Have a look at this SketchUp collection by MAX GRUETER:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/user.html?id=1601659553860618556857140

This one for instance:
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=77e54c6db56d18d9b2cd19ac04f20c78

or this:
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=a968cf5cf186392ab2cd19ac04f20c78

In another thread you can find instructions how to convert SketchUp files for DAZ Studio.

Erik

...checked the file import specs for all three and it seems Bryce can directly import Sketchup .dae files without converting and export them as a .obj. Bryce's modelling tools however are not as extensive as either Hexagon's or Carrara's (only Boolean and fractal landscape modelling). The trick is getting the textures and Mat zones converted as well.

My interest in this is because there are a number of RL structures in the Warehouse that would be most helpful for illustrating my story .

...but none them deal with importing and "correcting" .dae files from Sketchup.

I need to hire an expert who is versed in discrete cryptography to figure out Blender, and that isn't cheap (as most of them work for some government these days). ;-)

No... You all have volumes of tutorials... Nobody loves SketchUp.
Nobody.

Okay, but this crap took me years to figure out because nobody ever wrote anything like a tutorial on how to bring my models over to to DS or Poser.

Just years of figuring it out with a groundhog biting onto my leg...

It's a bad scene man...

Blender

Open Blender

Hit the "x" key and choose Delete, to delete the default cube.

At the top left, find- File > scroll down to- Import > COLLADA (.dae)

In the import window, locate your .dae file and select it, then on the right side of the screen find the button that says "Import COLLADA" and click it

There is a 96.008643001 % chance that the model has opened up bigger than the Death Star... ( I was going to say "Jared before Subways" but that seemed mean and people outside the US might not get that and know what a jerk I can be)...
If a model is properly made to scale in SketchUp, it will open up really big in Blender... And way bigger in Poser and DAZ... Waaaaay bigger.

If this is the first time you have ever opened up Blender, you probably should be in what is called "Object Mode"... Not you, but Blender, though you may feel the need to pee soon...
Don't worry about peeing that is what the bucket is for.
Likewise, don't worry about Object Mode, there are no real side effects and it is just a mode you need to be in at the moment.

If your mouse has a center scrolling button and it's not from 1997, zoom out using the scroll button... I have a scroll button on my mouse, so I have no idea what you should do if you don't... Maybe go buy one or borrow one from a friend... If you have a cat you could train it to steal one for you from your neighbor, but cats will turn you in if they get caught, so just go buy one... Really, its 2015, get one.

Zoom way out until you can see the whole model... If it's something really large, Blender will probably make it vanish after a certain distance... It doesn't really matter how far back you zoom out, so just keep zooming... Not too long.
Otherwise, zoom out until you can see the whole model.

Hold down Ctrl (same on a Mac) and depress the Left Mouse Button to lasso select the entire model...
And probably the Camera and Lamp too...
Move the cursor over to the top right side menu box (Scene menu) where you should see an icon for the camera and lamp and probably a list of ten billion mesh parts...( don't worry about that last part)...
Hover over the Camera icon, and right click and then in the box that opens, scroll down to Deselect, left click to deselect.
Do the same for Lamp.
Go over to the left side and under Object Tools about seven buttons down, you'll find a button marked "Join"...
That's sort of Blender's version of grouping... Or so I was told.
Left click the button.
Those ten billion mesh parts in that list should now be only one.
If not, try it all again until they are joined/grouped.
Once they are grouped,
Find the Scale button under the Transform options on the top left.
Left click Scale twice.
On the bottom left, three smallish boxes should have appeared under Resize...
Left click on X and enter .01 and the return.
Do the same in Y and Z.
The model should now be teeny tiny...
That's good.

If you want save a version of this in Blender, otherwise go to...
File > Export > Wavefront (.obj)

In the export screen, name the OBJ file, give it a good target destination (like that folder I usually create before exporting from SketchUp) and then go to the menu on the left side of the screen... Scroll all the way to the bottom and find a choice called "Objects as OBJ Objects"... Untick it. I don't know why, in earlier versions of Blender that stopped some problem with duplicate face occasionally happening.
I still uncheck that just to be safe.
Go over to the right side and click on the "Export OBJ" button.

