topic Re: Sketch up import in Collaboration with other software

Sketch up import

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:44:45 GMT

How do i import a sketchup file into ArchiCAD

Re: Sketch up import

Eduardo Rolon — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:55:19 GMT

Either as a dwg/dxf or get the Sketch-up to AC add-on, even though the guys at sketch-up are not happy with it works relatively fine.

Re: Sketch up import

stefan — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 09:08:05 GMT

ejrolon wrote:
Either as a dwg/dxf or get the Sketch-up to AC add-on, even though the guys at sketch-up are not happy with it works relatively fine.

Why are they not happy with it?

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 10:06:30 GMT

pls suggest sites

Re: Sketch up import

stefan — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 11:04:33 GMT

http://www.sketchup.com/plugins/

Re: Sketch up import

Eduardo Rolon — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 12:22:39 GMT

IMO the sketch addon is a bit quirky and the main quirk is that if you make a 6" wall in SU with all the faces when you import it into AC you get four 1/16"thick walls and two 1/16"th slabs. This makes you work in SU with single planes for the representation of architectural elements. I don't mind but aparently they do since it is not a clean solution.
Anyway SU version 4 is on its way (end of july I think)

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 07:46:22 GMT

thanks guys this works for now, guess have to wait till end July for better results

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 16:39:48 GMT

My 2 cents on the Sketchup to AC8 import.. It is limiting. Because of the few import features (how it reads walls compared to openings) you end up "dumbing down" the Sketchup model in the hopes of using more of it in AC8 .. OR .. you abandon the thought of translating into AC8 and take advantage of Sketchup's ease of building fast prototypes, thus leaving the true construction documents for later on. I took the latter road, since I figured once I could get the client to see what was going on, I could then "shift gears" and reproduce the model more carefully once CD phase starts. What are some of your experiences. guys/gals?

+pablo

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 22:56:28 GMT

Well, the import plug-in has it's limitations, and yes, most of it is by design.

1., it was intended to make the transition from SketchUp to ArchiCAD when you are going from conceptual to design development phase. As you develop the model further in SketchUp (giving walls thickness, etc.), the translation gets less effective in translating those refinements.

2., we've tried to keep it simple. the idea was that if something is easy to do in ArchiCAD after the transition (select all walls on a layer than specify their thickness, composite structure, etc in one step), then it should be done that way rather then making up a complex set of translation rules and entering via a new and convoluted user interface

3., make as little of the adjustments necessary in SketchUp as possible. To operate with maximum efficiency the only thing you can -and should do- in SketchUp is:

A.: put the elements you do NOT want to translate into walls/roofs/slabs onto a separate layers from the faces you DO want to translate into walls/roofs/slabs

B.: Group -or create components from- faces you want to translate into library parts.

C.: Use the paintbucket! Paint every surface where the color counts in your model, and its color will be translated into the color of the material with the same name in ArchiCAD. Simple colours will translate into "Generic" material in ArchiCAD and the surface color is picked up from the pencolor.

I was (and am still) open to suggestions to make the plugin more useful without deviating too much from the above principles, and in a future code revision we will squeeze in those.

With that said there are a couple of quirks coming from technical difficulties and the differences in the SketchUp and ArchiCAD modeling conventions.

1., Merge function is not implemented, but it is not disabled in the Merge dialog. This is a bug, and it will be corrected in the next revision (it is already corrected in the French and German versions).

2., The origin of a component in SketchUp is -usually- in the lower left corner. For wall openings, this has to be translated to the lower middle point of a windor/door in ArchiCAD, so the insertion point is moved by a/2, and the library part coordinates are translated by -a/2.
This works for the standard component library elements, but one can create components disregarding this convention, and will be a little "off"- the selection points will be "off" from the windowframe (see the octagonal window in the house05.skp example file). It could be fixed by computing the bounding box in the lib part and create custom adjustments by library part type. This hopefully won't create more problems when "fixed".

3., MAC OSX ONLY: because of the framework/tool/plugin cooperation details it looks like the installation and the plugin works only when everything (/Library folder, the ArchiCAD folder, and the documents to be translated) are on the ROOT volume. So stick to the standard installations to save trouble. (I haven't yet solved this problem, and maybe never will unless there is a very compelling reason to do so, OR it will be simpler than it looks)

So these are the current known SPECIFIC problems and limitations.
Feedback and suggestions are welcome (as always).
Let's keep the lights on!

Best Regards,

Ferenc Lazar
Piano Frozen in Time

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:43:33 GMT

Well, at least the ball is off my court:

>>>>>>>>>>
Unfortunately we're not in a position to provide the SDK. As you
mentioned, the ArchiCAD plug-in development didn't go very well. We need to focus our development efforts on situations with a good track record. It is not personal. We simply have too much on our plate to pursue second chances. We wish you well in your efforts.
<<<<<<<<<<

Now, let's hope the "replacement project" first mentioned in 7/22/04 on the SketchUp forum will go beta soon (as expected on 9/22:).

BTW. I was offering the update as no cost to @Last...

Re: Sketch up import

Aaron Bourgoin — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 06:41:21 GMT

Ferenc,

Your latest post requires some reading between the lines.

