SketchUp File to 3D?

How do you convert a .skp file to a .3ds without spending any money on the SketchUp Pro?

[slosprint]

send it to someone who has sketchup pro.

OR: Have your parents buy sketchup pro for you.

OR: Torrent.

^What is that?

[slosprint]

an illegal file sharing program which oscar will yell at us for discussing which is why i didn't tell you to use it.

There was a way to do it involving google earth files. I beleive if you save it as a .kmz file and change the extention to .zip, it will have the files inside.

All of those probably work, but Sketchup 3ds turn out all funky lighting-wise in NL. You'll want to make the files in other (possibly free) modeling programs. I know there are ways to do it in Anim8or and Blender, but idk what other ones. I personally own TurboCAD and use it mainly to texture and export, but I have yet to really get the hang of the modeling aspects of it...

[A7]

slosprint: Not all torrents are illegal. A large majority are but still. Just to be specific, that is all.

Originally posted by boneplaya
All of those probably work, but Sketchup 3ds turn out all funky lighting-wise in NL

So, should I do lighting in another program, such as Anim8or?

You'll want to make the files in other (possibly free) modeling programs. I know there are ways to do it in Anim8or and Blender, but idk what other ones

So, I should convert it within another modeling program?

Yes. But don't ask me specifics on how to do it; I've never done it before...

there is a 240min trail version from the pro version...(from sketchup) on the website

Yeah, but the problem with the time limit is that it's barely enough time to do much in it. I suppose you could re-register it every 8 hours, but that seems like a pain to me.

So you can't just make the 3d's in regular Sketchup, then convert them to 3D files in the pro trial?

I've tried. The pro trial overwrites the free sketchup.

take 2 computers.
one with pro trail, the other with normal sketchup

[;)]

haha because that's efficient.... [;)]

[A7]

I've been still trying to work out all the kinks with taking sketchup models to 3ds.

If you just export to 3ds from sketchup pro, you will have lots of issues with shadows + funky colors at times. Sometimes the whole model will be the same color, sometimes the whole model will share the same texture. Lots of weird things go on.

If you export to 3ds and then import in to anim8tor, 'reset' the ambient colors or what ever you call them to what they are suppose to be instead of black. Then import that into NL you will usually get a pretty nice looking 3d model. However, shadow issues can STILL occur. Not as bad as before, but still noticeable.

Now here is where my third action goes into this technique (Just figured this one out earlier this week). I'm not at my desktop so I can't tell you exactly right now but I will later. There is a command that you can put into the environment file that can change the ambient colors for the simulator, as well as a few lighting tweaks that help make the sketchup models looks more like they are supposed to.

So, I am trying to get into Anim8or and I can't find the file. What file types should I save it as before I go into Anim8tor?

^Thank you, but I don't have pro. My first step is to get it to be .3ds. Then, I'll try that.