Making CS with SketchUp

Hi, I have created a tutorial for creating custom scenery in Google SketchUp, many people are beginning to use this program and seem to be having problems with their scenery. So my aim is to solve all these problems and answer all the questions you ask. Please notify me if i have made any errors, as I have only just begun to understanding importing custom scenery.

Note: I am not going to teach you how to use SketchUp as there are plenty of tutorials on the net, the skill required to do most of this is very basic so you do not need to be an expert.

Well to get started…..

Now you can open SKetchUp, we need to adjust our measurement to metres, once in SketchUp go to Window>Model Info (view picture below).

Once the Model Info window is open, your screen should look like the picture below.

Make sure you have units selected (on the left hand column), then adjust the format to decimal and metres. Now make precision 0.0m and make length snapping 0.1m. Your window should now look like the picture below.

Then cross out of this window, your measurement is now in metres.

Before we create our custom object go to plugins>RCT3>(then choose the option you want, in my case it is full tile). You should now be able to see a dotted outline on the ground this indicates where your boundaries are for that object (see picture below).

Now you can draw in your custom object (be sure to keep inside the dotted lines), I am going to make a basic 4m X 4m X 4m cube for this tutorial (you should always keep your face count at less than 500, so be careful when using curves in SketchUp). First I will draw a square on the ground (4m X 4m, this will be the same size as the boundaries). To make this square into a cube click the push/pull button (see below) then click the face of the square and pull up, the distance label at the bottom right of screen tells you how high it has been extruded (see below).

Once you have created your custom object you will need to think of textures. To use your own textures you will need to resize them so that they are to the power of 2 (e.g. 128 X 128, 256 X 256 and 512 X 512 are all powers of 2).

To do this download any graphic editing program (you can even use paint)

Once into the program of your choice resize the textures to a suitable size (remember they must be a power of 2 and they must be a square). Once they are resized save them to an easy to remember location.

Now that you have saved your resized textures open your SketchUp window, then go to file>import (view picture below)

Locate the texture you saved, make sure you have “use as texture” selected on the right hand side of window. Now click Open. You will then need to select a corner of one face of your object (see picture below).

Then select the opposite diagonal corner, your object should now appear similar to the picture below.

If you wish to use the same texture again simply click tools>Paint Bucket (picture below shows in more detail).

A small window will open, click sample paint (picture below shows in more detail).

Now click on the texture you placed on your object, now you can click all the other faces of the object you wish to be the same, in my case all faces will have the same texture (see picture below).

Now you have textured your object you must group all the textures.

Note: If you have only 1 texture throughout than you only need one group.
If you have 2 textures throughout you must have two groups (group faces with the same texture together)

To group these textures you must select the faces of the textures you wish to group (to select multiple faces hold shift and click the faces you wish to group), in my case it is all the faces (all the faces in my object have the same texture). Once a face has been selected it will appear to have blue dots in the texture, this means it has been properly selected.
Now right click the group and go to “make group” (now the selected faces and textures are grouped). Next just to make sure that you textured properly select your group select the texture you used for those faces and then click on the group, now make sure you still have your group selected and then right click the group and click “entity info” a small window should pop up, then you just need to name your textures. This way, you can differentiate the different parts of the model for different textures in the Importer. Your window should now look similar to this.

Now that you have finished all of the above steps you can export your object to an ASE file, goto plugins>ase exporter>export (see picture below for more details).

After you click export a new window should pop up, click ok, another window will pop up, Select the location at which you wish to save your custom object, then click save. Another window should appear, this tells you the number of faces used in your object and also the location you have chosen to save the file. Now click ok. You have successfully saved your custom object as an ASE File and it is now ready for importing.

Note: I suggest making a saved copy in SketchUp just in case you ever wish to edit your object.

Now that you have exported your object as an ASE file, you will need to import it using Jonwils importer V17 click here to download.

Congratulations you are now ready to import your object/s into rct3 through Jonwils importer, Belgabor has made an excellent tutorial on the importer, click here to view it.

Surfingoz
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