[REQ] Proper UV application for sketchup
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I was looking at this thread recently. "Simple Artisan examples collection"
Within you will find dozens of interesting shapes. I don't see any with complex unfold able textures. I have always been surprised that a ruby-driven mapper didn't emerge with such a big Artisan audience out there.As you see it is desperately needed.
Great Suggestion!! (I wish I could code) -
Proper uv'ing require the user to adjust his SU modelling approach.
Ngons can't really deal with LCM type 2D mesh relaxing. So the user really needs to move away from the typical fast modeling approach SU allows.
But, overlooking that, it is wholly possible to take a mesh in SU, export it to a little UI and unwrap it based on assigned seams.
Marginal's UV Editor plugin in the PluginStore allows you to edit already existing UVs so to add the unwrapping procedure wouldn't be a massive undertaking.
Only problem is speed.
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Uv mapping will always be a time consuming process, but with valuable results in the end. For the high end modelers (for instance people who does gaming and others) it might be the exact same process of thought when building, because it has to be build like this anyways if its going to be uv mapped externally in the process forward. So they might as well do it here, if its a fun or interactive one it would be a bonus. Because lets face it, there is a lot of uv programs out there and some of them don't seem all that fun to work with. I know this is also not for the beginner builders out there since it require a bit of thought when building models. But it would be great to have in the sketchup series. After all, sketchup is evolving, through the years of asking, we finally got a x64 version. Im just looking forward in the direction of evolution.
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If trimble or this community will find ways, Im sure there's a way to create proper UV functions inside SU overcoming the limitations of the non quad polygons. The limitations of SU I suppose could be attributed to its commitment to " keep it simple " so the wider base of user could stick to SU.
Maybe less than 10% of SU do things like UV unwrap, do seams and stuff like that that's why the majority doesnt clamor for this function.
Many of our heroic ruby script authors have overcome too many SU limitations over the years, Im confident this one is no different. Im sure many people would be willing to pay (on top of what they paid for on a Pro license) to have this function.
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Ultimate Unwrap 3D provides a very robust UV mapping solution at a very low price.
The workflow isn't too intuitive but it's results are on par with more expensive solution.
I use Blender because it is much more intuitive. Plus exchanging data between Blender and SU is easy with .dae files
Strangely our recent work on a webGL viewer has shone more light on SU uv maps so you never know where that may naturally lead. It is something that is needed.
Best workflow for now is SketchUV export map to .obj then unwrap and re-import.
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@unknownuser said:
Ngons
It wasn't only a few short months ago that building watertight models was an excruciating task in SU. You had to find ways to decimate the mesh and plug the holes manually. At that time I looked at the SU mesh and was very disappointed....felt handcuffed by the odd ngon.
Looked to me as if it would never be fixed. Then out of the blue came some built in SU tools for creating solid models. Now I believe anything is possible. -
@roland joseph said:
@unknownuser said:
Ngons
It wasn't only a few short months ago that building watertight models was an excruciating task in SU. You had to find ways to decimate the mesh and plug the holes manually. At that time I looked at the SU mesh and was very disappointed....felt handcuffed by the odd ngon.
Looked to me as if it would never be fixed. Then out of the blue came some built in SU tools for creating solid models. Now I believe anything is possible.In the last few months some new built-in tools have been released?
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@rich o brien said:
Best workflow for now is SketchUV export map to .obj then unwrap and re-import.
i recently experimented with TT's quadface obj exporter and it's giving consistent results.. i checked it with both 3dsmax and zbrush.. it preserves proper quads and uv's.. can't wait for a qft obj importer..
@rich o brien said:
The limitations of SU I suppose could be attributed to its commitment to " keep it simple " so the wider base of user could stick to SU.
I just can't believe sketchup still doesn't integrate brilliant Thomthom quad-system as native feature.. one could still use n-gons if doesn't care about quads but hey, why don' give that option to users who really need it?
isn't the same way for solids? you got solid support if you need it, but you are not "forced" to model proper manifold models.. -
It puzzles me why SU doesn't support obj out of the box.
Thom's export is good but it needs to import also for a good workflow.
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I use Thrupaint (included in FredoTools) and SketchUV and can do almost everything uv-related I want. SketchUV allows export of UVs to edit them with external applications and re-import them, and there also is the already mentioned UV editor by Marginal which is in a very early state but still useful.
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Won't it be even better to be able to do this all inside Sketchup without exporting this and that, all in one nice interface to work on this. The idea is to cut out all the export and import steps. I also export and import at the current moment.
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UV Layout... $300.000 Dayum... Proud of that aren't they? I use AC3D for UV wrapping. 3DMax when I'm working on a game.
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Only discovering SketchUV now, this post more than becomes relevant. Definitely following.
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