My first reaction when seeing the title was isn't "decent Sketchup" an oxymoron?
Some can be fixed up some for D/S in Hexagon and some, well ... best left buried.

{works fine for the programs it was designed for}

Hi,

I left the 3D work about 10 years ago when I got a totally new profession. Have not been motivated on doing it for hobby either. I used to work with Carrara, Poser, Hexagon and UV mapper pro. I would think the tech has come ahead of me since that time and I'm obsolete in knowledge and apps. I would like som advices.

I've downloaded Daz studio and Sketchup, and barely opened the apps. It seems that Sketchup would have saved me a lot of time back then if I knew and it was available. I see there is options to model in Sketchup and export obj for DS.

But I wonder about the mapping. Is there any other program like UV mapper, or can you apply these functions easy inside of DS?

Is UV mapper obsolete?

Is DS more simple to use than Carrara, and can you do the same things?

This thread contains instructions for wading through the low poly and low quality stuff on the Sketchup 3D Warehouse in order to find the decent and good models, as well as what to expect.

Sketchup is a commercial 3D modelling tool, but there is a free 8 hour evaluation period (8 hours of total use, not 8 hours from installation). Forumites here are most likely to use it to convert .skp models into obj models (or dae/Collada models once the trial period is over-- the collada models must then be converted to obj format with a 3D conversion program like Poseray or Propviewer)

SUMMARY OF THE SKETCHUP ToS: Most of these models are of brand name products, created for advertising purposes, and may be subject to copyright, despite what Sketchup's ToS and FAQ claim. This means that any model of a brand-name product should only be used in non-commercial renders.
In addition, Sketchup's "royalty free" rule does not apply to redisributing models or their derivative works owned by someone else outside of the 3D Warehouse website without the owner's permission (this means that converting models to .obj or duf files and uploading them to Sharecg is not allowed)

WHAT TO EXPECT: The overwhelming majority of models on 3D Warehouse are either very low-poly or are "billboard" props (in 3D modelling, a "billboard" is a flat plane with a diffuse and transparency map added, which is used as a background object-- in Sketchup these are also known as "2d Face-me") . Most of the decent ones are professional models created for the purpose of advertising. One major exception, of course, are the plant models-- but some of the really hi-poly plant models crash DAZ when imported at 99% (or at least that is the case for me-- e.g. the Bilimbi tree)
It is important to bear in mind that the majority of sketchup models contain minor to major flaws when imported into DAZ Studio-- these range from a diagonal line running across a flat face (e.g. on one side of a cube-- the same flaw can be seen in some wavefront models available on ShareCG and other free sites), to missing bits of polygon, to examples like the image below. The most common flaw is the aforementioned diagonal lines. (The exception to this rule is of those models created in other programs and then imported to Sketchup)
As a general rule, good models will usually be at least 1 mb in file size. Models of 6 mb or more may crash DAZ Studio when imported. Colors may or may not be retained on the model when imported into Studio. As will all imported wavefront models, you must apply the textures manually.
Finally, bear in mind that Sketchup transparency maps are not compatible with other 3D programs, so you'll have to fix/edit them yourself in an imaging program such as GIMP. Likewise, Sketchup only supports transparency and diffuse maps, so you'll have to create bump, displacement, etc. maps for textures if you want them. In addition, the textures may be flawed in that they don't fit the UV map properly (leaving uncolored spots, or less commonly, overlapping regions)

HOW TO SEARCH FOR GOOD MODELS A simple technique can be used to filter out most of the low-poly models in order to find the good stuff, as detailed below.
1. Go to the search box on the upper right. Click on the tiny gears icon. This will bring up a dropdown menu-- click on "advanced search".
2. In the bar to the right of "model complexity", click "less than" (<) in the drop-down menu. In the bar below, type "1". (the really good models all have a poly count listed as zero for some reason-- perhaps the count exceeds what the site AI can list or something)<br /> 3. Enter your keyword in the desired search bar-- "tags" will only bring up hits from the "tags" list. "description" will bring up hits from the description text (seen below the picture of the model), and possibly also the tags list. "with text" will return hits for models with that word (or parts of that word) anywhere on the model's page (title, description, or tags) "with text" may return way too many hits, so you might want to select a different category instead.
4. Once you have entered your keyword, either press enter or click the red "Search 3D Warehouse" button at the bottom of the screen.

