SketchUp to Max to Vray

[M V]

I am a SketchUp pro using Vray for SketchUp and now want to become a Max Vray user but still use SketchUp models. Whats the best workflow to import these files? I tried to import the SKP file in, which works great, but when I render using Vray, all the faces are black. Is this because the way Max converts the SketchUp materials to Mental Ray? I downloaded a script that is supposed to convert all the materials to Vray, but I dont know if it's working.

[neil poppleton]

It would seem like a material issue. Test one element with a vray material, or use the global overide swith with a basic vray material.

[M V]

I figured out that when you import a SKP file, you have to have "Make 2 sided Materials" unchecked. Then the MR materials will rendering in Vray. Now, my next question. Is there a way to just have 3DS automatically make Vray materials instead of MR materials when importing geometry like this?

[alias_marks]

so yep, black surfaces mean the normal is flipped. A quick fix is definitely to import materials at two sided when bringing into ketchup.

 

Even better is if you make sure all your faces are oriented the right direciton in sketchup from the start. i.e. don't paint the blue/purple surfaces in sketchup. Right click on them and 'flip faces' before applying a material, and this will save you a lot of head ache when bringing the models into max.

 

I've recently jumped on the 'model in sketchup' bring into max band wagon. Works great if you're not doing much curved sufrace modeling, but kinda breaks down as soon as you want to do something like a contoured, banking loft..

 

After modeling in max for years now, I've found I can be much more efficient modeling with sketchup's efficient snapping and auto clean up edges type methods.

 

Cheers,

 

M-

[M V]

Alot of the groups import in as multi sub matieral groups. Is there any way to not have this happen tha doesnt involve explosing everything little thing? For me, the best workflow would be to import the file, go to the material explorer, swap out each material with a Vray material, add landscape and entourage in 3DS, then render. With all of these multi sub materials, its a giant pain in the rump!

[alias_marks]

I haven't found that to be a very good workflow for me either. Once you combine everything into one object, you lose all your instances... which is probably ok for some projects, but I like to keep them in tact.

 

First thing I do is a vray scene converter when I bring the model into max, to get all materials converted from standard to vray. THen, like yourself, I eyedropper materials, the swap them with more the vray texture I'm looking for. Many times I'm able to get a clean white matte kinda subtle texture pass, with just applying glass, metal, and clay like materials.

 

This process usually takes me 10 min or so depending on the amount of materials, but I'd like to try and find a way to optimize it even more. Would like to optimize even more if anyone has any thoughts..

 

Valero, have a link to where your finding these discussions?

 

Thanks,

 

M-

[Eric]

I also model in SketchUp, then import into Max to render with V-Ray. It is very helpful if you keep your materials clean in Sketchup. For example, if you have a "Stainless" material, make sure you don't have Stainless, Stainless [1], etc. Also, try to make sure you name your components if possible while you're modeling. And try to make extensive use of layering as well. When I import into Max, I do NOT use the Front/Back Materials option (leave it un-checked).

 

Once you have your model in Max, and apply your corrected materials to the model, you should save the materials to a project specific material library. If you have to make changes to the Sketchup model, this will make it much easier to re-apply the corrected material.

 

If you have to delete a component and re-import it, sample the newly imported sketchup material from the updated object, then click the button that allows you to change the material to a V-Ray material, or any other type of material. But, instead of starting over, double-click on the material you saved into your project-specific mat library, and this will update the material on all objects that have the old (Sketchup) version of the material.

 

Likewise, you can assign the material in your Material Editor to the updated object, but this will only apply the material to that one object you had selected. And if it's a multi-subobject material, the new object's polygon ID assignment will likely be updated upon import, so you can't just drag the previous multi-subobject material to the updated object because the sub-object materials will apply to the wrong faces. That's the great thing about the method I just mentioned - it will update all instances of "Stainless". However, if you updated an object several times that had "Stainless" applied to it, you may have to update the material in max several times as well as there are now multiple instances of the "Stainless" material in your scene, even though they have the same name - they are different.

[alias_marks]

Thanks for the Tips Eric, I'll start to give your method a whirl. Much appreciated as I'm sure by others as well.

 

Cheers,

 

M-