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View COLLADA Files

UPDATE : this seems to be my own mistake, because the SketchUp GUI is not well understood. See my own answer.

Hi,

I plan to implement “export to COLLADA” into my mapping software , but the lack of a good COLLADA file viewer bothers me. I tried several applications:

  • Google SketchUp provides the best viewing quality I've encountered so far, but importing COLLADA files is very slow. I tried this sample, which I found , but loading it into SketchUp takes 2-3 minutes, and I run it on a decent machine. Because export code development involves a lot of testing and error, SketchUp is too slow for experimental work.
  • I tried Blender , but the user interface is pretty foreign to someone who doesn't work day-to-day on 3D game development. But I have to praise him that you can download a sample file almost instantly, which makes me think that the SketchUp guys either do some deliberate slowdown in import in the free version, or they need to refresh their programming skills. ( UPDATE : it turns out you can download it quickly, see my answer, sorry guys.)
  • I also tried some other free viewers, but they either do not show the sample correctly, or have very limited viewing capabilities (for example, panning or orbit).

I would appreciate any hints, but I'm looking for first-hand experience, not just going to the game (I tried it myself). I understand that this is not a typical programming question, but I don’t see a better place on StackExchange to ask about it.

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10 answers

I worked on a program called meshtool . You can download and view the collada file as follows:

meshtool --load_collada file.dae --viewer

The pycollada library got pretty good. Almost all collada files that I came across in the wild are supported properly.

Admittedly, meshtool is in its infancy, so I haven't written good installation instructions yet. You will need to install python 2.5+, numpy, panda3d, PIL and lxml. If you tell me your platform, I can give more detailed instructions.

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There is also MeshLab , which is free and open source, cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), it supports several formats (COLLADA, VRML 2.0, 3DS, etc.) and has extensive viewing capabilities (e.g. pan / orbit).

MeshLab example

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It's good that SketchUp is slow because it checks the COLLADA file on import. You can disable it:

  • Select File | Import ...
  • Click the Options button in the Open dialog box.
  • Clear the Check COLLADA check box .

Maybe a suggestion to SketchUp developers: either make this parameter more visible, or disable it by default.

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GLC_Player is definitely worth mentioning. A multi-platform, fairly fast and convenient album function for viewing a large number of files (you can open the entire hierarchy of folders) with it.

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Photoshop (at least starting with CS4) can open and view COLLADA files.

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the open asset import library has a standalone AssimpView viewer , which I used to test the exporter I'm working on. It is fast and has some useful debugging options. It also gives decent error messages when you screw something, which was a huge help.

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I created the collada-viewer, an HTML5 application that combines ColladaLoader.js, three.js and the HTML5 file APIs to make it easier to store and load 3D models in COLLADA file format permanently.

http://www.ravenrend.com/2012/11/26/collada-viewer/

Should make viewing multiple files quite simple, that was the idea.

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You can use the Vanda Engine to download your COLLADA scenes and convert them to real-time scenes. This is their site .

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I downloaded it from autodesk:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=20481519

(if the link doesn’t work: http://www.autodesk.com/products/fbx/overview )

Converter

fbx includes a viewer dae collada

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If you accept commercial tools, the best solution to view the COLLADA file is to use Autodesk 3ds Max or Maya using the OpenCollada plugin. It supports COLLADA versions 1.4.1 and 1.5 and gives better results than all free viewers in my experience.

Another possibility might be Unity . In fact, this is not a spectator, but a game engine. However, it can successfully import COLLADA files.

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