Help -Sketchup 3D models to Bryce

mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
edited December 1969 in Bryce Discussion

Can someone help me with this? I found a nice model of the Colosseum but it’s a Sketchup file. I downloaded and installed Sketchup and opened the file and exported it as a 3d model.

But I cannot import the model in Bryce, I get “An unexpected error has occurred (generic failure)” error.

I don’t want to learn how to use Sketchup as learning Bryce and Wings 3D is all I can handle at the moment. Can someone show me how to export then import this model so I can render it in Bryce.

Thanks.

Comments

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    In the Freebie challenge, and also in the Car render thread there is some talk about using PoseRay to convert Sketchup models. to OBJ

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    I regularly use Sketchup as the Free 3D Warehouse is a great place to find models.
    They do usually need quite a bit of work once in Bryce, but it's also usually worth the effort.

    As such, the first thing I would check is that you have this box ticked in the "Import Object" window in Bryce.
    And of course, that when you export from Sketchup, that you have saved it as a .dae file.

    Hope this helps. :)

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  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Chohole and Dave, I will check out both suggestions and come back if I need more information.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Dave, I managed to export from Sketchup and import the Colosseum to Bryce, but Bryce crashed, every time I tried.

    I think the model is big. I tried with a dog model and it worked. I down-scaled the Colosseum model in Sketchup and then exported it but I got a blank .dae and no material folder.

    Can you shed more light on this?

    You are right the 3D Warehouse has awesome models.

    Thanks once again.

  • cdordonicdordoni Posts: 583
    edited December 1969

    You could try OBJ or another format if you can't get DAE to work.

    The SketchUp free version does not save OBJ as I recall and is very limited in its export formats; however, there are free plugin that import/export additional formats. Go here http://sketchucation.com/resources/plugin-store-download

  • TjebTjeb Posts: 507
    edited December 1969

    You could try a different approach:
    - Download Sketchup Pro. Don't buy it, just download the trial version.
    It will give you some hours evaluation time, enough for converting lots of models; because that is what you do:
    import the .skp model, check for unwanted items, like a floor, trees, whatever, then export to .obj

    - in my example (I hardly know how to use Bryce) I used the colosseum model from 3dHH.
    - if you want a more detailed one, let me know; the third picture is a Blender file. (That is: if the forum is not reversing my sequence)

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  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Cdordoni and Tjeb for your input. I will check both suggestions.

    Dave’s (TheSavage) suggestion worked. I managed to export from Sketchup and import the .dae file into Bryce --a few small files, like the dog I mentioned earlier and some other animals. It’s just that Bryce crashes with big files like the Colosseum and other buildings models that I downloaded this morning.

    It’s only when I scale the model in Sketchup before exporting it that I have a problem. Obviously I’m doing something wrong.

    Tjeb, your Colosseum render is lovely, thanks for sharing.

    Thanks everyone.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    It is simply the complexity of the model I think.
    I have downloaded it and it did load into my copy of Bryce, but resizing/moving it is causing Bryce to be very slow and unresponsive.
    At the moment I am trying to 'Land Object' and it's been unresponsive for 10 minutes. I will give it 30 minutes before I force quit it.

    For information: I did a direct download of the .sae file not the Sketchup file. I did try the Sketchup file first but it even took 5 minutes to load into Sketchup and when I exported it, it took a further 10 minutes before crashing Sketchup leaving only a partial collection of material files in the folder I created to export it to.

    Hope this helps. :)

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited October 2013

    Thanks Dave. It does make sense to download the .dae file.

    I will give it a try and see what happens.

    Post edited by mermaid010 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    Well here's what it looks like in Bryce.
    I left it a good 45 minutes trying to land it before I force quit Bryce and started over.
    This one I didn't try to land, but everything you do takes a long time as the complexity of the model makes Bryce sluggish and unresponsive.

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  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    Wow Dave, it looks awesome. Did the model come in with the materials?

    I tried with the .dae file but Bryce still crashes 50% into the import. The model I exported from Sketchup is 48.1mb and the .dae I downloaded is 18.5. Bryce crashes with either one. I think it’s the complexity of the model and my Laptop, it’s not too powerful.

    Anyway I will try with one of the other smaller models of the Colosseum like the one Tjeb mentioned above.

    Thanks for your help

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    Yes, all the materials are applied (50 different textures for the different components), but no bump maps.
    The model itself has hundreds of components.

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  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,644
    edited December 1969

    @mermaid010 - if your laptop sports at least 4 GB, consider using LAA to make Bryce use up to 3.5 GB. As I figure from Dave's comments, the mesh might be too big for 2 GB or less of memory.

  • Rashad CarterRashad Carter Posts: 1,803
    edited December 1969

    Apply "Show as Box" in the Attributes for the group as a whole, it should speed navigation back to normal.

  • TjebTjeb Posts: 507
    edited December 1969

    The size of the object is just too large.
    So I thought to only use a part of the colosseum.
    Surprisingly the quarter object turned out even larger: 73Mb.
    Then I exported only one single section. And only then, after loading in Bryce, you see how complex the whole thing is.
    I hadn't even noticed a statue before that.

    Using one section can result in nice surreal, Escher like scenes though...

    I'm afraid you have to re-think your scene, or what you already mentioned, to use a less complex model.

    (it's the same with Lego. If you use LDraw to create an object made of Lego bricks and then export that to .obj it can result in files of more than 50Mb. That's because all the unnecessary sides and bevels inside the mesh - I recently found another workflow, but that's not for this thread)

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  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    Dave- I downloaded a smaller model and it came into Bryce in the default gray, and remembered you saying:

    I regularly use Sketchup as the Free 3D Warehouse is a great place to find models.
    They do usually need quite a bit of work once in Bryce, but it's also usually worth the effort.

    Now I know what you meant, but it will keep me busy this weekend

    @mermaid010 - if your laptop sports at least 4 GB, consider using LAA to make Bryce use up to 3.5 GB. As I figure from Dave's comments, the mesh might be too big for 2 GB or less of memory.

    I tried the LAA after the 1st crash. You helped me with the “Out of memory” issue a few months ago when I had problems with one of David’s tutorial – I think it was the super reflection tut – not sure. This time Bryce crashes after 50% into the import. There is no "Out of memory" message. Thanks for mentioning it.

    Rashad -Thanks for this tip.

    Tjeb – thanks for sharing. That model is awesome.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited October 2013

    They do usually need quite a bit of work once in Bryce, but it's also usually worth the effort.

    I’m quoting you again Dave because I now really understood what you mean. Lol

    I’m really don’t know how to go about applying the materials to over 2700 meshes which are just numbers.

    Most of the models I used, had only a few meshes and it was a bit easy. The only thing I can think of is ungrouping the model and tabbing my way thru all the meshes. There must be a better easier way.

    Any tips will be appreciated.

    Thanks in advance

    Post edited by mermaid010 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    No sadly there isn't a quicker way that i know of.
    What I usually do is go through the list of components one by one and alter the material, also giving it a recognisable unique name and assigning it a colour family (so that all components that will have the same material will have the same colour family, making selection simple later). It takes a long time, but once done, the model becomes much easier to edit.

  • mermaid010mermaid010 Posts: 5,490
    edited December 1969

    I never thought about assigning a color family to similar components.

    Thanks for your help and suggestions Dave.

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