[Plugin] SketchUV - now free

Whaat

First of all - I love the plugin. Thank you so much for your work. This is my major tool for uv mapping.

When I uv map different groups or components of different sizes I get different sized sketchuv texture. What I usually do to normalize them (make their texture sizes equal, see the screenshot) I just use '*' or '/' operations but this is extremely time consuming for hundreds of different groups and in most situations this gives me only approximate results. So my question and big wish is - is it possible to add extra feature to auto normalize sizes of the same sketchuv texture?

Kind regards,

Sebastian

Hi Sebastian,
What you are suggesting should be possible. I will consider it in a future update. Thanks!
Dale

Whaat

@unknownuser said:

HI

Looks like a great plugin. I am considering buying the plugin.
I am the user of Sketchup and Octane render, have any one tested if the UV mapping created with sketchuv are correctly exported with the octane render exporter (made by TIG).
I mean both normal faces and triangulated faces.
???

Brg.
Claus

It should work fine with Octane render. If you are getting unexpected results, try triangulating your faces using the tool in SketchUV. The tutorials on the Smustard website demonstrate the workflow.

Cheers,
Dale

clausgs

@whaat said:

@unknownuser said:

HI

Looks like a great plugin. I am considering buying the plugin.
I am the user of Sketchup and Octane render, have any one tested if the UV mapping created with sketchuv are correctly exported with the octane render exporter (made by TIG).
I mean both normal faces and triangulated faces.
???

Brg.
Claus

It should work fine with Octane render. If you are getting unexpected results, try triangulating your faces using the tool in SketchUV. The tutorials on the Smustard website demonstrate the workflow.

Cheers,
Dale

Hi

Thanks for the confirmation.
One more thing i need to check before I buy is... Will this UV tool be able to handle wood veneers / materials well??

I have some curved parts with a big rounding on the edges where I want to apply a wood material.

I have attached a link to the skp and wood texture file, can you pleas apply it on the part so it goes nicely around the curved and rounded edge.???
If it work it will save me hundreds of hours and I will for sure buy the plug-in.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=C4272F611B80808D!579&authkey=!AHm5_fQQpDMVA2c

Pleas tell me if the link do not work.

Brg.
Claus

smicha

@unknownuser said:

Hi Sebastian,
What you are suggesting should be possible. I will consider it in a future update. Thanks!
Dale

Dale,

Such update would be awesome and extremely useful for my current work.

Best wishes,

smicha

smicha

Claus,

All uvs are properly exported using TIG's exporter. This is the only exporter I am using for Octane render. In your example I used tube mapping, which is extremely useful on round edges.

Kind regards,

smicha

clausgs

@smicha said:

Claus,

All uvs are properly exported using TIG's exporter. This is the only exporter I am using for Octane render. In your example I used tube mapping, which is extremely useful on round edges.

Kind regards,

smicha

HI

Thanks for the demonstration, it seams that there is a texture lineup problem vertically in the middle of the component but i guess it is just a matter of adjustment.
Also it seams that the texture on the flat surfaces do not continue on the round surfaces, but again i guess it is a issue that can be solved.

I will most-likely buy the plugin and test it out, hope it is easy to use and can make some of my texture mapping easier.

Claus S

clausgs

HI

Have now bought the plugin and tried it.

What happen is that I use planar mapping and it wrap the sketchUV texture around the component. I save uv's and then apply the texture that i want to use on this surfaces, then i load the uv's. what happen is that it re-scale my texture in a non-uniform way. My texture is a 10000x3300 pix png file and it looks terrible.

How to keep a uniformed scale of you end texture while using sketchUV???
Something i miss here or???
Or it can only be used with squared sizes-ed texture files??

Claus S

smicha

@unknownuser said:

... My texture is a 10000x3300 pix png file and it looks terrible.

How to keep a uniformed scale of you end texture while using sketchUV???
Something i miss here or???
Or it can only be used with squared sizes-ed texture files??

Claus S

Can you post a screenshot?

