Collada export problem

Gaieus

Thanks Simone for the insight - I was actually hoping that some of you guys will have a look at this as it is way beyond the tech skills of most of us here.

AndrewS

@gaieus said:

Thanks Simone for the insight - I was actually hoping that some of you guys will have a look at this as it is way beyond the tech skills of most of us here.

This one is a bit beyond Simone, too; he's really outdone himself this time.

Khai

have you looked at the file in Meshlab?

snicolo

I am happy to be able to help.

SwirlViewer works as well, I am glad you have found it Tito.

thanks.
Simone.

Gaieus

@andrews said:

...This one is a bit beyond Simone, too; he's really outdone himself this time.

Oh even better

@Simone - wow, what an avatar - members will definitely behave now.

snicolo

@Gaeius look who's talking

Gaieus

Well, one needs to try...

snicolo

I have emailed the guys that make the BS Contact 3D viewer. Hopefully we will be able to work the kinks out of their viewer.

thanks.
Simone.

snicolo

Good news on this one,

I have emailed the developers at BitManagement that work on the BS Contact app and they have fixed the bug and they will include the fix in the next release. (see attached picture)

thanks for the report.
Simone.

thomthom

Is that you in the profile picture Obi-Wan-Simone?

Gaieus

And thanks for the "care" and the heads up, Simone!

snicolo

Yes ThomThom, it is me in the picture,

The DorKSide is strong with me.

@Gaeius, you are welcome.
S.

snicolo

The new BS Contact viewer with the Collada update is available for download at
http://www.bitmanagement.com/

yippie.
S.

Imsaho

I'd noted the change in Collada export between Sketchup 7.0 and 7.1. I've been using Sketchup to do models for a game using CryEngine2 (game is Blue Mars). Sketchup is useful because the supported tools (3DS and Maya) are a bit beyond my budget at £3k

The accepted wisdom for both this game and the Crysis mod community is that 7.0.10247 is the last Sketchup version that can be used to create models for the CryEngine2. I've certainly wrestled a lot with 7.1 and models that exported very nicely in 7.0 don't work in 7.1.

It may be that the tools provided for the BM and Crysis community seem to be based on Collada 1.4.1; Not sure what 7.1 exports as .. I'll check

Note: we're not talking complex models either. My test item is two blocks and two textures.

snicolo

SketchUp 7.1 exports compliant COLLADA 1.4.1 format.

I will be more than happy to chat with the Developer of the game engine CryEngine2 to try to smooth the issues of compatibility.

Can you send me an example of what happens when you try to use 7.1?

thanks.
S.

rickgraham

Well, I hate to bring this up....

Either my simple model is at fault or the import/export of Collada is at fault. Image 1 is my simple model.

My next step was to export the 3D model into Collada with the following options selected:
a. Triangulate all faces
b. Export Component Hierarchies
c. Export Texture Maps

Those are the default settings, I assume since I have not played with any of the settings.
So, File>Export>3D Model.

Now I open a new drawing, and File>Import>Google Earth Files (*.kmz, *.dae)
And the next pic is what I get. I can live with the extra lines showing up, but when it destroys my windows (even though they are simple rectangles), that I do take issue with.

And my .skp file is enclosed for you to play with. I know that there are things wrong with the .skp file - it was one of my first little tests. I guess I could also do another real simple comparison like was provided in the OP.

Thanks,

Rick

Buildings.skp

snicolo

Rick, thanks for the example.

So the diagonal lines on faces are due to triangulation (Any face will be partitioned into triangles on export). Which can be avoided by un-checking that option. However, without that option there is a risk that other importers will have issues.

As far as the destruction of windows, I am not sure, it is definitely an issue. I will look into it.

Simone.

snicolo

@rickgraham said:

Well, I hate to bring this up....

Either my simple model is at fault or the import/export of Collada is at fault. Image 1 is my simple model.

[attachment=2:zxvot62p]Original.png[/attachment:zxvot62p]

My next step was to export the 3D model into Collada with the following options selected:
a. Triangulate all faces
b. Export Component Hierarchies
c. Export Texture Maps

Those are the default settings, I assume since I have not played with any of the settings.
So, File>Export>3D Model.

Now I open a new drawing, and File>Import>Google Earth Files (*.kmz, *.dae)
And the next pic is what I get. I can live with the extra lines showing up, but when it destroys my windows (even though they are simple rectangles), that I do take issue with.

[attachment=1:zxvot62p]ImportedDAE.png[/attachment:zxvot62p]

And my .skp file is enclosed for you to play with. I know that there are things wrong with the .skp file - it was one of my first little tests. I guess I could also do another real simple comparison like was provided in the OP.

Thanks,

Rick

So the issue with the disappearing windows is due to the Merge Coplanar Faces options which is active on import.

Round trip a COLLADA model in SU is not what the COLLADA Exporter/Importer are designed for, they are designed to move models to/from other applications.

If you want this scenario to work I would try the following, either paint your windows OR un-check the triangulate faces option on export and un-check the merge coplanar faces option on Import.

Hope this helps.
Simone.

snicolo

@tito said:

Thanks' to the effort made by snicolo a little while back to contact the folks at Bitmanagement, I am glad to report first hand that the new, updated version of BS Contact really displays the Collada models extremely good. BS Contact also gives you the option to switch between rendering engines, DirectX or OpenGL on the fly. This is just one of the many interactivity options you get with BS Contact, well worth the download if you are in to exporting to Collada or VRML for that matter. Once again, thanks to snicolo for getting the ball rolling with Bitmanagement. The only downside that still remains, is of course that little floating watermark logo. But in hindsight, it's really not that much of a big deal, once you start using BS Contact a lot, you stop noticing the floating logo.

You are Welcome.
Simone.

rickgraham

@snicolo said:

@rickgraham said:

So the issue with the disappearing windows is due to the Merge Coplanar Faces options which is active on import.

Round trip a COLLADA model in SU is not what the COLLADA Exporter/Importer are designed for, they are designed to move models to/from other applications.

If you want this scenario to work I would try the following, either paint your windows OR un-check the triangulate faces option on export and un-check the merge coplanar faces option on Import.

Hope this helps.
Simone.

Thanks Simone. I know that I can take a DWG file in AutoCAD, export it out as a DXF, open a new drawing and import a DXF to a DWG and things are the same - I just expected the same behavior with Collada.

But I accept that as a valid answer and thank you for the time that you spent in looking this up. I appreciate everything you do for us SU-lovers!

Rick