SketchUp¶
Overview¶
The NVIDIA Omniverse™ SketchUp Connector Plug-In offers a toolkit for SketchUp Users to send their model(s) to an Omniverse Nucleus Server. This not only gives SketchUp Connector access to a first class renderer through Omniverse Apps but also the ability to open, and edit with any of the NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect applications. Now, depending on the use case, SketchUp users can choose the workflows and pipelines that work best for their needs while maintaining up to date revisions for all downstream consumers of their work.
Installing the Connector¶
Installing the Omnvierse SketchUp Connector is done via the Omniverse Launcher. Simply navigate to the Exchange Tab then select Connectors, then Omnvierse SketchUp Connector and finally, select Install. This will install the Omnvierse SketchUp Connector provided you have a valid installation the SketchUp application.
Please see Launcher Documentation for Installing Connectors.
Connecting to Omniverse View (Local)¶
To connect the Omnvierse SketchUp Connector Plugin to Omniverse View a user must locate their installation of Omniverse View and select it in the Omnvierse SketchUp Connector Plugin Settings.
Select the Omniverse View Settings
Enable
Send to Locally Installed Viewtoggle and elect either a past installation of Omniverse View orUse Currentto use the most current installed version.
Press “save” in the resulting settings window to commit the changes.
User Interface¶
The Omnvierse SketchUp Connector brings SketchUp projects into the Omniverse Platform. The panel shown below contains all the tools necessary for day to day operations with the SketchUp Connector.
Send to View¶
Sends your file directly to Omniverse View. Simply click Send to View and Omniverse View will launch with your model loaded and ready to go.
Note
You must be sure that Omniverse View is installed and that you can access it from a server for this feature to work. See the Connecting to VIEW® (Local) for more details.
Send to View from SketchUp (Video)¶
Publish Project¶
Exporting your project to your Omniverse Nucleus allows you to continue your work in other applications such as Omniverse Create, Omniverse Maya Connector, Omniverse 3ds Max Connector and other Omniverse tools.
Element |
Result |
|---|---|
Refresh |
Updates the Window with Latest Data
|
Left/Right |
Moves Through the Current Directory Structure in a Step By Step Fashion
|
Create New Folder |
Creates a New Directory at Current File Path
|
Left Pane |
Lists NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus Directories (If Logged-In) and Local Drives / Directories
|
Right Pane |
Lists Files in Currently Selected Directory
|
Project Folder |
The location and name of the project to create
|
Save format |
Allows Selection of File Export Type
|
Description |
Text to be used as the text on the file checkpoint
|
Show Publish Options |
Display the Settings dialog so that user can select Publish/Export options
|
Publish |
Publishes the Sketchup file using the Project Workflow.
|
Cancel |
Stops the Export Process and Closes Publish Dialogue
|
Note
When you export your file, you create a connection for Live Sync which is visible in the Live Sync Path dialogue.
Publish Prop¶
Exporting your project to your Omniverse Nucleus allows you to continue your work in other applications such as Omniverse Create, Omniverse Maya Connector, Omniverse 3ds Max Connector and other Omniverse tools.
Element |
Result |
|---|---|
Refresh |
Updates the Window with Latest Data
|
Left/Right |
Moves Through the Current Directory Structure in a Step By Step Fashion
|
Create New Folder |
Creates a New Directory at Current File Path
|
Left Pane |
Lists NVIDIA Omniverse™ Nucleus Directories (If Logged-In) and Local Drives / Directories
|
Right Pane |
Lists Files in Currently Selected Directory
|
Project Folder |
The location and name of the project to create
|
Save format |
Allows Selection of File Export Type
|
Description |
Text to be used as the text on the file checkpoint
|
Show Publish Options |
Display the Settings dialog so that user can select Publish/Export options
|
Export |
Exports the Sketchup file as a Prop file
|
Cancel |
Stops the Export Process and Closes Export Dialogue
|
Sign-In¶
The sign in window allows users to connect to their Omniverse Nucleus Server for Exporting, using Live Sync and for Mounts. Enter the server name you wish to connect to and press Sign In. Once done, a browser window will appear. Enter your username and password to connect.
