I am working on a warehouse dashboard using the 3DBI visual (by KG-Dev) in Power BI to show stock levels on a 3D map.
The Problem:
My 3D model loads perfectly in Power BI, but the items remain gray. The color formatting (based on a “Status” column in my dataset) is not being applied.
The Setup:
Software: SketchUp (for modeling) + Power BI (3DBI Visual).
Data: I have an Excel dataset with IDs like B-01-04, B-01-05, etc.
3D Model: A warehouse with about 700 boxes.
The Root Cause (Diagnosed):
I realized the issue lies in the SketchUp hierarchy. My named components (the actual boxes labeled B-01-04) are nested inside “container” components that have no ID (displayed as <01> or _L4 in the structure tree).
Power BI seems to be reading the Parent Component (<01>), failing to find a match in my Excel dataset (which only has B-01-04), and therefore displaying it as gray (default color).
What I have tried so far:
Visual Change: Switched from the offline 3DBI visual to “3DBI Connected” (hosted on GitHub), but the issue persists because the geometry is the same.
Manual Check: If I manually “explode” one of the outer containers in SketchUp so that B-01-04 becomes the top-level entity, it works and Power BI colors it correctly.
Scripting attempts: I tried using Ruby scripts to batch-rename or explode the outer shells. However, since I have 700+ boxes, I cannot simply rename them sequentially (e.g., Box_001) because I must preserve the exact IDs (B-xx-xx) to match my existing dataset.
What I need:
Does anyone have a SketchUp Ruby script or a workflow that can:
Iterate through all items.
“Peel” or Explode the outer unnamed containers (the <01> or _L4 parents).
Keep the inner component’s name (the specific ID B-01-04) and promote it to the definition name of the resulting object?
I need the final .DAE export to have a flat hierarchy where the top-level object names match my Excel IDs.
Screenshots attached showing the Power BI error and the SketchUp nested structure.
If items remain grayed out, it means there is a mismatch between the IDs available in the 3D model and the IDs you are sending to the visual.
I read you are using .dae files. For warehousing, where you need fine control over which identifiers are assigned to which objects, at a specific level in the hierarchy, I recommend to use the 3DBI for SketchUp extension, as it will give you more control. Specifically for warehousing, I would suggest to take a look at the following tutorials:
Thank you so much for your reply and the advice regarding the hierarchy and IDs. It makes perfect sense that the native exporter is causing the mismatch.
I followed your suggestion and installed the 3DBI for SketchUp extension to get better control over the export. However, when I try to activate the 14-day trial using the code provided in the window (3DBI-SKETCHUP-TRIAL-14DAYS), I get the following error:
“Activation usage limit reached.”
(I have attached a screenshot of the error).
I have not used this trial before on this project. Since I am in the final stages of an urgent dashboard project, is there any way to reset this trial or an alternative method to activate it so I can export the model correctly?
I am experiencing the same activation issue with the 3DBI SketchUp extension.
When I try to activate the trial using:
3DBI-SKETCHUP-TRIAL-14DAYS
I receive the message:
Activation usage limit reached
This is my first installation for this project. I already tried:
uninstalling the extension
removing the KGdev_BI3D plugin folder
cleaning AppData (Roaming / Local / LocalLow)
reinstalling from Extension Warehouse
restarting SketchUp and Windows
The issue still persists.
I am currently working on a warehouse layout model to integrate SketchUp with Power BI using 3DBI, where component IDs must match storage locations for visualization and inventory tracking.
Could you please reset the trial activation or provide a temporary evaluation key?
