Sketchup to 3DS Max workflow

[chriskiser]

The firm I work for gets a lot of sketchup models from clients that often have a lot of issues: flipped normals, extra edges, overlapping faces etc.

 

What is the best workflow for taking a model from sketchup into max for rendering with VRAY? Are there ways to quickly clean up the above issues to an entire scene and not face by face?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Chris

[simonm]

In short - from my experience, no (This is my main workflow). You HAVE to manually fix all of the reversed faces/overlapping etc etc. There is a plugin to cleanup such geometry but its not foolproof and at times can make things worse.

 

Generally, when i receive sketchup files, i only use them as a reference and remodel the whole thing so i avoid any artifacts/mishaps.

 

The firm I work for gets a lot of sketchup models from clients that often have a lot of issues: flipped normals, extra edges, overlapping faces etc.

 

What is the best workflow for taking a model from sketchup into max for rendering with VRAY? Are there ways to quickly clean up the above issues to an entire scene and not face by face?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Chris

[Tom Sproule]

Yeah, unfortunately I agree with pixelman - rebuild it.

 

If you do have to use the geometry and it has flipped faces you can try using a vray2sided material and set the opacity to black, so it's not translucent and renders both sides exactly the same. It sometimes helps. But then you have other issues, like light leaks. I don't know.

 

You kind of bodge through it when you use sketchup in max, don't you?

 

The only workflow I've seen that works is you forget it's sketchup, assign textures, do your lighting and fix whatever looks funky after your test renders.

 

Probably doesn't help much, but that's my two cents.

[chriskiser]

This is what I was afraid of. We dont have the time or budget to rebuild every time we get a SKP file so we just trudge thru fixing what we have to. I was hoping there was a better, faster, cleaner way of doing it but it appears there is not.

 

Damn

[numerobis]

I think i would clean it in Sketchup. There are tools/plugins to orient faces and to clean up geometry.

Edited March 16, 2017 by numerobis

[SkylineArch]

Learn SketchUp and clean the files in there, it has to be quicker than remodeling the whole thing over. Also, report the issues to the place you get the model from so they can fix their workflow and get more competent modelers. If you know what you are doing in SketchUp (Like any other software) there shouldn't be any issue when the files are imported into Max. I've been doing it for years without problems.

[ludnid]

The firm I work for gets a lot of sketchup models from clients that often have a lot of issues: flipped normals, extra edges, overlapping faces etc.

 

What is the best workflow for taking a model from sketchup into max for rendering with VRAY? Are there ways to quickly clean up the above issues to an entire scene and not face by face?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Chris

 

Hi Chris,

 

I do not agree you have to remodel at least not in all cases. There are plugins within sketchup that aid the flipping of faces without having to do them manually, and delete overlapping faces though I find that sometimes comes with an error but one I'm happy to live with since it saves the trouble of having to find them all.

 

Here's what you need. All free on sketchucation or simply download from the extension manager in program. Tested and working perfectly.

 

-Automatic Face Reverser

-Clean up

-Fix it

 

For smoothing, go with the "JHS_power bar". Has some nice tools of which the ams plugin is one. Try its settings and find what works for you best on the model. When I go from sketchup to max, it's always as if the model was done in max.

 

Cheers.

[michalbojko1]

So what is the actual workflow that you guys use? Save .skp file as Skechup 7 and then import it in 3ds max?

Or do you export skp to .3ds? If so, what options do you use? Split object by layer, full hierarchy? I've tried all of the options and non of them is giving me what I expect...

Thanks

[SkylineArch]

I exoort as a .3ds, by material. objects with the same material are then grouped in the hiarchy for easy materia aplication. weld verts for curved surfaces

[Francisco Penaloza]

Yes you need to clean up that model within Sketchup first, as mentioned by Mark an others there are many tool that will help you to do that, I use a script to manually reverse faces. it work pretty good, but you have to click face by face, sometimes you can select more than one but that depend of the geometry.

 

as Mark mentioned exporting as 3Ds is the more consistent solution. the only thing is you lose the edges, sometimes this are useful for hardscape and other things, in that case you can select them and export as DWG.

 

You could also do a direct import of the Sketchup file, it work most of the time and you keep all components, materials and instances.

This solution is not perfect tho, sometimes will give you error depending of the Sketchup version and if you have objects or textures with names too long. about 200 characters.... Yes 3D Max still relying in that old code

 

Last but not least as mentioned by Mark you need to talk with your Sketchup modelers, I have similar issues with people who download many object from online sources, but they are aware if they don't take care of those models first I will use more time to prepare their scenes. good talk, good coordination can resolve many issues

[ludnid]

Yes. Basically save as a lower version *.skp version 7 or 8 and import it.

 

I've not had any issues like Francisco mentioned but that's probably because of how I do the export. I try not to export everything at once. So my model's grouped into something like this; Building, Site, Interior Objects..... e.t.c. (mind you each group still has groups within).

 

So for example, before I import the file, I'd have hidden all the other groups except the building, save then import (As you know, the options in max allow you to ignore hidden geometries when importing). When this comes in, it'll be split into individual groups and components but that's fine. I quickly go over them selecting instances and reapplying wire colours to similar objects, when done I group all of that as one; in this case "building". And repeat the process till everything's come in. Usually one of the import's will come in with the cameras as well then I disable for all the others.

 

EDIT: This process also makes it easy to assign things to layers as I bring them in.

[James Vella]

Can you upload the file? Im curious as I import lots of sketchup files - never had to do anything to them other than clean intersecting geo. (No flipped faces etc)

 

 

Cheers

[D C]

I've had issues with sketchup files in the past. Specifically elements such as glass, frames for example importing into max attached together as one object. It is often down to the way they were modeled and organized.

 

After looking into it on numerous occasions, I've found it has something to do with components in Sketchup, and how they interact with max upon import. Architects tend to copy, paste (using components) and leave files a general mess just to get the job done, they also often separate elements by sketchup material. I now politely ask they organize elements into a layering system (nothing on 0 layer) and everything now imports correctly.

 

Sure there are still the splines to delete on import though