Google Sketchup question

[rwarren11]

I am a newbie to Trainz (1st post) so please bare with me if this has been ask a hundred times before.

I have been building the Lancaster & Chester RR, which is in South Carolina, USA, for 2 or 3 years. After numerous crashes in MS TrainSim, I've decided to switch to Trainz.

I would now like to create this route in Trainz.

Yes, I know, I have a lot to learn, but I'm willing.

In building this route I have made 20 or 30 buildings using Google SketchUp.

Will I be able to use these buildings in Surveyor?

If so, please tell me what I need to do.

Thanks for any help with this,

Roy

 

[rztaylorjr21225]

Yes you can place buildings into trainz to use for your route. Google sketchup, as i've learned is a hassle because the free version doesn't have an exporter for trainz and it doesn't export in any format that gmax will accept. Google search for ways to export your mesh from google sketchup to gmax. Once you get it into gmax then you can export it in .IM format which is the required format for meshes in trainz regardless of the object. After you've exported the mesh in .im format you need to open your CMP (Content manager plus) and click on new asset. It will ask you which type of asset you are trying to create. Find the scenery section. Make sure you name it something that you can remember so that you can go back to it and find it. It should also ask you to find the mesh. Once you find it click on it and it will reference the mesh in the config. That should be it. Once committed it should be ready to go unless you have errors. To trouble shoot those simply right click on the asset and go down to errors. Good luck

 

[rwarren11]

Thanks for the reply. Will give it a try.

Roy

 

[RRSignal]

I have done quite a number of Philadelphia buildings for my SEPTA route this way. It's not difficult if you download the Collada format and import into Blender. I don't know about GMax, but Blender supports Collada pretty well. You may find assets to be severely oversized and/or offset - as in building might take 25 square baseboards, and be 1000 meters in the sky or underground, so you'll have to get the hang of scaling and moving the object around. So far, out of about 2 dozen buildings, only one has failed to export.

 

[Len12]

I am a newbie to Trainz (1st post) so please bare with me if this has been ask a hundred times before.

I have been building the Lancaster & Chester RR, which is in South Carolina, USA, for 2 or 3 years. After numerous crashes in MS TrainSim, I've decided to switch to Trainz.

I would now like to create this route in Trainz.

Yes, I know, I have a lot to learn, but I'm willing.

In building this route I have made 20 or 30 buildings using Google SketchUp.

Will I be able to use these buildings in Surveyor?

If so, please tell me what I need to do.

Thanks for any help with this,

Roy

http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/import-google-sketchup-kmz-models.php

Using Blender and importing with Collada step by step.

 

[rwarren11]

Google Sketchup Question

Thanks Len,

I've been trying some of the suggestions with no luck.

Maybe I can figure it out using this tutorial.

Thanks,

Roy

 

[Len12]

Thanks Len,

I've been trying some of the suggestions with no luck.

Maybe I can figure it out using this tutorial.

Thanks,

Roy

No problem. If you need any further don't hesitate.

 

[hminky]

This site has a free exporter to STL and DXF for Sketchup.

http://www.ltplus.de/

It is in the download section.

Both Blender and 3d Crafter/Canvas accept this format.

Harold

 

[Len12]

Thanks Len,

I've been trying some of the suggestions with no luck.

Maybe I can figure it out using this tutorial.

Thanks,

Roy

Oh as well, you cannot export the textures directly into Blender. You have to strip the object of all textures before exporting. If you want to use the textures you should convert to bitmap images 64x64, 128x128, etc. and they will have to be used separately. So I suggest that in Google you click windows--->materials----->select---->In model and you delete the textures. Before doing so you can locate them and save then in a separate folder.