Google sketchup support

[paulscode]

I have found that the Collada importer for Blender is more compatible than the FBX converter for loading .dae files.  Blender is free, and there is a pretty good 3ds exporter script for it as well.  This makes Blender a good tool to use for converting Google Sketchup (free version) models to .3ds.

How to use this method:

1) Download Blender from http://www.blender.org/ and install it.  Pay attention to what version of Python it recommends that you download.

2) Download the correct version of Python from http://www.python.org/ and install it.

3) Download the COLLADA plug-in for Blender from http://sourceforge.net/projects/colladablender/.  Follow the included instructions for installing it.

4) Download export_3ds2kex.txt from http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17674 (requires a free registration).  Rename it to export_3ds2kex.py and copy it to the Blender scripts directory.

5) Follow my previous instructions for obtaining the .dae file.

6) Import the .dae file into Blender.

7) Export to .3ds.