Kenny Bones Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Hi! I'm looking into a new tool to create buildings etc other than Google Sketchup. Now, Sketchup is fantastic in a way that it's so damn easy to do box modelling. But the models end up in a huge mess when exporting. Something that I think most people familiar with Sketchup know about. Now, when looking into another tool for creating models like this, what would you guys recommend? I've looked into Maya etc but I'm not quite sure. Some people say this and some people say that. Basically, I'm not modelling organic material, only static buildings, stone, signs, roads etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippu Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 Some people say this and some people say that. Basically, I'm not modelling organic material, only static buildings, stone, signs, roads etc etc. thats exactly what will happen here, some people will say this and that ...for starters i will go with autocad and/or 3dsmax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic H Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 3dmax, its works well with DWGS, which you will quiet often be dealing with. It has good poly tools has lots of support, wide user base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 since autocad works with Nurbs when modeling and if you want to stay native ise the ACISout to take to Rhinoceros and continue where you can also export and import sketchup as well as place stuff to google earth. is an option and what I do, use and highly recomend as the most powerful modeling tool currently and for a long while (since autocad14). i've used it to model for Revit ProE Mechanicaldesktop solidworks and others because it is so interopperable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Lino Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 in my opinion Sketchup is the fastest and easier to learn for architectural models, for organic models I'd say Rhino and BIM modelling Revit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Bones Posted November 18, 2008 Author Share Posted November 18, 2008 I'm quite familiar with Sketchup, but does it export ok to other apps? Rhino imports sketchup files directly or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimprichjb Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Hi! I'm looking into a new tool to create buildings etc other than Google Sketchup. Now, Sketchup is fantastic in a way that it's so damn easy to do box modelling. But the models end up in a huge mess when exporting. Something that I think most people familiar with Sketchup know about. Now, when looking into another tool for creating models like this, what would you guys recommend? I've looked into Maya etc but I'm not quite sure. Some people say this and some people say that. Basically, I'm not modelling organic material, only static buildings, stone, signs, roads etc etc. I'm a former maya user and I know this question gets asked a lot. In my own opinion I prefer Max over Maya for anything Arch Vis related, but there are positives about both programs. I can go on and on about what I like about both programs and how I wish I could combine them both (maybe with a few Houdini features as well), but to make a long story short: For speed and accuracy, Max's modeling tools and AutoCAD integration is enough of a reason for me to stick with Max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterguthrie Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 But the models end up in a huge mess when exporting. Something that I think most people familiar with Sketchup know about. Not something I've ever come across. If you model in a clean and efficient way in sketchup, then you get a clean and efficient export. I assign a hotkey to view the model sans textures so that you can see at a glance if you have any flipped normals. I then export as a 3ds file, bring it into max, it comes with a multi subobject material for you to drag and drop materials onto, and all mapping coordinates are preserved. Every single building in my portfolio was modeled in sketchup: http://www.peterguthrie.net/visualisation/ Sketchup 7 now has dynamic components which is going to make modeling buildings in sketchup even quicker and more flexible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landrvr1 Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 If you model in a clean and efficient way in sketchup, then you get a clean and efficient export. Unfortunately, only about 2.3% of SketchUp users can actually seem to model in a clean and efficient way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antisthenes Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 reminds me of my drafting teacher in HS Mr. Schmelz who didn't use snaps, maybe he was setting a bad example not to follow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornkn Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 I've been using SketchUp and LightWave for many years now, and I very rarely have any problems exporting the SU models into LW. OTOH I have received and seen SU models that are quite messed up, with lots of flipped faces, strange grouping etc, but IMO that's more of a problem with the modeler than with SU? If they are messed up in SU they will be messed up when exported too. I typically export selections as 3ds in Meter units, and they pop right into place in LW. Then I can get just the chunks I want, and assemble into layers and scenes in LW. Works very well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Bones Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hmm, I've just tried several ways of exporting Sketchup-models now. I've create a very simple basic house model in Sketchup, exported it to *fbx file format and then imported it into Maya 2009 with all measurements intact. Now, the model come in pretty good. But if I try to move a face, I can see that portions of the model aren't glued together. Found a guide online where it says that Sketchup models have a tendency to not glue faces together. And that it can be fixed by selecting the entire model and then use the Merge Vertices Tool. This seem to work pretty well. But once I've tried to export the model from Maya to MudBox using the Obj format, the model get kinda screwed up in