exploring google sketchup as a mappers tool

(carnage) #1

For the last couple of dasys i have discoverd google sketchup only after a few hours im pretty sure im getting a god grasp on it. Im pretty exited about this tool and i think it will be a nice tool for mappers to plan out maps or at least buildings with (all test for making terrain have produced poor results so far)

one thing that i think it could be used for is helping a team of mapper work on a proect together more effectivly. Having worked a little bit with a few other mappers/artist it can be a royal pain to try describe what you as the lead mapper want over IM or with static drawings. With this tool i think a fairly quick designs of say a complex building can be made and sent as a low memory file then the other mapper(s) have a much better idea of what you want and can even modify your designs and send them back for critasism/feedback/surgestions. This way i think will remove a lot of the probelms of performing a tak like mapping where face to face disscusions/demonstraions are not posibble

to try and demonstrate my theory to you i have prepared a building and set out the various parts in a way that allows them all to be seen together and also easy to see as an individual components

so any mappers out there interested in testing this theory plz download the sketchup file and just give some feedback if you think the designs are helpful for creating map, would you be able to create the building, does it help visualise my intended design better? things like that thanx

http://quick.dropfiles.net/download.php?file=fb92469843137977ba78be82409c524d

(kamikazee) #2

I think I could make something resembling the sketch just from the picture you posted, but I’ll look at the sketch file when I have the time.

(nUllSkillZ) #3

Hmm, just had the idea that terrain could be approximated by a couple (actually a great number) of boxes.
Not sure if this would be too much work.

Edit:

May be some kind of heightmap-picture to sketch converter.
With a heightmap of 64*64 pixel this would result in 4.096 boxes.

[edit2]
I’ve just had a look at a Google SketchUp help site:
What kinds of files can I import into SketchUp?
It’s possible to import dxf, 3ds and dem files.
[/edit2]

(Popcorn) #4

I changed my views about this program. I’m going to try this out now.

(=ds=bart) #5

i think this would be a nice tool.
cause i like detaild buildings and stuff .
bud then most people just gonna ask more( how to )
use this tool instead of beeing patientce and learn how to use it properly

im gonna test it tommorow .

(carnage) #6

bud then most people just gonna ask more( how to )
use this tool instead of beeing patientce and learn how to use it properly

thats what i love about this tool though it is ver very simple to use and there are tutorials to cover everything you need to know shiped with the tool. it takes 15 mins - 1/2 an hour tops to go though them

i have not spent more then three hours using this tool by the time this building was made. The simplicity lies in the small number of tools there isnt a lot of tool to learn but you can apply them in differnt creative ways without having the learning curve of picking up a new tool

any compotant mapper should not have any probleams learning this tool. and for the purposes of demonstrating ideas only semi acuracy is required to show a rough but good 3D design so you dont have to be uber pro accurate when making as long as your measurments are somewhere near

after experiment with more camera and render modes i found a way from a 3D design to antomatical generate a 2D topology showing all detial like doors etc by using semi transparency by selecting the “x rays” from the view menu and turning off 3D perspective

this is another use as i see it for people like me who try to draw topologies for maps but are much better at visualising your ideas in 3D. this does all the conversion work for you!

(DWM|Commando) #7

holy smokes its like a cleaner version of autocad, looks like fun

(EterneX) #8

I am definently going to try this one out.

Eternex

(EB) #9

Of course you can import 3ds models with the textures…but what about export capabilites ?
Well…
There is an .OBJ exporter for Sketchup 4 but it is not compatible with this version (AFAIK).

I am assuming, in the near future, that there will be loads of plug-ins written for this program because it does have the power to export polygonal models.

I will be on the look out… :chef:

(IneQuation) #10

I’m just afraid that the free version will be deprived of the exporting features.

(sodsm live) #11

it looks good for an extra map planning tool but it’s for windows. it works a little bit with crossover office in linux straight out of the box, but barely useable(though it does work a hell of a lot better than google earth in crossover).

thanks for bringing it to our attention carnage.

(Higgins) #12

They are talking about this in The Game Creators forums, thats where Ive been all this time and the reason why I dont post here so much any more.

(EB) #13

…a direct link to that discussion, would be nice.

(kamikazee) #14
  1. Does it crash, or does it just throw some warnings at you?
  2. I guess there’s a chance that it might work with Wine as well?
(Higgins) #15

Here you are EB

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=78182&b=24

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=77822&b=3

(sodsm live) #16
  1. Does it crash, or does it just throw some warnings at you?
  2. I guess there’s a chance that it might work with Wine as well?[/quote]

it installed fine with crossover office. it also started normally. the problem is the widgets and menu items aren’t drawn. so you get this:

i can’t get it to run in crossover at all now. it crashes with opengl error or bug report tool. the screenshot is from it running in the latest wine. it started with an error window and a small list of errors. then it tried to load activex so that may be the largest problem. finally it came to what you see there. you can make the widgets show up(in two colors only) by mousing over them. the top menu bar items only appear if you click on where it’s supposed to be(no screens cuz the widgets and menu dissappear when i get screen shot ready in gimp).

i haven’t done any tweaking so this may yet be a useable linux tool. i don’t have much time to get in to it as i’m about a week over on my map deadline, but i’ll stab at it when i need a break from radiant from time to time.

[edit] got it running in crossover again(think wineserver was still running when i tried last time(???)). i detatched the tools so they stay visible but they’re still 2 colors and hard to tell what they are:

[/edit]