Getting from SketchUp to Unity with shadows and lighting

The following short (and silent - for now) videos present a full overview of getting a model from SketchUp into Unity3D. It uses the demo-version of the LightUp plug-in for SketchUp, which is fully functional (for a while). This works with the free and the Pro versions of Unity and SketchUp, on Windows and OSX.

The model in SketchUp and lighting it with LightUp

LightUp 4 SketchUp (1) Inside SketchUp from Stefan Boeykens on Vimeo.
This video describes how to lighten a SketchUp model with the LightUp plugin. I'm using the demo version of LightUp (v1.1) inside SketchUp 8 Pro for OSX.

Transferring the SketchUp model into Unity using FBX format

LightUp 4 SketchUp (2) Export FBX for Unity from Stefan Boeykens on Vimeo.
To get a SketchUp model, baked with Lightup, into Unity3D, you can use the integrated FBX exporter. This also works in the free version of SketchUp, which does not support FBX.

The integrated FBX exporter includes the baked lightmap and the secondary UV coordinates that are required in Unity, to have the two textures correctly mapped.

You should also install the Lightup support scripts in an "Editor" folder that you can create in your assets folder of your Unity project, as this will automatically assign the Lightmap shaders and load the lightmap textures.

Updating the SketchUp model and reloading it in Unity

LightUp 4 SketchUp (3) Modify and Update from Stefan Boeykens on Vimeo.
Even after we placed the SketchUp model inside Unity, we can continue working on it. After the scene was prepared in Unity with a default 3d person controller, we modified the geometry inside SketchUp, recalled LightUp and exported the model over the existing one, inside the Unity project Assets folder, to replace it.
Unity then reloads the whole scene, leaving all interaction in place.

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