Hi, I really want to use sketchup models in my Unity 3d projects. But everytime I import a sketchup model into Unity 3d, it seems like the model mesh is all wrong.
I am not very experienced with 3d programs, but when I compare my exported sketchup projects (or even projects from the google earth library) with Unity´s free templates, it seems as if my models are inside out. Or as if there is information missing.
Whenever I import the same files into blender, however, my models appear normal (that is to say, they appear more or less as they do in sketchup).
Can anyone tell me what is happening? If my models truly are losing information in the process? And if so, how to fix the problem.
Keep in mind, I either export the models as fbx, objs, 3ds, or as kmzs (the kmzs I convert to blender files). Judging by what information I´ve found, there shouldn´t be any difficulties in the importation process. The first image is from sketchup, the second from blender, and the third from unity.
This is caused by incorrectly oriented faces in SketchUp : just invert them, and you’ll get the same look in Unity. Or you can also use a Unity shader that displays both sides of every polygon, but most of the time (like in your example model) this is a waste of resources.
I’ve been using SketchUp extensively for a while and the import/export thing is more of a Dark Art than a science. Weirdness abounds.
However I think Jann has the right of it here. When you model in SketchUp you don’t think about blue side/white side but export that into a program where it matters and you find half your faces missing. In SketchUp go to “view/face style/monochrome” and you’ll see the blue (invisible in Unity) faces. Select them, right click and reverse faces.
Oh wow. You hit the nail on the head there. Never realized that inverted faces could be an option in sketchup. What is even more surprising is that tons of really complex and elaborate models from google´s online library have the same problem.
I would think that if someone would go through the trouble of creating extensively detailed models, they would make sure that they were doing it right…
It’s always the downloads from the Warehouse that catch me out! I’m with you there.
There’s a handy free ruby script from smustard.com called something like “one click reverse faces” which is quite useful if you have a lot to sort out.
Be warned that SketchUp does create rather expensive models in game terms. I just did a whole complicated building, got hideous draw calls in Unity and have then had to spend days cutting stuff out. But I was being rather ambitious! It’s great for less complex stuff.
