[imagesbyj]

Hello All, I am currently working on an interior rendering of a basketball arena. I have built the sketchup model. wondering if anyone has any advice for me on the maxwell side of it. There are literally thousands of seats in the arena. Is that going to be a problem to render? I am having an issue even exporting the model! Is there an easier way to do this? I am still somewhat of a maxwell noob. I have heard others speak of instances. Can those be utilized here? if so, how? thanks in advance for the help!

Josh

[JDHill]

If you are using components in SketchUp, and you have the Instances option enabled in the plugin's Output tab, then export should not take too long, and will use a minimum amount of memory.

[brodie_geers]

What sort of exporting issues are you having? I've been exporting some really large models lately with pretty good luck. Based on my experience, if your export is taking longer than a minute or so there's probably something wrong somewhere.

-Brodie

[imagesbyj]

My exports are definitely taking longer then a minute! I have to export each section of seats separately, and they took roughly 45 minutes a piece... and there were 20 on them! Not really sure why it took so long, besides the fact that there were 6,000 seats.

My maxwell plugin isnt working correctly (I get an error every time I start sketchup) I may need to reinstall it. But I will have to try the instance tab once I get the plugin working again.

*Here is another question- does anyone know what cold be causing an image to render with noise even at an SL of 19? I have done a couple test renders so far of my model and the noise isnt clearing very fast.

[imagesbyj]

The sketchup error is as follows:

Error Loading File MaxwellExport.rb
cannot convert nil into String

has anyone every had this problem before?

Thanks!
-Josh

[JDHill]

It looks like you have multiple parts of multiple plugin versions on your machine -- the export is probably being done with the old plugin's exporter, which is likely much slower on this scene. To get your installation sorted, try these steps (assuming you're on Windows):

1. go to Add/Remove Programs
2. uninstall any Maxwell for SketchUp plugins
3. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell does not exist
4. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell.rb does not exist
5. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\MaxwellExport.rb does not exist
6. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\Skp2Mxs.dll does not exist
7. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\SkpToMxs.dll does not exist
8. download and run the appropriate plugin installer
9. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell exists
10. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell.rb exists
11. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\Skp2Mxs.dll exists
12. the plugin should now be working correctly

If you are on OSX, the steps will be a little different, let me know if that's the case.

[imagesbyj]

It looks like you have multiple parts of multiple plugin versions on your machine -- the export is probably being done with the old plugin's exporter, which is likely much slower on this scene. To get your installation sorted, try these steps (assuming you're on Windows):

1. go to Add/Remove Programs
2. uninstall any Maxwell for SketchUp plugins
3. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell does not exist
4. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell.rb does not exist
5. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\MaxwellExport.rb does not exist
6. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\Skp2Mxs.dll does not exist
7. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\SkpToMxs.dll does not exist
8. download and run the appropriate plugin installer
9. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell exists
10. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Plugins\maxwell.rb exists
11. confirm that <SketchUp dir>\Exporters\Skp2Mxs.dll exists
12. the plugin should now be working correctly

If you are on OSX, the steps will be a little different, let me know if that's the case.

Thanks JD! One quick question, upon looking at my directory files, I noticed that I have a:

Program Files/Google/ Google Sketchup 6/.....
and a:
Program Files/Google Sketchup 6/.... each with their own set of folders and files... I am guessing I dont need both, any advice for cleaning that up?

[JDHill]

Hmm... sounds like you might have a bit of a mess there. You say both of these directories have 'their own set' of files, but does that mean that one directory is a duplicate of the other, or are the files and folders contained therein different between the two?

The directions I gave above pertain to whichever is your 'real' SketchUp directory; that would be the one which contains SketchUp.exe. There would be separate folders for SketchUp 6 and SketchUp 7, if both of them are installed.

[brodie_geers]

The default location typically looks something like this...

C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 7

Note that if you have a 32 bit OS you probably won't have the "(x86)" if I recall correctly.

-Brodie

[imagesbyj]

@brodie_geers Im running sketchup pro 6, does that make a difference?

I have complete uninstalled sketchup and all of its components from my cpu.
I reinstalled it. Works fine. I then installed the maxwell plugin, and I again am getting the error message! I dont get it.
The plugin is: v1.10 - is that too old? I tried to update to the new plugin, but I do not own sketchup pro 7.

[Half Life]

check the next thread down for a Sketchup 6 plugin installer.

Best,
Jason.

[imagesbyj]

That was it! Obviously, the plugin I had was out of date! Thanks all!

[Richard]

@brodie_geers Im running sketchup pro 6, does that make a difference?

I have complete uninstalled sketchup and all of its components from my cpu.
I reinstalled it. Works fine. I then installed the maxwell plugin, and I again am getting the error message! I dont get it.
The plugin is: v1.10 - is that too old? I tried to update to the new plugin, but I do not own sketchup pro 7.

Mate for larger models V7 is a definately a worthwhile upgrade!