Sketchup Buildings

[mhscenery]

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to make sketchup buildings look more realistic appearing in fsx. I've noticed They can look really "animated" if you know what I mean

 

[jyarddog]

sketch Up is a fine tool but I have used FSDS for years with excellent results. Gmax as well, but Gmax I find is difficult to learn compared with FSDS. I could have learned Gmax and trying to learn more about it even now. fine tool and more powerful than FSDS really, but with FSDS i was up and running fast years ago.

People like Sketch Up because it is free. No problem there... free is good.
Gmax is free- harder to learn but greeat tool. little brother to 3dsMax.
3ds Max - spendy but incredible as I hear.

FSDS 3.5.1 good compromise as I feel. All these tools are fine to use. What one is used to plays a great part as well.

Watch out for those who want to slam this tool or that tool and say their's (what they use) is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Those kinds of folks are rather hurtfull at times. sad. Oh well.

No tool is the do-all or the epitome of all things. Each tool has it's advantages and disadvantages. Pick what works for you. Bob

 

[tylerpilot]

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to make sketchup buildings look more realistic appearing in fsx. I've noticed They can look really "animated" if you know what I mean

Add realistic textures to them. Don't use a lot of the default ones. I use sketchup and it works really well.

 

[Maxman]

Considering that the warehouse models are way to poly heavy, have too many textures and weren't designed with FS use in the first place, learning to make your own is probably your best bet.

 

[jyarddog]

Do you mean the 3D stuff you find in google Earth in DAE files? Yes- but if they aren't too heavy with tons of textures they are good space fillers.

but true- I question the wisdom of 143 textures that some of these come with! Bwahahaaha! Bob

 

[Twisterbox]

good point to start learning such as maya, 3ds max and blender. The only software that capable to bake texture maps, create realistic lights and shades. sketchup is easy to use but honestly not for game development.
Yes you can try Lights-Up software for sketchup, the only plugin that capable to bake realism.
Realistic texture is not the photograph on the box acting as wallpaper, this old and aged technique requires knowledge of GIMP or Photoshop or equal image editing soft to paint the shadows and lights that really sucks versus 3d rendering and baking.
Apart of everything above consider learn materials and maps and materials that game understands.

 

[mhscenery]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated! I looked into lights up for sketchup....not going to spend $189 on something like that unless I actually had a development business Are there any tutorials on how to use gimp (or Photoshop) to bake/render textures? (by the way what exactly does "bake" mean?)

 

[Maxman]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated! I looked into lights up for sketchup....not going to spend $189 on something like that unless I actually had a development business Are there any tutorials on how to use gimp (or Photoshop) to bake/render textures? (by the way what exactly does "bake" mean?)

Baking means you include ambient shadows that are baked into your textures, it is mostly for game design. It is usually done within the modeling program, not the image editing program. Blender which is free does it very well, just google baking textures in blender and there are many tutorial videos.

 

[kevintampa5]

Baking means you include ambient shadows that are baked into your textures, it is mostly for game design. It is usually done within the modeling program, not the image editing program. Blender which is free does it very well, just google baking textures in blender and there are many tutorial videos.

Blender has a large learning curve though. Be prepared to spend time learning to use it.

 

[Twisterbox]

Blender has a large learning curve though. Be prepared to spend time learning to use it.

2 days or 16 hours of very intense learning.

 

[JRobinson]

I think what typically sets one model apart from another is ambient occlusion, that is some shading under the eaves, a faint gradient on walls, etc. If you look at this animated .gif the first frame is just a solid light gray texture sheet with an occlusion map applied over it. The second frame is after texturing, and the 3rd frame is with the texturing and the occlusion map, you can see what a difference it makes:

xNormal will bake some very nice ambient occlusion for gmax models, and it generates an AO map that you can slap onto your texture sheet and be done with it rather than trying to print screen the viewport and apply it to your texture as they are apparently doing with the render suite.

Unfortunately the mapping of Sketchup models is different than gmax models so even after processing a .dae through MCX where you end up with the same thing essentially (an FSX .mdl), xNormal won't render a useable occlusion for it unless you import it into gmax and re-map it first.

...so as usual my recommendation is to spend the time learning gmax as opposed to Sketchup unless of course you can afford 3DS Max.

 

[kevintampa5]

2 days or 16 hours of very intense learning.

To learn the basics and a little more to memory. Have a 2day old create a fully rigged and rendered with nodes animated to an audio track with multiple scenes and then tell me that. Granted what you need to learn for FS use can be done in 2 days, but to learn blender in 2 days is not an accurate statement.

I think what typically sets one model apart from another is ambient occlusion, that is some shading under the eaves, a faint gradient on walls, etc. If you look at this animated .gif the first frame is just a solid light gray texture sheet with an occlusion map applied over it. The second frame is after texturing, and the 3rd frame is with the texturing and the occlusion map, you can see what a difference it makes:

xNormal will bake some very nice ambient occlusion for gmax models, and it generates an AO map that you can slap onto your texture sheet and be done with it rather than trying to print screen the viewport and apply it to your texture as they are apparently doing with the render suite.

Unfortunately the mapping of Sketchup models is different than gmax models so even after processing a .dae through MCX where you end up with the same thing essentially (an FSX .mdl), xNormal won't render a useable occlusion for it unless you import it into gmax and re-map it first.

