Google Earth 4 (KMZ) importer

[Philip Taylor]

​Google SketchUp can export a model into the KMZ format, which is a zip file and usually contains textures and a COLLADA mesh. Given that SketchUp is more intuitive and easy to learn than e.g. Blender, it could be quite nice for inexperienced modders if they could use it to get basic models into the game easily.

[Philip Taylor]

Milestone Release deleted

[fcxSanya]

SketchUp already can export straight into *.dae files (​http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=114345), which is used by the game, as far I know. So this ticket probably no longer actual.

[Philip Taylor]

Someone should check whether exporting from SketchUp into the game actually works, or if it generates files that are incompatible with our Collada importer.

[fcxSanya]

Results of a cursory testing:

• I take the hele_scout_tower.dae model from binaries\data\mods\public\art\meshes\structural\
• try to import it into SketchUp: got error (see SketchUp_import_error.PNG), click "Ok"
• got "Missing Textures" warning (see SketchUp_missing_texture.PNG) - click "Ok"
• model imports and I see SketchUp_hele_scout_tower.PNG
• click on "export" command, there is options dialog for *.dae files (SketchUp_DAE_export_options.PNG)
• replace hele_scout_tower.dae, run the game, click on Pyrgion to build and get:

  WARNING: FCollada warning 166: 
  Unable to retrieve node instance for scene node.
  FCollada message 175: COLLADA document loaded successfully.
  ERROR: Didn't find any objects in the scene
  ERROR: Couldn't find object to convert
  ERROR: Could not load mesh 'art/meshes/structural/hele_scout_tower.dae'
  ERROR: CObjectEntry::BuildVariation(): 
  Model art/meshes/structural/hele_scout_tower.dae failed to load
  

First difference, which I see in dae files is:

<COLLADA xmlns="http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema" version="1.4.0">

in game files vs

<COLLADA xmlns="http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema" version="1.4.1">

in SketchUp files.

In ​http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema there is document, which describe changes in 1.4.1 (COLLADA 1.4.1 Release Notes) from 1.4.0, maybe problem is somewhere in this changes

[fcxSanya]

file passed through SketchUp

[fcxSanya]

original file from the game

[(none)]

Milestone Unclassified deleted

[historic_bruno]

Testing with Sketchup 8.0, I don't see any way to create prop points or import existing ones. Importing a propped model into Sketchup, exporting to DAE, and re-importing to Blender will show there's no prop points. Also I can't get Sketchup to export a single mesh which is the only model format the game supports.

I'm a total novice when it comes to 3D software so I may be missing something obvious.

[Philip Taylor]

Prop points can be meshes, if that helps - they just need the right name ("prop-*" or "prop_*", I think) and need to be attached to the main mesh. (3ds Max typically uses geometryless Dummy objects instead, and I guess Blender uses something similar, but a physical cube should work just as well when exporting.)

[historic_bruno]

Replying to Philip:

Prop points can be meshes, if that helps - they just need the right name ("prop-*" or "prop_*", I think) and need to be attached to the main mesh. (3ds Max typically uses geometryless Dummy objects instead, and I guess Blender uses something similar, but a physical cube should work just as well when exporting.)

Ah, that's useful to know :) The bigger problem with SketchUp (at least version 8), is that even for a simple cube it exports multiple meshes, seemingly one for each face. Of course the game doesn't support this, but I had no luck importing the result into Blender 2.60a either - the normals seemed incorrect and one of the faces was translated. Apparently ​some people have luck with SketchUp > OBJ > Blender > DAE.

[historic_bruno]

Some forum discussion about Sketchup models: http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16982

[Stan]

Is someone still working on this ? I think it's no longer relevant ​http://help.sketchup.com/en/article/140408 .

[leper]

Seems like SketchUp supports exporting to DAE now, so this ticket doesn't really apply even if SketchUp still exports multiple meshes.