You can save or close Blender or use the bucket again if you need to... That's it...
You now have the OBJ file ready for use in DAZ Studio or Poser.
If you have exported the model to that folder I mentioned before, you can make copy of it somewhere and then dump everything but the .obj , .mtl files and textures out... If there were any in the model they should be in a separate folder within that folder, that was created when you exported the DAE... Take the textures out of that folder and leave them in with the .obj and .mtl files...

I turn all my models into Poser Props, but I'm not gonna get into that here.

I hope that this mostly made sense... This forum does not allow for inserting text between images, so I didn't bother adding screen shots... If there is real interest I could do that at a later date maybe as a PDF or somewhere else.
There will probably be no interest in that.
This took a lot longer to write then what I originally wrote ( and got deleted)... I tried to be as though as possible, but sorry if this omitted details or was difficult to follow... I'm actually still setting up my new computer as I write this, and I have an angry groundhog attached to my leg... I owe him five bucks and he won't let go till I give it to him, and I won't because he owes me six and... Never mind, it's just that it was sort of a distraction...
Anyway... Good luck and please don't do anything evil with this information.

Oh yeah, go empty that bucket, it's gross.

Reversing Faces

If you properly ungrouped everything you will probably still need to fix a bunch of reversed faces...
These hardly matter in models meant only for use in SketchUp, but used outside of SU they are a big problem.
Fixing them is not a big deal...
We are going to turn on the hidden geometry to do this... That allows you to see the mesh as it really is... And it allows you to select individual faces from a large section that has been smoothed (have hidden edges or lines).

Go to View > and select Hidden Geometry

This also may show just how terrible the geometry really is.

One note of caution... Unless the model is a very organic shape, if you turn on Hidden Geometry and see it is VERY heavily triangulated, especially if it is a very professional looking model and those triangles are very consistently small... And especially if there are occasional missing edges... There is a good chance that someone imported that model into SketchUp using the 3DS import option, and that model may be a pirated asset.
In which case I highly recommend not using it.
Highly recommend.
Don't use it.

Soft body shapes like cars and aircraft are often made within SketchUp using the Artisan Sculpting plugin ($39 USD), as well a several other free plugins (as well as one called "Bezier Surface" which is a free open source WIP) that allow you to create curvy compound surfaces ... These usually make for triangulated meshes too, but are generally far less complex then what the 3DS importer does, so there is a noticeable difference.

Moving on...

Fixing a reversed face ( also known as a "Reversed Normal") is easy enough...
Unless the person who made the model did something odd with styles (it happens sometimes), then generally- White is correctly oriented and light blue or light purplish-blue is reversed...

Using the Select Tool, Right Click on the offending face and choose Face > Reverse Face.

Bam... Fixed

Sorta...

The texture is now probably reversed too... You'll want to check that... Toggle back to
View > Face Style > Shaded With Textures
If it is indeed blank you will need to fix that...

Click on the little Paint Bucket icon and the "Colors" menu should open up... Under the search box there should be another box that may say something like "Colors", "Colors- Named" or whatever it was last used as... You'll want to scroll to and choose "Colors In Model"
You should see a whole bunch of color and or texture swatches.
Find the correct color or texture and using the Paint Bucket Tool, left click to sample it and then go to the face in question and still using the Paint Bucket Tool, left click to apply it.

FYI- Sometimes there are hundreds of color swatches there for no reason and you'll have no idea which one you are looking for...
Hopefully not, because hitting Purge Unused should have removed a lot...
Sometimes people will use fifty different shades of gray (ha!) or red with no rhyme or reason, I get using one grey for screws and another for bolts... But often time copies of a part have different colors used for no reason other than inconsistency.
I use similar shades in my models, but I name them... "RimBolts","UpperHinge","LeftHalfSpleen"... It makes it easier to find stuff...
So you want to find that color or texture, but there a ten similar reds and Color-0002 is not doing it for you?