Setting |
Result |
|---|---|
Server |
Address of Omniverse Nucleus Server
|
Ok |
Begins the Connection
|
Cancel |
Stops the Sign-In Process and Closes the Sign-In Window
|
Settings¶
The settings menu allows you to select a preferred Omniverse View install as your viewer.
Setting |
Result |
|---|---|
Unset |
No View Settings (This setting disables Send to View)
|
Send to Local |
Omniverse View Launch Path
|
Use Current/Use Custom |
“Use Current” locates current View Installs Automatically, “Use Custom” uses the Custom View Location value
|
Custom View Location |
Allows Selections of View Installs not Found by Automatic
|
Send to Server |
Omniverse Remote View Launch Path
|
Use Current/Use Custom |
“Use Current” locates current Remote View Installs Automatically, “Use Custom” uses the Remote Launcher location value
|
Remote Launcher |
Allows for Selection of a Remote Viewer
|
Render Size |
Render Quality to Use in View when Launching Remotely
|
Project/Prop toggle |
Determines the output type when using Send To View. See Publish Project and Export As Prop for details
|
Save |
Commits the Changes and Closes the Window
|
Cancel |
Closes the Window and Discarding the Changes
|
Note
You will need to have Omniverse View installed and selected to use Send to View.
Publish/Export Options |
Result |
|---|---|
Use Material Mapping |
Use the CSV file to map materials
|
Use SketchUp Materials |
Use the Sketchup material information
|
Use Component Mapping |
Use externally defined blocks for vegetation
|
Export visible only |
If unchecked, items marked invisible will also be exported
|
Help¶
About¶
Opens a dialogue and displays version information about the installed Omnvierse SketchUp Connector Plugin, and provides helpful links to access Release Notes and to Get Support
Display |
Value |
|---|---|
Build |
Build Version Number
|
Date |
Date Plugin was Created
|
Materials¶
When sending your materials to Omniverse® VIEW®, we replace the low quality textures and shaders associated with SketchUp and replace them with High Quality Custom Materials inside of Omniverse® VIEW®. This is done by material mapping and can be controlled via CSV.
CSV and Materials¶
The CSV Mapping File for SketchUp can be located in the following directory.
<Documents>/Omniverse/SketchUp/omniverseSketchUpMDLtable.csv
CSV File Structure¶
A CSV file is a Comma Separated Values table of data whose field’s end is defined by a comma ‘,’.
Using Spreadsheet Tools¶
These tables are a very common format and can be opened/edited inside of Excel (or other spreadsheet tools) and will have 5 columns in them when viewed.
Format¶
Column |
Expected Value |
|---|---|
Column A |
Name of the material from the application.
Note: Any commas (
,) are replaced with an asterisk (*) |
Column B |
Indicates if there is a parameter override
| NONE: default, no special characteristics
| COLOR: the 5th column (Column E) will have the parameter name in the MDL
GENERIC: keyword and last resort match in mapping (looks for the value in Column A
in the string of the material name we get from the application e.g. if Column A is
glass and the material from SketchUp was Special Glass then it would match)
EXCLUDE: materials found in the application but NOT mapped, user could convert these
to real mappings by setting to NONE and changing the values in Column C/D/E (potentially)
|
Column C |
MDL name (no .MDL)
|
Column D |
Path into the location in the Omniverse database (points to a Mount)
|
Column E |
If necessary, the parameter override in MDL
|
Examples¶
1 2 3 4 | Cardboard,NONE,Cardboard,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Wall_Board
Blue Paint,COLOR,Paint_Satin,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Miscellaneous,diffuse_tint
glass,GENERIC,Clear_Glass,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Glass
Some Material Name,EXCLUDE,WhiteMode,/NVIDIA/AEC/Library/Materials/Styles
|
code …
Release Notes¶
Known Limitations¶
Sketchup 2020¶
Starting with the 106.1.516 release, the Omniverse Connector for Sketchup 2020 requires a release version of Sketchup 2020.2 or later.
106.1.516¶
The focus for this release was adding Live Edit as well as Push Changes. Two new icons are added to the toolbar for SketchUp 2020 and 2021.
