From sketchup to UDK

amigoface

hi i am using sketchup v6 (personal version) and i try to export models to UDK (Unreal Development Kit) http://www.udk.com/

for that i export to the kmz v4, extract it and in udk import the .dae that is inside

the problem is that i have several meshs inside the file when trying to import instead of one

my question is how to join all the meshs in one like the blender join operation ?

ps : the models are from internet not from me

thanks and good day

numbthumb

Hello,
I haven´t tried it myself, but since I am interested in virtually everything that has something to do with exporting from SU to some kind of game engine, I have stumbled upon this - a UT3 export plugin for the free version of SketchUp. The author of the plugin has updated it to export T3D, ASE, PSK and OBJ files.
http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=615742
Check it out and see if it helps.
Cheers!

amigoface

hi

i have tried several options(ase/obj/td3) including the link you give me

from memory this one crash UDK while imporing

other exporter like .ase don't give me the correct materials count

the only relatively "working" option i found is the kmz4->dae way

but like i said before the result is several mesh instead of one

i am a begginer to skechup

so how to group the mesh inside sketchup into one before exporting ?

i tried making groups/components without succes

thanks

Gaieus

Hi guys,

I have no clue about this application but there is a plugin at Smustard - GroupByTexture - which... well... does what its name says and mightbe useful in your case.

amigoface

ok thanks i will give it a try

i have another general question :

what means groups/components in sketchup ?
whta the difference between

Gaieus

Practically, as they "work" in the model, they are pretty much the same. They both are to keep a certain set of geometry together (and prevent interaction with other geometry - i.e. separating it - just like in some applications layers do but not in SU)

Components have some extra features like:

you can set the axis of a component
you can save it as a separate skp file (which it is actually) and reload it from an external source
there are component definitions and instances in a model - if you change the definition (i.e. edit any instance of the same component), the changes will be reflected on all other instances
SU only keeps the definition (geometry, textures etc.) of a component once in its file so it is also good to keep file size down
etc...

EscapeArtist

I thought I'd give this a try and see what happens. Unfortunately, it leaves a more complex model full of missing faces and materials, not quite as badly as the obj exporter.rb that has been floating around or a while (I can't get it to work at all).

What still works best is to extract the .dae from a .kmz and import that to Blender, and you can export from there into the .ase or whatever other format with a plugin; though I must say it imports quite a mess of triangulated faces, and if you want quads you're out of luck.

amigoface

thanks a lot

see u later

amigoface

@EscapeArtist : i did'nt see your post

i tried like you said kmz->dae-> blender

but it give me a blank model

EscapeArtist

Rename the file.kmz to file.zip. Open the file and find the .dae file (file.zip/models/file.dae). Get Blender (if you don't already have it) and use the Collada import. (File > Import > Collada 1.4) Import the file.dae.

Also, make sure there are no groups or components in your model. All groups and components must be exploded, otherwise you will get nothing when you import.

This should work, but as I said, it makes quite a mess of things and may not be worth your while to fix it. Too bad Blender doesn't have options to make it exactly like SU as far as initial modeling, it'd make Blender much more popular.

amigoface

hi

@EscapeArtist : it worked !!!

i have exploded all in sketchup, exported to kmz4,
and in blender imported the .dae inside it

however the model is extremelly large so i have modified some properties
http://www.katsbits.com/htm/tutorials/sketchup_converting_import_kmz_blender_advanced.htm

so i have now my model correctly imported and textured in blender

now the problem will be how to export it correctly into UDK

but this is another question

ps : any udk users here ?

amigoface

finally i get my models into udk with the right blender/plugins versions

they are not perfect but just fine

thanks

eaglevision

@escapeartist said:

I thought I'd give this a try and see what happens. Unfortunately, it leaves a more complex model full of missing faces and materials, not quite as badly as the obj exporter.rb that has been floating around or a while (I can't get it to work at all).

What still works best is to extract the .dae from a .kmz and import that to Blender, and you can export from there into the .ase or whatever other format with a plugin; though I must say it imports quite a mess of triangulated faces, and if you want quads you're out of luck.

From my experience on importing Sketchup models to CE2 via collada, the problem with glitches on the models come from exporting an untextured model. This can be solved simply by applying a texture to every visible face of the model, easily done if all its faces are connected, you press shift + LMP while applying a texture and all the faces will be textured. After that there should be no problems.