[Burnum]

I would like a feature in the SU export plugin that lets me export Nested Components as Groups. I use Studio to set up my renders and it drives me nuts when I find I have not exploded a nested component and can't gain access to the individual parts to change materials.

I often build components for specific parts (like screws) and then I have nested components (components inside others) to make up assemblies. If I don't explode them before working in Studio I will not have access.

I know, the plugin was kind of developed to try and make it so you can assign materials in SU it's self, but it just feels so disconnected from SU's UI, I never bother. Even if I did, I again would find myself needing to export again rather than tweak in Studio because I still would not have access to the sub component parts materials.

[brodie_geers]

What sort of export settings do you use? I do a lot of work in studio and don't have that issue. Are you actually moving objects around and doing all of your texturing in studio? I have Export by Material checked in the options box that pops up when you export. I think that solves the problem at the expense of not being able to move objects around in studio (because every object of the same material is connected). That may not work with your workflow though. You may also try unchecking Protect. I don't recall what it does but I remember having issues with it in the past.

-Brodie

[Burnum]

my typical settings.
(I've been having real problems exporting anything complex lately, no matter what settings I use. very odd... {on complex models})

[brodie_geers]

Well, that looks about right to me. The only differences I have are that I don't use AutoMXM, I always check Low Priority, I don't use instances (although I'll have to start as I think those issues are fixed in v2), and I have Proxy Objects checked (although I almost never use them). I can't see any reason why any of those differences would cause any issues though. Hopefully JD can find a solution?

-Brodie

[Burnum]

my issues are with instances, and I usually don't use Auto MXM either.

the issue is, if you have components with other things inside, they usually end up as one object, and it's very hard to access and assign or change materials in Studio if you can't select the object alone. Though I just found the option to let me select all objects that have a material on them. that helps, unless you want to choose only some objects with that material and change them.

the second issue i'm having right now (in another post) is how, many times I don't even get Instances at all even, with the option selected. thus ending up with 50+ of the same element not instanced as expected, making it take 10x longer to export, and just that much more of a pain to change in Studio... Not sure why this is happening. but that is more of a Bug issue for another topic.

[brodie_geers]

Let me explain my workflow and see how it relates to your issue. I'll typically set up all my materials in sketchup by applying a low quality jpg version (to keep the SU file small) of my diffuse/color textures to the appropriate faces in my model. So for example, I'll have an asphalt material, sidewalk, concrete, brick, glass, and aluminum. Typically I will make sure that those textures are associated with their mxm counterparts (through the manual process rather than automxm), although occasionally I miss some materials or deliberately wait until I get into studio.

Next I'll open up studio and what I have is all of my sketchup objects that had the aluminum texture are now a single object in Maxwell with my Aluminum.mxm applied. Often times I'll need to tweak this material or even swap it out. So I may need to import my Bronze Aluminum.mxm material into the scene and apply it to that one object (effectively changing all of my Aluminum.mxm to Bronze Aluminum.mxm). Is this the sort of thing you're having issues with? Are you getting some objects that have multiple materials applied to them rather than just one?

The only problem I run into occasionally is that if you want to swap out just one frame to Bronze, you can't - it's either all or nothing. In those cases what I do is delete the Aluminum object, go back to Sketchup and make the appropriate adjustments, reexport, and then import just those 2 objects (aluminum and bronze) into my old scene.

The instances issue sounds familiar to me but I'm not sure I ever found a solution and it's been so long now I'm not sure it was the same issue.

-Brodie

[Burnum]

FYI, I'm doing more mechanical design type stuff. Though I hope to put some stuff into full Architecture scenes as needed down the road.


Streamlites FL by Architectural Cathode Lighting.

I don't think I've actually ever seen it export the 'aluminum' all as one big object, when Separate By Material is checked.

When I build things in SU, I often have them in many layers of Components. So for example in the image above. I have 12 screw components (instances), enclosure shape components (instanced), and end cap part, etc) All are combined into another Master Component I call the Power Box. Often, when I try to bring this into Studio, the power box ends up as 1 object with no access to the sub components, other than by selecting things by assigned material. a group you can open to access the sub components. I prefer using Components over normal SU groups, because they are saved in the model file and can be replicated many times, as needed. (Aside from the other issue I've been having where i'm not getting any instances on export, in a far more complex model, I can't show, yet). I was posting here my wish that it would be possible for a component containing other components to be exported as a group with the sub components accessible.

one main reason for wanting to do this has to do with how BAD SU is at anything to do with UV maps. I think Maxwell needs a powerful UV mapping tool added. But probably something as part of Studio.

[brodie_geers]

There does seem to be some sort of a bug in there somewhere. I'm guessing it's a clash between the instances and the separate by material which are sort of at odds with eachother. The former wants to create all your screws as individual instances while the later would want to lump them all together as one group based on their common material.

I'd agree about the UV mapping which would be great for us, but I'm not anticipating it any time soon so I'm still working on other solutions. I have used Maxwell's UV mapping on occasion but it's pretty horrible imo.

-Brodie

[Burnum]

Yeah, I'm in the market for a better modeler with or in addition to a UV mapping tool set myself. I love many aspects of SU, but it's just not so great for many things. Because it's a polygon modeler, just drilling a hole makes a mess much of the time.

[brodie_geers]

In case you haven't run across it yet on the sketchucation forum Whaat updated his UV plugin. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtop ... 23&t=23725

Now it'll export your selection as an obj for you to texture elsewhere and then import it back into your model. Haven't tested it yet but it seems to have some good reviews. Still have to find a good UV'er but at least it helps speed up the awkward workflow.

-Brodie