Using the Select Tool, Left click on the face that is nearest and is of the correct color to select it... Go up to- Window > scroll down to- Entity Info... A small menu box should have opened, on the left there will be two small boxes, the one on the far left is the color of the face (the other is the color of the backface, usually default blue/white)...
Click on the color on the left... Over in the color swatches one of those ten thousand colors and or textures should have a blue outline box around it.
That's your color/texture. Hover over it to find its name.

Optional- If you right click on it you can choose "Edit" and then rename it... Type in a new name and hit return (to apply the change or it won't take). This may make things easier especially if it's something there are many copies of.

I'll take that you applied the color and texture and are ready to move on.

FYI- There are a couple of free plugins to Reverse Faces and or Reorient faces... They have mixed results, that usually depend on the model... I would not bother, because it usually is better to do it manually, plus it won't fix the textures being reversed.

Pre Triangulating

The model is most likely a combination of Quads, Tris and Ngons... It will work best if it is triangulated for export...
You can leave that to the exporter, by choosing "Triangulate All Faces" in the export options.
That is sufficient in some cases.
But I like to triangulate faces before I export... The exporter is already doing a lot converting the model to a different format, giving it extra work sometimes just leads to it making stupid choices...
Since this is a more advanced and possibly unnecessary step in some peoples opinion, you can skip ahead if you like...

For those of you that didn't skip ahead, I wanna take a moment to say I like you better... Stupid skippers... Don't tell them I said that... But you are cooler and better looking...
Anyway...
Over at SketchUcation there are at least two Triangulation plugins... One is by TIG, surprisingly enough, called "Triangulate Faces"... (actually, "triangulateFaces.rb v1.2 20101120")...
The other one I don't know who made it because it's in my plugin menu and just called "Triangulate"...
I actually prefer the one that was part of a UV mapping plugin by Whaat, called SketchUV... It used to be a paid plugin, but he made it free (right after I bought it... But I'm glad, it was worth it... Actually I would have paid more).
I'm not gonna get into how to use these, if you register at SketchUcation, there is usually enough info in the plugins forum about how to use the plugins, and some like SketchUV have PDF manuals.

Using the select tool you can select sections of the model for triangulation...
I would not select the whole model and triangulate it all at once... That usually ends up in trouble or choking SU and many times actually takes more time by blowing SU's mind.
Use triangulation as per the plugin's prompts or instructions.

Mostly what you'll end up with is not much better than how the exporter would do it if it was feeling happy, but you will have minimized problems like duplicate faces, weird smoothing issues, sheared textures and several other issues I can't recall at the moment.

Later if you get more experience or you already know what to look for, visually go through the model and manually correct anything you don't like... Sometimes manually drawing edges, adding an edge loop, or erasing something is the best way to go.

FYI- CleanUp: A free plugin by thomthom, which does its best to clean up a model...
Some features include...
Purge unused items
Erase hidden geometry
Erase duplicate faces
Erase lonely edges ( Except edges on cut plane )
Remove edge material
Repair split edges
Smooth & soft edges
Merge identical materials
Merge connected co-planar faces
And more...
If the model was a real mess it won't work miracles, but it will help remove duplicate faces which is very helpful.

Turn off Hidden Geometry if it is on, and make sure the model is back in Shaded With Textures view.

You are probably now almost ready to export to Blender.

One last thing to check...
FYI- World Center... No,not what most narcissistic people tend see themselves as, but that lovely place that all 3D programs open at by default...
If the model you are trying to use is located somewhere else, you are gonna have a huge problem finding it when you open it up in another program...
In SketchUp, World Center is known as "Origin" and is located at the convergence of the Green, Red and Blue axis lines...
If the model is not centered on where they meet you should fix that.

Go to- Edit > Select All
This should have selected the entire model.
If you want, you can group the whole model temporarily, to make it easier to move.
I'd actually recommend doing this.
After you do that...
Go to- Edit > Hide
The model should have entirely vanished... It's still there, but invisible.

