Sketchup plugin 1.1

[decapod]

I've just put up a new version of the plugin on my brinkster website.

It's still not quite as good as I would like it, but it is an improvement.

I'm on vacation for 2 weeks now, so if this version doesn't work for you, you can still go back to 1.0 till I get a chance to fix it.

It provides a warning on the final message if any groups in the object go over 2000 polys - MSTS may fail to load the object.

All components are compressed into their containing group now, instead of being groups in MSTS - this should make the models slightly more efficient.
Groups in Sketchup remain groups in MSTS.

[CARex]

Thanx Paul.

If I run into anything, I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, have a sparkling holiday.
Bob

[cougar]

I didn't know about this tool until I saw your post. It is an amazing tool for creating scenery objects very quickly, and thank you very much for providing the MSTS plugin. I sure am using it.

[ianw632]

Hey,
Google Sketchup is awesome and its great that the plug-in was made. Thank you! I have a question though. How do you texture the models?

Thanks
Reid

[cougar]

>Hey,
>Google Sketchup is awesome and its great that the plug-in was
>made. Thank you! I have a question though. How do you texture
>the models?
>
>Thanks
>Reid


Reid,

Visit the following link

http://sketchup.google.com/tutorials.html

for a video tutorial on basic texturing with google sketchup. You will find it very easy to learn. There are plenty of textures that came with the program also.

Create your textures in jpeg or png format (png accepts alpha channel also). Once you convert the objects using Paul's MSTS plugin, you also need to convert all associated textures to ace format. To do that, you can use the program aceit available in download station.

Here is what I already did in less then two days (Downtown Tucson, AZ, as viewed in MSTS)

[ianw632]

Thanks,
I figured out my problem. I had done the .ace conversion but I didnt have Shape Viewer v1.6

Reid

[CARex]

Nice work Cougar,

I presume that is a Google Earth capture turned ‘transfer’?
Attached is Hartford's Union Place surrounded by a half dozen City Blox. All SketchUp of course.

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/109615.jpg

Have a sparkling week-end,
Bob

[cougar]

Same to you Bob,

Your buildings look much finer with more detailed textures than mine. Google sketchup is a powerful tool with its construction utilities such as the guide lines and particularly the 'tape measure' utility. It makes your life a lot easier. It would be nice if Paul could come up with a way to handle LOD's also.

About the ground image in my attachment, I used 2 programs to get the googleearth (or terraserver urban) images to the right location in MSTS. I used the program Globalmapper (http://www.globalmapper.com) to reassemble and transfer all the downloaded images to Goode Homolosine coordinates (compatible with MSTS with a little shift). Then I cut square images from Globalmapper and pasted them into MSTS using JohnCS's Mosaic.

You have a good weekend too Bob,
Cougar