Public Beta for Obj, SolidWorks, STEP, and FBX importers

ashraf

In this challenge http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6614442 you can find obj and fbx files that seems to be impossible to import in SU (by means I know). If plugins in development can import these scenes... there will certainly be happy customers.

I just finished importing the OBJ file, here is an image of the dragon enjoying the SketchUp environment, I will try the FBX file later.

notareal

Nice work!

ashraf

@unknownuser said:

Just wondering, could you post the Sketchup filea from either or both of these imports. I also get Solidworks files, and word like to see how this plugin imports to Sketchup. Right now I use Alibre Design to import Soldworks files and the Addon of Google Sketchup Publisher to export to Sketchup. Which leaves me with one large group.
Ken

Ken,

The plugin maintains the structure of the imported Solidworks assembly, so you will not end up with a single group

Ashraf

xrok1

you actually end up with too many groups IMO, it seems to create a group for each surface. i also can't seem to get the scaling to come in right.

here's the file:keyboardarm.skp

ken

@xrok1 said:

you actually end up with too many groups IMO, it seems to create a group for each surface. i also can't seem to get the scaling to come in right.
[attachment=0:2qo5aj5b]Capture1.JPG[/attachment:2qo5aj5b]
here's the file:[attachment=1:2qo5aj5b]keyboardarm.skp[/attachment:2qo5aj5b]

Thanks for the file.

And I guess I need to proof read my posts. Here is the correction, "would", not "word". Darn that is not funny.

Again thanks for the files.

Ken

xrok1

BTW that keyboard tray should be 12" long???? unfortunatly my demo has run out so i can't do any more experimenting to get the scale right. it could be coming in at 12 mm instead of inches???

ashraf

When importing a SolidWorks file the user has two options:

1- To Set the scaling factor.
2- Auto Scale.

To get correct scale the user should fill the scale value with the factor needed to transform from Meter to drawing units, as units from the SolidWorks file will be in Meter.

Auto Scale is a visualization option, which will calculate a scale that makes the object appear in the screen, it basically finds the needed scale to make the object fill approximately 30% of the screen, this is useful for example when the user is working on a large scene and she/he is importing a tree to be added to a specific location.

xrok1

thanks for the clarification. it might be nice to be able to choose units when importing though.

ashraf

I agree, thanks for the feedback, we understand that this is important

Cheers,

Ashraf

Frederik

@xrok1 said:

thanks for the clarification. it might be nice to be able to choose units when importing though.

+1
I've also flagged this for SimLab together with a wish to have a progress bar when importing a model - or at least something to verify that the importer is processing the geometry...
Currently the user don't know if SU has come to a halt (not responding) or if it's processing the geometry...

Overall I must say that I'm really pleased with both the STEP as well as the FBX importers...

watkins

What about the going in the other direction. Do you have an exporter for .skp to .step conversion?

ashraf

No we do not have a solution to go from SKP to STEP
We have SKP to OBJ, FBX, U3D, 3D PDF and STL.

notareal

@ashraf said:

@notareal said:

In this challenge http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6614442 you can find obj and fbx files that seems to be impossible to import in SU (by means I know). If plugins in development can import these scenes... there will certainly be happy customers.

I just finished importing the OBJ file, here is an image of the dragon enjoying the SketchUp environment, I will try the FBX file later.

[attachment=0:3qzv6bk1]image2.jpg[/attachment:3qzv6bk1]

Got a nice bugsplat with fbx, just after import when placing the imported model. Not sure if it's a SU memory issue or plug-in related. Is FBX camera to SU view supported?

Fletch

@ashraf said:

@notareal said:

I just finished importing the OBJ file, here is an image of the dragon enjoying the SketchUp environment, I will try the FBX file later.

Impressive. How long, exactly, did it take to import the dragon object? Can SU even handlethat dragon file in all it's high-poly glory?

Jim Frolz also has an jf_obj_import.rb ruby that works quite well on Sculptris models.
I've seen another company with an FBX importer somewhere as well...

ashraf

@fletch said:

Impressive. How long, exactly, did it take to import the dragon object? Can SU even handlethat dragon file in all it's high-poly glory?

The operation almost took 15 minutes, 5 of which where consumed by SketchUp after importing the object, my guess is that SU works on building a detailed bounding box and verifies the object is correct.
After that the object is usable is SU, it is not very responsive, you need to wait for your actions to be executed, but you still can work with it.

notareal

@notareal said:

@ashraf said:

@notareal said:

In this challenge http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=6614442 you can find obj and fbx files that seems to be impossible to import in SU (by means I know). If plugins in development can import these scenes... there will certainly be happy customers.

I just finished importing the OBJ file, here is an image of the dragon enjoying the SketchUp environment, I will try the FBX file later.

[attachment=0:291ko41q]image2.jpg[/attachment:291ko41q]

Got a nice bugsplat with fbx, just after import when placing the imported model. Not sure if it's a SU memory issue or plug-in related. Is FBX camera to SU view supported?

Import of dragon.fbx was also quite long (around 10 min did not look on clock). Even as SU did bugsplat when placing the dragon there was a saved .skp in C:\Users"user name"\AppData\Local\Temp (Win7). Saved skp worked fine... had to turn off edges for better response. Had no time to look on all supported fbx features, like cameras. FBX is packed with features, so it would be good to know what features are supported. Anyhow, I am quite impressed of the performance, certainly this seems to be capable importer.

ashraf

@notareal said:

FBX is packed with features, so it would be good to know what features are supported. Anyhow, I am quite impressed of the performance, certainly this seems to be capable importer.

The plugin focuses in importing the geometrical and material information from the FBX file.
The information that is imported includes: geometry, normals, texture coordinates and materials(colors and textures). The plugin also maintains the structure tree inside the FBX file.

Pixero

A feature request:
Would it be possible (for the FBX plugin) to write on import the second UV channel as a custom attribute and then for the fbx exporter to also capture that custom attribute and write it back as a second UV channel?
A second UV channel is often used for lightmapping so by beeing able to open a fbx file for editing in SketchUp without losing it would be great for workflow.

Of cause I can see a need for lots of other things written as custom attributes that would be great to have (like animation and other material attributes) but I'll start with just this one...

notareal

Adding fbx camera to SU view support would give some more value. There are situations when cameras must match.

ashraf

@pixero said:

A feature request:
Would it be possible (for the FBX plugin) to write on import the second UV channel as a custom attribute and then for the fbx exporter to also capture that custom attribute and write it back as a second UV channel?

The problem with this, is that while we are in control of the import process, the export process is done using the FBX exporter created by Google which we have no control over