Using SketchUp models in 3DVIA Scenes

Cliff Medling is my counterpart over at Dassault Systèmes; he’s the Evangelist for 3DVIA. Since we’re both in the business of spreading the word about the power and glory of 3D modeling (regardless of which tool you choose), we figured it would be productive to work together from time to time.

The first fruit of this collaboration is a video that Cliff made specifically for SketchUp modelers. It shows how to use 3DVIA Scenes to explore an imported SketchUp model by walking around inside it. The killer app (in my opinion) is a feature that lets multiple people explore the same model simultaneously as avatars. SketchUp’s Walk Tool offers a similar, first-person experience, but having the model online and accessible to anyone with a web connection is enormously powerful.

Two things: Cliff tells me that Mac compatibility for 3DVIA Scenes is on its way. Also, the clever folks over at Dassault have built an iOS app (for Apple mobile devices) that lets you view and interact with models you’ve uploaded to 3DVIA.com. Since COLLADA (.dae) is one of the formats they accept, you can use these apps to view SketchUp models, too. 3D everywhere!

Posted by Aidan Chopra, SketchUp Evangelist