Most of the really good models fall into the categories of medical supplies and mechanical, plumbing, or automobile parts.

Eventually I plan to add links to good sketchup models to my freebie archives (including an upcoming one of medical and hospital props)

I really hope this thread is not considered off-topic somehow-- no freebies are offered here, but this is a tutorial on how to find good freebies. That said, here ARE a few example links to decent models (ones with minimal flaws), so that you can see what to expect. Keep in mind that you will NOT be able to see the flaws until they are actually imported into DAZ Studio.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=518833fb88d143ddee8f0f6d51f8e71b
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=b852202f803c3dfe90c794d3b20112e6
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=3fcdc5b50dfdfce31197c42e24c98e04
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=f80d0274e1ff28f7bd98e3137eb977e2
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=96329a90d3278821eadafea2d1db37f5
(this last one has a flawed texture which doesn't cover the entire leaf, and one of the textures must be tiled at 5x6)

Now here are the aforementioned examples of severe flaws.

After tinkering with it a bit more, I discovered the problem. The gun I was using was an imported obj, which had originally been built and exported from Sketchup. The gun collided with the cloth in a couple of places, so I had set the gun to collide with both clothing items. When doing the animated drape, as soon as the gun touched the cloth - frame 9 - the cloth stopped colliding properly with Michael. I set the gun to not collide, and it worked perfectly.

Now, WHY this happened, I have no idea....

Love these shaders, but hit a weird snag...

I exported a Sketchup model of an iPhone 5S to an FBX file and then imported it into Daz. I then applied Visual Style Shaders to all of the components and adjusted my Specular settings to the two-tone effect I always use.

But rendering takes a loooooong time for some reason.

Any other figure or prop I've used VSS on, the render goes really quickly. And, on the same note, if I put the phone in the hand of one of my already VSS'ed figures, the render goes really quick for the figure, but then slows right down when it reaches the iPhone prop.

At first I thought it might be the complexity of the model and its surfaces, but if I just apply standard shaders or materials to the phone, rendering is very quick. And I've also applied VSS to pretty complex car models before and had no problems with rendering times.

The DUF file is only 2MB, which is way below my other VSS files.

I've linked to the prop DUF file below if someone is willing to take a look at it and see what the problem may be...?

Thanks for any input...

http://www.underlined.co/iPhone5S.duf

My latest bit of playing around.
Aliens Posed and imported from Poser.
Double Bass imported from Sketchup and re-textured in Bryce.
Drum kit from 3D Archive (I need to find a better drum kit) re-textured in Bryce.
Gretsch guitar is the one I customised in Bryce last year.
Back drop is made from a terrain placed vertically.

Graphics added in Adobe Illustrator.
Aged poster look added in Photoshop.

The gig is going to be a good one.

diomede64 said:

I read that Carrara can import files from official sources that correspond to real world terrains. Has anyone had success with this? What is the level of detail? What about shading such terrains? Adding plants, roads, buildings?

see here

http://www.terrainmap.com/rm39.html

I don't know about the terrain editor, since I haven't played with it yet, but I've managed to import terrain data from Google Earth by going via Sketchup. Sketchup will directly import DEM data (DEM = Digital Elevation Mesh) from Google Earth. It'll even add the map tiles as texture overlay on the surface if you want it. You can then export that to obj, and import it to the Carrara vertex modeller.

I believe Google Earth's DEM data comes from SRTM (unclear if it's SRTM-I or SRTM-II), which has a base resolution of 90m (i.e. 1 data point every 90 metres). But unmodified SRTM is notorious for voids and spikes, and also for recording cloud tops rather than the underlying terrain. So YMMV. There are much higher resolution meshes, generated by flying aircraft equipped with LIDAR, but that data tends not to be free.

Thanks for the advice, there are some programs mentioned here i'm going to try over the next few weeks.
sketchup is great for creating static props, but once built you cant do anything with them except rotate or re-size the whole thing. so its not really that useful for posing.
i will defiantly buy hexagon or carrera or another daz product at some point, but right now i still don't know how much i will be getting into this whole thing. so im going to start cheap with blender and see where i can go from there.
thanks again.

