Being able to export in 3D from the free version is a definite boon, and my use of Sketchup will definitely increase as a result. While SketchUp Pro offers a lot more functionality, as well as plugins, the free version is still very useful for simple modelling tasks. Setting this back to 0% transparency showed my SketchUp-designed object, which I was able to render. A look in Vue’s material inspector revealed that for some reason the material had 100% transparency. The imported Collada file appeared to have no texture applied to it.
It wasn’t that straightforward in Vue, however. Collada export neatly solves this problem.
skp import, but it’s something us Mac users have to go without. Windows users of Vue are lucky enough to have a native. I’m lucky enough to have a copy of E-On Software‘s Vue 7 Infinite at work, which supports the import of Collada files. The next step is to test the exported file. Which also means that Google Earth will read Collada files, which could lead to some interesting possibilities. So, through a rather backdoor method, it does indeed export Collada files. dae – which is the extension used by Collada files. At first this just looked like it was a kml file and materials, but a quick look in the ‘models’ directory revealed a file with the extension. Stuffit created a directory containing the unzipped files. On my Mac, I convinced Stuffit 10 to unzip the KMZ file to my desktop. I noticed that KML exports were KMZ files (a compressed file containing geometry and textures). However, rarely one to give up, I decided to export the model as KML and see what I could do with it. Initially, I put this down to an error by Google, and that this was indeed a Pro feature that had slipped into the free version’s feature list. The help menu didn’t seem to mention Collada export either.
So I checked the 3D export menu, which only listed KML and a tempting link to upgrade to Pro. Since it was listed as a 2D export format, I looked for it in the 2D export menu, but JPG, PNG and TIFF were the only options. The next step would be to export as Collada. So, I downloaded SketchUp, and made a quick box model. This is exciting, as it means that the free version of SketchUp would be more usable to me (I can’t afford the $499 for the Pro version). It’s strange to see it listed as a 2D file format, but there you go. However, I noticed on the version comparison (Why go Pro) page, that listed in the 2D export feature list, that Collada (a 3D interchange format) export was supported. skp file format, and export to kml for inclusion in Google Earth. The free version of SketchUp only allows models to be saved in the proprietary. SketchUp Pro is the paid-for ‘grown up’ version of SketchUp, allowing, amongst a range of features, 3D export of models in a variety of formats. SketchUp is a wonderfully simple 3D modelling package, often used to populate Google Earth with 3D models of famous buildings. Google have just announced the release of SketchUp 7. This post remains as the information about extracting a KMZ file could be useful to some.
I n an update to Sketchup 7, you can now just go to File > Export > 3D Model and choose ‘COLLADA File (*.dae)’ as an option.