Retaining Sketchup groups on import

[Chris MacDonald]

Hey guys,

 

For years now I've been exporting to .3ds format from Sketchup, then importing into 3DS max. Purely because that was the workflow I adopted before 3ds max had a sketchup import option.

 

I just tried the Sketchup import after having some problems with a 3ds import and it worked just fine, though I was wondering whether or not it is possible to make max recognise groups within Sketchup? It would be incredible if you could bring things in pre-grouped, etc.

[simonm]

Chris I always use sketchup to importt into 3DS and this is my workflow.

 

Groups in sketchup are not attached in 3DS as you know. A workaround is to give all your elements specific materials (or plain colours) in sketchup and then when you import, open material editor and select any item, then go to 'select by material' and then itll select all materials with the same colour/material. Isolate and then attach them all.

 

There are scripts available for this - my personal fav is this:

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/select-objects-by-bitmaptex

 

Its an awesome handy little script for me

 

all the best

[Chris MacDonald]

Chris I always use sketchup to importt into 3DS and this is my workflow.

 

Groups in sketchup are not attached in 3DS as you know. A workaround is to give all your elements specific materials (or plain colours) in sketchup and then when you import, open material editor and select any item, then go to 'select by material' and then itll select all materials with the same colour/material. Isolate and then attach them all.

 

There are scripts available for this - my personal fav is this:

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/select-objects-by-bitmaptex

 

Its an awesome handy little script for me

 

all the best

 

This has been my workflow over the past few years, but without the script. Thanks for that.

[ludnid]

I prefer importing now as well as skp especially as imported round objects maintain their roundness, and components still maintain their properties. Working with just materials proves a bit of a trouble as a component could have different materials, so then what do you do?

 

I find it easier to use the renamer plugin in sketcuhup, rename objects and groups on the fly, and when importing into max, use that naming convention to select objects and then group them. A good tool will also be the "select instances" script from Neil Blevins "SoulBurn Pack"