AskGriff said:

My problem is that I've been teaching Bryce to high school students for the last 15 years. One of the big draws is that students love the program and can download it at home to do longer renders. When you have 52 minute periods, some scenes just don't have time to fully render -- and I won't even get started on the time it takes to render animation.

Even though I have purchased [as have the schools I have taught for] every version of Bryce so far (including back when it was a few hundred dollars under Macromedia), without the ability to let students download and run it at home, I'm going to have to shift gears and move toward a more "modeling" software -- like Sketchup. :/

Have you seen the Academic Addendum in the EULA

2.0 Academic Addendum

The terms of this addendum 2.0 are in force only when the User has fully qualified as an academic or educational customer. User can request this qualification by contacting the DAZ sales team by submitting a help ticket or via telephone at 801.495.1777.

Once the User has been notified in writing by DAZ that he/she qualifies as an academic or educational customer, the terms of this addendum 2.0 apply to all DAZ Content the User has licensed via their online DAZ store account. DAZ Content can be identified in the online DAZ store using the following criteria:

In the description field for the product, the DAZ icon appears: DAZ Icon
When the User moves the mouse pointer over the icon, a text box appear with the words “DAZ Original”

The terms of this addendum 2.0 do not apply to PA Content.

You can view the full EULA by clicking on License Agreement, bottom right of every page on the DAZ 3D site.

AskGriff said:

My problem is that I've been teaching Bryce to high school students for the last 15 years. One of the big draws is that students love the program and can download it at home to do longer renders. When you have 52 minute periods, some scenes just don't have time to fully render -- and I won't even get started on the time it takes to render animation.

Even though I have purchased [as have the schools I have taught for] every version of Bryce so far (including back when it was a few hundred dollars under Macromedia), without the ability to let students download and run it at home, I'm going to have to shift gears and move toward a more "modeling" software -- like Sketchup. :/

Or you could contact customer support and see if they can't provide you with some options.

My problem is that I've been teaching Bryce to high school students for the last 15 years. One of the big draws is that students love the program and can download it at home to do longer renders. When you have 52 minute periods, some scenes just don't have time to fully render -- and I won't even get started on the time it takes to render animation.

Even though I have purchased [as have the schools I have taught for] every version of Bryce so far (including back when it was a few hundred dollars under Macromedia), without the ability to let students download and run it at home, I'm going to have to shift gears and move toward a more "modeling" software -- like Sketchup. :/

mjc1016 said:

betsy662 said:

mjc1016 said:

betsy662 said:

Another great one, I imagine the mesh on this one was done by Dan Palatnik also.

Can you find one of Dan's that isn't great?

Nope, but I also have a very hard time finding any that are available for download!

True...but he has made most, if not all the 'blueprints' available...but that's not quite the same, is it?

Not quite, they would work well if I could actually make models, but I'm totally lost when using Blender, or any other 3d modeling program, I do use Blender, but that's mainly for smoothing my models from Sketchup!

Knight22179 said:

rschulte said:

Knight22179 said:

Thanks Nobody1954 and rschulte for all the links! :)

UPDATE: Added the following things to the list

Batwing in OBJ format from XNALara

Fantastic Four Fantasticar Sketchup Model. Be sure to download Sketchup so you can convert this into an OBJ. No idea if it comes with textures.

Captain Canuck Second-Skin textures for M4 by Hiram67

Batman weapons and Gadgets from XNALara (from the Arkham games)

Ultrawoman by Candy. Rather than provided all the individual links to each one, I just put one link to Candy's entire ShareCG gallery. Fair warning, though, these won't work right in Daz Studio. At least, they never have for me.

Wonder Woman & Amazon Props by XNALara. This is a collection of different swords, a spear and several shields. All are XNALara models in OBJ format.

Wonder Girl TV Style texture for the V4 Bodysuit by Equinoxx

Supergirl for Dawn's Mega Wardrobe by OutofTouch

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Sketchup Model (As with the Fantasticar, you'll need to download Sketchup to convert to OBJ format and import into Daz Studio. No idea if it comes with textures).

