[Plugin] OBJexporter v3.0 20130131

TIG · 22 Feb 2012, 10:54

I also have a few more tweaks almost ready - including a ~5% speed improvement and a more Pro-like MTL, with default specularity presets etc.
I am currently looking at a weirdness created if you have mirrored [scale -1] instances/groups nested inside mirrored instances/groups, that are then rotated etc - these OBJ faces can be incorrectly 'reversed' and the UVmapping messed up... It's unlikely to affect many users BUT I'd like it fixing...

TIG · 22 Feb 2012, 19:19

Here's v2.6 http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=294844#p294844
Recoded for a speed improvement ~5%.
Flipped/rotated instances' transformations resolved for consistently correct face orientation...
The MTL now defaults to match the Pro exporter generally - specularity=0.333, but now ambience=color etc.
I am hopeful this now fixes the major issues

gzotti · 22 Feb 2012, 20:04

Yess, finally, a really good exporter - Huge models (forget Pro!), difficult models, I can remove all other half-baked solutions!

I rarely get emoticonal, but Three Cheers to You!

michaliszissiou · 28 Feb 2012, 17:01

Great work indeed. TIG, I thank you so much!
Here a test, downloaded from 3dWH. It's a ~1.5M faces mesh, ~20 mterials.
Imported in blender/cycles. Just playing, nothing serious. (yes, I forgot to add transparency on windows glass material)
A great free solution for rendering BTW. Having the support of blender editor, excellent solution for more organic adds.

A question to TIG. Now we're able to export tri meshes only. Obj supports n-gons as well. Will be possible to export like this? As b-mesh is the new implementation to blender. (the new n-gons editor-support)

I mean, SU UI seems to support flat n-gons. Is this true? I'm not convinced. Braking flatness results to tris (show hidden geometry)

SketchWithHaza · 4 Mar 2012, 10:02

THANK YOU, you are a life saver. SketchUp is the simplest 3D program I know how to use, finally, ARMA II modding here I come!

jpalm32 · 4 Mar 2012, 14:22

Thanks! Works great!

goentiki · 18 Mar 2012, 21:03

I use a Mac OSX 10.7.3 with SU 8.0.11751. OBJexporter.rb is in the 'Library/Application Support/SketchUp/Plugins' folder. When I start SU 8 I get a pop-up window "Load Errors" which says:

Error Loading File OBJexporter.rb
undefined local variable or method `book' for main:Object

Did I miss something, I am really new to SU? I see people here having OS X and SU8 without problems, so it should work.

TIG · 18 Mar 2012, 22:23

You did not give the full folder path.
It should be the 'Mac HD...' root one - not the 'User...' one.
That said I don't think that's the issue.

The word 'book' doesn't occur anywhere in the code within the ObjectExporter.rb file, so the 'load error' is coming from either another file that's loading just before it which is itself causing an issue... OR the fact that the contents of the ObjectExporter.rb file have become 'corrupted' - have you put the .rb file directly into Plugins?, perhaps you have opened it with a wordprocessor and then saved it when closing [always use a plain-text editor], using a wordprocessor can reformat the file and cause issues, or perhaps the download itself was messed up - so does your browser download other .rb files OK, how did you download it exactly ?

There is no reason that this and many similar scripts should not work for you on this OS and Version...

goentiki · 18 Mar 2012, 23:43

Mea culpa, this is really embarrassing: accidentally I placed an Alias into the plugin folder instead of the file itself. Now with the script in place it works well and I can import the obj into modo.

I also realized that the word 'book' doesn't occur anywhere in the script, but having no idea about SU programming I was confused.

Thanks a lot for your quick help and this great script!

dakota95 · 4 Apr 2012, 18:14

Ok I have version 8 of sketchup and when I installed this nothing happened. I can still only export to dae or google earth.

