No textures when Importing 3ds and/or Collada files

spreadcore · 19 Feb 2022, 22:54

Okay, I've already searched the forum about this subject and read the posts/replies (and links). I'm assuming from what I read you can't do it, But I'm double checking in case there's something I missed or new or a different option.

When I try to import a .3ds or Collada .dae file which comes with textures (all in the same folder and correct name), That I've obtained from online or created in another program (Ex. In MakeHuman I created a person exported it as Collada file or 3ds ). The model imports okay but the textures are not imported or applied with it.

I noted though that if I export a model I made in Sketchup as a Collada file with textures, I can import that file back in and it has the textures.

So do Collada (or 3ds) files from other sources need certain settings so they work with sketchup? or can you manually just map the textures to the model in sketchup (UV mapping??)etc.

Dave R · 19 Feb 2022, 23:27

Do you get the same result if you import a .dae from a Collada file downloaded from the 3D Warehouse?

Rich O Brien · 19 Feb 2022, 23:46

Is the .dae/.3ds mesh triangulated?

If SketchUp has to triangulate the import mesh then UVs/Textures can fail.

spreadcore · 20 Feb 2022, 04:26

@dave r said:

Do you get the same result if you import a .dae from a Collada file downloaded from the 3D Warehouse?

A lot of the collada files I've downloaded from 3dwarehouse weren't things that had textures, But I tried a few that did.

When I imported them, The models would appear apparently without the textures. Now I looked in the Material>In Model and found the textures had been imported, But the opacity on all of them had been set to "0%" and when I upped it to 100% the textures appeared on the model.

Now the other Collada files from other sources I tried, I found had imported the textures and they were at 100% opacity but not mapping to the model.

I'm guessing maybe it has to do with how sketchup uses UV mapping and maybe the collada files prefs., Tags etc.and maybe their not compatible or set the same.

I was going to open the dae files in text editor and do some comparing to see how they differ.

spreadcore · 20 Feb 2022, 04:29

@rich o brien said:

Is the .dae/.3ds mesh triangulated?

If SketchUp has to triangulate the import mesh then UVs/Textures can fail.

Is the mesh triangulated? I'm not really sure, I'll have to check.

spreadcore · 20 Feb 2022, 05:19

Okay I think I got a work around.

I took the (Human Model) Collada file w/textures, that sketchup didn't map the texture to the model and imported it into blender.

I then exported it out of blender as a Collada file, then import that into sketchup and it worked. The texture mapped to the model the way it should.

Here's a render(Rendered using Twilight Render)of the model. Looks pretty good, I just used some basic settings.

I'm going to compare the file and see just how there different in the code.