Modo - Sketchup Importer released today

jolran

Still no answer from Modo. Well... its only been one day..

As far as Modo's interface, I guess compared to sketchup, it could be a little intimidating. Have you ever tried to use Blender, or Lightwave, or 3DS Max or any other true 3D studio?

Yes. I have used Zbrush alot. Its not quirky at all

Off course, Modo is a bit intimidating, its swamped with features. Like digging in
XSI for the first time. Was just gonna use it for rendering SKP files anyway,
dont have time learning a deep ap like this..

EarthMover

@mr s said:

I won't bother.
A shame really. A good example of a software company actually making potential new customers decide not to try it out.

Do they charge for the other import options in their software?
If not, why charge for the SketchUp import option?

The importer is Free. You just need to own the software. It's the same deal with the Rhino importer. I think the fact that they've spent time developing this plugin shows that luxology is paying attention to SU and views it as a good option to work with Modo. I do see your point about wanting to demo the plugin along with the software. It will be interesting to see if the Sketchup import option is included in Modo 401 when it is released in a few months.

As a workaround, Modo imports .obj files and it also imports .LWO files. Apparently this free sketchup to lightwave exporter - http://www.flay.com/getdetail.cfm?ID=2362 works very well to get sketchup files into Modo, however I couldn't get it to work with vista x64.

@mr s said:

You would think that they would make a point of shouting out loud about how their software makes it easy for SketchUp files to be imported in comparsion to other high-end 3D apps. Not waste time trying to rake in a few dollars when they should be trying to widen their user base. Oh well!

I don't think greed is the motive. Like I said, the exporter is free if you own a registered copy of Modo. Right now Modo is on sale for $695. So for almost $300 less than Maxwell, Vray or Artlantis, you get the top notch Nexus render engine, a quality SubD modeler, a set of UV tools, Sculpting and Painting tools, high poly support, Animation and great community. You can't beat it in my opinion. I wouldn't just write them off for not marketing themselves as an add-on to Sketchup. I think they have a lot more going for them than that.

remus

I think Mr S was just making the point that if you want to see how it fits in to your workflow you dont want to shell out $99 for a demo.

Stinkie

Well ... I tried the importer. Like some other folks over at the Lux forum, I cannot get it to work. And I thought it'd been really thoroughly tested, since its release was months overdue.

Software devs ... shakes head

Oh well.

jolran

@unknownuser said:

Well ... I tried the importer. Like some other folks over at the Lux forum, I cannot get it to work. And I thought it'd been really thoroughly tested, since its release was months overdue.

Very typical... I guess you tried with version6 files?

Uninstalling the demo right now....

Mr S

Hi Guys,

I will post my views to Luxology.
The thought hadn't really occurred to me.
Probably because of past experiences, I expect the following:

No response.
A thanks for taking an interest in their product, then no further response.
A reply informing me that this "feature" is something their marketing department has decided is the best strategy for selling their product. (This usually means they are not interested in hearing potential customers views).

Just to make myself clear:

I fully understand that software companies seek to make money like any other business.
I dont understand how they think that placing obstacles or restrictions on their software will help increase their user base.
They are in a very competitive market. Anything that marks them out as different they should be promoting, not wasting time in charging for something like an import feature.

If no charge is made for any of the other importers in their program then they shouldn't be making a special case of charging for the SketchUp importer.

I would be particulary angry if, as it appears here, that after paying my money to try out this software the SketchUp import feature doesn't even work as advertised.

I, as an end user, shouldn't have to pay anything for the privilege of road-testing their importer.

If I receive any response from Luxology I will share it with you.

Regards
Mr S

jolran

I agree a lot with you mrS.

However I did get an answer from Lux. They say it should be available. but I cant find it in my loginpage. So there is communication.
I dont want to jump to any conclusion too fast. But thats not the main problem anyway. Everything should be there in a trial.

When you download C4d demo you get it ALL(damn modules), XSI trial as well or at least used to be everything in it.

Try everything, buy what you like.

Anyway dont care. There is a lot of struggeling going on with the SU/Rhino importer at Modo forums right now.

Mr S

Hi,

Well I have to make an exception concerning Luxology with regard to my comments on software developers.
I have received a very swift and helpful response and links provided to download the importer for OSX and PC.
A very good result. I will now bother to take a look at modo302.

See below the for response I received (I received 3):

Email 1

@unknownuser said:

Hi Mr S-

Immanuel Martin here passed along your email which contained a kind offer to post something on our behalf in the SketchUp forum.

I am looking into a method where we can provide the importer directly if people email us.

But pls do not publicly commit to that as it may be difficult to implement as the method of loading in software to a user's account
is currently predicated on a store transaction (free or $$).

Just a few other comments, also not for public posting at this time. I provide these comments to you so you have additional context.

There have been numerous installation problems reported by modo users with this plug-in. We are still chasing down why it is not installing correctly on some systems.

