Hi, I found that the software Blender has a really powerful renderer. Is there anyone who’s using sketchup Model and rendering it in blender? Please tell me how to do it…
This is one of my first usage of Blender. The second is the creation of parametric objects for architecture with a new efficient workflow that I am discovering.
I find that the rendering quality of Blender is very high and that the time spent / quality ratio is very good. I don’t spend a lot of time producing renderings and aim to get it done in a matter of minutes.
Right now I would like to know more about the difference in quality, if there is any with Vray.
The good news is that Blender is hugely developed and rendering will be improved in the coming months, with a new Cycle X engine that we can already test, and greater realism for EEVEE, the realtime rendering engine.
example of SketchUp imported file in Blender & rendering
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This has been discussed before here in other threads. Trampy’s images look good and the renderer in Blender is obviously very capable. What is conspicuous by its relative absence is images and practical examples of models made and textured in SketchUp by the authors themselves and then rendered in Blender. There doesn’t seem to exist an easy and consistent workflow, especially for non-nerds. Blender doesn’t open SketchUp files natively.
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There is an importer that will work with 2020 and down. I think the dev is working on one that will work with 2021. I also think the difference is the file structure in '21.
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So, when I modelled a house with SketchUp, I didn’t gave it any material in hope of applying advance material from blender, but when i imported the .dae file in blender and when i apply some material to 1 group, everything gets covered in it… I don’t know how to apply material in blender with will only affect a single group
I am new to blender, there must be something I don’t know
I work with 3DS file format (on Mac), it work well. DAE seems a nightmare from SketchUp to Blender.
No … Apply material in SketchUp, it’s easier
You can then add advanced Blender settings, or identify faces. Do not use DAE, but 3DS or the SKP addon (on PC only).
- Apply several materials if needed on objects
- Go to edit mode and apply to some gemetry parts the listed materials
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I don’t show anymore my personal work on this forum, this is the reason why I show very known SKP models as examples.
But the process is the same: we get the textures from SketchUp, it goes quickly, few adjustments are necessary, and we quickly obtain a satisfactory result. It’s similar to the other solutions, but there is an excellent speed / quality ratio.
There are calculation times on the image files, some only require 2 minutes with the new Cycle X engine.
There has to be something I am missing, Blender 2.93 will not import .fbx from SketchUp and I do not have an option for .3ds import.
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Use this tool to convert your fbx files to be useable in Blender FBX Converter Archives | Autodesk Developer Network
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it is based on my experience, 3DS is the best (you have to take care to scale factor, and uncheck two options, see attached screenshot). I get perfect models with textures.
3DS import option was an add-on you find in experimental section. I suppose it is integrated in latest alpha version (3.0) or 2.93.
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I have tested the latest version of Blender with a SketchUp model and it works perfectly. First you export your model from SketchUp as an .obj file. Never tried 3ds but .dae is a mess.
Then you open blender and import the .obj file. You then render using the Cycles engine, not EEVEE. Tho I’m sure Blender devs will implement better interoperability between SketchUp and Blender in the future.
Using this technique you don’t need to install the Blender plugin that imports .skp files. That plug-in is developed by a 3rd party software engineer afaik, so I wouldn’t recommend it as it’s not optimized.
So yeah, Export in .obj format from SketchUp, and import into Blender and render with the Cycles engine. You’ll gawk at the results.
What’s Evee/Cycles got to do with it? The engines don’t treat the exported mesh any differently.
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They did in my case. When I rendered with eevee the result was a mess with no textures and shoddy lighting. When I switched to cycles it was on par with professional stuff.
Well thats very unusual, I would reinstall Blender sounds like an error.
I tried it on an almost 7 year old laptop a few days ago. Could be something to do with the old graphics card. I’ll try it with my current laptop soon. I hope I can get results with Eevee.
Yeah a 7 year old laptop doesn’t sound like it will keep up well with Evee, I would try with your other machine instead.
Hi,
Have you tried new Cycle X engine ?
You may find it in :builder.blender.org/download/experimental/
(do not copy “:” )
EEVEE is interesting too and will be improved in next months to be more realistic with global illumination. Maybe it is not normal your result was a mess with EEVEE.
Note about experimental branch : it is alpha versions, despite it is very stable for alpha/beta versions, it could be bugged in part of code the developers are working (very funny to see these bugs disappear when they finished their work…)
@liamk887 as I said I’ll try it again soon. I hope it works cuz Eevee looks swish!
@trampy hi, I don’t remember if I tried Cycles X or if I did it with Cycles but I have a habit of not using alpha/beta stuff.
When I have time I’ll try them all though just to test em and then use the best results for work. Thanks for the heads up.
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You might look at this course. I had some success with it. SketchUp to Blender2.8 EEVEE Interior Rendering Course ships • sketchUcation • 1