Good Quality Export to WebGL

PowerPoint can now import .OBJ or .FBX files exported from SU…

everyone has PowerPoint [except Box :slight_smile:

maybe an option

Not the file format, the application version is relevant (which not everyone has adopted yet).
OpenDocument format and LibreOffice as well (since 2014).

The plus of a web-based solution is it doesn’t imply a requirement that both parties use the same document format or application, it works with any device. I think there is a use case for sharing models just in order to show them to others (like a pastebin for text or a image hoster), not intended for reuse. 3D Warehouse is focussed on components that are useful to others. SketchUp needs something where one can click “upload” and 5 seconds later you can a share-link. Actually SketchUp 2019 (if it ever exists) could deliver a “share links” feature (as part of the upload success page) even after release.


I’m wondering if embedding the 3D Warehouse viewer on the OP’s website would solve his request, or whether having a self-hosted viewer has any benefits for him. Like for example being able to tweak the representation through JavaScript (buttons on the website cause actions in the viewer, or toggle layers, element visibility; therefore the viewer would need an API like the former Google Earth Plugin API).

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Thanks to everyone who has responded to my original post.

A few answers to some of your queries which will answer the question why I was looking for a self-hosted solution…

I first explored the idea of putting my models on the 3d Warehouse about 4 years ago and it was not a happy experience. There were intermittent but persistent problems with browsers unable to display the models. There was also a series of inane screen messages displayed as the models loaded.

So I eventually gave up and turned to the Spread3d Flash application which gave me a seamless and consistent way of displaying my models on the web without any hassle.

Today (belatedly I must admit) I have tried again with 3D Warehouse and have uploaded the model shown in my earlier post. I have had no problems, the display is every bit as good as the Spread 3D Flash implementation, and more importantly I have had no problems with seamlessly displaying the uploaded model on my website as shown HERE. This can be compared to the Spread3D implementation in my earlier post HERE.

One suggestion for improvement relates to the delay as the model loads. This can obviously take a long time (especially here in the UK where internet access can be sluggish at the best of times). Currently as the model loads a pulsating Sketchup logo is displayed which communicates nothing to the user as regards progress (if any). In comparison the Spread3D Flash player displays a progress bar which immediately shows that the model is indeed loading and also gives an indication of how much time completion of the process will take. Could a similar progress bar be implemented in the 3D Warehouse viewer?

I will definitely be using 3D Warehouse from now on and abandoning Spread3D. Thanks again for the interest shown in my post.

Tim

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You could try out Sketchfab (eg with my extension). They allow embedding and you can customize the model and view significantly. But that is still not self-hosting

I have been able to also self-host a Sketchup model with one of the web gl JavaScript libraries. But that requires programming.

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Jim, there’s a 50 MB limit for uploads to the WH. What about those of us with larger models to embed?

Is your file really over 50 Mb after purging unused?

Hi Dave

Yes, my models are all around 150 MB. I keep them as clean as possible. I’ve been researching this just the past few days and I’m probably modeling these homes at LOD 350, BIM- wise

Bob McCarter
949.677.4213

Continuing the discussion from Good Quality Export to WebGL:

Hi @jbacus,

So there is no possibility to display on a intranet a 3D animation SketchUp?

Things to come in development from your side on this topic?

Antoine

There is no way to self-host (on your local computer or on a private network) the WebGL viewer that we use on either 3D Warehouse or on Trimble Connect. If you describe what you are trying to accomplish, I can probably offer you an alternative solution.

Well… we all use that viewer locally anyhow.

There are freely available JS based viewers that display glTF files, so this may be one solution if you use a glTF exporter extension.

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There is may be a use case where files should not leave intranet (i.e. Trimble Connect or app.sketchup.com is not an option) and where a zero-install web-based solution is preferrable over locally installed apps only provided by SketchUp (e.g. if devices access intranet that are not supported by SketchUp or where these apps have not been set up).

In that case, to circumvent the limitations of a proprietary format, you could export to a standard format (.glTF or .dae) for which you have a wider, vendor-independent choice of viewers, including some that can be self-hosted on the intranet.

You could set up a script with an onSaveModel observer, which triggers the export whenever the .skp file is saved (and the destination is a location on intranet). Then every .skp file is accompagnied by a copy that is viewable on intranet.

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Certainly there are cases like this, and we offer alternative solutions for folks who need them for security reasons. So far, I haven’t heard that a self-hosted WebGL viewer is one of the things that folks in this kind of security environment need. Certainly cloud-hosted applications of any kind are problematic for such installations.

I think what @tim7 actually wants, however, is a way to share models privately with only a selection of users. A cloud-hosted solution with a built-in sharing security model (like Google Docs, or Trimble Connect) is perhaps a better solution. Today, it is possible to share a model from Trimble Connect with a restricted set of users. You need to do it from the Connect web interface, though, not from within the SketchUp application. And of course your models have to be shared to Connect in the first place.

Here’s an example model in the Connect application. The model view is a full 3D view:


And here is what it looks like to invite someone to view the model. Any functional email address will work, though users who do not already have Connect accounts will have to make them (for free) to view your model.

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A new technology to display 3D models on the web without depending on third-party services for offline use emerges : https://modelviewer.dev/.
@SketchUpTeam : what is your position of that ? Will you natively offer a complete and reliable compatible export (glTF / GLB),or your positioning is to impose the online use of your viewer?
Cordially

I use these extension when I’m working with glTF or GLB

https://extensions.sketchup.com/extension/052071e5-6c19-4f02-a7e8-fcfcc28a2fd8/gl-tf-export
https://extensions.sketchup.com/extension/62421367-d86e-44f1-82f6-088d6131cae4/gl-tf-import

They’re marked as compatible with 2016, but seem to work ok with 2020.

I have suggested adding those formats as standard import/export options.

Thanks for your answer.

“but seem to work ok with 2020”, and a probably dead extension maintained by third parties is not sufficient for use in a demanding production context.

glTF or GLB must be assumed and maintained natively by sketchup to be able to be a solution for the use of your tool in an offline context.

So, I agree with your suggestion :slight_smile:

Sincerely

That is not a good wording. This is not at all new technology! Web technologies capable of 3D have been available for years and anyone has been able to use alternative viewers that load files (be it dae or glTF or whatever). The only limitation is (still) that the skp file format is only supported by SketchUp (or apps using the SketchUp SDK), and an export step is always needed.

The official viewer has not been imposed on users.

@aerilius There is nothing standardized about the skp format ! It’s up to sketchup to offer ** reliable ** exports to glTF / GLB / WebGL! Without that, we can say that the official viewer is well imposed…

The other approaches currently available are only ersatz (not maintained, incomplete, incompatible).

By analogy, the time or MSword was needed to read .doc is over for years ! An economic model based on a proprietary format leading to exploit the production platform to exploit it is the opposite of the philosophy of the open web, but it can be a positional …

Why these formats? What is special about them? What is standardized about them that isn’t standardized about the formats that are already supported? I can easily find a of list tens of other “standardized” 3D file formats that I have never met in practice but I see no reason to claim that SketchUp should support all of them.

.glb is rapidly becoming the defacto open format for 3d model exchange.

The only thing it lacks to my belief is meta data. Models are more than just geometry and a nice looking material, they represent something real, with attributes.

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