I’m moving to Rhino for more and more of my work, however, I need still need to send Sketchup files to others. I just did a simple “save as” .skp of a model, and all the separate objects became attached to each-other in the Sketchup file. Can Rhino save/export to SU where object entities remain individual?
I’m guessing you’re getting “disjoint meshes” in the file.
To test this, open the SKP file you just made and see if everything selects when you pick one.
Another approach might be to run the Mesh command in Rhino and tweak the settings as needed for each object.
Then select just these separate meshes and use Export Selected to make the SKP. Then see of those are joined when created and expoeted that way.
Any luck?
Thanks for the response. I don’t know what you mean by “disjointed meshes”.
In the esport/save as, blocks, groups, etc, are exploded and become faces/parts of one single object making it impossible to edit. I have to believe this is something I’m doing wrong? Imports from Sketchup into Rhino work well. (using Trimmed planes) There must be a way for Rhino to ensure exports can be pulled into SU as separate planes, blocks, groups, etc. At present, the results of Rhino .skp export make it pretty much useless for me to send to colleagues, and I’ll have to go back to modeling in Sketchup.
disjoint.3dm (234.0 KB)
The two mesh spheres on the left are a single, disjoint mesh.
To two mesh spheres on the right are separate meshes.
i’ve encountered the problem of all geometry being placed onto 'layer 0" when imported into rhino as well. In sketchup, I’ve been right clicking the groups and making them components. Once they’re components you can “save as” and export the grouped objects by themselves. then import into rhino. a hassle, but at least theyre grouped correctly.
Thanks for your efforts, but I’m still not understanding how it relates. Attached is the simple model. A SFX platform. The deck has a minor rake for water to flow. In Rhino I can select all the parts separately: deck, outer-frame, inner structure. When exported as .SKP, these are all mushed into one. If I wanted to edit or hide one element, e.g. the outer frame, clicking on it only selects the face at the cursor. Not the entire frame as it does in Rhino, or if I had modeled in Sketchup.
In case you have Sketchup on hand, I’ve included the export file. (SU 2015)
Dance floor.3dm (1.4 MB)
Dance floor_2015.skp (3.8 MB)
My Rhino imports of Sketchup files work well, especially with “Trimmed planes” selected. This problem is with exports from Rhino to Sketchup.
As I started off, I’m not a SketchUp user and have no plan to become one.
I am interested in improving file transfer between them, but because they are very different this might be fraught.
- Start with a simple, representative SketchUp file.
- Open it in Rhino.
- Export if from Rhino as a new SKP file
- Open this new file in SketchUp.
What has changed?
Image 1. Platform modeled in SU. Lower frame (a group) selected. Entire frame highlighted in Blue. Above deck is a separate object. Move command will move only the frame.
Image 2. That file imported into Rhino. Same frame object selected. Entire object highlighted in yellow. Upper deck is still a separate object. Move command will only affect the frame.
Image 3. Export from Rhino into SU. Same selection. Only the face selects, all groups removed and all faces are connected. Move command affects all faces distorting everything.
Hello, one option (the one that has worked for me anyway) is to export the model as a .dxf file under the “2004 Solids” preset, then import into SketchUp. That way, each Rhino object gets imported as a SketchUp group and is editable separately.
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Thanks. That got me checking. Under export as DWG I found an “export as 2007 Solid” option. I tried it and it worked. It kept layer colors and everything when importing into SU2019.
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Hello, I don’t have my computer in holidays for checking, but I remember that you have to create “blocks” in Rhino to have them back in components within Sketchup. The .3ds format works too for exporting.
In this way SketchUp still imports objects as components, not groups, which can be very annoying sometimes. Though using DWG/DXF as an interpolation format is best RH > SU approach so far IMO.
Really hope Rhino has a better exporter, writing object as group, block as component, and putting the layer information on group / component instead of entities.
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