SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

Good morning to everyone. I've been off on an adventure, pursuing a Sketchup model of a 544 Volvo street version that I found here....and a racing version of the same model here. I thought, oh great, Sketchup models are hopeless for import. But I pursued it, taking every turn on two wheels At first I tried importing a Collada version into Carrara...and it was successful, but parts of the wheels were missing, and the background was also "stuck" to the car. So, I thought perhaps loading it into Sketchup to clean up the model was the way to go. It was discouraging when I discovered that even the free Sketchup is now online only through the browser, and that the last downloadable version (Sketchup 2017) requires OpenGL and more juice in the graphics card than I presently have. But not wanting to give up, I googled for old versions of Sketchup, and discovered that my system would work with Sketchup 2014, which happened to be the version in which the car was created. It installed fine, and I was able to eliminate the background, and export just the car to FBX. This time the whole car imported fine...and after fiddling a little with Carrara's lights, I got these renders

So then I exported just the car, with no lights or other scene files, and was shocked when the FBX version imported intact into Poser 11 (see below).

...but when I rendered it (see below), there were some small problems in the mats (right headlight and front wheel hub caps). These rendered fine in Carrara...so it was something that just didn't agree with Poser 11. Turns out that the person who created this model used the blue prints, same as a few posts above (#5191), to somehow "be the mats" for the car, so it seems a miracle that they even got it close to working in the first place Anyway...just thought I'd share that there is indeed a way to get Sketchup models to import. I think that the pro features in Sketchup 2014 (including generous import/export capabilities) may be short trial time-limited, so if anyone is venturing to want to try this with certain models, best to have your project lined up before installing the program, and remember to shut it down immediately after exporting in order to preserve your fully functional pro features for as long as possible.

So now it's time to shut down the engine and get some rest. Have a good day everyone

 

[skylab]

Finally getting a chance to eat a meal...I had no idea it was as late as this....so it wasn't good morning awhile ago, but rather good afternoon. One thing I forgot to mention. in the above post...though it doesn't appear that it would be true, the Volvo model above imported with the wheels separate and movable, not welded into place.

Well, I'm done...and since I've had food, it's time for a long, long nap

 

[Miss B]

Rest easy Sky.

 

[skylab]

After a super long nap, I'm back to life...and my eyes can focus again...haha. Folks who frequent this thread know that whenever I go off on a lengthy hunting expedition, a tutorial or demo of some type is soon to follow. So...here it is...a demonstration of how to successfully export models from Sketchup, using our friend CB as an example. If you are not familiar with Sketchup, as is the case for me, sometimes when you open a downloaded Sketchup file, sometimes...not always, but sometimes, you'll see what appears to be a flat, 2D image....and if you don't pursue it further, you may close the file thinking that's all that was in the file. Below is a demonstration of one of those cases....and without knowing the program, I'm not sure if it's just something that Sketchup creators do, or if it somehow "projects" the textures onto the model during the creation process, for lack of a better term. That's the problem with Collada files on 3D Warehouse...the creator has selected "everything" in the scene...flat panels, random scribbles off camera, even work files that are stored off camera...and those things have to be cleaned up in order to use the mesh. It's much better to do the clean up in Sketchup, and then you can opt to only select the mesh, and export it in a file format that you can actually use...FBX has worked really well so far, and OBJ and 3DS are options as well. It helps to use Control-Select with the mouse in order to speed up the process. And remember, ground planes usually consist of not just a flat panel, but a flat, rectangular box, so the sides of the box, and all the lines and corners have to be deleted

The Snoopy and Woodstock link below results in a very, very nice mesh export...there are three different "Scenes", or angles, in which the model is set up within a large yard with a picket fence, his dish, and the added touch of a picture of CB on the wall on the inside of the dog house. All of this can be exported, or it can be approached a piece at a time, deleting parts of the scene in order to get to the separate Snoopy and Woodstock models. A tip about this one...import it into Poser at about 40% or less scale, rather than accepting the 100% default, or it will be huge relative to Poser scaling. Unless if you discover a way to weld the model parts together, it's not so easy to scale them once they are imported.

Have fun, should you decide to try your own hunting expedition

CB MODEL

SNOOPY and WOODSTOCK with dog house

MORE CB MODELS

MORE SNOOPY MODELS

SKETCHUP 2014

 

[skylab]

Here are the results of the above FBX imports...first into Carrara (with the black background), and then into Poser 11

 

[Miss B]

I always liked Snoopy.