Whaat

Yeah, a screenshot might help. Can you fix the scaling by adjusting the length and width values in the SketchUp material editor window?

clausgs

HI

On the attached pic you can see o the left a 10000x3300 mm plane where i have applied a texture (10000x3300 pix png file).
Now i make a simple curved surface and apply a planar map with sketchuv, you can see that the sketchuv texture are re sized to fit the whole curved surface. I save the uv's and apply the wood texture and load Uv's, what happen is that the 10000x3300 pix texture get re-sized to fit the whole curved surface.
now i will need to re-scale the wood texture with sketchuv manualy what never will be perfect.
If i change the dimensions in the texture / material editor it will re-scale all textures in the whole model.
Any solution to that issue???

Claus S

smicha

Claus,

The solution for your problem is simple. Please attach the bent shape in skp file and I will write exactly what to do.

smicha

clausgs

@smicha said:

Claus,

The solution for your problem is simple. Please attach the bent shape in skp file and I will write exactly what to do.

smicha

Hi

Thanks for offering a solution...
The attached skp is just a simple sample,,, my components are many and very different in shape. So what I am looking for is a general solution / workflow to keep the aspect-ratio of the texture....

Claus S

sketchuv.skp

smicha

Claus,

Rotate the texture by 90deg. - simply select faces with the texture, run sketchuv, type 90
Some calculations: 3300/1250 = 2.64; 10000/3670 = 2.72.
Again, select faces with the texture, run sketchuv, type /2.64v, then /2.72u (u and v are changed/shifted due to the prior rotation in step 1.)

PS. Your problem is strictly connected with my question about normalizing size of textures. It would be great to select one texture and normalize its size on different objects. I hope to see the update of the plugin soon.

Kind regards,

smicha

clausgs

@smicha said:

Claus,

Rotate the texture by 90deg. - simply select faces with the texture, run sketchuv, type 90

Some calculations: 3300/1250 = 2.64; 10000/3670 = 2.72.
Again, select faces with the texture, run sketchuv, type /2.64v, then /2.72u (u and v are changed/shifted due to the prior rotation in step 1.)

PS. Your problem is strictly connected with my question about normalizing size of textures. It would be great to select one texture and normalize its size on different objects. I hope to see the update of the plugin soon.

Kind regards,

smicha

HI Smicha
It works, but it is a very time consuming process, and to keep track of the U V direction is not easy.
Thanks for your instructions.

Dale
There for sure is space for improvement or should I say functionality of this plugin.
You see to keep the aspect of a texture is very important when you use wood textures, but even fabric and other textures that are more of an even pattern need to keep the aspect.

Dale, what can be done on this issue???

I bought the plugin and it do what it say, but I can really not use it for many of my projects.

Claus S

smicha

I completely agree with Claus. When we apply a texture on any surface using any method its dimensions should match (within small error) dimensions of a texture that is entered in SU.

Whaat

I agree that proper scaling should be done by default in SketchUV. Hopefully, in the future I can implement this. You might want to try ThruPaint by Fredo. I think it might do what you want.

clausgs

@whaat said:

I agree that proper scaling should be done by default in SketchUV. Hopefully, in the future I can implement this. You might want to try ThruPaint by Fredo. I think it might do what you want.

Hi
Yes tried the truepaint and it do a very good job in many situations. and most important it keep the aspect. and that is what sketchuv is missing 100%... It is not really workable in the way it handle aspect today.

Another issue I have found is that the triangulation in my models are not working 100%, some times it create holes in the surface. Pleas have a look at the attached pic.
What am i doing wrong? or is it the model? or is it the plugin?

Claus

triangulate problem.jpg

smicha

Claus,

Measure the sides of the triangles - if they are less than 1mm this is the reason why holes appear.

A solution can be: before triangulation scale your model, eg. 10 times, then triangulate, then scale your model down 10 times.

clausgs

@smicha said:

Claus,

Measure the sides of the triangles - if they are less than 1mm this is the reason why holes appear.

A solution can be: before triangulation scale your model, eg. 10 times, then triangulate, then scale your model down 10 times.

HI
Thanks for the idea, i tried it and it works, great tip for me.

Whaat
could this not be incorporated into the plugin also, first investigate all lines for the length, if any is too small, then scale the model as needed and then do the triangulation and then re-scale the model.

Claus

iichiversii

@rich o brien said:

There is not a plugin which exports all mapped textures in a model to one texture file.

Ultimate Unwrap 3D can do this with imported .skp files but I haven't tried it yet. It's also about $50 so more expensive than this plugin.

Is this feature similar to a Texture generator atlas