Sketchup import issues

[liddilr01]

Hello,

There are 2 problems that I have recently had with Sketchup importing into 3ds max 2021  (2021.3.16) and 3ds max 2024.

1.) When I receive a Sketchup file from a client in the very recent past and the Sketchup is 2023 or 2022 all I have to do is save that down to a Sketchup 2019 file and it would come in perfectly into 3ds max 2021. That no longer happens at all. I get the famous x32 reader error. I now have to save the Sketchup file down to 2014 or lower like V7 in order to bring it in. Anything above 2014 does not come in.

--None of this matters in 3ds max 2024 which I tried but have not upgraded fully yet to 2024.

--Why is this happening all of a sudden in 3ds max 2021?

2.) This is the big one. No matter which version i use for importing mentioned above, BOTH types of imports into 3ds max produce a very strange issue. Bot imports take every single material that has a diffuse map and copies that diffuse map into the Opacity channel BY DEFAULT. This has never happened in the past. Now i have to either A.) manually take out the diffuse map from the opacity channel or B.) switch to Views--Show materials in viewport as--and uncheck "enable transparency" which makes all glass in the scene solid defeating the purpose.

--This happens right away when importing SKU files now, before i even convert to V-Ray and stays that way even after conversion.

attached are screen shots along with the SKU file.

-thanks so much for any help!

   

[khuyenmainhacaiinfo]

thank you!

[RobH2]

Are you using the same version of Max that ued to work well, and now that same version is malfunctioning?

[liddilr01]

yes, exact same version of max (2021). Same version of sketchup, the same process as before, nothing has changed. The only thing i can think of is something has been updated on the Sketchup side.
Today i just opened a Sketchup 2023 file, saved it down to a 2019 sketchup file, went to import that into 3ds max 2021 (which has always worked in the past) and got this message, (attached).

I went ahead and imported the Sketchup 2023 into 3ds Max 2024, it imports fine but i still get that strange issue as mentioned above where every single material that has a diffuse map gets copied into the opacity channel as well.

[RobH2 · Accepted solution]

I'm thinking that something has changed with Sketchup, that they are not updating the Importer code for Max 2021 anymore. Sketchup has new features and some that may conflict with Max 2021. 

I'd suggest you take this thread and questions to Trimble/Sketchup forums as I don't think it's a Max issue. Or, upgrade Max to 2024. I tested 2024 and it has worked perfectly with Sketchup with no saving back to older versions of Sketchup or anything. 

[liddilr01]

The problem still exists with 3ds max 2024 automatically adding the diffuse map into the opacity channel as mentioned above. I've imported multiple versions of sketchup files into 3ds max 2024 and it does the exact same thing by copying the diffuse into the opacity channel.

[RobH2]

I'm going to guess that this is a defect in Max 2024. It shipped with a host of them. I actually started a post today asking for a patch sooner than later to correct the biggest ones. Until we see that patch I think we need to live with the problems. I'm using Max 2023 as I can't even finish a project in Max 2024 becasue of all of the defects for just simple stuff. 

So, I guess for most Max 24 issues, it's just sit on our hands and wait to see if the next patch brings it up to speed.