Now select the Tape Measure Tool from the top menu
Hover over the Blue axis line and when it shows the little red inference dot, double click on it to create a guide line at that point.
Repeat this for Red and Green.
When the three axis are done...
Go to- Edit > Unhide > All
The area where the red and green lines occupy is the Ground Plane...
The section of the blue line which is solid blue is above the ground plane.
The section of the blue line which is dashed or broken is below the ground plane.

Select the Move Tool (the icon that is made of four outward facing arrows)...
Find an edge or reference point by which to grab the model by... You know you have one when you see the little tag "Endpoint in Group" appear.
Orient the model so it is sitting on/at the ground plane and as centered as possible.
Also the default camera view for Poser And DAZ Studio is with the dashed green line closest to the viewer/camera, the dashed red line to the left (solid red to the right) and the solid green behind them.
If that made any sense... You'll probably want to rotate the model so its facing a way that best suits your needs...
Reorient your view so you are slightly above, looking down on the model... Hover the Move Tool over it and you should see little red plus signs appear at the edges...
Hover over one of them and a protractor icon will appear... When it does, left click and move the mouse to rotate the group on its center.

If you are satisfied, you can export now...

Do one more "Purge Unused" just to be sure, then save the model using a different but logical name, so you'll have an easy way to find the fixed version.

Since I mostly use the free version of SketchUp 8, and the trial Pro exporters expired long ago, I'm gonna be directing you to export in DAE format, then opening it up in Blender and from there exporting it as an OBJ file.
Actually there are several reasons for this... one of which is running the model through Blender will inexplicably fix a few issues that occur when directly importing into Poser or DAZ Studio using SU's OBJ, 3DS or DAE export... Some of these include- faceted edges, unwelded faces, lost parts or faces and massive scale difference just to name a few.

Okay... File > Export > 3D Model... > Format: COLLADA File (*.dae) - Click on options and make sure nothing but "Triangulate All Faces" and "Export Texture Maps" are check.... Click- OK.... Then click- Export

I like to create an appropriately named folder on the desktop as the target export folder... It's my personal preference and one born of old Mac habits... Do what you feel comfortable with.

After SU is done exporting the model you can close it if you want to conserve resources, or if you are really crazy, open up ten or twelve other programs and see if you can melt your CPU...

Back to those reversed faces... Actually, we will fix those later on because we are going to have to do some demolitions work first...

Groups and Components

Most likely you have chosen a model that is not just a box or a ball, and therefor will be made of at least several grouped parts.

FYI- Select Tool: That little arrow icon in the toolbar on the top left.

Using the Select Tool, click on the model... Most likely one of two things happened...
1- The model is now surrounded by a blue wire frame box called a "Bounding Box" which indicates a group.
2- Or a section or sections of it appear to have bounding boxes and are smaller groups.
3- A section of the model turned a bit bluish, with tiny little halftone dots, indicating it is selected... This is not a grouped part.

There is a fourth possibility that you are looking at a black screen because you either never turned on your computer or there was a power failure a moment ago... We'll just hope that isn't the case, okay...

SketchUp models work best when exploded before exporting.
Put away the dynamite... "Explode" is a SketchUp term for ungrouping.

FYI- There are two types of Groups in SketchUp... The regular "Group" which is more or less like any other group in any other program, and the "Components", which are more or less like an instanced prop... Anytime you make a part a Component, any copies of it are "proxies", which are basically visual clones of the item that consume far less system resources...
But Components must be exploded before export too...
Furthermore, say you have ten Component copies, of parts that are 2 MB each, then expect the file to grow by 18 MB once they have all been exploded.
Complex models can really start to bog down SketchUp once everything is exploded.

You can let the exporter do the exploding, because as far as I know most of the formats do not preserve groups (though there is an option for preserving component hierarchies, but the few times I tried it, I did not like the results), so it's automatic... But letting the exporter explode the model usually results in some level of weirdness somewhere... It may be minor or it may be apocalyptic... I've found parts scattered a million miles away, stuff trimangulated (I made that term up... Trimangulated: Mangled on export), texture UVs screwed up... You name it, it can probably happen... And it gets worse the more complex the model is.

