Topic: New SketchUp Release (M2)

[Gaieus]

http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/

...We think you’ll like SketchUp 8 M2’s ability to seamlessly import and export clean and compliant COLLADA geometry. One particular thing to note: SketchUp now preserves texture names in exported files. This makes it easier to work with COLLADA files in 3rd party rendering tools...

This means that from now on, there is no more screw-up of applied Limion or tweaked custom materials when one wants to reload a modified model from SU.

And then dare you say again that Google is not listening!

[tug]

Great News when it will be come!!!

[Architectural Innovation]

That is great news. But, i still hope Lumion 2 has its own approach to help with the matter so we dont have to rely on an outside source. Who knows if they will get it right

bob

[Gaieus]

Please, every SU user test the new Collada (*.dae) export function of SketchUp. For me, so far it has worked fine - but I can imagine issues.

[Gaieus]

That is great news. But, i still hope Lumion 2 has its own approach to help with the matter so we dont have to rely on an outside source. Who knows if they will get it right

bob

Well, please, give it a try at least. This time, Google tried to do everything as "advertised". Really.

[BMcIsaac]

Hey Gai...cool thanks

reload a modified model

Is there an actual working method to get models reloaded in place now?

[Gaieus]

Hey Gai...cool thanks

Is there an actual working method to get models reloaded in place now?

There has always been a working method - but this glitch has stopped it "really" working. Watch this video at around 10.30 when she starts talking about reloading


(BZW Lumion Team: who is this sound?)

[tug]

i am TRULY surprised this is VRAY ................... it looks IDENTICAL to a Lumion Render .

apart from the Reflective floor................

hummmm maybe V-Ray with some after-effects!!!

[tug]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well.............. if this is VRAY from SU .................im glad i got my

congratulations.... now awaiting Lumion V2

[Lech Switala]

http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/

This means that from now on, there is no more screw-up of applied Limion or tweaked custom materials when one wants to reload a modified model from SU.

And then dare you say again that Google is not listening!

Great job!!!

[Architectural Innovation]

Gaieus, of course i will try it. It would also be nice to have a method developed specifically for Lumion if possible. That way it can be updated in the future to accommodate future Lumion developments.

I always look to the SU2KT exporter for SketchUp to kerkythea as an example. It worked well.

Well, please, give it a try at least. This time, Google tried to do everything as "advertised". Really.

[Gaieus]

Certainly there is still place for improvement. Currently the Collada exporter (and also any other exporter) will "explode" any material into zillions of small pieces if the UV mapping is distorted in any way in SketchUp. Try to export this model for instance:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=bc92eca8611ed04d2470944666440e50

This hsould be fixed with the exporters as we cnnot use any advanced UV mapping tools (plugins) in SU if we want to use it in Lumion (or any application tht can be fed by the native export formats). And yes, it can be done. Tomasz solved it in the Thea exporter - I do not know if he also added it in the Kerkythea exporter - and also Twilight now handles these maps correctly.

Another area where an exporter could add value is object animation export. When I look at what folks can already do with Max, I am jealous.

[Brian Hengelsberg]

If you put together some of the information floating around the forum, it seems that there are going to be improved animation tools coming soon in L2 or beyond.  This would mean the need for animating in other software (or at all in the case of Sketchup) potentially will be reduced.  This is exciting news for me as i only dabble in Max, but am an avid Sketchup user.  Again this is just from looing at the forum, there has not been any technical release on this as of yet

[Gaieus]

As far as I can see, Lumion supports animation exported via Collada and FBX 8but maybe other formats, too) but in any case, animation in either format is supported by the SketchUp exporters.

So for the time being, it is not possible for SU usres to exploit the possibilities of any kind of object animation.

[Remko]

The animation is not up to the level we really want but we settled for a basic method which allows you to set key frames and Lumion will interpolate them using a spline. We already have some ideas on how to improve it and you can be sure to see it appear in one of the later updates.