Sketch Up File to working Chief File

[rfhager2169]

I am looking to Export a pretty extensive floorplan build in sketch up into Chief... I know how to successfully create a 3D symbol, but I cannot build a floorplan from that. Has anyone successfully done this? 

[DBCooper]

Redraw it or trace over it.

 

[GeneDavis]

I am a long time SU user, and my opinion is it cannot be done as any kind of direct-to-3D op.  SU's 3D elements have no parametric building "smarts" like Chief's have, so Chief cannot translate what SU parts are and make roof planes, wall elements, windows, doors, etc.  

 

What I would do is go into SU, use the section plane tool, and do horizontal sections at the right height for each floor to get all possible doors and windows (60 inches off floor works OK), change camera to parallel projection, take a top view, do a screen cap, and then do that for each floor, basement, 1, 2, etc.

 

In a new Chief file, bring in the jpegs onto floors 0, 1, etc. and resize as needed to get as close to right scale as possible, then trace walls and place opening elements.  You will still have to do all the structure build stuff . . . floor levels, etc.  You will have to either auto-roof it or manually roof it.

 

I took an old SU house model I have and imported it every way possible into Chief, but all I got was a dumb fixture.

[rlackore]

I believe Gene has a good workflow; if you're using Sketchup Pro you can export the Section Slice as a .dwg file, and import that into Chief for tracing, so you won't need to resize an image file.

[OldBarnDesign]

We are Sketchup to Chief converts here... we moved to Chief in May and are still converting all our plans from SU to Chief. It's been an undertaking... primarily because we are having to learn Chief, establish templates, and rework the entire look and feel of our plans. The first plan took me 140+ hours. I'm in the middle of our second plan and will probably get it done in ~30 hours. I couldn't imagine there being an easy way without the Chief engineers coming up with an importer. As somebody mentioned, Sketchup geometry isn't "smart" geometry by default. Chief geometry, outside of the CAD primitives, are parametrically driven. You give it a set of parameters (e.g. wall thickness, height, length, etc) and Chief creates the geometry automatically. Sketchup has some smart components and people write Ruby scripts to make them smart, but it's a far cry from what Chief can do. Best of luck!

 

 

[Renerabbitt]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:05 AM, rfhager2169 said:

I am looking to Export a pretty extensive floorplan build in sketch up into Chief... I know how to successfully create a 3D symbol, but I cannot build a floorplan from that. Has anyone successfully done this? 

Post your SU file and maybe I’ll make a video