I was running Sketchup on a PC, and I wanted to try using it on a Macbook Pro. The models from the PC wouldn’t open on the MAC so I tried exporting .stl files, and even these won’t import on the MAC. Wierd, I’d think at least the .stl would port over. I have the same import-export stl extension installed on both computers. Any suggestions on getting models to open from a PC to a MAC?
There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to open an SKP file created on a PC with your Mac unless the Mac is running an older version of SketchUp or the graphics card isn’t able to handle it. What actually happens when you do try to open the SKP file on the Mac? How big is the SKP file? What is the graphics card in the Mac?
The .stl file should import but again, how large is the file?
Maybe you could share the SKP file so we can see what you are working with.
I think your right. I think the error is in dropbox, tbo, which is what I’m trying to use to transfer the models over. I think dropbox is only providing a hyperlink, or something to that effect. If that’s the case I can delete this question.
There is no difference between a SketchUp file created on Windows vs on Mac. It should be possible to copy a file across and open it without any issues - I do this all the time. So there is something else going on. What exactly is the behavior and what if any error messages you are getting?
Since .stl files also failed, I wonder how you are moving the file from the Windows machine to the Mac. If you are using FTP, please make sure you are transferring in binary mode, as SketchUp files will be mangled if you send them as text.
Yes - take a good look at the “file” you are trying to open. If it is a link, not really a file, that is the issue.
Yup, that was it!! Must be a new Dropbox feature to only provide links to save disk space, lol. I had to actually go into dropbox and tell it to open the file using Sketchup, only then would it download the file, ugh! the skp files opened up fine after that. Thanks guys!!
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Beware that directing SketchUp to save files to a remote sharing service is known to risk corruption of the file, making it unusable. Always save directly to your local hard drive and then later sync or upload the file to the service. Evidently there are timing-sensitive conflicts between the way SketchUp and the sharing services manage access to the local file.
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If you are saving files directly to Drop Box and trying to work on them from there, I would advise you not to do so. We’ve seen lots of reports of corrupted SketchUp files due to problems with the connection while saving.
Dropbox has two hidden ‘features’ that can easily catch you out…
the ‘sync now’ blue arrows only sync in the cloud…
until both are fully synced to ‘local’ showing a green tick, you see a renamed zip file that may look ok, but is being ‘filled’ and therefore won’t open…
the sync time can vary greatly, from milliseconds to hours for the same file being modified by two parties…
john