Tuesday 25 November 2008

SketchUp-to-Moviestorm importer, anyone?

Let's dispense with the pre-amble for this post, and get right to the good stuff. We have a SketchUp importer.




Google SketchUp has proven incredible popular since its launch. It's a fun and easy way to create 3D models, and the 3D Warehouse provides a seemingly-limitless amount of free content.

An easy SketchUp import tool is an oft-quoted request from Moviestormers. Some of you have even managed to painstakingly import some models yourselves using the Modder's Workshop and some techno-magical science, along with good old fashioned stubborn determination. We've wanted to include the ability to import SketchUp models into Moviestorm for quite some time, but it's no easy job. Luckily for all of us, engineer extraordinaire Julian proved up to the task.

We've still got a bit of polish to add to this tool, but it works, and it's almost idiot-proof. I managed to import the pizza, bridge and airliner above by doing little more than locating the .skp file with the Modder's Workshop and clicking "Go".

The models are imported as static objects (so you won't be able to attach any animations to them) but you can now create whatever content you need using SketchUp and have it appear in your movie in just a few clicks.

This is going to make a huge difference to the way you use Moviestorm. Now, not only can your set contain any set object in the Moviestorm library, it can also contain any object in the Google SketchUp Warehouse. That's a lot of additional content.

Expect to see this make an appearance (for Pioneers only, at least initially) in Moviestorm version 1.1.2, coming next week. Yes, really. None of our usual "when it's done, in about five years time" nonsense. This baby's ready to roll.

12 comments:

Matt Kelland said...

That's a big pizza.

Overman said...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(I love pizza)

Ricky Lee Grove said...

Wonderful addition to Moviestorm. Thanks for making this an early Xmas present. BTW, no pizza is too big, Matt.

Kate Fosk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kate Fosk said...

You said "This is going to make a huge difference to the way you use Moviestorm."

That is an understatement. The world of assets and content has just opened up for us.

Congratulations

Mike

Kate Fosk said...

Congratulations guys, this is a wonderful move (previous post had a typo lol ) Kate

AngriBuddhist said...

OMG! Merry X-Mas!

I could of course wait, but, does it import direct-to-set or to the Modshop?

AngriBuddhist said...

Woops, I see, forget it. I guess I'm too excited to read thoroughly.

sisch said...

Oh my... I think I need to apply for a modders license now... dammit, how I would love to be a pioneer!

equinoxx said...

Many thanks. With all due respect to nb99's pioneering efforts, this definitely represents a quantum leap in content access.

A "huge difference," indeed!

lucindamc123 said...

Very Good.This will really help everyone a lot.

Anonymous said...

Sketchup import/export (STL, STEP, 3DS, OBJ, IGES, 3DM, DWG, DXF, VTK). Download plugins...