So if you really want that model in Poser/DAZ Studio, then suck it up and do the work and explode it...

Using the Select Tool, Right Click on the part- a menu box opens- choose Explode.
Or
Left Click on part at the to menu click Edit > near the bottom choose Group (or it may say Component) > slide over to the choice- Explode

You may notice it will sometimes say something like- "Group (4 in model)" or "Component (678,677,353,002 in model)".... All that means is how many of that group or component were used or are left.

You will have to keep doing this until every group and component is exploded.
So if you are hoping to have that sweet, completely detailed model of the original Battlestar Galactica, complete with interior and detailed felgercarb flushers, sit back and enjoy... You'll be doing this for a while.

"Wait a second... Can't I just select the whole model and keep doing explode until it's all done", you ask?
Yes... But you risk choking SketchUp, causing minor flaws, or missing stuff.

Ahhh... But there is a plugin to help do this... "Bomb" from Smustard is a free plugin script that explodes all groups and components in the model.
It is a fairly old plugin and I've never used it so I have no idea how well it works... But Rick Wilson is a very competent script writer, so it probably is at least useful for smaller models, so its probably worth a try... It's available here:
http://www.smustard.com/script/Bomb

Now if Homeland Security hasn't busted down your door and taken you into custody by now for reading about "bomb" and "exploding", let's move on to reversing faces.

Converting 3D Warehouse models for use in Poser or DAZ Studio

I generally don't ever do this as I prefer to make my own models.

Before I go and start this tutorial or walkthrough... I want to say please only use this information for converting models 3D Warehouse models for your own personal use.
Do not go and convert other people's work and sell it or give it away... That is theft and plagiarism, so please don't do that or you'll go to hell... I know Satan and he really hates people who do that sort thing.
Also you may be converting an already pirated model and then you'll have legal problems as well.
Plus it causes cavities and gingivitis.

Also, this is being written from the perspective that the person trying this is probably a noob, or has no experience with SketchUp or Blender and perhaps even is finding this via a Google search or something like that...

Moving right along...

For this exercise you'll need the following...
A working computer, hands or an equivalent (paws, hooks or robotic clamps), a mouse with a working center scroll button, a monitor for that computer...
DAZ or Poser, a current version of SketchUp, a current version of Blender (the program, not the appliance), a plastic bucket or large jar... And I'd also recommend going over to SketchUcation and registering (it's free you cheapskate), so you can get some of the plugins I may or may not mention here...

Also sorry if I didn't put in any links, I forget what the linking policy is here and even though chohole keep telling me I keep forgetting...

Oh yeah, you'll need that 3D Warehouse model you wanted to convert, too...

Getting Started

The first thing you should do after choosing the model is check to see how it is made and what level of quality it posses.

To make life easier, we are going to turn off colors/textures and make the model monochromatic....

Go to View > scroll down to- Face Style > slide over to- Monochrome

The model should have turned all white or light grey...
Should have...
There is a pretty good chance that a bunch of areas may be light blue or a light purplish-blue...
Those are Reversed Faces... AKA- Reversed Normals.
They will need to be fixed... If there are a zillion of them, it might not be worth it... But if you think it's worth it, go for it...

Next, let's get rid of the crap...
Few people seem to know how to actually permanently delete stuff from SU...
It's not intuitive for some reason, but most people just hit delete and think it's gone.
No, SketchUp likes to horde deleted data and textures for you like a crazy cat lady hoards rabid tabbies...
Top menu- find: Window > click on- Model Info... In the menu that opens up, on the left side, find and choose- Statistics.... You'll see two buttons on the bottom right... Click- Purge Unused
Your file probably got a lot lighter...
Remember this action because you are gonna need to do it again... And it's pretty important.

Sketchup is a good tool, I use it often, but I also find that working with most warehouse models to be too time consuming dealing with all the mesh problems. having spent a fair amount of time going thru their library, I view them kinda like the second life marketplace in the sense that there are numerous copyrighted meshes uploaded there and once you upload any model their EULA gives them complete control over it, so be wary.

