Problem exporting with materials

Hi! This is my first post. I’ve an issue when i export models in fbx format: i want to export sketchup models in Unreal engine 4, so for this reason i have to set UV maps. I use the Fredo tool to map my object, and it works perfectly, but when i export in fbx my material is “subdivided”, and this is a problem for the export performances.
There is this problem when i apply UV maps in surfaces like spheres (so, in cilindrical and rectangular forms there isn’t this problem). If i apply the UV maps of one material in a cilinder, when i export the model, ther is only one material. But if i apply UV maps of a material on a sphere, when i export in fbx there are, for example, 300 materials exported (for the 300 meshes of the surface of the sphere).

I have this problem with this simple column (the problem of the subdivision of the material is present on the base of the column, wheras when i export the upper part of the column there isn’t any problem, there is only one material)

There is the same problem if i use SketchUV to map my models.

column.skp (220.3 KB)

That depends on the exported file format and on the features that the exporter implements. Some file formats provide only the ablity to save UV coordinates for affine texture transformations (think of a parallelogram) and not perspectivic transformations (think of a trapezoid). However some texture mappings (like spherical) require perspectivic transformation.

You can try going with a different file format (like Collada/.dae) or finding a different route to your desired format (over exporting/converting to several interim file formats).

Alternatively you could avoid perspectivic texture transformations (never touch the yellow pin), but this is not always possible.

Be aware that there is a project underway by the Unreal folks for a better Unreal-SketchUp integration.
See SketchUp to Unreal Studio (Datasmith)

I know this, but Datasmith isn’t ready to use for sketchup, and i need now how to solve my problem unfortunately

Unfortunately i need to use the perspectivic transformation, and i can’t use collada (.dae) file because Unreal Engine doesn’t support it. You know any method to export texture maps with a perspectivic transformation?

or, you know how to “link” all the subdivided material in only one material when i export it? I really need this, i hope someone in the community know a solution

You could export to Collada and convert that into the format that Unreal supports.
It’s impossible to recommend or even find a tool fir exporting only the texture maps without knowing a specification of what format Unreal requires or supports. For such special tasks, SketchUp provides the Ruby API which gives you all freedom.

If you want to merge the small texture pieces into one after export, you need to look for “texture baking” or “texture atlas”, which some 3d modelers (Blender etc.) and game engine editors are capable of.

It could be worth trying Autodesk’s FBX Converter. It can open Collada files and save out FBX 2013 files. Perhaps Unreal would like those better than the ones straight from SketchUp:

https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

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