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B Me too, Snoopy was my favorite, though I learned to sketch them all as a kid. I took it seriously, and could sketch them in my sleep. To this day, I'm rather particular about getting the faces correct. I don't often post my old work online, and am careful to present the rough sketches so as not to offend Mr. Schulz's wishes with anything that would be considered "strip ready", but on the other hand, I do want to honor his memory and show what an impact his work made upon my life, even during some very, very difficult years. So, in that spirit, here are a few of my old rough sketches, and even an early attempt at making Snoopy dance Some of the sketches are yellowed with age now...and the one at the bottom is quite yellowed now, and as far as I can remember, is the oldest surviving Snoopy drawing, done when I was very young and learning how to get a likeness of my favorite comic strip dog. Now maybe you will understand my hot pursuit of the Sketchup models

 

[skylab]

And now for all you Carrara fans...both of you know who you are...haha....I'm just teasing Stezza Here's CB and Snoopy as they imported in FBX into Carrara. I used Carrara to test them because we all know what a dramatic, throat-grabbing crash Poser can do when it doesn't like something...haha. Carrara is cool about it...it just goes "umph" with a little error box, and weathers it well. If you don't mind Poser drama, then the FBX exported file could just be tested directly in Poser. Carrara is handy for accessing any last minute deletions that need to be made in cleaning up files. One thing I'll say about this recent project...I'm learning more and more about Carrara

The first screen capture shows the picture of CB on the inside of the dog house.

 

[Miss B]

Yes, and we have not one, but two "dancing Snoopy" Smilies here on the forum.

 

[skylab]

Oh yes...and I certainly noticed them right away, and use them occasionally Made me feel right at home

 

[Miss B]

 

[Terre]

Good morning.
Nice work there. Both on the models and the drawings.

 

[skylab]

Good afternoon everyone Hey Terre...some of those rough sketches are pretty rough...haha....I drew on anything...scraps of paper, post-it notes, index cards, whatever I roughly "cleaned up" a few of the poorest quality images and posted them on a tribute page on my website.

Taking another turn, found this excellent quality 544 Volvo on YouTube...it's in like new condition...amazing for a nearly 60 year old car!

Taking a couple days to just chill and rest...and give my eyes a break...so have a good evening everyone

 

[Terre]

I hope you're having a good rest.

 

[Miss B]

Rest easy Sky.

 

[skylab]

Next time Stezza swings through...I think the truck is really looking good. Saw it in your Carrara thread too...I can appreciate your desire for precision, and it's turning into a really fine model

Think I'm finally done searching for models from which to learn, so after some rest (for my poor eyes), I'll settle in to some hands on modeling again, something I've not done in a few years. Stezza, your work in Carrara is serving as an inspiration I imagine that I'll always do this across several platforms...from anim8or, to Hexagon, to Carrara, and hopefully to Blender. The main reason I'm even attempting to learn Blender is the advanced animation features. I might be boldly going to fall flat on my face, but at least I will have tried...I'm tired of wondering "what if I had tried...". I've downloaded enough models that include rigging and sample animations to at least study how it functions... memorizing interface features and methods don't accomplish much without seeing it put into action. And I've always found it to be true...that the description of "how to do something" always sounds more difficult than the process itself actually is. Sometimes the descriptions are too heavily laden with details for the beginner...only time and experience will enable one to absorb all of that anyway. Like observing a child learning to read with something like Dr. Seuss, and then handing them a college level dictionary, telling them, by the way, you'll need this too...haha. Probably nobody would face learning to read if that was done.

Sketchup has an interesting, unique modeling method, but the problem is, in the free version, one is restricted to working in that native format...and the Pro version, which allows for unrestricted export of multiple formats, is nearly $700. In the words of Charlie Brown...good grief! So, I'm making the most of the eight hours of the Pro export feature before it expires in the free Sketchup 2014.

Well, I've had two long naps today, and am heading toward another...so have a good evening everyone

 

[skylab]

And Stezza...I didn't want to interrupt the conversation in the image posting thread, but about getting vehicles to be shiny, and chrome to look like chrome in Poser...if you are rendering in Superfly, then Dimension3D Superfly Mats has great metals. If you're rendering in Firefly, then Schurby's cars have the best mats, and are well worth the price of the car just to get the mats....I use the '65 GTO the most...the chrome, the paint, the windows and the headlights. Examples of this are on my vehicle page, and I'm posting one example below. It just requires going into the material room and replacing your existing mats with either applying Schurby's for Firefly renders, or Dimension3D's mats for Superfly renders. For examples of the Dimension 3D's Superfly mats, see my Andy page.

If you're not familiar with Poser's material room, go to this page for help with this , and also this page touches on it also Good luck with it


Firefly render:

Superfly render:

 

[Stezza]

thanks skylab... good info but alas I shall only be sticking to Carrara... was just testing my model in Poser to see if it loaded ok, I shant be doing any Poser or DS shaders for it

on a positive I used the link you provided to get the plans for the ute... thanks for that one..

 

[skylab]

Well great Stezza...glad I could help with something. I like to give back, and it helps me to know that you could use the plans for your modeling As for the materials, I wasn't sure if you were trying to get a render, or just what you were doing. Creating mats is a whole other animal...that's why I recommend to people where to get decent mats, because creating good mats is another art in itself...and also can be a hair-pulling experience... haha.

 

[Stezza]

started off with a cube and went from there