Live Sync¶
When you toggle this on by clicking on the Live Sync checkbox, you are now in Live Sync mode with the USD model. Every change you make will be pushed to the USD. This would include edits, deletes, moves as well as additions. Note that due to the structuring of SketchUp, some of the pushes will require more data to be pushed so some ‘edits’ will be a little slower.
Push Changes to Omniverse¶
This option works similar to Live Sync. Once you have exported a model to Omniverse (as a Prop or a Project), every change is kept track of in the connector. You can push session changes to that model by clicking on this button. It works as a manual version of Live Sync. This allows you to choose when to push changes. It is faster than re-exporting to USD. The workflow in a session would be to export once and then for any future updates, just click Push Changes when you want to update the USD file.
104.2.485¶
Fixed¶
OM-35878: Need an option for merging geometry in groups
OM-36127: Remove temporary MDL files in <Documents>
OM-36684: USD stage hierarchy shows the previous model with Send to View
OM-36868: Send to View for project not organized correctly
OM-36734: Update to Omni Client 1.13.15
Added¶
Support for alternate location for material library
Default is a URL to S3 for materials mapped via the CSV file
Using the OmniverseAssetLocation.csv file in <Documents>/Omniverse will allow the default location to be somewhere else. For example, if you want to point to a particular Nucleus server instead of pulling from the Internet.
Two fields in the CSV file.
<Type> - This would be NAME or URL
<Path> - Depending on the type, you can specify the appropriate path to the library
Example, to point to a Nucleus server, use this:
NAME, <nucleus server name>/NVIDIA
Example, to point to a location via a URL, use this:
In general, this does not need to be utilized. But in cases where there is a desire to move the mapping library from it’s S3-based location (known as the NVIDIA mount in Nucleus), this location definition file can be used so that the connector can appropriately point to where the library is located.
Known Limitations¶
Live Edit is a feature that is planned for SketchUp. This exists for other Connectors and will be coming to SketchUp in the near future.
104.1.461¶
Features:¶
Export as prop
Update to Omni Client Library 1.13
Checkpoint support for SketchUp
Support version 2021
Support S3 URL’s in the Connectors
Component replacement support via omniverseSketchUpPlanttable.csv
Separate save options from publish dialog into settings dialog
Update to Omni Client Library 1.13
Fixes:¶
When A Bad Server Name Is Entered, Connectors Should Handle The Entry In A Way That Is User Friendly
Incorrect Version number is shown for the SketchUp connector
Properly scale the MDL’s created for SketchUp materials
Merged faces in the Coffee Shop
Omniverse panel doesn’t automatically appear after update
Connect 102.1.428¶
Support for Layers (Tags) from SketchUp
Fix for object separation - objects are no longer merged as one
Export options have been moved to Settings
Sent to View, Publish, Props all use the material options found in the Settings dialog
Send to View no longer shows the startup panel in View
Connect 101.1.419¶
Added support for SketchUp 2021
Connect 101.1.411¶
Updated Client Library to match version of Create/View
Component mapping during Publish is now optional
Component mapping is controlled by the <Documents>/Omniverse/SketchUp/omniverseSketchUpPlanttable.csv file
Column 1: EXCLUDE in the first column denotes components used in SketchUp files but not mapped GENERIC in the first column will do a simple search of the component name using the value in the second column <Anything Else> in the first column will do an exact match of the value in the second column for replacement
Column 2: Name of the component in SketchUp
Column 3: Scale value of the USD object, default is 1, meaning 100%
Column 4: Rotation value in degrees about the pivot point of the USD object, default is 0
Column 5: Name of USD to substitute for the SketchUp component (no .usd in this name)
Column 6: Path to where the USD object lives in the Omniverse Nucleus server (note the / on the end of the path)
Publish Prop is now available in addition to Publish to Project. This allows a SketchUp model to be saved as just a USD without the project framework around it.
Connect 100.1¶
Move to Launcher
Support for new materials, vegetation on the mount
Support for components to be mapped as USD instances
2020.2 Hotfix¶
Client Library Updated
Fixed a bug that would sometimes (very rarely) cause data loss if you got a disconnect while uploading a file.
Fixed a bug that would fail to download a file if it was an exact multiple of 1MB