SketchUp Add-on Orient and Place script

[KirkKelsey]

I have recently begun using the Alibre SketchUp Add-on to export my Alibre models to SketchUp for Architectural type renderings and simple animations. I have also been using SketchUp as a portal to more sophisticated third party rendering, including the free Kerkythea. What I like about doing rendering in SketchUp is the straight forward manner in which I can apply textures, verses the often complicated and non-standard interface of most rendering programs.

The one fly in the ointment, is that the Alibre models are created in the exported SketchUp file laying on their back due to a difference in opinion between the two programs as which axis should be oriented Up, toward the Top of the Model. It would be nice if pressing the Top orientation button in either program would result in a model orientation with the designed Top of the model as the view, and the same for all other views. Not too big a deal to solve, as one only has to rotate the model 90degrees in the SketchUp to correct the orientation mismatch.

David MacGillivray has come to the rescue with a SketchUp Ruby script that he created in response to my post in the Alibre Add-on forum about the discontinuity between the Alibre and SketchUp orientation. His "Orient and Place" Ruby script (when installed to the C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6\Plugins\ folder) provides a simple and quick method that will take the Alibre Add-On exported .skp file (once opened in SketchUp) and Orient it consistantly with the Alibre orientation and shift the models lower left corner to the Origin. A simple selection of this script from the Plug-Ins menu in SketchUp will Orient and Place the entire contents of the file. This works quite well for my woodworking parts and assemblies for their eventual use in SketchUp room layouts.

The script is well commented, and with a little study could be modified to remove the Place transformation, should that not be desired.

Thank you David for your useful script and your permission to share this script with others via this post to the Alibre forum.

 

[grahamshere]

Hi Kirk, I'm just wondering how do you import a alibre file into sketch up to do any rendering , Ive tried to do it but the files saved or exported from alibre are not the same as sketch up unless its an image file. I only have standard alibre at the moment and it does not have a rendering program and I'm not ready to spend the extra for expert at the moment. Does this work with the free sketch up . I do have the orient script installed in sketch up so I know that works. Just the rendering part I'm wondering. Thanks for the script David and Kirk. Graham

 

[WoodWorks]

With any version of Alibre Design (including Xpress), you visit http://www.alibre.com/promos/online/3DS ... =PRggl2007 and download the free Alibre 3D Publisher. Install this Add-on, and when run from Inside of Alibre Design (with your desired part of assembly file open) will Export your open Alibre file and create a SketchUp .skp file that can (and will if the checkbox is checked) open after the export in SketchUp. I recommend you make sure the "Upload to 3D WareHouse" is unchecked or all your possibly incomplete work will be added to the Google 3D Warehouse. Publish it from SketchUp to the 3D WareHouse after it is complete. I have found that I need to use a Display Accuracy of Medium for my models to translate properly to SketchUp (give the 3 Low/Medium/High options a try). I found that on low my joinery was not translated satisfactorily. You may need High if you have more complicated geometry than a lot of rectangular parts.

Save your Alibre file before using the Tools > Add-ons > Google SketchUp Publisher exporter, and just quit out without saving after the export. You will probably get a message that the file has changed, but that is normal with most of the Add-on exporters and it has been a good idea not to save after the export (at least with the ModelPress publisher).

You will have a SketchUp format file with the .skp suffix, at the location and with the name you specified when you Save'd using the Add-on.

That SketchUp file may be opened in the free version of SketchUp and the rendering may be accomplished with the free version as well. You will need the Pro version of SketchUp to output any animations or other the added Export formats to other programs. However, the 8 hours of use allowed with the Pro version is quite generous, and if installed on a second machine, where you can do most of your work with the free version, should last for quite a few exports.

Be aware that the Texture tools do not work as advertised in the exported Alibre models, as well in any similar model created natively in SketchUp where the parts are components and in groups! You can not rotate or resize the textures with the texture modification tools or available scripts. You can apply a texture, and it will be applied in the direction that corresponds to the texture file orientation. For wood grains, I have two texture files. One with the texture oriented horizontally, and one oriented vertically. The horizontal texture will texture you part along the X axis of the original part, and the vertical texture will be rotated 90 degrees. This is perfect for woodworking as most programs recognize the length of a part along the X axis, and this horizontal texture is consistent with a normal work flow. The rotated texture is used for parts where the part is rotated in the "nesting" and the grain is oriented cross grain. For non-woodworkers, you will have to use this orientation to your advantage.

