Disappointed in '18 (for my use)

Here’s 2015 versiontestfloor_2015.skp (224.4 KB)

I can Color By Layer and get the results I want but the brightness is much higher in 2018testfloor_2015

Those “halos” are, I think, just the perspective camera getting a look at the sides of walls. Completely normal and expected behavior when looking down at something in perspective.

walls

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They are there in '15 too but I think the increased brightness in '18 enhanced them. This looks bad to me, if this upload appears the same way as my monitor shows.

As suspected, it’s much brighter on the original

I’m struggling to see the real issue here. You can adjust how it looks on screen using styles and other views settings. The differences between 2015 and 2018 are negligible at best.

Did you read the original post? Do you have anything of value to add?

I follow the same steps in '18 as I did in '15 and #1: it doesn’t work, #2 the results are much different.

Are the line’s style profile width settings the same in both files? I assume same file, but worth checking.
Maybe something in the program shifted, but also depending on the view and style settings, lines against black can be less predictable?

there was a little talk of it here:Custom Style ... and edges toggle? - #5 by Patt

I don’t think that’s it because Edges and Profiles are all turned off.
I’m used to cleaning up the image a little before finalizing the graphic so I can work with it. I’ll have to readjust the material colors to dim them down since the '18 version produces a much brighter result. I just have to get it close since I do a lot repair/update work that dates back to 2006.

My biggest complaint is how to apply materials to the imported object. The only two solutions I’ve been able to come up with are to explode everything into faces or use Color By Layer. Color by Layer is a nice option but I do all of my 3d modeling in AutoCAD so it’s much easier to have the flexibility in SketchUp when designing new stuff.

A feature I’d love to see is something like 3ds Max which allows an AutoCAD file to be linked (referenced) in 3dsMax and then if you change or update the AutoCAD file you can Reload the file in 3dsMax and changes will be reflected without losing materials, etc.

Again, I do a lot additions or modifications to old jobs dating back to '06 so being able to update the cad file and then apply those updates in SketchUp can be challenging.

Right now I’m leaning toward going 100% 3dsMax. I’ll just keep SketchUp '15 on my computer for previous jobs.

Ok, I’m moving on from this conversation, and SketchUp. No one seems to have any idea why imported objects are Components and not Groups and, therefore, cannot be assigned a material.

I appreciate everyone’s efforts on the “halos”. They were there in the past and remain there today but I can continue to manually clean up the image.

Sketchup 2017 and prior used the Teigha library to import / export dxf / dwg.

For Sketchup 2018 Trimble wrote their own DXF / DWG importer / exporter. There are definite differences in how their new importer handles entities, block inserts etc.

The fact that they’re components not groups doesn’t mean they can’t be assigned materials. I assign materials to components regularly.

I would suggest double clicking on a component to edit it, triple click to select all its raw geometry, and then assign the default texture. This would remove any material that was assigned perhaps by autocad during the translation to sketchup.

From there you can step out of the component editing and assign a material to the whole thing in a single click.

Well, that helps a little. I’ve never had to work with components in the past so I’m not aware with double-clicking or triple-clicking objects. Yes, I can triple-click an object and assign a material, while in the editing mode with all faces selected, but I have to do those steps to every object.

I’m not sure what you mean by assigning a default texture. When I step out of the component editing I’m back to an object that will not allow me to assign materials.

I uploaded a dwg file if you would like to try.

Ok, if the component has a material applied to the faces within the “container” as it were, that material overrides any material that is applied to the “outside container” as a whole. This is regardless of the “shade of colour” applied to the outside container.

Another wording, if material is applied to the faces of a group/component then you will only see that dominant material, whatever you do to the outside. To make the “outside” show materials again you have to apply the “default” material to the faces within the component, as described by Monospaced above.

Starting to make a little more sense but definitely an increase in time from before. I was able to successfully triple-click and assign a default material to the faces but then still had to double click to assign a material the whole object. Might as well assign the desired material when triple-clicking.

Also, I still have to do those steps to every individual object inside the component, which could be a hundred in a big floor plan.

In 2015, I would import, assign materials to objects grouped by layers (layers pre-determined in AutoCAD), and export as png. I could do an entire floor plan in less than 10 seconds.

Ah, you may want to see this article then. It seems the same method you’ve used before…

Edit: Although reading back through the thread, you seem to be very aware of the above. Maybe it could jog your memory though. Essentially the material is assigned to the different layers in the Layers Window, not the group/component. Then the style is adjusted (or another style can be set) to “colour by layer” to display the colours applied to the layers within the model.

The default texture is the first texture in your textures. It’s equivalent to “no texture” and when used, it allows you to apply a texture to the whole group at once.

If the problem materials are across the whole model, there is a hand plugin called “material replacer” you select the material you want to replace and the the one you want it replaced with, this will make the change across the whole model with those materials whether in groups or components, so no need to open each one to apply.

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I definitely need this plugin; and it’s my opinion that the ability to replace one material with another in a model should be a native function.

v18 paints all the faces white, if you remove that you can then paint the ‘wrappers’

john