IES-VE User Forum

Hi all,

I was made a relatively complex model in google sketchup to then export to IES VE, I'm using google sketchup pro 8.0.11 version and IES VE 6.4.0.8. Despite the fact that the IES VE sketchup plugin detects perfectly my extruded model. (Using IES VE extruded tool). when I export the model into IES VE it doesn't take in account anything and only garbage lines are showed.

You can download the sketchup model here:
http://www.box.com/s/14441379be27ead16290

Thanks in advance for your help

David Garcia

Hi David,

I had a quick look a the model (I'm no SketchUp expert) but I think that the issue is the hidden geometry.
If you switch on hidden geometry in the view menu then zoom out you see these mad lines (boxes actually) appear.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


I'd imagine removing these would make the model import better (the import to the IES looks like it has the rooms if you zoom in to the axes).

Zap.

Scratch that - didn't work.
that "geometry" might just be the room names outlines.
back to the drawing board.
Sorry.

Hi,

I actually had a look at this when you posted but I got the same result and forgot to post back. The model is drawn in Thick Walls and this is still not fully robust. It seems as though the geometry is fairly complicated in that there are lot's of curved walls and I'm not sure what the IESVE Plug-in will make of that in Thick Walls mode.

I'd suggest you try it with just a few rooms until you have worked through any issues and can get a good translation then apply these experiences back to the full model.

For example I'm not sure you have a ceiling void in the model but the plug-in would expect to see this and also the floor surface needs to be consistent for all rooms and wall thicknesses.

I also saw at least one instance where there is no thickness defined between two rooms (they both share a surface) which is more like a Thin Walls approach - you can't mix the two.

The model may not take much to get it to come through to VE successfully but really I'd recommend you stay open to the idea of redoing this as a Thin Walls model in which case you'll have a better chance of getting good geometry into VE.

Finally, check obvious stuff like that you run the plug-in in Thick Walls mode and have appropriate wall thicknesses defined etc.

Phil

Hi all,

Thanks for your advice, finally I think there's two issues we must take in account when we model in Sketchup:

In thick wall mode, the "interior" area and "exterior" area which we use to model a thick wall must be equal (which is not valid in my model and in general is not valid in models which have curves on their wall, since exterior area should have more area to "cover" all the interior walls).

Second error is, when we try to model a two stages building in which both floors room distributions differs, we must keep first floor ceiling division in second floor base. this which is also valid in thin walls.

What I can recommend as is stated before is to pass to thin wall mode, extrude first floor, construct second floor partitions over first floor ones, and then extrude all elements, erase in the ceiling of second floor the traces of the division of the ceiling first floor, and extrude third floor and so on....

For the moment is the only way to export such complex geometry buildings correctly into IES VE.

Thanks for your support.

David Garcia