Sketchup to XSI

Importing Sketchup models into XSI

from Sins Forums

This tutorial is to help people with importing their Sketchup models into XSI for sins, as there will always be someone like myself who prefers Sketchup for modding over XSI.

*Just so you know, for this tutorial the programs i have used are Google Sketchup (free version) and Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 (which is also free)

Sketchup to XSI
 - Explode the model completely
 - Export model from sketchup as .kmz
 - Rename the file and change extension to .zip
 - Extract files
 - Move textures file to model folder

 in XSI Modtool (7.5 is my version)
 - go to file, crosswalk, import
 - select the .dae file and done.

Now, when I began trying to texture these models i found that the mesh simply dissappeared when i chose the texture veiwing option on XSI, and reappeared when i changed it back to wireframe. What people told me to do originally was to add a phong or other material to the texture, but I found that when you change back to the texture veiw again that only fractions will be textured and it will look a complete mess. If you get this problem, follow the steps i figured out below;

 - Press the 8 key to open up the explorer
 - Find Scene Root
 - Locate the files named mesh and move them under the Scene Root branch
  * In my case, there are a number of meshs that are named in green, i have deleted these before i continue further
  
 - Select the mesh files and right click (use keyboard button for this, as the button on the mouse doesn't seem to come up with all the options) and select merge
 - When you merge, set tolerance to 0 and tell it to delete the original files
 - Now, clean up the Scene root of everything but the camera and the new polymesh
  * In my case, I have (other than light) a ZUpToYUp and ImportCrosswalkOptions to remove
  * To remove ZUpToYUp, remove all the possible options under it and then delete it,
  * Once this has been removed, the ImportCrosswalkOptions can be removed by simply deleting it


Now when you change the veiw settings to texture it should look like any other XSI model, and you can continue doing what you need to from there.

modding
47,121 views 11 replies
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

This might be a stupid question but, this is not the free sketchup, is it?

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Yes it is the free version of sketchup, but i suspect that with pro it would be something much more simpler

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Wow--that is hands down the simplest modeling tutorial I  have ever seen.  The world is opened (except for texturing which I am mostly still clueless on).

Any tips on sizing models in and from Sketchup?

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Hmmm that works for models, what about the nulls?  - the effect roots, weapon points, ect?

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

I don't think that nulls can be done in sketchup, but they don't exactly take long to put together in XSI anyway

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Interesting... I'll have to look into sketchup then ^_^

 

I still prefer 3d max, but that isn't exactly free.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

it depends on how big you make them, but if you make them too big or small for sins then you can simply scale them down in XSI modtool

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

This is a seriously dead thread reanimation, but it works, and needs to resurface due to several people asking me how I model in Google Sketchup.

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting SanitySlayer, reply 3
Yes it is the free version of sketchup, but i suspect that with pro it would be something much more simpler

Yes, it is a little more simple in the full version of SketchUp.  You have options to export directly to XSI format and if that doesn't work you can use .obj format which tends to work alright.  I don't even bother to try and keep texture and UV information when I transfer a SketchUp model so I can't comment on how well that part works.

-dolynick