Help: Sketchup into Archicad

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have downloaded the "sketchup Add on" to import Sketchup files into archicad10.I work with a studentversion.When i open the sketchup file, it says you can import the file in Archicad.So far,so good, but when i want to import i get a bug reporter.
Can somebody help me?

Greetz Musti

[Karl Ottenstein]

stefan wrote:
Frankly, ArchiCAD does not need SketchUp. While the modeling abilities in SketchUp are nice, they don't apply well in the BIM model from ArchiCAD. I would recreate the building with native ArchiCAD elements rather than by importing them from a SketchUp model.

I agree with Stefan as far as importing buildings. Model them over in AC to get a proper model.

But, SketchUp is really useful for creating entourage visually (e.g., furniture, model embelishments, etc) - in which case save as 3DS (from SketchUp Pro) and use ArchiCAD's 3DS-In plugin (downloadable from Goodies) to bring the model in as a GDL object.

Also, the SketchUp-Google Earth connection is incredibly useful for anyone trying to place their model in a site context involving mountains in order to get proper sun shadows / sun studies.

I've lived in ski communities for the last 20 years. In each case, if we omit the mountains, then there is no way to get proper shadows. (Missing the trees matters too, of course.) Modeling the site terrain for the building site isn't enough.

The Google Earth - SketchUp connection lets you grab Google Earth 3D terrain, with image mapped onto it automatically...pan Google Earth, capture again, repeat...until you have as much surrounding terrain as you need. Low polygon count, but elevations are good enough to create reasonably accurate shadows on your building and site ... and decent approximations of views from windows, etc.

But buildings? Nope - model them in AC as Stefan says (unless they are simply the context of your model - that is neighboring building masses).

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

I have had this happen many times with Win XP Pro, SU6 Pro (the non free version), and AC10. Finally just gave up.

In the past I had tried with SU5 as well and had some lock with exploding all components.

Having this connection work is a pretty critical methodology, particularly in school going from massing studies to schematic very quickly. Makes for a quick translation if it works. I learned SU long before AC and find myself pretty comfortable there even for complex building models. Unfortunately, SU also makes for miserable translation into AutoCAD sections, plans elevations, with far too many line breaks. Was hoping that AC10 would be easy. It's not for me so far either

[Anonymous]

I had some luck with SU5 with exploding all components and then bringing into AC10. Never have had it work with SU6, gave up a long time ago. Win XP Pro, SU5/6 Pro, AC10 Student

[Anonymous]

Hi

We've had a problem with customers importing Sketchup files and crashing Archicad V10 under Windows and noted the following:

1) Shortening a file name to 8 characters and removing spaces made the filename visible in the open file dialog.

2) When opening the .skp file with File:Open command , setting file type to Sketchup - we were able to replicate crashing.

3) When opening the .skp file using the "Start Archicad" dialog that appears when you launch a new session of Archicad the .skp file imported fine !

Open Archicad from scratch
From the start Archicad dialog click "open a project"
click "browse for a project"
click "browse"
change "files of type" to sketchup
open the file

This technique won't necessarily work all the time, but I hope this helps !

Andrew Ecker
CADConsult Limited
Christchurch, New Zealand
Archicad Reseller for South Island, New Zealand.