Sketchup 3d and blender?

Posts

• Melak332 Posts: 0Member

  August 2010 #2

  

  Many questions, and since I don't use either of the programs you mention I can only answer one:
  
  Kerkythea seems to be the favored renderer for sketchup by the people on here who use it
• Sphynx195 Posts: 461Member

  August 2010 #3

  

  As far as I am aware (a more regular Sketchup user will be able to confirm or deny this), the free version of Sketchup is unable to export models at all. They may have changed things, but the first release certainly did not have the facility - you needed to upgrade to perform that type of thing.
• YIIMM179 Posts: 96Member

  August 2010 #4

  

  Judge Death! wrote: »

  After seeing some excellent models in sketchup 3d and hearing it's really simple to use I'm going to try it while awaiting blender's newest version.
  
  I have some questions, of course.
  
  I have the free sketchup, can I export models from it into blender? Can blender import sketchup models?
  
  No, but from memory, Sketchup can export to the Google Earth file format, .kmz, which Blender can import
  
  Is it really as easy to ue as some people have been saying?
  
  Very much so
  
  Are there any pdf tuts for it? I saw the special tuts for it on the SU 3D site and was impressed at how they worked.
  
  I once tried exporting things made in blender to a rendered that was supposed to work with blender and it all just sucked. Is it hard t export SU3D models to some free renderers to get good results? Can blender export to Bryce, which I have? Can bryce import SU3D models?
  
  The two main rendering programs for Sketchup are Indigo and, as Melak said, Kerkythea. Having used both, Indigo is easier to start off using, but Kerkythea is more comprehensive and for me yields better results.
  
  Is there a SU3D forum site for newbies at it like me? I have some experience with 3d from sculpt animate, bryce and blender, how does SU3D differ? How is it the same?
  
  Having only used Blender and SU out of that list, I can tell you that the entire approach modelling differs greatly between the two. For Blender you have a whole array of tools to make complex, curved shapes, Sketchup is great at producing flat surfaces with ease, but curved objects can only really be modelled using splines, that said it's not impossible at all.
  
  It's also hard to create hi-poly models as Sketchup becomes unstable with large files.
  
  The Sketchucation forums are probably your best bet for learning, also check the Plugins forum to download some tools that'll make modelling easier for you.
  

  
  Hope this helps
• alleyviper0 Posts: 0Member

  August 2010 #5

  You can download a plugin or ruby script that allows your free sketchup program to export to kerkeythea. There are also several renderers that work inside sketchup. My favorite is twilight which offers a free trial (renders are water marked). There is a sketchucation website with a forum and the like for sketchup users. It is somewhat useful. Sketchup is very easy to get started in but making really cool models takes a good bit of experience as it doesn't support organic modeling. Curved surfaces are especially difficult to master and the program itself tends to have geomitry problems when intersecting very small surfaces. Aside from a fiew bugs I find it to be a great program, in fact, the ony 3d software I can say I'm good with. Going from exclusivly 2d art work to 3d with sketchup was a simple transition, so much so I have stopped 2d altogether. If you are going to use sketchup you are going to want several plugins, most offered for free at websites like smustard.com . Also, soapskinbubble is fun to play with but I haven't found a good use for it in serious models. There is also a free program called sketchy physics. It gives you some animation capabilities but I have yet to experiment with it.
  To sum up, getting started with SU is easy. Mastering it can take as much effort as any other 3d program.