Regarding the comment about candy's stuff doesen't work well. I have noticed a lot of content from some Asian contributors (ie. royloo, candy, etc.) do take a long time such as 5 to 10 minutes to do an initial load in Poser. so I am assuming that there is some compatibility issue with that version on Poser with the US version. After they load, I can just save them back and have no problem after that.

Try loading this in Poser, and allow it a lot of time to load.

note: textures are included In the helicarrier. The above image is what I got after converting it from sketch up.

Since I'm mostly a Daz Sudio user, for me the issue isn't long loading times. For me, it either doesn't load at all or comes in pieces.

Ah, thanks for confirming that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier does come with textures. What about the Fantasticar?

Hear's a quick render, except for increasing the trans for the windshield. There is a few textures included.

rschulte said:

Knight22179 said:

Thanks Nobody1954 and rschulte for all the links! :)

UPDATE: Added the following things to the list

Batwing in OBJ format from XNALara

Fantastic Four Fantasticar Sketchup Model. Be sure to download Sketchup so you can convert this into an OBJ. No idea if it comes with textures.

Captain Canuck Second-Skin textures for M4 by Hiram67

Batman weapons and Gadgets from XNALara (from the Arkham games)

Ultrawoman by Candy. Rather than provided all the individual links to each one, I just put one link to Candy's entire ShareCG gallery. Fair warning, though, these won't work right in Daz Studio. At least, they never have for me.

Wonder Woman & Amazon Props by XNALara. This is a collection of different swords, a spear and several shields. All are XNALara models in OBJ format.

Wonder Girl TV Style texture for the V4 Bodysuit by Equinoxx

Supergirl for Dawn's Mega Wardrobe by OutofTouch

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Sketchup Model (As with the Fantasticar, you'll need to download Sketchup to convert to OBJ format and import into Daz Studio. No idea if it comes with textures).

Regarding the comment about candy's stuff doesen't work well. I have noticed a lot of content from some Asian contributors (ie. royloo, candy, etc.) do take a long time such as 5 to 10 minutes to do an initial load in Poser. so I am assuming that there is some compatibility issue with that version on Poser with the US version. After they load, I can just save them back and have no problem after that.

Try loading this in Poser, and allow it a lot of time to load.

note: textures are included In the helicarrier. The above image is what I got after converting it from sketch up.

Since I'm mostly a Daz Sudio user, for me the issue isn't long loading times. For me, it either doesn't load at all or comes in pieces.

Ah, thanks for confirming that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier does come with textures. What about the Fantasticar?

Knight22179 said:

Thanks Nobody1954 and rschulte for all the links! :)

UPDATE: Added the following things to the list

Batwing in OBJ format from XNALara

Fantastic Four Fantasticar Sketchup Model. Be sure to download Sketchup so you can convert this into an OBJ. No idea if it comes with textures.

Captain Canuck Second-Skin textures for M4 by Hiram67

Batman weapons and Gadgets from XNALara (from the Arkham games)

Ultrawoman by Candy. Rather than provided all the individual links to each one, I just put one link to Candy's entire ShareCG gallery. Fair warning, though, these won't work right in Daz Studio. At least, they never have for me.

Wonder Woman & Amazon Props by XNALara. This is a collection of different swords, a spear and several shields. All are XNALara models in OBJ format.

Wonder Girl TV Style texture for the V4 Bodysuit by Equinoxx

Supergirl for Dawn's Mega Wardrobe by OutofTouch

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Sketchup Model (As with the Fantasticar, you'll need to download Sketchup to convert to OBJ format and import into Daz Studio. No idea if it comes with textures).

Regarding the comment about candy's stuff doesen't work well. I have noticed a lot of content from some Asian contributors (ie. royloo, candy, etc.) do take a long time such as 5 to 10 minutes to do an initial load in Poser. so I am assuming that there is some compatibility issue with that version on Poser with the US version. After they load, I can just save them back and have no problem after that.