It is nice that the textures are consistent and not arbitrary. However, I just constructed a table leg where the grain needs to go on an angle relative to the leg orientation. It was not practical to orient this part with sweeps at the angle necessary to get the proper grain orientation. For this case, I need to create a special texture file that is rotated to provide the grain orientation I desire.

You first step should be to texture the part, and you will need to edit the SketchUp Group. Assemblies are translated with the parts being components, and the assembly being a Group. You need to select the Group, right click and Edit Group, and then select the parts by component. Only then can you get access to the individual faces to modify their textures. It has taken a bit of experimentation and the SketchUp lessons are a little vague on the details. Keep selecting (use the space bar to get the selection pointer) then when you have the part or face selected, switch to the Paint Bucket using the B key and paint your entire part or selected face. However, I have yet to get any of the texture modification options to work as described, but have found one post describing that those tools do not work in the current version when components and groups are nested. I have posted the problem to the SketchUp forum, and maybe they will fix it someday.

The Window > Outliner is the "Design Explorer" of SketchUp. However the nested structure you may have created with sub-assemblies in Alibre gets flattened into entries in a single group. The good news is hidden parts remain hidden, and you can either recreate you sub-assembly structure, or re-organize it for better use in SketchUp. I have use the SketchUp Layers (groups of entities) to group my drawer faces with the drawer box. I can then create a "layer" with the drawer closed, and another "layer" with the drawer open. A bit of experimentation with animation and you can get the drawer to open and close in a loop. Add a door, and it is a lot of fun. These "layer" setups are handy to create 3D PDF files where you have multiple "configurations" with cabinets open and closed. However you need the Adobe Acrobat 3D package and a VRML output from the SketchUp Pro Version to do this (which will set you back quite a few dollars). I am still trying to work out a way to do some of this without such an investment in software. The 3D PDF add-on for SketchUp is still a bit weak in translating the model structure to the 3D PDF and I would recommend you test it before purchasing. I will file a bug report with them and hopefully they will address the software short comings in the near future (http://www.renderplus.com/pdf/pdf_product.htm).

While the Architectural renderings in SketchUp are adequate for most of my uses, the free Kerkythea photo-realistic rendering software is easy to install and use. Visit http://www.alexschreyer.net/cad/renderi ... kerkythea/ and follow their directions for installation. Compared to my other experiences with rendering software, it was relatively painless. However, expect to spend a bit of time with the tutorials and training material to go beyond a simple rendering. My initial tests were satisfactory, even though I did not go beyond the default lighting and textures.

I hope to better document everything involved, as it took me a while to gain a basic familiarity with the SketchUp program and it's operation. The http://www.finewoodworking.com Design.Click. Build. Blog was a great help with their articles on how to setup your SketchUp Environment. I don't know if you need to subscribe to access the blog, but it has been worth the fee for me (try the free 15 days membership): http://blogs.taunton.com/n/blogs/blog.a ... esignforum

 

[grahamshere]

Thank god there are people like you and your wife and others that help like you are doing, I don't think id ever figure out what to do if you were not here to help. Alibre is a very lucky company to have you . I got my first model in sketch up(keep sake) to try and render, good practice once I figure how to use Kerkythea. I cant wait to show my first set of custom patio furniture to the alibre users.I'm having fun working on my projects,
But I have so much to learn to do. Thank you Kirk so very much. Graham

 

[DanFox]

Is Alibre 3D Publisher still available? I tried the link, but it is inactive. I cannot find it anywhere on the download pages.

 

[DavidJ]

Unfortunately Alibre felt that there was insufficent demand for ongoing support of the Sketchup plugin. My own experience is that the plugin issued for v10, will still work with v11 (if you have access to the file). Unless something changes at Alibre this capability will probably become unusable as we move to new versions.

 

[DanFox]

Unfortunately Alibre felt that there was insufficent demand for ongoing support of the Sketchup plugin. My own experience is that the plugin issued for v10, will still work with v11 (if you have access to the file). Unless something changes at Alibre this capability will probably become unusable as we move to new versions.

I don't have a copy of the v10 plug-in anymore, I guess I should keep copies. Anyone have one I can "borrow".

 

[Ralf]

Hi Dan,

Please have a look
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8640&start=15&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=Google+Sketchup