By mluko
#390661
I'm relatively new to Maxwell but I find importing an updated mxs file from Sketchup into an existing scene file confusing. The import dialogue windows that pop up with far too many questions about what I want to keep, replace, ignore , rename..!? There's got to be a better way! Any suggestions on the best way to update revised geometry from a Sketchup mxs file without taking a pop quiz everytime I need to update my scene? Thanks in advance.
By JDHill
#390663
Unfortunately, apart from reading your mind, it is simply not possible to know what you may wish to do when there are conflicts; choosing one option or another would either clutter your scene with undesired duplicates, or destroy work you've already done in Studio, by overwriting existing items with those being imported.

That said, please notice that these dialogs generally have an "Apply to all" button; depending on your workflow, it should be a matter of checking one of the options, and clicking "Apply to all". Furthermore, please note that though there are generally four options -- rename new, rename old, ignore new, replace old -- these are really just variations on two main actions: rename or replace.

Depending on your particular workflow, maybe it ends up that you always want to ignore changes to cameras and materials, and to replace old objects with new ones; an argument can be made that preferences could be added for setting these as the default actions, and you can certainly post something to that effect in the Wishlist subforum (this subforum being specific to the SketchUp plugin, not Studio).

That aside though, I would just recommend taking some time to think it through, and define a standard workflow that you will consistently use, such that it becomes possible to run quickly through the dialogs, since you always do it the same way. The only downside to that (and to preferences for default actions) is that when you do end up doing something outside your standard workflow, it becomes easy to lose work, by selecting the wrong option through force of habit.
By mluko
#390698
Thanks for thoughtful reply- this has to be one of the most confusing dialogues in Maxwell and I have lost work checking one wrong box. I have resorted to saving the old MXS file with another name before importing a new MXS file into my scene prior to importing a revised MXS just in case. Are there other ways to update a MXS file in studio?
By JDHill
#390699
I can't really answer that, because it depends what you mean by update. Does it mean, replace existing items with new ones, or ignore them, or rename them, or rename the existing ones... all the same questions being asked by the dialogs.

Studio is used differently by different people; in some cases, maybe their host application has poor texture support, so they create geometry in the host, and then texture it in Studio -- and if that geometry were to be replaced when importing, they would lose all the texturing work they'd done. Such a person may prefer, when importing, to ignore everything that exists already, and just bring in new things.

Another person may prefer to use Studio for material and camera setup; when they import an updated MXS, they want to replace all the objects, but leave materials & cameras alone.

As you can see, there are many possible permutations of this, which is why I say I can't know what you might mean by saying update -- it can mean lots of different things. If you tell me exactly what it is that you want to do, perhaps I can come up with a few pointers.
By mluko
#390700
Yes I see...nothing is simple. I'm used to doing renderings directly in Revit with the built in renderer so nothing was accidently lost anytime geometric changes were made or new materials introduced- I would just create a new image file. All lighting, camera settings...etc remained embedded in the .rvt file. If I were to launch Maxwell render directly from Sketchup I obviously would not be able to use Studio to create custom materials, lighting etc.. Ideally, studio and render would be integrated and embedded in the Sketchup .skp file. So it doesn't look like there are any other options besides the import into studio as I'm doing- I'll need to be careful about the import settings and keep a backup mxs file in case I screw up. Thanks again.
By numerobis
#390702
mluko wrote:So it doesn't look like there are any other options besides the import into studio as I'm doing
Besides some features like multiple grass modifiers per object almost everything is available in SU. Normally there is no need to use Studio (grass can be referenced).
>>> http://support.nextlimit.com/display/mxdocsv3/SketchUp

(and btw., there is a "save" button... you could use it before you import new objects... :wink: )
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