Foreveryoung Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Hi all the EIAS Guru, I just upgraded to EIAS V9.1 after five year departure so now is a V9.1 newbie. Will need some help from friend here to jump back in. Currently my main tasks are architectural Design and visualisation using sketch up Pro 2014 and Vray. Need to do some simple animation so EIAS still my preferred choice. By the way, what is the best workflow from skectchUp to EIAS, I export as dxf file and get lot of garbage but all the layer is intact, export via obj look fine but lost all the layer info. Any better suggestion? Best Regards Burney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S. Houtzager Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Hmmm. I just opened up sketchup and looked around for a grouping tool and did not see one. Lots of modeling programs have a group tool which is another way to organize files for EI. Some have a join tool which makes objects not touching each other one object. I use that a good bit to speed things up going from FormZ to EI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted August 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2014 To create a group in SketchUp. Double click any face with pick tool and hit cmd-G in Mac OSX. I usually move them to a relevant layer immediately after grouping. For conceptual design I usually create a basic box, group it and create it as component. It really help in speeding up the design process. SketchUp can swapped out basic shapes with complex detailed models easily so more design thinking and less modelling. In the Pre Form Z v7 days, I need to spend lot of time modelling and trying an error with rounding that make Form Z appears really dumb although Form Z v7 now looks very promising. SketchUp does has its flaws and limitation but for design exploration it is a very speedy tool. Layer colour mode is superb as we can specify a colour for each layer including solid and transparency colour good for Color scheme and visualizing Glass materials, and export via 3ds does embed those layer colour attributes into the materials. After upgrade to EIAS 9.1, I have been spending whole day and night trying to get SketchUp models into EIAS but really it is very frustrated. Trying out all the export and import options but none can really meet the basic criteria, that is clean models and at the proper layers hierarchy( we have been pampered by the older EIAS - Form Z fac workflow :blush: ). DXF bring in the layer hierarchy but all the model became garbage, OBJ bring in the model but lost the layers and layer colours. 3ds bring in about 95 % of the model but surprisingly the model came in with layer colours including transparencies but no layer, Fbx 2006 brought in layers colours but no layer and the model is similar to 3ds. So my solution now is to save the SketchUp files back to SketchUp version 8 and open with Form Z 7 and export as fac in order to bring it to EIAS. SketchUp Pro cannot handle large files similar to form Z, I take the V-Ray path after EIAS v8 weak import option but when come to animation, within EIAS I always feel at home. I really hope that the next EIAS upgrade will include direct SketchUp file import :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted September 5, 2014 Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 Hi, I have been down this path very recently. The very best way is through Polytrans. It has a sketchup file format import and export. Robert at Okino was very helpful with this. So you could open your sketchup file in Polytrans and save out as a fact file directly. Everything remains intact. You can even rearrange your hierarchy with Polytrans to suit your needs. Okino have been on board with Sketchup from early days and their import and export is flawless. I've recently been working on a very large project that had to end up as a sketchup file. I worked in another modelling program and exported as VRML2 or Lightwave into Polytrans. Exported to Sketchup and the model was perfect. As Robert at Okino stated, the sketchup forums are loaded with false info regarding import export. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted September 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 Thank you for your advice. Too bad Okino doesn't have a Mac version. I did manage to import the sketch up file via Modo beside Form Z. Ultimately if EIAS can import it will make life a lot easier as going to and fro via a bridge software is quite cumbersome. :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Egger Posted September 6, 2014 Report Share Posted September 6, 2014 Ola my friends! Please, generate a really simple export in several file formats, so, we can analize and see which we will be possible to update, since several of them will be limited from Sketchup export or limited by the file format itself. Please, send me DXF, OBJ, 3DS, LWO and latest FBX version from it (not 2006)... This simple export need to include the hierarchy, layers, color groups, transparencies... We will need a print screen from Sketchup hierarchy / layers to see if it's matching. Let's see if we can update the workflow. Thanks Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted September 9, 2014 Report Share Posted September 9, 2014 Polytrans runs on Parallels no problem. Might be worth considering. It may even be worth reading the information regarding Sketchup export / import on the Okino website, good information. It seems Sketchup has it's nuances the way it models. IE no vertices. I think a lot of people have problems exporting and importing unless via a specific plugin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Egger Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ola Burney! Please, don't forget to export the simple scene for me from Sketch Up. Greg, Could you help with this? Thanks Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted September 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ola Burney! Please, don't forget to export the simple scene for me from Sketch Up. Greg, Could you help with this? Thanks Tom Hi Tom, Got tight up a couple of weeks by a rush job. Instead of giving you a drawing with some simple primitives. I want to produce a simple but realistic architectural model so that you can come up with proper workflow solution. Currently using FormZ 8 to solve my current issue for now as 64 bits really help to speed up assembly of complex scenes. Just give me another week to sort thing out. Thank you for your patience :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Hi Tomas, Yes I will export some stuff later tonight. I have an architectural model in SKP at the moment. I'll repeat, Robert at Okino has some very interesting insight into Sketchup. Basically it was never intended to be a modeller, as the name implies. But it took off, then Google bought it and has now sold to Trimble so looks like it is here to stay. They do admit themselves it has misgivings as a "real" modeller. FormZ has taken the philosophy and made it real. My opinion. I'll pink a lost later. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 BTW Burney, FormZ techs say that Collada .DAE is the best conversion between SKP and FMZ. You have to use 32bit FMZ for the export because 64 bit doesn't have DAE export. You can model in 64bit then open your FMZ file in 32bit for export to .DAE. It worked well from FormZ for me, no where near as well as Polytrans. The model looked good in SKP but was really slow regen etc. Not a "true" SKP model. But it was editable and clean. Robert at Polytrans thought this was not a real solution though. Might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted September 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Thank Grey :cool: . Currently I am using FormZ 8 to import Sketchup Model and assemble them in Form Z for EIAS compatibility. FormZ 8 is been used more like a complex scene layout software for me now. Form Z is a great and powerful software but not fast enough for rapid conceptual design( as least for me as I am more familiar with Sketch up now after depart formZ at V6 :blush:...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Yep it is completely different than FMZ 6. FMZ 7/8 is easily faster than SKp as a design development tool once you get used to the new workflow commands. Quite honestly there is no benefit to using SKp above the current FMZ, once you use it correctly. It's a bit (a lot) different than FMZ 6. Then on top of all that you have many more tools and much, much more flexibility. I have used FMZ since V2.? so I was a stickler for it up until V5. Took me ages to take the drop to FMZ 7. I was using SKp for fast design development, push/pull, and FMZ V5 for scene development like you. FMZ 7 does all that but better than SKp now, IMHO. Took me 2 weeks in the "deep end" of FMZ 7 and now no looking back to SKp. All the SKp tools and many many more options. Just my 2 cents worth. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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