The SKP plug-in is indeed "free". We have assigned a nominal value of $99 but there is no way to buy it by itself. This is just to give the plug-in "value". The plug-in is provided in the Trial version of modo just like the Rhino plug-in is. The free Trial evaluation of modo consists of the software and online documentation/help files. This is a 100% feature complete version of modo with no output restrictions. The $25 version of the software is where we group other items of value that are generally only provided to people who have purchased modo but are also things that modo prospects might be interested in seeing. From time to time we add more to this list and recently just added the SKP importer. While this might appear to be "charging for translator", the translator is only one small component of the extra value and the $25 is immediately refunded upon a purchase of modo. We have heavy demand for both versions of these modo evaluation versions.

We will be releasing a new Architectural Interior Lighting and Rendering tutorial in the next day or so. This is NOT based on a SKP import workflow, but I mention it just because it is for architects.

This is a "community release" of the plug-in, pls notice that there is no press release for example. We are exposing it to the existing modo community before making huge fanfare to the world at large.

Here is an interesting thread posted yesterday in our Forum, from a fellow using a SKP file: http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=30561
Pls note that he posts several versions of the movie as the thread progresses.

modo is indeed a complex and also sometimes can be a quirky application. It is not a plowhorse, it is more like a temperamental racehorse. I have personally worked on 3ds max and Maya as a product manager and modo is BY FAR my favorite 3D application. But it is not for everyone. It can buck you off -- but the ride is amazing. I think that a person coming to modo from SketchUp might find the program rather overwhelming. After all, it has much more functionality. We do not claim modo is the easiest to use or the most powerful. But there is something about modo that really pleases many who get into it.....and we receive new amazing customer images everyday from people using it.

I will get back to you on the 1st item above (my 2nd sentence above). And I thank you for writing us. Pls feel free to keep in touch with me.

Thanks,
Bob Bennett
Luxology LLC

Email 2

@unknownuser said:

Mr S,

I trust you saw my earlier email about the SKP importer for modo 302.

I am pleased to report that we have implemented a method where people can obtain the SKP importer
at no charge whatsoever.

This is a direct result of your email.

Please tell people on that SKP forum that they can email the following address

david at luxology dot com

and they will receive instructions on how to get the SKP translator at no charge.

Thanks,
Bob Bennett

My Reply

@unknownuser said:

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the quick response and feedback.
Its a good job that it is now close to Xmas as I will have to eat a big slice of humble pie!
In the discussion forums I agreed to send Luxology an email but expressed the view that most software houses don't usually offer any help until after they have got your money. And with some of them, not even then.

I will be delighted to report that you have proven me wrong in every respect.
I will pass on the information you have provided.

Could you send me the importer?
I will download the modo302 trial from our website.

Thanks again.

Regards
Mr S

Email 3

@unknownuser said:

Mr S,

You can get them here:

http://content3.luxology.com/download/product/plugin/skp/modo_SKP_plugin_OSX.dmg
http://content3.luxology.com/download/product/plugin/skp/modo_SKP_plugin_Win32.exe

Was not trying to get you to eat humble pie, just sharing info. We are very open, just not "perfect."

Keep in touch pls.

Bob

I'm quite impressed with this response.

Regards
Mr S

remus

Indeed, its always quite heartening to learn theirs still some sensible people in the world.

sliner

Thanks big, Mr S for the laid out correspondence and the long-awaited unit, and Bob Bennett certainly .
It is the real Christmas gift! I wished to write itself, but it is bad with English
We will try now?

jolran

Mr S wrote

@unknownuser said:

Well I have to make an exception concerning Luxology with regard to my comments on software developers.
I have received a very swift and helpful response and links provided to download the importer for OSX and PC.
A very good result. I will now bother to take a look at modo302

See what a little bit of ranting can produce

No but seriously. I got fairly fast response from Lux and they seemed helpful.
Lost my appetite about it all when I read about the SKP import troubles in the forum. Its a communtity release(what does that mean, beta?)

Thank you for your persistance Mr S, and please let us know how it works.

EarthMover

Amazing and thoughtful response from the Luxology team. Thanks for taking the time to communicate with them Mr. S.

Be mindful, as was mentioned, that the importer needs some effort to get it working properly. The instructions are in this thread (2nd page) - http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=30891

EarthMover

For anyone running Vista and not able to use the sketchup importer for Modo because of a runtime error, you have to right click on the Modo icon and change the compatibility mode to XP Service Pace 2 and hit apply. After that, you should be able to import sketchup models, as long as they are saved as SU6 files. It worked for me. Thanks to MNBear on the Lux forum.

sepo

For all those thinking to buy Modo they are running $200 price reduction over festive season.

Modo - Sketchup Importer released today

Regards Mr S

Regards Mr S

Regards
Mr S

Regards
Mr S