Well, at least the ball is off my court:

>>>>>>>>>>
Unfortunately we're not in a position to provide the SDK. As you
mentioned, the ArchiCAD plug-in development didn't go very well. We need to focus our development efforts on situations with a good track record. It is not personal. We simply have too much on our plate to pursue second chances. We wish you well in your efforts.
<<<<<<<<<<

Now, let's hope the "replacement project" first mentioned in 7/22/04 on the SketchUp forum will go beta soon (as expected on 9/22:).

BTW. I was offering the update as no cost to @Last...

I would intuit from your post that something catastrophic has happened to the SketchUp to ArchiCAD conversion project.

Can you elaborate further? Is there a relevant post or other thread I've missed?

Re: Sketch up import

Dwight — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 07:11:09 GMT

Does this mean it is over for SketchUp To ArchiCAD Nine, then?

Re: Sketch up import

stefan — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 08:06:02 GMT

I guess the development is done elsewhere and if they find it interesting they will finish it.

It exists for AutoCAD and although it is not marketed very much, the simple fact that it exists is a proof that there was a demand for it.

That said, for pure geometry, one can import SketchUp files as DWG files. It works fine in AutoCAD, although you don't get the walls or windows that way. So there is a real use for a more intelligent import plugin.

I hope that the "marriage" between SketchUp & ArchiCAD doesn't end up in a divorce. It would be another missed opportunity for ArchiCAD. And it are sometimes these "connections" that can build up the credibility for a CAD-tool. Hey, if it works for AutoCAD it might work for ArchiCAD too.

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:46:25 GMT

That would be a shame, because I am trying to follow a course of developing my schematic designs so that I can import them into ArchiCAD. I have read that SketchUp is the application of choice for "designers" in larger firms who turn it over to the CAD department for final CDs. I tend to think in a similar vein, that I want fewer bells & whistles during SDs & DDs and a more intuative 3D interface while designing. But once that stage is completed, ArchiCAD's capabilities are very much needed.

+pablo

ps: I would be willing to help support some type of beta-testing??

Re: Sketch up import-reading between the lines

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:49:01 GMT

Well, the project was ridden with changes in schedule, and the Mac OSX installer was definitely needed rework.
Those were mostly, but not exclusively my fault: it was my first hardcore development project after 13 years of support role, and several assumptions in marrying the ArchiCAD API with the SkUp SDK didn't work out, so the code ended up a patchwork of "plan b"-s and "plan c"-s.
for the 8.1 update I had to rewrite a nice part of it, and at that point the German and French version was done (stopping short at the French and German version of the installer).

I think the functionality was pretty much on target, and the ADT version is largely the same spec as the ArchiCAD plug-in. I was foreseeing only minor adjustments on that side (merge function, defining materials for the colored- not painted surfaces, handling the offsets of windows-doors with arbitrary local origins, distinguishing between doors and windows either by layer names or componentnames, maybe skylights -if API allows...)

I guess my ego set aside, we will see if the replacements (first mentioned in July) will come up with a beta soon, and how much better it will work.
If not, I my guess would be that the guys in Colorado see the up-to-date ArchiCAD plug-in more a liability than an asset.

Well, it's their call, after all the promised GS-@Last marketing cooperation fell through, and they might have felt serious disappointment after their investment into financing the plug-in and putting up with me...

Without the SDK the SkUp4.0 compatible version is problematic, I can do the ArchiCAD 9.0 version, but it will only read 3.1 files.
The open formats (VRML, RenderMan) lack the intelligence (components, component behavior, association with surfaces) necessary for the plug-in. I don't know if that information could be obtained via RubyScript introduced in 4.0.

Question is if the current functionality works good enough for the AC users to warrant an update. On one on one (after the installation issues were dealt with) I had positive feedback, but it definitely wasn't an avalanche.

Re: Sketch up import

stefan — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:08:29 GMT

I thought the plugin did what it had to do? It's not perfect, but it was usable and workable.

Strange that they are shooting it off then...

Re: Sketch up import

SeaGeoff — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:25:07 GMT

Everyone who cares should post a courteous request here.

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:59:50 GMT

Thanks Geoff,

Great idea, hope it will work out one way or another.
I think your post is very polite and appropriate.

I would also appreciate if you (and maybe other users too) could find some time to offer feedback, improvement ideas and criticism on the current 8.1 based plugin. Please send it DIRECTLY to me.

I remember the installation problem, but by now we might have more experience than right after the beta testing.

Best Regards,
Ferenc

Re: Sketch up import

Djordje — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:50:24 GMT

This is not good.

Autodesk ditched Architectural Studio. Next, they are buying SketchUp.

So ArchiCAD is once again left high and dry?

This could have worked sooo sweetly ...

Oh well ...

Yes, geoff's idea is the right one.

Re: Sketch up import

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 19:11:46 GMT

May i add a suggestion.
It might be usefull.

Instead of making an add-on to export to Archicad,
they could make a general export to IFC.
Much easier i think and highly portable.

I am not aware of how IFC is imlemented (i guess some xml structure) but i suppose if its saved as an IFC structure Archicad can import it (and not only archicad)..

What do you think?