SketchUp Anyone still using SketchUp?

[Tim Collins]

I've still not got my head around Blender, though I keep persevering. However, I still find that SketchUp Make 2017 can produce excellent results if you're prepared to put the work in. I haven't yet tried to port my work to MSFS, but I think I should as these renders (from Twilight) give a idea of how it might appear in MSFS:

Airbus Military hangar from KMOB

MG Farmer terminal at KMOB

Navigation School, RAF Finningley (EGXI)

Main ramp at Elizabeth City CGAS (KECG)

Untextured and incomplete airship mooring and hangar at Weeksville

Albert Kahn Hangar 116 at Navy Jax (KNIP)

RAF Type 'J' Hangar WIP (with the master door model still in shot!)

1917 General Service Shed (80ft Span) from RAF Old Sarum

 

[GaryGB]

Very nice work, Tim.

Try the MCX MSFS Scenery exporter for output of a "PackageSources" project that can be compiled by MSFS' DevMode compiler.

I have had some initial success using it thus far with Sketchup 3D models in KMZ format.

GaryGB

 

[Tim Collins]

Thanks Gary. TBH, I'm not yet that concerned about getting them into MSFS. Once the SDK is more complete and the AI engine allows something closer to the FSX/P3D experience, I'll start looking at rebuilding and exporting my airfields into that sim. But I am enjoying working more and more at a level of detail that is likely to be seen only in that sim as things currently stand. However, if we get further developments in P3D, who knows...?

 

[Maddz]

Very good. I particularly like the 1917 service shed

 

[Tim Collins]

Very good. I particularly like the 1917 service shed

Thank you. This model is for the occupants of that particular hangar, the Boscombe Down Aircraft Collection. As such, it will be far more detailed than would be appropriate for a flight sim, but I might try it in-sim and see just how much of a performance hit it carries!

 

[Maddz]

Thank you. This model is for the occupants of that particular hangar, the Boscombe Down Aircraft Collection. As such, it will be far more detailed than would be appropriate for a flight sim, but I might try it in-sim and see just how much of a performance hit it carries!

Thanks for the info.
would the doors be animated in-sim?

 

[Tim Collins]

No. As I said, it’s not specifically for a flight sim. Anyway, I’ve no idea if animations are even possible in SketchUp! If it was Blender, it would be fairly straightforward - but I’m not familiar enough with Blender to attempt this level of detail.

I’m hoping to make a fully-rendered walkthrough of this hangar eventually, but I think that’ll need some payware extensions to SU.

 

[Maddz]

My memory could be failing here but I think you can put your model from sketch up into FSDS and do the animation if you were desired too.
A project I started many years ago, but never completed was done in this way.

 

[Tim Collins]

Ok. Well, I’m not going to try and use FSDS; it’s way out of date (even more than SketchUp!) and it would be a waste of time learning it when Blender is infinitely more capable and developing rapidly.

Realistically, I’d like to move more and more towards Blender. There are several developers trying to create tools to replicate the approachability of SketchUp within Blender, and now SketchUp Make has been withdrawn from distribution it’s likely Trimble will force users onto either the (rubbish) online SketchUp Free or the ridiculously expensive SketchUp Pro at some point in the future. At that point, I need to be skilled enough with Blender to move all my work to that program! Animations may then become part of that work.

 

[Tim Collins]

Update on the RAF Type J Hangar. This particular example is an almost-unmodified-from-original J (one of 3) that lasted at RAF Swinderby until it was destroyed by developers in 2017. As such, it can form the basis of several variations that appeared on various RAF bases over the 70 or so years since it was built.

Note that as yet the only texture used is the (crappy) brickwork; all other surfaces are simply coloured. The interior has not yet been modelled.

 

[Randall Smith]

@Tim Collins . Nice work. Where did you get your textures?

I am a Sketchup kinda person as well. I have a couple of airports that are ready for textures.

 

[Tim Collins]

Most come from textures.com or SketchUptextureclub.com. Some are default textures, and a few I’ve made myself. I’m working on some airfield textures right now, following some YouTube videos by Austin Sass. A lot of my models are coloured, not textured, and the texture comes from the actual modelling. You couldn’t do this for FSX (too many vertices) but P3D on a decent computer can shift the data. However, it’s probably not good modelling practise!

 

[Randall Smith]

Tim. Have ever created textures from photos. If so, what program did you use to edit and convert them?

 

[Tim Collins]

Tim. Have ever created textures from photos. If so, what program did you use to edit and convert them?

Apologies, Randall, I thought I’d answered this but I must have failed to post the reply!

No, I don’t do textures from photos. Arno has covered the technique in his guide in the Wiki, which I think is called ‘Model Your House In SketchUp’ or something like that. I’d use Gimp as it’s free and very capable, and DxtBMP will cover all your conversion needs - as will MCX.

 

[RicherSims]

Nice work!
I do my modeling exclusively in Sketchup! It's so easy to use that I couldn't be bothered to drawing in anything else! The inferencing system of Sketchup has definitely spoiled me. And applying textures is a breeze. Not needing to worry about UV mapping (until later) is a small blessing.

I then import to Blender for texture baking/combining. Blender has a much steeper learning curve but it's definitely useful and powerful. And if you're coding inclined, automating your repetitve tasks with python scripts is very rewarding!

 

[Tim Collins]

I do like working in SketchUp - it reminds me of doing Technical Drawing in school in the 1960s! But I think the withdrawal of SketchUp Make 2017 from distribution probably presages Trimble making it inoperative at some point in the nearish future. It's not worth my while to pay for Pro, so I will bite the bullet and learn Blender.