Considering SketchUp initially was bought by Google only to help fill Google Earth with simple models of landmark buildings, it is nothing but spectacular what some people manage to do with it!
Sure, really good models are hard to find, but when you do find one it is worth the time and effort to make it work in DAZ Studio.
Scaling and positioning, flipping normals, patching missing faces, defining surfaces and materials, etc. are all unavoidable tasks, just like it is with converting models from most other sources. Nearly always a lot of work, but worth it if the result is a great looking model of something you could not get any other way other than paying a LOT of money for a ready made (custom) model or making it from scratch yourself.
Here's a nice (only 10 MB !) example of what some people can do with SketchUp.
Exported from SketchUp 8 as .obj using TIG's free exporter, fixed, and then rendered in the Octane Render plugin for DAZ Studio. Note that it has a complete and detailed interior (hardly visible in this render).

Ford Mustang GT V8 2010 by Alessio D.
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=92116db8c3bb1b544386e619c2d3f83e

Erik

diomede64 said:

I ask because the spline modeler is supposed to be able to import ai shapes

Ok, I had no idea about this feature, I have just seen it but I couldn't open an Ai file at all, in this particular case (Starbucks logo) the process is through the SketchUp software, because the OP asked about that, but it would be nice to hear if someone has done the import vector arts in the spline modeller.

Cheers!

Otto

diomede64 said:

Thanks so much. Clarification. Are you importing the dxf shape as a vertex model? Or, are you importing the illustrator file to the spline modeler?

Hello! The DXF file is imported directly to the assemble room, where you can shade every component, sometimes a mesh made through this process can make a mess or simply can't be textured in the right way, in that case what I do is convert that component in to "other modeller" as a vertex model, there you can manipulate the UV mapping or edit the model.

The illustrator file is to make the drawing enable to be modelled in SketchUp, in Ai what I do is to convert the vector file in .DXF file, SketchUp opens that and you can extrude the parts.

I have never tried to import a .DXF file directly to the spline modeller I wonder if that is possible...

OK, will try to illustrate the process in converting models from SketchUp to Carrara, in my personal experience this has been very useful, as Carrara brings a very detailed and well done renders, since I save time modelling in SU as you previously said.

Ok let's say that you need to model a logo, in this case the Starbucks logo:

1.- The best thing to start is having the logo in vector art, illustrator is one of the best things to manipulate vector arts, so in Ai, you need to convert that file to .dxf that makes that SketchUp can recognise the lines and you may model them.

2.- In SketchUp you need to convert the model parts in components, every part of the model that needs a different color must have their own component. Carrara recognises the name of the components the which is cool when you are assigning different materials in the shader room to a large component file.

3.- As I've said before you need a plugin called "Export to DXF/STL", depending your SU version download the version according to that, you can find some here:

http://sketchupplugins.com/plugins/convert-sketchup-skp-files-to-dxf-or-stl/

For some reason this plugin runs under the Tools tab, and not in the Export file option.

4.- Once you have named all the components in your model, select them all and choose the option above described, under the tab "tools" chose the Export to DXF /STL option, a window will display asking the options, select the following:

Export Units= Meters
Export to DXF=Triangular Mesh

Save the file as you want be saved

5.- Open Carrara and chose the Import option, in my case the most of the times I do use a wizard scene, as it has previous ambients and lightnings.

6.- When you open the file in Carrara you will see the model with the components, ready to be shaded.

Here you will see a group of images trying to illustrate the process, hope it helps.

Cheers!

Otto

lordvicore said:

