Importing SketchUp Models to Unreal Engine with Materials

[@bhampton1969]

Got to admit....you are a pretty smart guy. The way you are picking up UE4 so quickly. Also, how you have picked up some of those weird import issues and when you apply UE4 materials to your models and scaling becomes odd. Great job!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Not learning nearly fast enough - its a VERY complex program, and the learning curve is fairly steep. Hopefully I'm able to simplify it to make the process easier in these videos so it's easier for everyone else - thanks though!

[@Gustavlanderholm]

Hi Justin! I've encountered the same issue with the texture scale issue, and the problem occurs when a material gets added to a group directly instead of individual faces before grouping. Also the material that are just colors are doing the same thing, so my initial reaction is that the material creates a UV map on the single surface, but not when placed on a group. To test this: Box 1: Create a box and group it, and then apply a material Box 2: Create another box, apply the material to each face and then group it Box 3: Create another box, apply the material to each face and do not group it do the same for colors Then export the sketchup project with the datasmith exporter and import it in to Unreal engine with the datasmith importer, and try to apply a material to the boxes. Result: All colored boxes will have wrong scale Box 1 will be the wrong scale Box 2 will be right scale Box 2 will be right scale Hope that helps!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Interesting - it makes sense - thanks!

[@CharlVizz]

hi there! I'm having problems with the scale. on this link i attach an image: 1drv.ms/u/s!Aj1kCWu6zGPRigmeUqhUNLUrJ3NZ the left cube is a box made in UE4 whereas the right one is the sketch up one (applying material to faces before grouping). After applying the UE4 materials the scale on the sketchup cube is still tiny compared to the unreal one, therefore if I scale the texture on the sketchup cube, whenever I see the "sphere visualization" of the texture, the image is distorted. Thanks in advance!:P

[@skyheart125]

I just downloaded the unreal engine 5 and datasmith.. but whenever I import, all the textures are replaced by only one type of texture.. I dont understand how it happens..

[@marwandesigns1765]

Justin , U r my favorite SketchUpper

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks very much!

[@willembuiting]

He Justin! Great video! I was kind of hoping that the normal maps would actually being imported when using VRAY. Problem with a large file is when you setup all your normals in Unreal Engine witch is not hard to do and reimport your model, you lose all your normal maps. You can reimport parts of your model or even a single wall so that seems the way to go. But overall this is one great way to show off your models! Thank you so much for sharing this video and I can't wait for more to come!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

That's no good - seems odd that it would wipe those references out. Wonder if that's a bug? Overall I'm very excited about the possibilities here, though I will say that learning Unreal Engine is a bit intimidating :) - The particles are really fun though - thanks Willem!

[@willembuiting]

TheSketchUpEssentials He Justin! I sorted out the normal maps issue. It looks like I did not fully understand the way Unreal Engine folder structure. They are all there alright. Re designing stuff and re importing the datasmith file is very easy indeed. Now I'll focus on the collision options so we don't walk trough the walls anymore. Then is is all about creating some decent landscapes. Great fun so Far! There are some new pictures on my Facebook page since I have no idea on how to make a video out of Unreal! Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Wow - your textures on your lighthouse look really good - are those images coming out of Unreal? Looks great!

[@willembuiting]

TheSketchUpEssentials Unreal Engine 4. I exported my build using the new Datasmith plugin for Sketchup. Then I imported the project in Unreal Engine 4. Ver 2.0 with the Datasmith importer. I put in all the normal maps and also made some small adjustments in Sketchup which I then successfully reimported in Unreal. This seams to be a very workable workflow. In Unreal you can simply "play" your own level. NICE!

[@archigeek5138]

Hey thanks man i had that problem with the invisible walls now i know how to fix it keep it up im subscribing and i can't wait to see more

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Awesome - glad it helped!

[@darrenramdial7166]

hey how did you fix that

[@vecihihurkus3287]

you are telling the subject very nicely. will you continue to take video about unreal engine 4 we look forward to your videos

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thanks - make sure to sub over on my rendering channel - kzbin.info - that's where any new Unreal Tutorials will be

[@damienmeade4677]

Great video, I use unity rather than unreal, I find the learning curve is much easier and sketchup models have native support in unity now, worth looking into

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Will look into it - oddly enough, the Unreal Vids don't really seem to be taking off on the other channel, so will have to see what direction I go with them. Thanks!

[@damienmeade4677]

TheSketchUpEssentials if you need help learning unity be sure to give me a shout, I’d be happy to help out.

[@bhampton1969]

Great video as usual. I love how easily the importing works. With terminology, I believe you have to use the term texture and material appropriately. If I understand textures are the 2D images you use to make your materials with. Ex...Normal, spec, diffuse, metallic etc....Ue4 uses some different ones now. Materials are created by combining the textures and certain nodes to get the look of depth, tesselation, and all the features to make it look realistic. Just may help with any confusion. I hope I'm correct. Look forward to more videos on both channels. I do notice you touch on materials, its just the terms textures and materials get thrown around and is confusing for beginners.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

You're probably right - historically I haven't been as specific with my language, so that's taking some getting used to. That said, hopefully my actions on the screen fill in the blanks when I transpose the terms - thanks!

[@mrdesignit145]

I installed the Datasmith plugin and the exporter doesn't seem to appear in Sketchup.

[@RedzwanulHuq]

Uv unwrapping is used in 3ds max to fix the scaling problem, please correct me if im wrong, im new.