...so as usual my recommendation is to spend the time learning gmax as opposed to Sketchup unless of course you can afford 3DS Max.

Agree with you. I havent tried doing occlusion baking in blender 2 fs so not sure if will work but imagine it will.

 

[2wheelsup]

I think what typically sets one model apart from another is ambient occlusion, that is some shading under the eaves, a faint gradient on walls, etc. If you look at this animated .gif the first frame is just a solid light gray texture sheet with an occlusion map applied over it. The second frame is after texturing, and the 3rd frame is with the texturing and the occlusion map, you can see what a difference it makes:

xNormal will bake some very nice ambient occlusion for gmax models, and it generates an AO map that you can slap onto your texture sheet and be done with it rather than trying to print screen the viewport and apply it to your texture as they are apparently doing with the render suite.

Unfortunately the mapping of Sketchup models is different than gmax models so even after processing a .dae through MCX where you end up with the same thing essentially (an FSX .mdl), xNormal won't render a useable occlusion for it unless you import it into gmax and re-map it first.

...so as usual my recommendation is to spend the time learning gmax as opposed to Sketchup unless of course you can afford 3DS Max.

JR, so this fantastic demo of a model shows what can be done with GMAX or another program?
I want to make models like this...

Thanks,
Alan

 

[JRobinson]

JR, so this fantastic demo of a model shows what can be done with GMAX or another program?
I want to make models like this...

Thanks,
Alan

Yes the hangar was built and textured in gmax, the occlusion was rendered with xNormal which is a free stand-alone rendering app. In a nutshell you export your model from gmax, use MCX to convert that to an .x file which xNormal can read, and then xNormal will generate an AO map that you can apply overtop of your texture sheet in blend mode: "multiply".

It's tricky, xNormal isn't perfect, in most cases you have to export a special model just for rendering which gets discarded once the render is done. The special model needs to be scaled up (I usually scale my rendering meshes up 1000%) at the very least or the xNormal rendering "rays" won't hit the areas directly under the eaves for example. Also the model needs to be exported with a large plate under it or the rays won't have anything to bounce off of in rendering the wall occlusions. In the case of multiple texture sheets on a single model, a rendering specimen would need to be exported for each texture sheet and the UVWs from the remaining sheet need to be moved off the primary UVW editing area so they don't interfere with the rendering process. It's easy once you've done it a couple times, not so easy to pull it all together the first time though, lol.

One day I may write a tutorial but my guess is most folks would take one look at it and deem the process "not worth the trouble".

Jim

 

[2wheelsup]

Thanks Jim,

A tutorial would be nice.

Alan

 

[kevintampa5]

A tutorial would be nice.

yes. i 2nd

 

[arno]

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to make sketchup buildings look more realistic appearing in fsx. I've noticed They can look really "animated" if you know what I mean

Making nice building is largely due to the textures you use. You can make the same good looking buildings with any tool, it is the artistic work of you the modeler that determines the output. So sketchup is not worse or better than gmax or any of the other tools.

Having said that, don't use the standard sketchup textures, they are a big part of why things look not so great. Also don't use parts of your model without a texture. To make good models you will need photo realistic textures in general. Making those is most of the work when making a model I find most of the time.

 

[mjl1966]

Yes the hangar was built and textured in gmax, the occlusion was rendered with xNormal which is a free stand-alone rendering app. In a nutshell you export your model from gmax, use MCX to convert that to an .x file which xNormal can read, and then xNormal will generate an AO map that you can apply overtop of your texture sheet in blend mode: "multiply".

It's tricky, xNormal isn't perfect, in most cases you have to export a special model just for rendering which gets discarded once the render is done. The special model needs to be scaled up (I usually scale my rendering meshes up 1000%) at the very least or the xNormal rendering "rays" won't hit the areas directly under the eaves for example. Also the model needs to be exported with a large plate under it or the rays won't have anything to bounce off of in rendering the wall occlusions. In the case of multiple texture sheets on a single model, a rendering specimen would need to be exported for each texture sheet and the UVWs from the remaining sheet need to be moved off the primary UVW editing area so they don't interfere with the rendering process. It's easy once you've done it a couple times, not so easy to pull it all together the first time though, lol.

One day I may write a tutorial but my guess is most folks would take one look at it and deem the process "not worth the trouble".

Jim

OK, dumb question: does the baking create a static light/shadow map (for lack of a better term.) I mean, the model looks great, but is this how it looks under ALL lighting conditions in the game? Or is it dynamic?

 

[mjl1966]

Baking means you include ambient shadows that are baked into your textures, it is mostly for game design. It is usually done within the modeling program, not the image editing program. Blender which is free does it very well, just google baking textures in blender and there are many tutorial videos.

I was wondering if we can use Blender. What format do you export it to for use in MCX etc?

 

[JRobinson]

OK, dumb question: does the baking create a static light/shadow map (for lack of a better term.) I mean, the model looks great, but is this how it looks under ALL lighting conditions in the game? Or is it dynamic?

Yeah, it's static, it all ends up on the texture sheet so it looks the same under any lighting. Note that this is ambient occlusion though as opposed to shadows, they're two different things. Occlusion is sort of uni-directional so it looks OK in most light conditions.

There was a thread through here a while back on some type of dynamic shadows and I believe the author was eventually successful, try a search for "volumetric shadows" for more info.

Jim