I have tried importing my models into Blender, but it objects to SketchUp components, which I use a great deal for repetitive items like windows. And I have totally failed to ever UV-unwrap a model! I do sometimes create unique textures in SU and edit them in Gimp to achieve a similar effect, but in the process SU applies a kind of 'bloom' to the edges of the texture which is bloody annoying and difficult to edit out. For instance, the doors of the Albert Kahn hangar with their hundreds of small windows end up with a white boundary around each aperture. Grrr! So I think it'll be a full transition to Blender for flight sim work. I will continue to use SU for architectural models and illustrative work.

 

[Tim Collins]

Still playing with SU!

 

[GaryGB]

I do like working in SketchUp - it reminds me of doing Technical Drawing in school in the 1960s! But I think the withdrawal of SketchUp Make 2017 from distribution probably presages Trimble making it inoperative at some point in the nearish future. It's not worth my while to pay for Pro, so I will bite the bullet and learn Blender.

Hi Tim:

Just because Trimble no longer publicly displays a link to download SketchUp Make 2017 from their online archives, does not mean it can / will be disabled.

Nor does it mean we cannot still download / use SketchUp Make 2017 from other original authorized distribution websites when Trimble was promoting Sketchup 2017.

https://dl2.filehorse.com/win/imagi...Pm_dw&e=1668096922&fn=SketchUpMake-en-x64.exe

See also:

https://www.filehorse.com/download-sketchup-make-64/

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...revious-versions-locations.441746/post-821068

https://www.google.com/search?q=ske...SIAWSSAQMwLjGYAQCgAQKgAQGwAQo&sclient=gws-wiz

I have tried importing my models into Blender, but it objects to SketchUp components, which I use a great deal for repetitive items like windows.

Are you not using MCX as the "middle-ware" importer of Sketchup output, that can then export in a format more compatible with Blender ?

IIRC, MCX converts all Sketchup Components to "grouped" Geometry upon import'; otherwise, more than (1) Sketchup Ruby plugin can do that prior to a Save /Export.

I do sometimes create unique textures in SU and edit them in Gimp to achieve a similar effect, but in the process SU applies a kind of 'bloom' to the edges of the texture which is bloody annoying and difficult to edit out. For instance, the doors of the Albert Kahn hangar with their hundreds of small windows end up with a white boundary around each aperture. Grrr! So I think it'll be a full transition to Blender for flight sim work. I will continue to use SU for architectural models and illustrative work.

Would you please attach- or link to- a Sketchup *.KMZ export example of the reported anomaly with "Make Unique Texture" :

"the doors of the Albert Kahn hangar with their hundreds of small windows end up with a white boundary around each aperture."


BTW: When you use Combine Textures and thereby first make them unique with precise Edge clipped UV mapping, do you use Make Unique Texture++ by Aerilius:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...ing-good-but-weird-in-msfs.456202/post-908977


NOTE: This plugin substitutes the default Sketchup graphics sub-system for Raster operations with the superior ImageMagick library functions.


AFAIK, co-planar Face Materials precisely UV-mapped / clipped to Face Edges, should not result in a perceptible "bloom" pixel anomaly after a Combine Textures 'Merge'.


Thanks in advance for your further clarification of your post above on the availability / utilization status, and functionality options for Sketchup 2017.



FYI: Those exporting from Sketchup to Blender 3.2 to use a Blender Python MSFS Exporter rather than via MCX' MSFS Exporter with intact Groups / Components, see:

https://www.blender3darchitect.com/...2022-skp-files-to-blender-3-0/#comment-269773

http://pkirkham.github.io/blog/importing-from-sketchup-into-blender/

https://github.com/RedHaloStudio/Sketchup_Importer/releases

https://github.com/RedHaloStudio/Sketchup_Importer

GaryGB

 

[Tim Collins]

Hi Gary. We'll just have to see what the future brings for SUM17, but I'm not optimistic. I'll continue using it as long as it works, but I won't transition to Pro or Free.

I haven't used MCX in that way up to now, but I have used the grouping technique to prepare a model for Blender. I get the impression that SU creates surfaces in a way that Blender doesn't like, and I'm sure I've read about that here and elsewhere in the past. However, my lack of success says more about my lack of persistence than it does about Blender! I just find the program inherently opaque and unfriendly, and while I'm constantly amazed by the output that some modellers achieve in Blender, I have yet to properly apply myself to learning it. And, as you know, SU is incredibly approachable and can produce very, very good results quickly and logically. Of course, it falls down (when compared to Blender) in its texture handling, but I'll live with that.

I haven't used Make Unique Texture++ - I will look at that. The bloom effect I'm describing is far more obvious when the structure is imported into P3D than it is in SU. I don't have comparative images to share just now, but this screenshot (Elizabeth City) shows the effect on the hangar doors.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Tim:

I agree Sketchup 2017 (every 2017 version) "falls down" due to a broken "Combine Textures" feature for vertically oriented Faces; this was reportedly never fixed.

Although reportedly one 'can' use that feature if ex: a wall is detached / oriented onto the bottom ground plane of Sketchup's workspace, I would instead use version 2016 to "Combine Textures" via KMZ file for easy I/O between Sketchup 2017 and 2016.

https://dl2.filehorse.com/win/imagi...X8OtA&e=1668096827&fn=SketchUpMake-en-x64.exe


However, if the substitution of ImageMagick is implemented for certain Ruby plugin scripted Raster operations in the Sketchup sub-system, results are IMHO, flawless.


Would you explain, please what modeling method results in a "bloom" effect when making ex: the hangar door for the Elizabeth City scenery in the screenshot ?

Also, would you please show a close-up image of the area showing a "bloom" effect on ex: the hangar door for the Elizabeth City scenery in the screenshot ?


Thanks in advance for your further clarification of what you are alluding to in this cited example Sketchup work-flow.

GaryGB