MudBox. Especially once I try some subdivisioning. By the way, subdividing any model in MudBox which isn't of the organic type seems to be tricky. If I have a basic square and subdivide it, it get all rounded edges. Which is pretty logical. But how do people really model buildings and such? I though I'd found a good workflow by doing some basic box modelling first, then subdividing the model to add lots of nice detail. And then export the detail to a displacement map, just like people do when modelling characters and such. But clearly I must be missing something since subdividing a basic square turns it into a smooth, rounded square. Can I subdivide only portions of a model? Cause I do want the model to be pretty basic, I just want some polygons to work with to add some nice detail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelidesm Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Hi all. I ve been using Architectural desktop for the last 4 years and i find it quite easy when its linked to max. Any changes to the model can be easily reloaded into max, any changes to the original archtectural drawings can be easily altered and since you have the parametric feature in adt you can move things around without messing up the model. However you have to follow certain rules that make life a bit easier eg. always build the model for each floor separately, also you have to be carefull with material assining as objects with the standard material assigned usually have the same texture unless you phisically select each object separately and apply the desired material. Basically it works once you get used to it. So far no known limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creasia Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 (edited) I have Sketchup and AutoCad on my system. I prefer to model in Sketchup. Learn to use the snapping and direction constraints to model seamlessly. The Dwg export is amazing, and if you create you materials by layer, then you have a great deal of control with instances and blocks in 3DS Max. This works for huge scenes. People say that Sketchup is slow with large scenes, but compare hidden line drawing speed in AutoCad, and you get slower results in AutoCad. Turning off shadows and textures speeds things up. If you don't need to see the outlines you can switch them off too. I wouldn't create a whole city in it mind you, but for most Arch Viz scenes it works very well. Edited December 11, 2008 by creasia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadmunkey Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Every single building in my portfolio was modeled in sketchup: http://www.peterguthrie.net/visualisation/ As a fellow sketchup user, that is some seriously impressive work Peter. Congrats! I'm presuming you are importing your models into max and rendering with something like Vray? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornkn Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I wouldn't create a whole city in it mind you, but for most Arch Viz scenes it works very well. Why not? I can't think of any better choice for modeling a while city. But of course it depends on the level of detail and precision you're after, not to mention the size of your city.. Some months ago I started modelling the center of my home town, Kristiansand, which is only 80,000 citizens (it still makes it the 5th largest in Norway). It was put aside for awhile, but here are a few shots of its current state. It's intended to be viewed inside Google Earth. Modeled entirely from photos and aerial ortho photos. Took a few days to model though, so far. Texturing will be a lot more work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdds Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 that's some nice renders there Peter.. How long does it take to model one of your buildings in sketchup? I personally model in max and acad, can sketchup be faster? notice more people are using it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterguthrie Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Thanks Glynn and Simon, Its a bit hard to say exactly how long the modeling process takes, as there are always design changes as thing progress, but typically I look to get all modeling out the way in 1 or 2 days. The modeling is always the quickest stage, textures and everything else takes much longer. Bjorn, thats an ambitious undertaking! I completely agree though, I'm never afraid to model huge projects in sketchup, it deals with highly complex models very well if you make use of components. As an example, the Westfield project on my website was a pretty big project, but basically its just about 6 components, flipped, scaled and squeezed into different permutations. With sketchup 7's dynamic components, it probably could have reduced it to even less components! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creasia Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 That's great. I guess now that I think of it there are some good plugins to help with this. The one that deals with proxy geometry based on proximity. I am getting some great results with proxies using the Maxwell plugin. I have patches of grass represented by squares and on export I get millions of blades of grass and High poly trees. See image 17 on my gallery page... http://www.foresight3d.com/gallery.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadmunkey Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Nice gallery Shaun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will1113 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hey! I am also a sketchup and vray user and looking to switch 3DS Max. and finding it difficult to grasp modelling in max. I find modelling very easy and very fast in sketchup. So preferably i would rather model in sketchup and import to Max to render, Animate etc. I came across this thread on the forum, and Michael Brown had posted a PDF which is a step by step guide to export your sketchup model and import into 3DS Max, including all the do's and don'ts. Check it out the post is about half way down the page it may be useul for any sketchup users. http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/33474-3ds-max-rendering-sketchup-models-2.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now