Best way to go from 3ds Max to SketchUp?

[Brodie Geers]

I've been having a heck of a time trying to get from 3ds Max to SketchUp. Any of the native SU importers don't seem to import UV's ( o.O ) unless I'm missing something. And I haven't had any luck with a couple of the free OBJ importers that are supposed to import with materials.

 

Any advice?

 

-Brodie

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

What version of Max? 2011 ships with a SketchUp importer, and it is the best way to import SketchUp. Just drag and drop the SketchUp file, and it imports. Easy as that. Minor cleanup, but imo head and shoulders above old methods.

[Brodie Geers]

Yes 2011, but I actually am looking to go the other way around (from Max into SU).

 

I pretty much only use 3ds Max when I have to and I'd like to get a few mid-poly bushes and things that are done and textured in 3ds Max into a SU file so I can go straight from SU to Maxwell. Otherwise I'll have to go from SU to 3ds Max (reassociate all the textures, ugh) to Maxwell and then hope that there are no changes.

 

-Brodie

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

My fault, I read to fast...

[Cyberstyle]

I used to do that a few years ago but got our office away from sketch-up. Back then I think I used to just export as a .dwg and bring it into sketchup.

 

From Max though I had to make sure that any detail was removed from my modelling, any object stacks were colapsed to an editable mesh (poly was okay but SU liked mesh better) and all materials were Standard Max materials with just basic colour (no maps). I think that's how we went about it. It was a while ago.

[nickdk]

Brodie,

 

Did you ever find a solution to the 3DS to SU workflow? I'm looking for a good way to do this too and right now I end up with triangulated faces via the .3ds imported format.

 

Rgards!

[Brodie Geers]

Currently I have 2 routes. First change all the materials to Standard type materials. Don't worry about any material parameters other than the map in the diffuse slot which is what will show up in SU. Then export either via .3ds or .dae.

 

I prefer .dae but you can't use the default Autodesk Collada because SU won't import it. You have to download the Open Collada plugin here http://code.google.com/p/opencollada/downloads/list which will add another option to your export file type list - Open Collada .dae. I think you have the option with .dae to not triangulate but don't hold me to that.

 

.3ds is nice and reliable as well but I run into the 64k triangle limit pretty regularly. Collada has no such polygon limit to exports.

 

All you can do with extra triangles is run Tom's cleanup script http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=22920 If that doesn't cleanup the triangle that means there's actually a bend there and 3ds Max just wasn't showing it to you.

 

-Brodie

[nickdk]

Thank you for the information Brody, it's very useful, and Tom's cleanup script is very handy!

[greenkexi]

brodie_geers,

 

Opencollada saved my life. Thanks for shared!

[Brodie Geers]

No problem. The main downside to collada is that it doesn't seem to save components through the conversion although I believe the format is capable of it so it may be a SketchUp issue. Overall I find it fits better in most situations though.

 

-Brodie

[jonasthomas]

Hello Brodie,

 

I installed the OpenCOLLADA plugin and I am able to export to open Collada, but it seems to take forever when I try to import it in sketchup. I can use .3ds, but then I lose the textures. You explain how you change all the materials to Standard type materials, but since I am a beginner in 3ds Max, I don't know how to do this. Can you explain to me how to do this please?

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

Jonas

Edited December 28, 2012 by jonasthomas

[Brodie Geers]

Particularly with large models it can take a long time sometimes. Plus everything comes in as a single object so it can create large models. If possible just export the bare minimum of geometry that you need. The alternative is to export the model in chunks, by layer for example, and import those chunks. It's more tedious but can take a lot less time overall.

 

To convert materials you may be able to use a script. I havn't used this one but you can try it http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/material-converter-v0-98b

 

The manual way would be to right click and save the map in the diffuse slot then click the button that says what the material type is, vraymtl for example, and select standard. Then paste the map back into the diffuse slot. Don't worry about other map types, reflection, refraction, bump, etc. just need to transfer the diffuse map.

 

Let me know if that helps.

 

Brodie

[jonasthomas]

Hello Brodie,

 

I have tried to use the script, but it doesn't allow the user to change materials into a standard material. It only changes the materials into other render engine materials.

 

I have tried to copy the texture in the diffuse slot, turn the material into a standard material and then paste it again in the empty diffuse slot, but then the texture is not applied, as you can see. (see attachements)

 

Do you know what I am doing wrong?

[Brodie Geers]

It may be that the material is still applied but the texture just isn't showing up in the viewport. Try opening the diffuse map and then clicking the "show texture in viewport" button (or whatever it's called).

 

 

Or just try rendering it and see if the texture shows up.

 

If that doesn't work there are 2 options. 1) dig around scriptspot some more to see if there's another script that will convert to Standard materials or 2) go with the original process but then reapply the Standard materials to the objects they belong on.

 

-Brodie

[jonasthomas]

Hello Brodie,

 

It worked with the "show standard map in viewport" button. Thanks! I was also able to import the open Collada format WITH the textures, but it took a very long time. And it is a model that is hard to split in smaller parts. Also, quite a lot of faces were missing.

 

When I import the model into Sketchup with the .3ds format, everything comes in really A LOT faster, but the textures are missing.

 

I have discovered something very interesting though. When you download these free XFrog samples (in the column on the right) http://xfrog.com/product/X-18.html and you import the .3ds file into Sketchup, it also takes a while, but it imports everything perfectly WITH textures. Does anyone have an idea what the reason is for this?