[@SoohNabis]

so it's possible to 3D object on Sketchup and using it on UE4 without any problem? i'm asking because i dont want to learn Blender.. it's too much complicated, and i really like the UI of Sketchup, easy to use and easy to learn. Is it possible to create an entire game with Sketchup as a 3D object creator? Thanks for the answere!

[@georges8408]

although datasmith is the best way to import correctly a 3D scene to unreal there is a huge problem with megascan blend materials since they are not working on the surfaces. BUT if you export the 3D scene from Sketchup as am FBX or OBJ file then megascans blended materias works fine.. however it is a complete mesh to import this way in unreal since hundreds of 3D geometries are created. Have you find any solution how to apply megascans blended materials in datasmith file ?

[@artalfajora4295]

Thanks for the update. I've been waiting for this sketchup to unreal exporting to happen. Also, that transparent wall thing also happens in lumion. I observed that it happens with the back side (blue side) of the default material, What I do is I put a different color or material on both side so that I don't need to put thickness on the wall.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I believe it still happens even if you apply a material to the back side of the face in Unreal, but I'm not 100% sure - thanks for watching!

[@RichardvdM]

Sketchup Pro is expensive, there is no free option to add Sketchup models to UE?

[@bhampton1969]

Hey Justin, do you recall if the cylinder and sphere had normal or displacement maps attached to them in the export/import? You showed that the SketchUp "Wall" had a V-Ray material but on import it did not import the maps into UE4. Also, did you figure out the strange material sizing issue from SketchUp and UE4. I also recall Blender had that issue as well. I always ended up adding my materials in UDK/UE4. Better control, used UV maps and custom materials to be applied to my models..

[@Thesketchupessentials]

For this one they didn't, but I don't think they transfer anyway. It looks like you might be able to apply a roughness map based on your texture image, but the SketchUp materials don't even seem to open up in the blueprint editor, but rather in a more simplified editor? Still need to do some more research on this one as well.

[@bhampton1969]

Wow, sorry, another question. Did you have to give the windows a thickness? I know an object in UDK/UE4 that has no thickness is a plane. I used to be able to tell UDK in the material editor that the plane was 2 sided, therefore able to apply a material to both sides and/or transparent for like rain or snow effects.

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Honestly haven't tested this one yet, so I'm not sure...

[@chingweekha9308]

Hi justin, really thanks for all your amazing tutorial as i learned most of my sketchup skills from your videos. Btw, have you figured out what is the correct workflow to solve the uv scaling issue? All unreal materials seem to be scaled overly small on our imported sketchup mesh, we had to scale the textcoor to 0.1 or something for it to work properly. Would love to hear from your solution soon!

[@chingweekha9308]

My temporary solution is to simply create an empty texture image, apply it in your sketchup model and go to Material tray > Edit > change the measurement there which will directly affect the UV map resolution of your staticmesh after your import from sketchup to unreal. I think this is the reason why vray material in your video works fine in unreal because the material is scaled properly in sketchup before importing into unreal. Any advice?

[@daveedwardsconsulting6916]

Is the scaling of the Textures set by the object? So that when an UR texture is applied it's using the iimported scale?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Honestly I'm not sure - if it is, I'm not sure why objects that get Vray materials applied to them don't seem to have the issue. Best as I can tell, objects come in from SketchUp at the correct scale, and SketchUp materials come in at the correct scale, so it's odd to me that Unreal Materials don't get applied at the correct scale. Will keep looking for the answer, but in the meantime, the best option seems to be to just change the scale of the Unreal material...

[@rebelangel8227]

excellent tutorial.. but how about one for us who use unity.. i know there is a bit of gap for exporting to unity.. since unity handles things a bit differently...

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Haven't done much with Unity so far - maybe in the future - thanks!

[@Agel1ic]

did you figure out how to fix the texture problem with the imported geometry?, because I just started learning how to use Unreal and it bugs me

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Not that I've seen - it would be really nice if there was a fix, but as far as I know, I don't think I've seen one...

[@Agel1ic]

@@Thesketchupessentials Thanks for the quick answer, yesterday I spend the entire day trying to find a fix everywhere without luck. But I did find a post on reddit that it will be fixed on the 4.22 update but I couldn't verify it.

[@Gustavlanderholm]

@@Agel1ic I've reported it and it is a confirmed bug: issues.unrealengine.com/issue/UE-81021. Feel free to vote for it for it to gain notoriety.

[@georges8408]

hello man. Can we export a 3D model/scene (a house for example) as an .exe file so the client or anyone else to run it and moving inside (or outside) the home's rooms like being in a 3d game ????? any tutorial ?

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Not sure - I'm pretty sure Unreal can do some kind of standalone executable file, but not sure exactly how it works...

[@ivankratzer3614]

Did you please find some way to bypass the mapping issue when appliyng Unreal materials to sketchup faces? It is really annoying....Thanks!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

I'm not aware of a fix to this at the moment...

[@oliverserek6853]

@@Thesketchupessentials hi there. Some time has passed and I was wondering whether you have perhaps found a solution to the mapping problem as yet? In terms of it being so small in unreal and having to change the texture coordinates of the material to make it a normal size.... Great video otherwise, thanks a lot!!!

[@dannyramdhani872]

Update!

[@chtiouihoussemeddine]

how i can make fire texture for unream bro ?

[@Gustavlanderholm]

I've reported this to Unreal. The texture import from sketchup to unreal is a confirmed bug, and officially on their list issues.unrealengine.com/issue/UE-81021 Feel free to vote for it so it gains notoriety. Cheers!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

:)

[@Assaf_Alon_architect]

Wow!

[@Thesketchupessentials]

Thank you! :)