From ShadeCamp

Contents 1 Google SketchUp Importer 1.1 How to Import .skp Files 1.2 Google SketchUp Importer Reference 1.2.1 Google SketchUp File Import Settings 1.2.1.1 Ignore Invisible Layers Checkbox 1.2.1.2 Import Materials Checkbox 1.2.1.3 Material Settings group 1.2.1.3.1 Side Pop Up Menu 1.2.1.3.2 Check Other Side Checkbox 1.2.1.3.3 Type Pop Up Menu 1.2.1.3.4 Bump Mapping Checkbox 1.2.1.3.5 Surpress Errors Checkbox 1.2.1.3.6 Use Original Name Checkbox 1.2.1.3.7 Import Camera Checkbox 1.2.1.4 Shade Special Characters 1.2.1.5 Models with Materials on Both Sides 1.2.2 Limitations on Mac OS PowerPC Platforms

Google SketchUp Importer

Google SketchUp Importer lets you read native Google Sketchup skp files into Shade.

Information that can be read includes geometry, materials and camera information. You can import skp files saved in Google SketchUp version 5, 6 and 7.

How to Import .skp Files

With an open Shade project, select menu File > Import > Google Sketchup… You are prompted to select a .skp file. Select a file. The Import dialog appears with options.

Google SketchUp Importer Reference

Google SketchUp File Import Settings

Ignore Invisible Layers Checkbox

Sketchup supports visible and invisible layers. When this option is selected, invisible layers are ignored when a .skp file is imported into Shade. You may be able to shorten import time with this option as a .skp file may contain invisible layers containing guide objects. This example shows all layers and guides visible within Sketchup. When you import with option, only a model with visible layers is imported.

Import Materials Checkbox

This imports material set up in skp file. Imported materials are treated as a master surface and the material.

Material Settings group

Side Pop Up Menu

Select material you are going to import from either the Front or Back. Google Sketchup allows you to assign material to the front or back faces of a model. Select this option to decide which material is imported as the front face material in Shade. This model was set up with material on both sides; however the material is set up only on the front of other faces except for the top. Surfaces display correctly only if you assign the correct material to the front in Shade.

If you select Back, then the material originally assigned to the back is imported.

Check Other Side Checkbox

Some Sketchup models will not have materials assigned to both sides. If this option is selected and there is no material assigned to a face selected in the Side option, then Shade assigns the available material from the other side. The model on the left displays materials set up in Sketchup only on the back; the model on the right displays materials set up only on the front.

To get them to display uniformly is easy in Shade. Set the Side option to Front. Select the Check Other Side Checkbox.

The appearance of the models will be significantly different with the Check Other Side option not selected.

Type Pop Up Menu

Sketchup .skp files can contain different materials. This option lets you select All, Texture, Color and Average Color.

Here is a model to be imported into Shade.

All Option

This imports all the materials set up in SketchUp and supported by SketchUp Importer.

Texture Option

This imports only textures set up in SketchUp as a UV map.

Color Option

This imports only basic colors assigned to a figure in SketchUp.

Averaged Colors Option

This imports averaged colors from texture set up in SketchUp as basic colors.

Bump Mapping Checkbox

If this option is selected, bump map layers are imported into the Master Surface.

(Model with Texture in SketchUp) Off Option The Master Surface with only the base texture imported.

On Option Master surface with texture and bump mapping applied when imported.

Surpress Errors Checkbox

When this is on, Shade continues to import material without interruption, even if it failed to import all or portions of materials.

Use Original Name Checkbox

This is an option to avoid system issues when importing some files on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It is not necessary to set up this option with Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Leopard or Windows. When this option is on, the name of the Master Image created on import is assigned a similar name to material set up in SketchUp. This enables you to find the original material in Google SketchUp. When this is off, it assigns the name of the original file material, which can cause problems on Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Import Camera Checkbox

When this is on, the camera set up in Google SketchUp is imported as a native Shade camera object. It automatically switches a camera to the imported camera object after being imported.

Shade Special Characters

Shade has a system of special characters that are visible in Shade Browser. When Google SketchUp models are imported into Shade, features that match these special characters are prefixed in Shade Browser with fixed_.

Models with Materials on Both Sides

You can set up material on both sides and also set up either front or back as display surface of a model in SketchUp. When these two conditions overlap, a model cannot be read correctly even if Google SketchUp Importer is used. In order to read correctly, you need to delete unnecessary faces in SketchUp. These are SketchUp models. Material is set up on all faces.

Front and Back are reversed.

When you import material as a Front material, inside material that is [Front] is applied to the front model.

When you import material as Back, the front model is correctly imported. On the other hand, inside material that is Back is applied to the back model.

In this case, delete unnecessary material in SketchUp to import models correctly. Click material of a face you are going to delete in SketchUp, select the no material option, and then click OK to delete the material. Select Front as material and the Check Other Side Option, then import the model. Back materials are applied to the front model since it does not have Front. Both models are imported correctly.

Limitations on Mac OS PowerPC Platforms

Google SketchUp Importer is based on the SketchUp SDK. Unfortunately this SDK has limited support for the PowerPC platform.

• Import Only Visible Layers Checkbox. This check box cannot be used because the SDK does not support visible or invisible information.
• Type Color Option. This defaults to Average Color because of limits in color settings on PPC.
• Transparency Limitations. Supports only a fixed value. Because opacity is always set to 50 in the SDK, individual transparency settings do not work.

From front sun shade transmittance 50, 30, 20, 5

(Import result with Shade on Mac OS X Intel)

(Import under Mac OS on PPC) However, transparency reflectivity works in conjunction with alpha blending in Google SketchUp.

(Import using alpha blending in Mac OS PowerPC)