Halo Maps Forum

There's a big, untapped resource out there, it's called google sketchup. Now, you may be thinking, how can using sketchup relate at all to halo 2 map making. Well as it turns out, many people out there like designing maps for halo, but can't afford anything so they just mess around in google sketchup. Well, I have figured out a way to convert these designs into a 3ds file which can be imported to max. This was a bit of a chalenge because, as I don't have sketchup pro, I can't export 3ds or obj files. Well, if you export it as a google earth object (kmz), just change the extension to .zip and you can extract the dae model file and all the textures used in it. Now, here is where you are going to need another program, blender. I have always found it unintuitive and not very good for anything, until now. Blender is free, and it allso comes with a whole assortment of import/export plugins. You can import the dae (Collada 1.4) file, press A to select the map and any other bits of scenary that come along with it. Then you can export it as a 3ds file. Then it's as simple as importing it into 3ds max. Now, sketchup modelers probly didn't make it with the contiguous sheel concept in mind, but you can probly figure out a way to fix it up. This is how to convert a sketchup model to 3ds max for use in all your maps, or for it to be a map it's self.

--Connorcpu--