I need to preface this post by admitting I don't know zip about working with Blender or Sketchup, or any other graphics program. What I am doing is basically just experimenting with things, trying to learn. I have Blender installed, and have downloaded a few files from Sketchup that I would like to import into Blender. I followed the information I could find about downloading a add-on for Blender that is supposed to allow for importing Sketchup .skp files. However, when I attempt to "activate" the add-on, the box for checking it will not work. I have tried different versions of the Sketchup add-on for Blender, but always the same result. Am not able to check the box. Any help here?
Chief, I will help if I can. I have been playing with Blender a bit lately, but haven't tried importing an SKP yet. If you can point to the addon you are using, I will give it a try.
One general tip I have learned is that Blender keeps changing and each major revision, like the recent 4.x, borks a lot of addons. So you have to pay close attention to which version of Blender the addon you're using is for, and install a legacy Blender version to use it if necessary.
I’ve never used the sko import tool but have imported many sketchup files to blender by first exporting from sketchup to collada (dae) format and then importing the dae file to blender. The 3D model imports ok but all materials need to be re-created in blender as MSFS materials for the textures to show if you want to use the object in MSFS.
Let’s say that I have a pretty good experience of modeling under Gmax, 3DS and now Blender and that since 2007 and I always found that importing Sketchup models was a big problem because all the faces are imported: exterior and interior what is not desirable when one wants to create a model for FSX, P3D or MSFS.
Indeed these faces are very near and it occurs mostly flashes because the rendering engine tries to display everything that has been added to the model indiscriminately.
Nevertheless, if you still want to do it (there are cases where I do it despite these technical problems), it is better as Dimus said, export the model in DAE and then import it into Blender with the addon included DAE Import. For this there were free versions of Sketchup which allowed to read a SKP and to export it in DAE. I even think that there is now a way to expose in DAE only the external faces.
If once imported into Blender, the model still has duplicate faces, you must take your courage with both hands and try to select all the internal faces that you do not need (those that will never be visible) and remove them (for a shed with closed doors the internal faces are useless).
Before exporting to MSFS, you must at least create ONE MSFS material and associate it with an element of the object: I create a Standard material in gray and I associate it with all the parts composing the object and I export for a test.
Then we can take the object and define as many MSFS material as necessary.
What I am doing is searching for 3d objects to use in a scenery that I am helping someone else create. It is KVQQ NAS Cecil Field Florida. It is coming right along, but as I think of things to add to the scenery, I forward the objects to him. I have been scouring different sites, including SketchFab, Turbosquid, and CG Trader. I've found a few good ones. Have only bought a few that weren't expensive, and will really add nice details to the scenery. The basic setup of the base is done. Ron Zambrano (RAZBAM) gave me permission to use his A-7 as static, and they look great! Dino Cattaneo is undecided just yet on allowing me to use his S-3 as static, but I plan to get the scenery as close to completion as possible, and then approach Dino again. He indicated that he probably would; just not quite yet. NC
P. S. I have had pretty fair luck, locating objects I need for the scenery, but there are a couple that may have to be created, one is a liquid oxygen converter and the other is a GTC-85 Huffer air start unit.
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