[alexgod]

hell
i created a scene in SU and then exported in MXS and then imported it in the studio and i see only a bunch of unsorted objets
In SU i created a lot of Instances with proper names it seems just to have been converted to generic names like 'group<125645645>[0.0.0.4]'

Is there a way i can have a clean list of objects to work on ?

Thanks

[JDHill]

Due to differences in how models are structured in SketchUp and Maxwell, it is not possible to directly represent a SketchUp model in Maxwell's format. For example, you may give a name to a Component Instance in SketchUp, but that instance may contain any number of groups, or any number of other instances of components, themselves containing groups and further components, and so forth. In other words, what is exported is not the instance itself, but rather the faces and groups it contains. If the component definition contains faces directly, you will find a mesh named for that definition in the MXS, but not otherwise. Furthermore, depending on the separation (context menu > Maxwell > Separate By), and on whether the group or component contains faces with incompatible materials or UVs (e.g. some faces with emitter material, some without), the faces of a group or component may be separated into multiple meshes by the plugin at export.

You can read more about this here, but the upshot would be: groups and component definitions are exported using the names they have been given, along with a unique ID, and with a numbering scheme based on which instance of a particular group or definition is being exported.

[alexgod]

Thanks for your answer it's bit disappointing because finding and renaming each object is a lot fo work ! Does it do that only with Sketchup or other softwares work the same ?

By the way, you say 'groups and component definitions are exported using the names …' but in my scene, there are no names, only numbers, which make it difficult to spot objects… Am i putting the names at the wrong place in SU ? (i put names when i'm creating the Composants when the window pop up) and in general i don't put names for groups. I made the test and the name of the group don't show up in the Studio either…

[JDHill]

It will work differently with every different host 3D platform, since each has its own way of representing a model.

In Maxwell, there are only meshes, and instances of meshes (for purposes of this discussion), and instances do not correspond to the concept of component instances in SketchUp. Entities in SketchUp that will produce a mesh are either a) a group, or b) a component definition, if there are faces contained directly within the group or component definition. The name of the mesh will be based on the name of the group, or the component definition. The simplest example would be to draw a face, group it, and name the group; the mesh produced will have the group name. Were you to make the face into a component instead of a group, the mesh produced would have the name of the component definition. If the group were named Box, then the mesh would be named something like Box<1234>[0.0.0]; if the group had no name, then it would be given the name group<1234>[0.0.0]. It is necessary that names have organizational information like this, because Maxwell requires each item in the scene to have a unique name; the <1234> and [0.0.0] parts of the name uniquely identify a particular instance, of a particular piece of geometry, in the model.

If a group or component definition contains only other groups and/or component instances (that is, it contains no faces directly), then it will not show up in the MXS, since it only refers to other entities. That would be the only way I can think of to give a name to a group, and not have it be used in the MXS. It might be nice if some of these things were not the case, but there is not much way around it, this is just the nature of translating a model between two very different formats.

[alexgod]

It took me hours long to clean that up, creating groups, name it etc. I can't believe people use that as a daily routine.
I would be happy to hear people using scenes created, and imported in Studio : they must have a specific workflow.

Do layers could save me from this mess ? Puttings wall on a specific layer, LED on another, chairs etc. Do Maxwell will be able to interpret correctly the layers ?

Plus, i wonder why when i export or import my scene i'm not able to choose what i want to export/import : would make sense to get a pop window where i can choose : cameras, objects, texture etc When i need to import only one object or only camera it would save some times…

[JDHill]

For the most part, people don't often look at MXS files in Studio, they just export and render in Maxwell Render, directly from within SketchUp. When they do, it would often be for the purpose of combining MXS files from multiple SKP files, when it is necessary to split the SKP models due to SketchUp's memory limitation; when that is the case, and when you need to edit the combined geometry, it would make sense to import the first MXS, group everything it contained, import the second, group what it contained, and so on. That is, if you even need to edit the geometry at all (if the source SKP files used a common origin, it wouldn't be necessary).

As far as layers go, that is also discussed on the page I linked above (here). In short, Maxwell doesn't have layers, so similar to how it is with the structure of entities in the model, it is likewise not possible to use SketchUp's layers in a matching way.

Regarding what to export, the plugin does have a "Export Selection To" command, available in the right click > Maxwell menu, when there is a selection. There is no option to export only cameras, only objects, or only materials, simply because nobody has ever requested such a thing, and because Studio has options for automatically deciding whether to keep identical cameras, objects, and materials, or use those contained in the MXS currently being imported.