Collada not exporting colours

[Alan Fraser]

Can anyone who has a program that can view dae files directly confirm that the exported model is greyed-out?
This is in response to a question in the Newbie forum, which involved the exported model being grey when viewed in Meshlab. I just tried it with Deep Exploration...with the same result.
The model looks fine when re-imported as a dae, or when exported as a kmz to Google Earth; it's other applications that are the problem.
The attached image shows a steadicam operator which I made a couple of years ago in V6.
Left to right: V6 SU model / dae originally exported from V6 and viewed in deep Exploration / Dae export from V8 viewed in Deep Exploration / Assets panel in DE, showing that all the materials are there...they are just not assigned to any surfaces.

Clearly, if Deep Exploration is showing the original 2-year-old dae file in colour but a modern export as blank, then it's not a problem with DE...something has changed with the export process. The dae buried in the kmz shows the same problem.

I'll contact Google directly and point them to this thread if we get any other confirmations of this behaviour.

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[TIG]

I exported a 'colored' v8M2 SKP as a DAE [1000 different materials!].ccDAE.zip
Blender imported it with all colors intact.
MeshLab [full-scene] failed to include any colors.
Bryce7 was fatally wounded by trying to import it !
It re-imports back into an empty SKP OK too...

[Gaieus]

Other programs (like Lumion) seem to import objects textured with simple colours correctly.

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[TIG]

Seems like so change to the DAE's 'protocols' is incompatible with some apps' needs, but then not others... weird...

[Gaieus]

What about image textures in those apps?

(I feel a bit "guilty" in the latest changes in the way collada is exported although this particualar change was not in my "wish list")
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=40395

[TIG]

A partially-textured SKP exports to DAE OK.
It then imports successfully into Blender [provided Solid OR Texture is set as the display-type].
With MeshLab it displays the textured faces OK... BUT the plain-colored faces fail to show as before.

[Alan Fraser]

Even the textures seem to vary from app to app. That cameraman model is almost entirely vertex-painted, but I used the standard metallic texture on part of the rig. That doesn't display either in Deep Exploration. You can see it listed at the right hand side of my graphic, but it's not assigned to any face.

PS Somebody in Boulder needs to learn how to spell corrugated, too.