 

If we could apply the same technique, this could be an easier way to move 3ds Max models to Sketchup.

 

Thanks!

[Brodie Geers]

3ds is a great way to go but it has some limitations to keep in mind. First of all there's a polygon max that 3ds max imposes (I'm sure there's a reason but I don't know it). I believe the limit is 64,000 faces which really isn't very much. So many times you have to break the model up in non-intuitive ways to export (you may have to break an object up into 3 parts at random places and there's no easy way to know if you've broken it down far enough until you try to export).

 

The other limitation is that it doesn't preserve your coordinates. With collada you can export an object from 3ds max, import it into SU, work on it and then import it back into 3ds Max and it will be in the same spot. This is a biggie for me.

 

The major advantages are that the imports are often faster which I think is related to the other advantage which is that it preserves components. Actually, now that I say that I think it turns them into groups but there are ways to fix that. Did you see the sketchucation newsletter awhile back that converted leaves of a tree from groups to components?

 

3ds should be able to bring in textures as you're seeing with the xfrog sample so I think it's something on the Max side. It's the same rules as collada, they just need to be Standard materials. I think there may be a check box when you export that allows you to export with textures? I can't remember for sure but I know I've done it.

 

-Brodie

[jonasthomas]

Thanks for the explenation Brodie. Interesting. It may be that I have not tried to change the materials into standard materials with the .3ds export.

 

As a matter of fact, I have just discovered another method a few minutes ago. :-) When you use this plugin in sketchup: http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=35936 and you turn the materials into standard materials and you use the "Bryce" preset for exporting (and uncheck the "Flip XY" checkbox) it is able to import bigger models then .3ds into Sketchup pretty fast and with textures. Cool! :-)

[Brodie Geers]

Nice find and good to know. My OBJ imports have been hit or miss in the pass. Good to know that workflow is working out. I'll have to give that plugin a shot.

 

-Brodie

[jonasthomas]

It is a much better/faster plugin then TIG's older .obj importer. He helped the developer of this plugin in the comments.

[stanleyadam]

Brodie your suggestion helped me too..Thanks

[Rick_irvin]

Hi Brodie,

 

Thanks for the earlier comments. But I'm having some trouble installing the Open Collada script for Max 2012. Do you know if its compatible with '12? From all accounts it seemed to be, and it had no problem choosing max '12 as an install path and supposedly installing successfully.

 

But having Restarted max, I don't have the extra drop down option, nor can I find the plugin in Max's plugins folder. It's quite irritating.

 

Any advice would be greatly received. Running Windows 7 too if that makes any difference?

 

Cheers, Rick

[Brodie Geers]

 

I don't remember there being any tricks with the install but I've been using it with 2012 for some time now. Attached is a screenshot showing where you should find it and what it's called.

 

-Brodie

[juancg]

Hello this is my first post. After googling a lot, downloading a lot of plugins and taking millions of approaches, the best results I get (I think it could't be better) is doing the folowing:

open 3ds max (.max) file in 3ds max select all you need to export and explode any groups.

Then convert all to editable meshes or editable polys, reset xform, and center pivots to objects (not really sure if necessary)

Export as dwg version 2007, open the file in autocad and save as dwg again selecting version 2007

Now import the last saved dwg file in max, when options windows appear select "entity" under "derive autocad primitives by", and "generate maping coordinates for each object" under geometry option (this is wath I think makes the trick...)

Then export as 3ds and import in sketchup as usual.

Please note that when the model is complex it could seem like sketchup freezes but just be patient and wait until the cross cursor appears, make a click and wait again until geometry appears.

Result: each entity is defined as group as you would expect in a sketchup model. with nice and clean faces.

Hope this helps someone to avoid the nightmare I´ve been through jejej

[Matt McDonald]

I was all bonkers about the Open Collada method but recently it has given me trouble with big models. On the other hand the OBJ import as suggested by Jonas has worked a treat importing large sites and geometry heavy models.

[salvador]

Hello this is my first post. After googling a lot, downloading a lot of plugins and taking millions of approaches, the best results I get (I think it could't be better) is doing the folowing:

open 3ds max (.max) file in 3ds max select all you need to export and explode any groups.

Then convert all to editable meshes or editable polys, reset xform, and center pivots to objects (not really sure if necessary)

Export as dwg version 2007, open the file in autocad and save as dwg again selecting version 2007

Now import the last saved dwg file in max, when options windows appear select "entity" under "derive autocad primitives by", and "generate maping coordinates for each object" under geometry option (this is wath I think makes the trick...)

Then export as 3ds and import in sketchup as usual.

Please note that when the model is complex it could seem like sketchup freezes but just be patient and wait until the cross cursor appears, make a click and wait again until geometry appears.

Result: each entity is defined as group as you would expect in a sketchup model. with nice and clean faces.

Hope this helps someone to avoid the nightmare I´ve been through jejej

 

Indeed, this worked for correcting objects position. All materials gone though. Still, there is a drawback: Max instances will be moved to the origin of the original instance and so it will be imported into SU, no matter if the DWG and the new MAX files show them up correctly positioned. It might as well come to a "kill instance / export / undo kill instance" action.

 

Thanks Juan, it helped. I had already noticed that the 2007 export filters worked and the newest didn't; yet, it's still a bit annoying; I'll try OpenCollada and report back.