SketchUp Designers

[LivingInThePast 364]

Alright! I get that my output over the last past five years has been lacking (though in my defense, it wasn't until about 2009 or so when I even GAINED the ability to make buildings in gmax, let alone have any skill at it--and my computer was old and slow then)

That doesn't disallow me from talking about other people's buildings...I can recognize textures that are less than stellar, and it's not like I'm saying it's terrible, because a) it's rude b) not really true and c) at least output. Moviegoers aren't disallowed from saying "man, that film sucked" even though they don't film movies themselves.

[jdreece 54]

small SU BAT update - spent some time focusing on textures for the small bldg originally posted. base is stone and mid is brick. reworked the glass - in SU I am having to abandon my material editor that I would typically use for glass and objects that would normally have reflections - the materials do not transfer to Gmax AND it's a serious pain to try and modify in Gmax after importing due to how SU treats faces as triangles during exporting, so I will resort to the old fashion technique of using images to achieve the reflection look......this is a bldg for a w2w 1x2 lot.

critique away!!!

Update - image 1 redone to try an resolve shadows issue......I would say better, but still not capturing as much detail depth as I had hoped......modify - render - modify - render - modify - render - modify - render. The cycle has become obsessive - lol!

[Jasoncw 11,933]

This has a problem that I'm not really sure what it is, but it seems like a lot of sketchup buidings don't have correct shadows. It might be a problem with smoothing groups in gmax, or maybe the material in gmax has too high of specular highlights or something. The problem is that the shadow side of the building doesn't look the same as it normally would in gmax.

Unrelated, but are you sure the building's dimensions are correct for being a 1x2? It would need to be 16 meters wide.

[jdreece 54]

I changed the Shadow Settings in light lister global settings to raytraced. I am no expert on what looks "normal" for in-game mode obviously, but if you wouldn't mind checking the updated image to say better/worse I will continue to tweak from there. You guys have a much better eye on these details than I have being new to the BAT scene.

on the lot size - the plan is a lower building area to the right that will fill out the lot - just have not modeled part 2 yet.

[jdreece 54]

A wee bit more progress. I have searched just about every thread I can find on the "shadows" issue and it appears that there is no way to control the render output in Gmax (someone please correct me if I am wrong!!!), so that being said, it appears this is a significant hurdle for SU users trying to go straight to Gmax. Looks like I will need to export for use by 3dmax first and then bring into Gmax.

I guess the question I have is just how much more definition can I realistically expect, and is this more of an issue of working between the two programs understanding the limits of Gmax and the final in-game views? I guess I don't see the model/BAT as too cartoonish, but will defer to those who wish to post comments about it.

I have enjoyed trying to resolve the issues between SU and Gmax, but reality presents itself here......is it worth progressing with a few midrise structures for use by others? Thoughts welcome!

[gutterclub 2,729]

If you have 3ds max then it would be pointless moving it into gmax..when you could render with BAT4MAX and have it nice and crisp and sharp with good lighting and shadows.

You can get 3DSMAX pretty easy these days, even if you are not a student..see the sticky thread.

Nice building by the way

[jdreece 54]

ok - switched over to 3dmax.....ugghhh - can anyone shed light on how to resolve this triangulation mess? none of it shows up in the model. Is there an easy fix for this? Any help would be appreciated - I tried scouring the threads to see if anyone else has had the issue, but to be honest after 2 hours of searching....i'm kind of at a loss. I find it odd that some textures like the parapet cap are fine, but the brick is all over the place screwed up.

[jdreece 54]

For SketchUp users interested in how materials transfer to 3dmax. Screen shot shows materials as they appear in both SU and 3dmax. Note that what you see is fairly close to what you get.

Disclaimer - I am using SU 8 Pro and 3dmax 2013 (trial version - working on the student version....)

Process:

SketchUp

1. Build model as a series of groups that you will apply different materials to. In this example I left everything on Layer 0.

2. Apply materials to model. Modify as needed for texture to be mapped correctly.

3. Save model as SU file. No need to export to .3ds file.

3dmax

1. Import "non-native file format" - go find your SU model.

2. When dialogue box opens - select "Skip Hidden Objects and Front/Back Materials as double sided" only (thank you Bipin for this!)

3. Your SU model will open with materials essentially glued to the model.

4. 3dmax will import your model in the same groups you created it with. It appears it tags them in the order you create them so keeping a log will be helpful if you choose to make further material modifications in 3dmax.

5. Set up your Rig for Day and preview away.

I am still digging away at this as a newb on the BAT front and I certainly look forward to working on modeling a building to upload to STEX, but I want to make sure I understand the process as best I can before I go that far. I think Sketch Up can be used effectively if we can understand what happens between the two programs better. I am still at a loss on the previous post - probably how my model is set up in SU and not a max issue at all. I wanted to post and let SU users know that you do NOT need a pro copy to export as a .3ds file if you are using 3dmax 2013 (not sure on earlier versions).

Thanks to everyone who has taken time to msg me back or reply in this thread as there have been quite a few who have been very helpful in getting me this far in a little over a week. Probably time for me to start my own BAT thread and stop posting updates here so that this thread stays reserved for the more technical stuff.

[gutterclub 2,729]

Sketchup can be a great tool, especially if you have been using it for quite some time..but I honestly think, if you already have the modelling skills, you bascially already have a grasp of how to pick up programs. What you have made would not be complicated at all in Max, you could constantly test the scale in BAT4MAX and the material setup.

If you want to use Sketchup that cool, but I tend to see so many badly scaled models that were done in the program and imported over..therefore the whole process has never fully convinced me..plus all my favourite BATers seem to use Max..like I say, I don't mean it in a mean way, I just think its easier in the long run, to use Max for BATing.

[Altus 111]

Sketchup can be a great tool, especially if you have been using it for quite some time..but I honestly think, if you already have the modelling skills, you bascially already have a grasp of how to pick up programs. What you have made would not be complicated at all in Max, you could constantly test the scale in BAT4MAX and the material setup.

If you want to use Sketchup that cool, but I tend to see so many badly scaled models that were done in the program and imported over..therefore the whole process has never fully convinced me..plus all my favourite BATers seem to use Max..like I say, I don't mean it in a mean way, I just think its easier in the long run, to use Max for BATing.

If I could, I would love to use Max but after using Sketchup for so many years and getting used to how comfortable it is Max seems very alien and overly complex. Iv never been able to fully grasp how to use it how ever many times iv tried.

[Bipin 3,402]

I've got a lot of requests to help with a variety of issues. So I've decided to help all of you at once, not with mere messages going back and forth over Simtropolis, but with a full-fledged video:

Enjoy!

[vethaak 0]

Download?

[KonstantinII 1,106]

If it's consolation, I do all my texturing and modeling in Sketchup.

 

The only things I save for 3dsMax are lighting and bump textures; that's it, that's all I do before I render a Sketchup model like this:

 

 

Please clarify the second sentence how do you light and render your model?

[Bipin 3,402]

 

If it's consolation, I do all my texturing and modeling in Sketchup.

 

The only things I save for 3dsMax are lighting and bump textures; that's it, that's all I do before I render a Sketchup model like this:

 

 

Please clarify the second sentence how do you light and render your model?

 

 

I just use the standard BAT4MAX settings.