is there a way to import sketchup without triangles in to maya?

[jamesrobinson]

I have tried several different inporters and none of them can give me the geometry i need so i have to remodel in maya.

 

some questions- what is your workflow if you model in sketchup and do you have to clean up the models a lot?

 

anyone use booleans for animation. it doesnt work with the sketchup geometry.

 

does anyone model entirely in maya? if so whats your work flow- plugins etc?

 

Any responses appreciated, thank you:)

[Marti Zanden]

I work in Maya but I've never imported Sketchup models. I have however imported numerous files into Maya: DWG, DFX, OBJ, FBX

 

With all of these files it is always necessary to do some adjustments in Maya. Some models more than others. Most of the time they come in with triangles but there is an option to quadrangulate the mesh (at least there is one in Maya 2016). The option is located in the mesh dropdown menu. This works pretty good but most of the time it leaves a couple triangles that need to be cleaned up by hand.

 

I do use booleans quit alot but never for animation. Booleans can however be a pain to clean up. As for it not working on sketchup geometry I can't tell you exactly why but booleans need clean geometry to work so that could be the problem. Geometry needs to be quads or triangles.

 

I work entirely in Maya. For the most detailed models that will be close up in the final render I start with a low poly model and then use smooth (1 or 2 itterations) to get a nice smooth model. I don't use any plugins. I can tell you more of my workflow if you have specific questions.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[Ernest Burden III]

FBX, Collada (DAE) and OBJ should export from SketchUp with nGons. Then its a matter of setting your importer correctly. I don't use Maya, but often use those formats from SketchUp to Cinema4D. Actually, now C4D opens .SKP directly, so no need for intermediate formats.