FluidImporter free .obj importer Beta 1.0.5 Updated

TIG · 4 Apr 2011, 14:50

The texture image files need to be in the same relationship to the OBJ file, as set in the MTL file.
Open the MTL file in Notepad[++] and read it...
You will find that Xfrog OBJ texture image files usually stay in the same folder with the OBJ, as there is not a subfolder specified by the MTL file.
If an MTL file needs a subfolder for the texture image files' paths then if it doesn't exist you simply make a new folder to match, next to the OBJ file, and move the texture image files into it...

These are relatively large objects with complex texturing and take a while to load...
Over 53 million lines of code in the largest OBJ in that zip !!!
They are so 'heavy' that one or two can kill you model - avoid shadows etc !!

I see what you mean as typically only 1 texture comes in - the first one !
When the OBJ and MTL says there are perhaps 7 in the original !!
The MTL file correctly specifies the materials, the image files are there and the OBJ correctly assigns materials to faces half of the face son my import are wrongly oriented - so you need to run one of my tools to add the material to both faces, smooth edges etc so it looks right!!!! ....

My old clunky Ruby based importer does work... but takes [almost] forever to process the OBJ file !
and then it's 40Mb and half the faces are wrong so I have to fix those with another tool and then add matching back materials and hide edges etc...

Fluid... back to work ! The material importing is broken!
The usemtl lef etc before each set of face definitions f 1/2/3/... needs to be read in used AND the materials made from the MTL specs...

thomthom · 6 Apr 2011, 12:49

I'm getting crashes when I try to import an .obj file I got. (120MB)
I've tried different options - triangulate on/off, material on/off - but it bugsplats every time. Memory usage of Sketchup.exe doesn't exceed 300MB.

Any ideas?

jason_maranto · 6 Apr 2011, 14:14

Wow, that is extremely fast! Thank-you

Best,
Jason.

fluid · 6 Apr 2011, 14:54

Thomthom, I've never tried a file that big. How many polygons is it?

TIG · 6 Apr 2011, 15:34

Fluid
Did you also see this? http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=320223#p320223
The materials using textures [after #1] aren't being made from the MTL or then applied to the right faces

fluid · 6 Apr 2011, 18:23

TIG, yes, I did. Please be patient, it'll be fixed soon. I'm just working on this on my spare time

TIG · 6 Apr 2011, 18:44

No problem
Just checking...

thomthom · 7 Apr 2011, 07:20

@fluid said:

Thomthom, I've never tried a file that big. How many polygons is it?

I do not know - it's a file we got from different office.
Do you got dropbox? I could drop you the file if you want to have a look..?

pibuz · 7 Apr 2011, 10:48

Thank you fluid for the effort you're putting into this!
We're all grateful to you, you're providing an excellent tool.

..so are you all, from Thom, to TIG, to everyone who contribute to make SketchUp a more powerful software!

fluid · 8 Apr 2011, 10:11

Thomthom,, I just installed Dropbox, how am I gonna share a folder with you?

fluid · 11 Apr 2011, 09:03

Just released 1.0.4, it should fix the face/material issue.

TIG · 11 Apr 2011, 09:39

Thanks again!
This update does indeed seem to address the textured materials import issue

pibuz · 11 Apr 2011, 12:43

Works like a charm!
Thanks TIG for the support and a GIANT thank you to fluid for this excellent tool!

Rich O Brien · 11 Apr 2011, 13:20

@fluid

Changed the original post title to reflect the current version number

Great update

fluid · 12 Apr 2011, 08:33

Released 1.0.5, fixing a bug causing a bunch of crashes. Thanks to Thomthom for the help.

dedmin · 12 Apr 2011, 08:45

pibuz · 18 Apr 2011, 16:22

Back to report a bugsplat.

I made a quite heavy tree with TreeD, which got correctly exported in OBJ format, resulting in a 42MB file. When I tried to import (several times) the obj, after a rather short time the tree was imported into sketchy (no bugsplats), but it had no textures applied. The materials were correctly created (their names themselves were correct too, corresponding to the ones figuring in the mlt file), but they had no textures embedded, but when I tried to add the textures the mapping was wrong.

I tried to separately export the trunk/branches (26MB) and the leaves (16MB) from TreeD. The trunk/branches gave no errors in the import process, but when I tried to import the leaves' mesh I got the bugsplat, two times.

Then, the final solution I tried (which finally worked) was to import in a new file only the leaves using TIG's old importer (this worked, in the known biblical time ) and then I manually merged the two sketchup files (the origin was common).

Is this something fixable? I guess the issue concerns huge obj files. What I don't understand is that I recently imported xfrog obj files which were even 80MB each, and I got no problems. What is going on?

fluid · 19 Apr 2011, 10:50

Hi pibuz,

If you have Dropbox I can take a look at the file that is giving you problems.

TIG · 19 Apr 2011, 11:31

It's not a Plugin, it's a compiled 'Importer'.
It adds an additional Importer type 'Wavefront/OBJ' under the File > Import file-browser...
The same as other compiled importers/exporters - it's the Ruby based tools that are in other menus like Plugins...

bizmen · 19 Apr 2011, 11:32

Which folder do I have to extract the fluidimporter file? I cannot see it under the plugins menu after extracting on its default folder.
Btw. I'm using Google sketch up v8 (free version) ,and should I install the fluid ray demo version before fluidimporter for sketchup appears?
If yes, which installer should I download? I'm using windows vista ultimate 64 bit, 4gb ram
FluidRay for SketchUp Win32 Demo (Version 1.1.2)
FluidRay for SketchUp Win32 SSE2 Demo (Version 1.1.2)
FluidRay for SketchUp Win64 SSE2 Demo (Version 1.1.2)
FluidRay for SketchUp Win64 SSE41 Demo (Version 1.1.2)

Thanks!