Hello KuroFish.
if you (or anyone else) are still interested in the process I can document the method I use.
I was just in the process of writing a detailed description via my stupid iPad, when the damned battery died despite being connected to an OEM charger... I guess you can't write and charge... so I lost what I wrote...
Anyway, its late and I don't want to spend another fifteen minutes going back over what I wrote tonight... also a couple of times in the past people have asked about SketchUp and then ignored any info I posted in favor of suggestions to learn Hexagon or Blender.
I use SketchUp all the time for 90% of my models and most of my freebies were made in SU, but people are very dismissive of SketchUp due to the fact it allows for lazy modeling by Ngons...
It is as useful as any regular modeler and has hundreds of free plugins which elevate it above its simple Free or even Pro version (there is actually a quad modeling plugin being worked on).
Lazy modeling, thousands of horrible 3D Warehouse models, and lack of knowledge about the plugins has given it a bad rep.
If you are interested in casual, and occasional modeling of props, then SU is very good for this purpose...
If you want to become a vendor or make characters or clothing... then no, not without more effort than it is worth.
Characters, creatures or clothing that will be rigged for use in DAZ Studio Or Poser, SU is not good for that... in that case you should look into Blender, Wings3D, Hexagon or any number of modeling programs out there...

If you are still interested in pursuing this, I'd be happy to share my method in detail, including how to fix minor mistakes scaling and other details.

If you are still interested, it would also be helpful to know if you are exporting your own models or looking to use 3D Warehouse models.

Have a good night.

I would be very interested in your process using 3D Warehouse models.

latego said:

mjc1016 said:

Sketchup is not conducive to 'clean' modeling.

By the time you have ended fixing geometry, ngons and edge flows you realize that it would have been faster to model it from start in Blender.

Hello KuroFish.
if you (or anyone else) are still interested in the process I can document the method I use.
I was just in the process of writing a detailed description via my stupid iPad, when the damned battery died despite being connected to an OEM charger... I guess you can't write and charge... so I lost what I wrote...
Anyway, its late and I don't want to spend another fifteen minutes going back over what I wrote tonight... also a couple of times in the past people have asked about SketchUp and then ignored any info I posted in favor of suggestions to learn Hexagon or Blender.
I use SketchUp all the time for 90% of my models and most of my freebies were made in SU, but people are very dismissive of SketchUp due to the fact it allows for lazy modeling by Ngons...
It is as useful as any regular modeler and has hundreds of free plugins which elevate it above its simple Free or even Pro version (there is actually a quad modeling plugin being worked on).
Lazy modeling, thousands of horrible 3D Warehouse models, and lack of knowledge about the plugins has given it a bad rep.
If you are interested in casual, and occasional modeling of props, then SU is very good for this purpose...
If you want to become a vendor or make characters or clothing... then no, not without more effort than it is worth.
Characters, creatures or clothing that will be rigged for use in DAZ Studio Or Poser, SU is not good for that... in that case you should look into Blender, Wings3D, Hexagon or any number of modeling programs out there...

If you are still interested in pursuing this, I'd be happy to share my method in detail, including how to fix minor mistakes scaling and other details.

If you are still interested, it would also be helpful to know if you are exporting your own models or looking to use 3D Warehouse models.

Have a good night.

Kadix said:

I don't know sketchup, but I've already done this in blender (free) using this tutorial :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ows2QTiMRPg
It really worked fine too.
Good luck!

That was going to be my suggestion, too...same video, even.

The nice thing...both Blender and Inkscape are free, OpenSource items that even if you never use them again for anything else, aren't going to break the bank just to get a simple logo done.

I don't know sketchup, but I've already done this in blender (free) using this tutorial :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ows2QTiMRPg
It really worked fine too.
Good luck!

One reason the SketchUp extrusion model only looked "okay" is that more than likely it was just triangulated on export.
SketchUp naturally models using Ngons.
Ngons (or N-gons) are polygons with more than four edges... Quads have four and Tris, three... Quads and tris are the most common and easily usable polygon formats.
When you export from SU using the default "triangulate" setting, the exporter usually carves up the Ngon face with less than stellar results.
With a traced extrusion having as many edges as it probably would, it would be time consuming to manually split up the face into tris or quads, but it would create better results.
For some reason which I have yet to determine why, exporting from SU using the DAE format into Blender and then from Blender using OBJ yields much smoother, cleaner models when used in Poser or DAZ.

One Thing I tryed:

1) imported the Logo to sketchup and traced it.
2) extruded in Sketchup
3) exported as obj
4) imported to DAZ

The result was Kind of ok, but not really precise, since in sketchup it's hard to trace manually.