Try loading this in Poser, and allow it a lot of time to load.

note: textures are included In the helicarrier. The above image is what I got after converting it from sketch up.

gulan7 said:

It looks very nice and now i wish i could do something like that.

for buildings you could try the free sketchup

i dont know if my method still works but there are ways to export buildings from the free sketchup to Daz Studio, Poser Carrara

http://www.sketchup.com/

this video tutorial by me is a bit old but it includes a crash course for sketchup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NGVSbhLd_Q

Thanks Nobody1954 and rschulte for all the links! :)

UPDATE: Added the following things to the list

Batwing in OBJ format from XNALara

Fantastic Four Fantasticar Sketchup Model. Be sure to download Sketchup so you can convert this into an OBJ. No idea if it comes with textures.

Captain Canuck Second-Skin textures for M4 by Hiram67

Batman weapons and Gadgets from XNALara (from the Arkham games)

Ultrawoman by Candy. Rather than provided all the individual links to each one, I just put one link to Candy's entire ShareCG gallery. Fair warning, though, these won't work right in Daz Studio. At least, they never have for me.

Wonder Woman & Amazon Props by XNALara. This is a collection of different swords, a spear and several shields. All are XNALara models in OBJ format.

Wonder Girl TV Style texture for the V4 Bodysuit by Equinoxx

Supergirl for Dawn's Mega Wardrobe by OutofTouch

S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Sketchup Model (As with the Fantasticar, you'll need to download Sketchup to convert to OBJ format and import into Daz Studio. No idea if it comes with textures).

SHIELD Helicarrier in Sketchup.... You'll need to convert to OBJ.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ba027bc277c1ca45fab6379424355170&prevstart=0

rschulte said:

More superhero freebies:

Candy's "Mighty Lady" ShareCG (Japanese Super heroes and Ultrawoman/Ultrawoman)
http://www.sharecg.com/CANDY

Candy's "Mighty Lady" Renderosity (Japanese Super heroes and Ultrawoman/Ultrawoman)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/search.php?section_id=-1&query=Ultrawoman&sort=relevancy&use_age=no&older;_age=&older_units=day&newer;_age=&newer_units=day&username;=&section;_selector[0]=-1

Japanese kaijus (Monsters) from Ultraman series:
http://h5n.jp/posernyan/hiro_hiroine.html

Japanese Ultramen/Ultrawomen and Giant Robo:
http://h5n.jp/posernyan/monsters.html (Japanese kaijus from Ultraman series)

KPF's renderosity (more Ultrawomen)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=448059

The following are models "ripped" from games and used in XNALARA.

Batman Arkham Asylum props in OBJ format: (XNALARA)
Batarang set - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/batarang-set-76481.html
Grapplegun set - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/grapple-gun-set-28242.html
LineLauncher - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/line-launcher-39825.html
Gel Launcher - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/gel-gun-15420.html
Gel Detonator - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/gel-detonator-56480.html
Resonnator - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/resonator-90002.html
Batwing - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/batwing-30253.html

Wonder Women/Amazon props in OBJ format: (XNALARA)
Wonder Woman sword - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wonder-woman-sword-84499.html
Wonder Woman shield #1 - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wonder-woman-shield-44150.html
Wonder Woman shield #2 - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wonder-woman-shield-31343.html
Wonder Woman shield #3 - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/wonder-woman-shield-83889.html
Amazonian sword - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/amazonian-sword-54361.html
Amazonian shield - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/amazonian-shield-13588.html
Amazonian spear - http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/amazonian-spear-23855.html

Sketchup model of Fantastic Four's Fantisticar (need sketchup to convert to obj)
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=8cf510ea5ddf1015dda1d6a3005f72f2&prevstart=24

Sketchup model of alien ship from "Battleship" (need Sketchup to convert to obj)
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=82dc04fb3b039571e9fed33f81b1fa79&prevstart=0

A really nice mesh, I'm sure someone can use for their alien invader.

Russ

Thanks for all the links! These are awesome! :)

bluto said:

WandW said:

bluto said:

bluebeatle3
man you are good , ive only had the traker wand for a couple of days and I already found all 6

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=3f45b9447f189bb97fc137c8288c80&prevstart=0
but it is up to you guys to figure out how to get it to convert into an obj. file in sure theres some way google it

I simply downloaded the Collada version and it loads right into Poser....

could you post a link to that one please

It's the link you posted, just select the drop-down on the button to download in Collada format.... :)