dwg. The SketchUp Expoter works very well. And when importing dwg´s into max you get the best import options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 If you want to use max I would export the model as dwg. The SketchUp Expoter works very well. And when importing dwg´s into max you get the best import options. How are you managing materials when crossing applications? To my knowledge the dwg out of sketchup drops all materials so you either have to setup your materials by layer to keep track of them, or completely rematerialize the model in 3dsmax after import. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrwag Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Thats what I am doing. In the Layer manager I use the option "color by layer" and create a layer for each material I am going to use. But thats all I am doing about texturing in Skp. Just some funky layer colors to make the modeling easier. The final textures I aplly in 3ds max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 sketchup has its place.. my main problems with sketchup models are due to architects who are using it adding vastly more info than they need into the sketchup model (Ie: extruding the entire floor plan of a building when you simply need the exterior walls) and also from them working from poor starting points: Bad Cad with double faces and unsnapped corners.. Sketchup doesn't know which way polygons are supposed to be facing, and in turn neither does max... alas, thats just newbiness to 3d, and that comes through no matter what application they would be using that said, if you're using sketchup correctly its not tooo bad of a conversion, as long as you keep control of your layers and your materials inside of sketchup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyElNino Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Not recomended. Search the forums and you will see the problems that people face when trying this. SketchUp is good for some things, but not as a primary modeling app to work in conjunction with another package. Couldn't agree less. It's our primary modelling app and it works just great. Like any app if its modelled correctly then you won't have any problems. How are you managing materials when crossing applications? To my knowledge the dwg out of sketchup drops all materials so you either have to setup your materials by layer to keep track of them, or completely rematerialize the model in 3dsmax after import. As someone already stated, we use contrasting bold colours in SketchUp and the proper business of materials and textures is done in Cinema 4D. We choose to model in layers in SketchUp and export to Cinema via 3DS. There is some connecting to be done where needed but I don't get normal issues as these can be seen in SketchUp and avoided / corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias_marks Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 I'm with BillyElnino on this one. We model tons of our stuff in sketchup and bring it to max for rendering with Vray. If the sketchup is done right and you do a couple things in max to optimize, its great! The flipped normals are never really an issues unless it comes to glass or transparent materials. Even if the modeling is terrible in ketchup, which it many times is, if you optimize the exports correctly and set a couple key things in max, I still find it very efficient. I've attached a quick pdf I found a while back breaking down some good practices when modeling in skethcup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audrey Posted November 17, 2008 Author Share Posted November 17, 2008 wow! thanks for all the tips.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew_almighty Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 I'm with BillyElnino on this one. We model tons of our stuff in sketchup and bring it to max for rendering with Vray. If the sketchup is done right and you do a couple things in max to optimize, its great! The flipped normals are never really an issues unless it comes to glass or transparent materials. Even if the modeling is terrible in ketchup, which it many times is, if you optimize the exports correctly and set a couple key things in max, I still find it very efficient. I've attached a quick pdf I found a while back breaking down some good practices when modeling in skethcup. I can see where you're coming from, but what happens when the designer updates the SketchUp model after your 3/4 of the way done with texturing the Max file? The file link for CAD makes updating your model so easy. Without that file link, you either need to re-import the entire model, or have the designer try and export out only the things they've changed (which leaves lots of room for error). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanyuli Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 If you have to use sketchup as a modeler you are actually better using vray for sketchup as a rendering engine. How do u know which sketch-up version compatible with which vray version? Which sketch-up and vray version u currently using? And does it works well together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 It will be interesting to see Max2010. If you look at Jeff's recent post from AU, you will see a screen shot that shows a special importer for Max that specifically deals with importing SketchUp geometry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanyuli Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 It will be interesting to see Max2010. If you look at Jeff's recent post from AU, you will see a screen shot that shows a special importer for Max that specifically deals with importing SketchUp geometry. How do i get the recent post of Jeff's? I'm new to this and not use to this site yet. Thank u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 How do i get the recent post of Jeff's? I'm new to this and not use to this site yet. Thank u http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=4295 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanyuli Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 yeah it will be great if we can import the sketch-up file to 3ds max. thanks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramy Posted December 26, 2008 Share Posted December 26, 2008 Sketch-Up to 3ds max is not only do-able, it is a very fast pipeline process, and has many advantages. There are numerous ways to get skp -> max. Each have their advantages and disadvantages. I encourage you to check out my posting on Sketch-Up to Max. This is the process we use in our viz dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanyuli Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Thank you. I'll try it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Has anyone perfected going from SketchUp to Max via DWG FileLink? ....or is everyone using 3ds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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