Get a MAX file into SKP

[M V]

I am looking for any advice on taking a hi poly Max file and the best workflow to reduce the polys and get it into SketchUp textured. I assume 3DS is the format of choice.

[Corey Beaulieu]

Why?

 

...In reducing poly's, you will need to pay attention to things on an object-by-object basis. Orthogonal object will need much less care than more organic ones, but realistically I would just use the Optimize and/or ProOptimize modifiers to reduce your poly count.

 

As to the textures.... exporting .obj will create textures/material libraries on export, but I have not really used this.

[M V]

To answer the why - I am looking to take objects, like a hi poly tree or sofa and get it into SketchUp, to import as is or turn it into a V-Ray proxy. I am just looking for workflows as to how some people might do this. Is it ideal to move from Max to SketchUp? No. But sometimes you just gotta do what works for your workflow at the moment.

[Tommy L]

Im no Sketchup user, but .3ds is a pretty archaic format with some polycount limitations and poor mapping support. OBJ has had an overhaul, in max at least, in the last 3 yrs or so. Im not sure why you'd do a Max > Sketchup translation either but whatever floats your boat I guess.

[Brodie Geers]

There are valid reasons for going from Max to SU. My default formats are either 3ds or OpenCollada (not Autodesk's Collada format which won't import into SU).

 

3ds has poly limitations which are quite limiting but the objects come in as components which is nice.

 

Open Collada explodes everything which is annoying but has some nice advantages. No poly limit. It will preserve your textures (if you switch them to Standard materials as opposed to Vray or some other type). And it preserves the origin point. That last one is huge if you go back and forth between Max and SU and need a 2 way link.

 

Open Collada can be downloaded here https://github.com/KhronosGroup/OpenCOLLADA/wiki/OpenCOLLADA-Tools

 

There are SU scripts you can use which will recognize when geometry is similar and make it into components but they take a long time to run.

 

-Brodie