sketchup to 3ds Max Design material problems

[mbutler.136569]

I've exported a big scene from sketchup (to .3ds) and imported it into 3ds Max Design. When I attach brick, for example, onto all the different faces of the building, the materials come in all different ways on the polygons that make up the faces of the building.

Isn't there a way to bring in that material so that it's always oriented the correct way throughout the entire model on every face/polygon? I've tried UVW map but can't get it to work either. any thoughts?

the jpeg shows how some brick comes in ok, like on the columns towards the back of the image.

[Steve_Bennett]

Have you tried a Map Scaler instead?

[mbutler.136569]

map scaler sort of worked...i have 3 types of brick (all the same size, just different colors) that make up certain polygons of the same element. the map scaler seems to work for only one type at a time (weird, huh). changing one then messes up another, and so on. Not only that, but the map scaler really slowed down the computer when i click on the map scaler in the stack.

these planes in the model came in from sketchup, so I'm getting some triangulation (certain faces with messed up material scaling) as well. All this seems related...any thoughts? Did i apply the map scaler wrong?

[Steve_Bennett]

Instead of a map scaler, have you tried converting them to editable polys before applying UVW maps? I don't know what type of geometry is created from a sketchup import.

[stephen.gabriel]

I'd recommend converting the affected objects to editable poly, then use element or polygon select and detach to break each area of brick into its own object, ie you'd end up with three separate objects, one for each type of brick. You can then apply individual UVWs to each object. Alternately, you can use Mesh or Poly Select, select the areas and apply UVWs to each area but you would need to assign each material to its own map channel.

Stephen

[mbutler.136569]

What does the editable poly modifier do exactly? The help menu doesn't explain that well. Does any modifier allow you to UVW Map on just one face, without affecting other faces/elements of an object? Basically, I have an object that needs the same material mapped in different ways on each face. Any advice?

[Steve_Bennett]

What does the editable poly modifier do exactly? The help menu doesn't explain that well. Does any modifier allow you to UVW Map on just one face, without affecting other faces/elements of an object? Basically, I have an object that needs the same material mapped in different ways on each face. Any advice?That would be a combination of converting an object to either an Editable Poly or Editable Mesh and then applying a Multi-Sub Object material to converted object. Then in the subobject properties for the object, assign material ID's to the desired faces. That could take a long time though...

[mbutler.136569]

To those looking to render a model originally designed in sketchup...

Certain planes come in with their normals flipped, and render almost invisible.
Other planes come in with their normals flipped, and won't show shadows being cast.
They can be easily flipped in Edit Mesh (polygon).

This is very annoying, as I don't know how to tell by looking whether the normals are right. Does anyone know how to tell?

[ramyhanna]

Yes. In our firm we do all of our modeling in sketch-up and import it to max to do our rendering (http://ramy.cgsociety.org/gallery/). Here are key things to note for this process:

-When modeling in sketch-up, turn on "monochrome" shading to show the normals in the right direction. All that the monochrome mode does is display the model with the default material. White faces should be seen (out/front), and blue faces should be in/back.

-After all of the normals are in the right direction, still in sketch-up, this is a good time to color the model. Be sure to name the colors the actual materials being used, and keep the names short as Max truncates the names.

-When exporting to .3ds format, if you export as single model, the materials export as sub/object materials. The .3ds format also has a limit to how many triangles can be in a single mesh, so for a large scene there may be multiple meshes in the .3ds file when imported into Max. Note there is a sub/object material for every mesh in the .3ds file. You can also export the .3ds format by material. This export process is slower, and it will also be slower in 3ds max because the mesh count can get very high!

-Lastly, when in max, be sure to apply a UVW modifier to your meshes, otherwise your materials will not tile correctly. To understand real-world scale size, check out my blog posting on this topic. (http://3dsmaxrendering.blogspot.com/2008/03/tiles-and-bricks_05.html)

To read more about sketch-up to max, go here. (http://3dsmaxrendering.blogspot.com/2008/09/sketch-up-to-3ds-max-does-work.html)

Hope this wasn't too long winded!