Exporting Collada - Where's the colors?

[SoundBound]

I created an object in Sketchup and colored all the faces and the model looks good.

Then I go to export the model in Collada format. When I then use MeshLab to open the Collada file, the model is fine, but there are no colors - everything is gray.

I have tried using all the different options for export but none seem to work.
If the object is exported in .wrl (VRML) the colors are fine in MeshLab.

So, can anybody help me understand why the Collada files have no color? Or perhaps inform me how to fix this problem?

Thanks for any help.

[Alan Fraser]

Hmm! you're absolutely right. It seems to be exporting the specifications for the colour but not actually assigning them to any faces. This absolutely was not the case in previous versions...maybe an overlooked bug. In fact, on the model I tested, it didn't even export the geometry for a sub-component.

[SoundBound]

Thanks for confirming Alan

Is there any way of making the team at Sketchup aware of this so they can perhaps fix it?

Kind of sorry I got rid of SU7 now, who knows how long it might take to get this issue dealt with.

[mitcorb]

You can get 7 back, can't you?

[SoundBound]

Maybe I could look around for a version 7 install file, I deleted the one I had.

If I am not mistaken, the bigger problem is models created in vers. 8 cannot be loaded in vers. 7 (I think I saw it in a message before when I opened an object created in 7)

[Alan Fraser]

I'll make a post in the Bug Report forum. I'll also contact Google directly...after I've double checked that we're not missing anything.
You can use your V8 to 'Save As' and change the file type to a V7 skp, if that's any help.

[Gaieus]

Hm. I know they have changed a lot of the way the collada export works now.

They did not change the kmz export though - a kmz file is actually a zip file (you can rename the extension) and inside, there is a folder with the collada file. You could try that route as a workaround.

[TIG]

We've done some testing in another thread...
The latest DAE export format does assign the colors to materials in a way that an import into Blender or Sketchup recognizes correctly, but that MeshLab does not.
If a material has a texture then MeshLab will also recognize it correctly.
It seems that some applications fail to recognize the DAE's plain-colored materials, while others do not.

I have tested colored/textured material exports of DAE in v8 and v7 and find that there is no difference as face as MeshLab is concerned - the plain-colored faces do not get rendered.

Examining the two DAE files the material definitions appear virtually identical except for different 'IDs' - to be expected, and the v7 'Material1' name being substitutes with the 'real name' in v8.

So it seems to me that the 'plain-color' issue is MeshLab's and not v8's DAE format as v7 is all but the same... 'Blender' can cope

[SoundBound]

Hmmm, interesting. Thanks TIG

I will post this information on the MeshLab forum, see what they have to say about it.
If the problem is on their side, I hope they can resolve it soon.

[SoundBound]

Well, I installed blender to see what happens and I noticed that the colors did not import correctly here either.

At this point I do have some doubts about which program is not behaving correctly. !!

Maybe someone who really is familiar with this stuff can take a fresh look and see if it is the software or me.

Thanks.

[TIG]

Well, I installed Blender to see what happens and I noticed that the colors did not import correctly here either.
At this point I do have some doubts about which program is not behaving correctly. !!
Maybe someone who really is familiar with this stuff can take a fresh look and see if it is the software or me.
Thanks.

With Blender you can choose to display objects by 'Solid' = plain-colored-materials, or 'Texture' = textured-materials... BUT NOT BOTH at the same time ! With textures 'ON' the plain-colors are just not displayed [they are in the objects' data though] !! Toggle the view-modes to see this - you CAN see colors with the right settings...
With MeshLab you can always see textures but plain-colors never show.
Thus we know the 'colors' are always inside the file but not getting displayed properly with some apps like MeshLab.
If you re-import a SKP > DAE back into an empty SKP then plain-colors and textured-materials will both show up OK.