francescobitelli Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Hello, I would like to open a thread to collect some experiences and points of view about the workflow I've been using for the last two years, which is based on Sketchup (for modelling) and Cinema4d+Vray (for rendering, and adding entourage). The reason why I want to ask other user to step in with their own points of view is that I find this workflow really underrated: it's so hard to find information on the web, expecially in contrast with the "skp to 3dsmax" w.f. which has been broadly discussed and demonstrated (for example by some great artists like Ronen Bekerman or Peter Guthrie). I'll start by briefly explaining my personal workflow which I would like, after two years of usage, to re-analyze more critically, also comparing it to other users' experiences. In my case, I model the building (sometimes even part of the furniture) in sketchup, giving materials to every surface (usually I just use colours as placeholders, because I will apply the real materials later on in C4d). Important thing: in sketchup, I model everything as separated objects: for example if I have to model a bookcase, I will make every shelf as a group, as well as the main structure of the bookcase and then I will group everything together or even make a component. Doing so, helps me with keeping the model tidy but will also imply some ease of use in C4d. After having modeled everything and applied colours/materials in Skp, I move to Cinema, by exporting the model as .3ds file with the option "by materials" -but now I would like to give the "full hierarchy" option a try (never used the "by layers" option since I rarely use layers in sketchup). There many more things to be said about the "export texture maps" option, and the fact that the .3ds file will have separated faces and edges so that you will have to optimize the meshes in cinema, but I would like to start the discussion with the basic facts moving to details later. Thanks in advance to everyone who will join this discussion, hope it will help other people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nejck Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I am late to the party but still... Somehow I don't image a lot of people are doing this sketchup to cinema 4d thing, I might be wrong but usually most people do it all in one place. Sure the greats use sketchup and then refine in 3ds max but I haven't come across too many artists that go sketchup to cinema 4d route. Perhaps it's because the vis scene is a bit smaller or because most people opt to learn render engines wherever the engine producers focus their effort first... I'm just guessing here It seems cool based on what you said and if it works for you then it is the right way on doing things for yourself Sorry for not being too helpful, I did want to put my opinion out there though edit: I usually have more luck with exporting either .FBX or .OBJ instead of .3ds. Things just seem to be a bit more cleaner Don't do it that often though ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietermarnixstaak Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hey Francesco, I use SketcUp as my main modeller and Cinema purely for rendering...What I recently discovered is 3D Browser by Mootools. This makes our workflow almost seamlessly! You can check it out with a free trial... grtz Pepijn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I don't model in SketchUp but often need it to open model files that I export to Cinema. I usually use .obj or .dae, though both have issues and both are easy enough to overcome. The modeler in Cinema is actually pretty good. I do some things in CAD, but transfer my work to C4D as early as possible to use the better tools. 3ds has the advantage of carrying lights and cameras, but the meshes get triangulated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francisco Penaloza Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 The workflow from Sketchup to Cinema 4D seems pretty stable to me using Colada (DAE). Before that I used to use exactly the same workflow that you mentioned. but when the scene get larger, 3Ds seems to fail. I don't do much of the modeling, but the architects that I work for, model everything in sketchup so I just clean the mesh first, in sketchup, checking all faces are pointing the same direction, purge un-used materials and textures, then export as collada. Cinema 4D take it from there no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescobitelli Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Thank you all! I know I got to go deeper in the .dae exporting solution because it is suggested by most of the people I talked with. I use SketcUp as my main modeller and Cinema purely for rendering...What I recently discovered is 3D Browser by Mootools. This makes our workflow almost seamlessly! You can check it out with a free trial... This is pretty interesting, can you tell me more about it? How does it actually work? Do you have the possibility to automatically update a model in sketchup while you're working in Cinema? This could be great.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Thank you all! I know I got to go deeper in the .dae exporting solution because it is suggested by most of the people I talked with... I have found that .dae files from SketchUp will import with some objects doubled, which is to say a ghost version of itself in the object. You can see this by selecting a polygon and deleting it, this shows there is another one just like it left behind. What cures this is the Optimize tool. When it joins the points, the extra polys vanish. It's weird, but fixable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle_ear Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 don't model in SketchUp The modeler in Cinema is actually pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnblessing Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Late to the party, but the sketchup to C4D workflow is one we have used for years. Using .dae keeps the instancing from Sketchup. Optimize + untriangulate everything. Last year we added rendering in Octane to the mix for even better results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescobitelli Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks John. I think it's never too late to learn, so thank you. During last year I switched from .3ds to .fbx getting much better results, but I should give .dae another shot now that I'm more familiar with cinema 4d. Also thanks to the C4d supporters who answered before, I know that working just inside Cinema will be the best choice to bypass any compatibility issues. But I have to say, from my very personal working experience, Sketchup is more suited for architectural modeling: it's quick, responsive, and understandable by people who are not into the 3d world, like your boss or your client. In my opinion this last, very undiscussed thing, is very important if you are using a 3d sw during the design phase. If the people you are interacting with can at least understand the principles of the sw you're using it will be way easier to get to a better and more shared result. Again, this is just my personal experience and I'm not only a 3d artist, so it could very different from someone else. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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