TIG · 5 Apr 2012, 08:38

@dakota95 said:

Ok I have version 8 of sketchup and when I installed this nothing happened. I can still only export to dae or google earth.
Reread the instructions. It isn't an 'Exporter' in the sense of being a 'dll' which would appear in the Exporter's dialog list of types... rather it IS a script [it goes in the Plugins folder], and on a restart it adds a new item to the 'File' menu 'OBJexporter'...

That runs the tool...

Alain · 6 Apr 2012, 08:37

@michaliszissiou said:

Great work indeed. TIG, I thank you so much!
Here a test, downloaded from 3dWH. It's a ~1.5M faces mesh, ~20 mterials.
Imported in blender/cycles. Just playing, nothing serious. (yes, I forgot to add transparency on windows glass material)
A great free solution for rendering BTW. Having the support of blender editor, excellent solution for more organic adds.
[attachment=0:2xnu8c1v]CyTestSU.jpg[/attachment:2xnu8c1v]

A question to TIG. Now we're able to export tri meshes only. Obj supports n-gons as well. Will be possible to export like this? As b-mesh is the new implementation to blender. (the new n-gons editor-support)

I mean, SU UI seems to support flat n-gons. Is this true? I'm not convinced. Braking flatness results to tris (show hidden geometry)

BTW maybe this could be interesting for you as well if you use Blender (Cycles) to render:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?234521-Import-OBJ-but-using-existing-material

Kind regards
Alain

Alain · 7 Apr 2012, 14:27

Older versions with Sketchup 7 worked perfect.
But since I use the latest version of the OBJ exporter with Sketchup 8, then Sketchup always freezes while the exportprocess.
Tested it on Window XP 32 Bit and Win 7 64 Bit.

Then when I kill the Sketchupprocess in the Windows Taskmanager then a (sometimes) usable but incomplete new created OBJ-File is created anyway.

Does anybody know what could be wrong ?

Kind regards
Alain

TIG · 7 Apr 2012, 15:12

Nothing similar reported.
Can you post [or PM] the SKP for testing...

Alain · 7 Apr 2012, 17:04

Just wrote you a pm.
It's a File which was created in Sketchup 7 and then continued modelling in Sketchup 8.

I found out that when I explode groups then everything works fine.

Kind regards
Alain

TIG · 7 Apr 2012, 17:37

The handing of instances/groups etc does take it a long time to check and compensate for it in UV-mapping and face orientation.
It does work... eventually - just have patience...

flyto4 · 28 Apr 2012, 13:45

Hi i dont know how to insert the plugin if i put it in the plugin folder nothing happnes but if i open it with sketch up 8 also i cant import that

TIG · 28 Apr 2012, 16:40

Hans

To install a script it needs its file [or for some other more complex scripts, its files/subfolder[s]] to be put into the Plugins folder and then to restart Sketchup, it auto-loads thereafter.

Questions to answer...

You are a MAC user ?
Are you putting the .rb file into the Macintosh HD/...Lib.../plugins folder, and NOT some other spurious ...User... folder ?

Have you read the tool's usage instructions and understand how it works ?

The 'OBJexporter' is found under the File menu and NOT under Plugins...

pilou · 23 May 2012, 01:20

@Tig
Not really a problem but curious
When I want export something on the desktop, or anywhere folders / Subfolders, nothing is done!
No problem when I export in the SU Plugins folder or in a subfolder inside the SU Plugins folder!

TIG · 23 May 2012, 08:59

@unknownuser said:

@Tig
Not really a problem but curious
When I want export something on the desktop, or anywhere folders / Subfolders, nothing is done!
No problem when I export in the SU Plugins folder or in a subfolder inside the SU Plugins folder!
Sounds like an issue with your System rather than the tool itself.
It exports fine into any folder, although it should default to the SKP's folder first off...
What are your security permissions/rights set to be ? 'Full' is best...
Also the other folders should allow files to be written to them 'by others' as it might be considering SUp/Ruby as 'not you' ???