Looks great Matteo! What are you using for your hedges?

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.

@kwistenbiebel said:

They might as well go fully open source with Sketchup, so really funky coding stuff can happen.

Amen to that! I was really hoping Google would step up to the plate with this release and show that they had some vision for the software, but version 7, although improved, is not a step towards something better. Google is content with having sketchup be purely a surface modeler with poor integration and inefficient load handling. I was hoping to see an indication with this release, that sketchup would move more towards a quad modeler or at least start to offer things like direct vertex manipulation and subdivision. There are so many great ruby scripts and ideas that could've been taken on by Google's development team and integrated into the software as standard tools, but in the end, there were no new tools whatsoever. Except for automatic line intersecting, which I'd imagine wouldn't take more than a few lines of code to add.

So, in the end, the only real solution to the inefficiency dilemma is to have solid third party application that can be strong in the areas that Sketchup is weak. I wouldn't count on Google to provide this solution.

Right on Thomas! Thanks for your efforts! Now if I can only get that damn loop selection tool.

This is my WIP. Very soon it will become a car that tranform to a house that flies. Please not spam me. I am only .0039948957% done. Please vote to me. It will be awesome. Sorry I not make more...I'm tired from many hours at Harverd Law.

Matte,

Which version of Max is it? If you are just going to use if for rendering stills alone, I wouldn't bother. If you want to also use if for animation and flythroughs, then I would say go for it.

If you just want to render stills, stick with one of the renderers that work easily with Sketchup. Importing a file from sketchup to Max is sometimes very frustrating. However if you can figure it out, the results can be stunning. See here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramy02/2926433667/in/set-72157606246998990/

Any word on this? Does anyone know what it is the Wikii is using in his post?

Wikii, you mind sharing the ruby? It looks like exactly what we're talking about. Will it select an edge loop as well?

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

This is a much needed plugin for me. It would speed up the process of my modeling a lot. Most major modeling applications have a loop select, or a loop select plugin.

How it usually works is that you select a face or line and then select another face or line in a specific direction. The second selection will tell the tool which way and on which axis to run the loop. The loop continues selecting until it reaches the original selection.

Would this be possible in Sketchup with a ruby??????? PLEASE???

Also, once a loop is selected, it would be nice to be able to grow the selection by means of the up and down arrows.

This would be one of those tools that people wonder how they ever lived without!!

Awesome Scott. I love it.....even without materials.

Sounds like a lighting issue more than a material issue. Try rendering without physical camera in vray and see if that helps.

When I talk to anyone who is thinking about getting into rendering, I always point them towards Podium. I use Vray quite a bit, but in Vray, I end up spending at least an hour doing setup. For every different faceme component in my scene, (which is usually a lot) in Vray, I have to go in and add the clipmap manually. I spend time tweaking reflection and HDRI, as well as messing with textures.

In Podium, it's automatic. Also, as long as you have your bumpmap, or specmap in the same folder as your texture, and it's named properly, all your sketchup materials (non-reflective) are ready to be rendered the second they are applied. Also, with 1.6, Podium has become a lighting fast render engine.

Will Podium outshine Vray or Maxwell in the quality department? No, but it's close enough to justify the time saved in setup and rendering. Especially for someone new to rendering and thin on patience.

Since this is in the Corner Bar now, there is technically no such thing as off topic.

I'm dying to know exactly what law school you are attending.

@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.

My wife got me watching that last season. It's a good, well written show.(In a demented sort of way) Jimmy Smits WAS a good addition. It's shaping up to be a good season finale.

@jolran said:

Be aware though, plugin is for registred costumers.
Downloaded the demo yesterday and there where no plugin.
I conntacted support see what they have to say.

The program is huge! So many alternatives and windows I think my brain got stuck

First time ever I couldent navigate in a 3d program without a tutorial

Yes, or you can purchase the plugin for $99. I don't think this is being greedy. The plugin is free if you have a registered version of their software. Being that the plugin adds import options to modo itself, and as it's not a sketchup plugin specifically, it's of no use to anyone who doesn't own Modo.

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? In comparison, Modo is very well structured and the navigation is very intuitive. Take a look through these tutorials, and I'm sure it will help - http://www.vertexmonkey.com/tutorials_general_modoIntroduction.php

Amazing Ande!!! Perfect color correction!

@nomeradona said:

thanks for this tutorial. wow your screen , too much icon there.

I know! I didn't even think about it until I watched it after I uploaded. Normally my screen is not like that. I have a 23" monitor, but I shrunk down the screen for the tutorial and it bunched up my icons. My apologies.

@edson said:

adam, very informative video. thanks!

where did you get the round edges script from? i looked it up in the ruby depot and smustard but could not find it.

Edson, should be here - http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=10370&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=plugin+round+edges