Found this clever process at http://tom.drastic.net/archives/1
import sketchup to 3ds max
August 19th, 2007 by tom
there is that wonderful xml format digital assets exchange (.dae) format called collada.
google earth models (.kmz) contain the mesh information as a dae file.
this also works with the free version of sketchup!
what you have to do is get that .dae file out of the .kmz and import it into 3ds max.
a kmz file is basicaly a zip file, which contains the model and textures and information on where on earth the model should be placed etc..
- export your sketchup scene as “3d model” - “google earth x (*.kmz)”
- find the file and rename it to “.zip”
- unzip the content of the file
- open max - choose “file” - “import” - choose “dae” file format, and open your file
perhaps max says something like:
-Warning: Meter conversion factor is too small or invalid: 0.01
there is a way to change this:
open the .dae file in your favorite text-editor.
- find the line:
<unit name="centimeters" meter="0.01"/>- relpace “0.01″ with something bigger, like “1.00″
- save the file
- now you should be able to import the scene into 3ds max
i used 3ds max v9 for it, but there should be free collada importer for earler versions of max and nealry every other 3d tool like maya or blender etc…
Some more hints:
From CGArchitect
I have only imported a Sketchup object into Max once, so I will tell you what I did then. There are a lot of issues with face normals being flipped. My solution which worked on what I had was to weld all the vertices I could weld (faces with opposing normals don’t weld as far as I know). Then select the items in the element sub-object mode and flip the normals. It was a lot fewer items to select when selecting the elements. This worked fine for what I had, but in the end it depends on the model and its complexity.
and
we’ve been modeling in sketchup for most of our projects and we export them as drawing. once imported into max asa dwg file, missing faces or are no longer a problem. then we convert the model into a poly mesh.
it is important though that the modeling in sketchup is done as clean and as organized as possible into groups to make the transition to 3dsmax easier.
