Swinging doors

HardYakka · 15 Nov 2010, 03:23

Hi there!

Not only am I new to this forum, I'm am fairly new to SketchUp too. I am a fairly new iClone user, and iClone makes no secret of its favour of SketchUp & 3D Warehouse as good allies in finding and producing assets for use in iClone. That is what has lead me to discover what a wonderful tool SketchUp is indeed.

I've done some intense material editing in SketchUp of a model I found in 3D Warehouse and I'm experimenting with modeling myself as well. I've sat through about 5 or more hours of video tutorials but I haven't been able to find any information on a particular subject that I need to be able to master, which has brought me to this forum with a question.

I need to be able to produce models of doors (or doors on a building) that have the ability to swing, i.e. to be opened and closed. I understand that the Pro version of SketchUp has this sort of interactivity natively, but I don't have $500 to dish out just for this feature. Are there any forum members who are aware of how this effect can be achieved (yep, swingable doors) without the Pro version? It might be way of some plugin, or some other slight of hand that I am unaware of due to my inexperience with this application.

I would appreciate any input from members who have ideas or suggestions as to how I might achieve my goal, keeping in mind that the model will subsequently be exported out of SketchUp and imported to iClone 4.

Thanks for any possible assistance you may be able to offer.

Regards

Yakka

mrossk · 15 Nov 2010, 03:29

You can do it manually by using the rotate tool- align the center of rotation with the center of the hinge.

HardYakka · 15 Nov 2010, 03:54

Thanks Mrossk for your reply

If I were going to use the model(s) in SketchUp, that would be all very well.

The thing is, as I alluded to in the preamble and stated in the last paragraph, SketchUp is only the production environment, it isn't the environment where I will be using the model(s). Anything I create in SketchUp will be subsequently exported out of SketchUp and imported to iClone 4, which is where the model will have to do its thing on cue (you could say interactively, in relation to the film(s) I'm making) in the iClone environment. So whatever device is used to create a freely swinging door will (in the terms that I could express it: an animation script or physics routine) needs to be part of SketchUp code that can be exported. Unfortunately, I don't think me manually tweeking the rotation tool fits the bill.

I'm sorry that I didn't define my problem well enough to begin with.

Thanks again, anyway.

Cheers

Yakka

Chris Fullmer · 15 Nov 2010, 08:03

I don't think that it works the way you are hoping for. I think the animation ability need to be applied in iClone. There is no way to export an animation function with a model (at least not that I know of, not like you are asking for). Unless iClone has written their own script fot this, but that would be through them, not SketchUp.

You might get better response if you ask over at the iclone forums how to animate an object in iclone.

Gaieus · 15 Nov 2010, 09:19

If I understand correctly, iClone Exchnge is the tool that lets you import/export SU models into iClone. (?).

It should have the ability to translate Dynamic components, too, which I am not sure it can myself (at least I have not read it anywhere when I was looking at it).

HardYakka · 15 Nov 2010, 18:46

Thanks to both the previous respondents for your contributions.

I have found what I believe to be a workable solution, but I would first like to respond to both of the respondents.

Gaieus
Yes iClone Exchange is the import/export app. that moves models between SU and iClone and it is capable of exporting embedded model animations (not SU view animations, but model animations) from which ever app. into iClone.
My problem was that I wanted to first create the model and animation in SU and then export it to iClone. I could make the model, but saw no way to make the door an independent and movable group that could be exported as such.
I did find SU plugin called Sketchyphysics that looks like it could offer me the type model animation I want for the door in SU, but I don't know if iClone Exchange would export it from SU and import it into iClone - the Sketchyphysics documentation doesn't give me enough confidence to prepare me for experimenting at this time.

Chris Fullmer
Yes, I believe you are right on all the points you raised. I can say this with much certainty, because the solution I found seems to confirm the points you raise.

A Solution

I'll post my solution here in case anyone else might also be working with iClone and iClone Exchange.
I derive my solution from the following iClone 3 video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-IWqgFAFI
In the video tutorial, a technique is used to have the wheels of the car, all of which had been imported in from SU, spin (independent of the chasis).
The method used for centering the wheels and making them spin can be applied to the Z axis of one side of a door to make it swingable.

The thing to keep in mind in SU is that the model of the door has to be a separate group to that of the house. That is, the house has to be one object, the door another.

Gaieus · 16 Nov 2010, 09:55

SketchyPhysics animation would certainly not be exported as it relies on the plugin itself running in SketchUp.

Making parts into separate objects (groups or components) is of course always a good idea, regardless of exporting later or not.

HardYakka · 16 Nov 2010, 11:26

Thanks for the feedback on SketchyPhysics, Gaieus. I suspected that might be the case, which is why I didn't spend a lot of time creating a model and experimenting with the possibilities.