TIN to SketchUp Sandbox in ArcGIS version 10.

[JakubSisak]

Hello folks,
Up until version 9.3 this process was really easy with the Google SketchUp extension for ArcGIS.  I was mistakenly under the impression that the SketchUp - ArcGIS integration would be much improved in the new version but it does not seem to be the case.
Only multipatch can be exported to Collada but what about TIN? The workaround for exporting vector layers is to export to DFX but i need to export (and ideally import) TIN surfaces.
Thanks

[JakubSisak]

I forgot that similar topic was discussed last year here: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/626-Beta-10-ArcScene-SketchUp-Plugin-No-longer-Functions

Assume that this thread deals specifically with how to export TIN to Sketchup and bring it back to ArcGIS.

As for the first part, i tried the following suggestion by Nathan Shephard, ESRI:
(1) Can TIN be exported to COLLADA in ArcGIS 10?
    - Not directly, we only have direct export of multipatch features to COLLADA
    - You can, however, simply use the 'Interpolate Polygon to Multipatch' GP tool to convert the TIN to a multipatch feature for a given polygon / extent (as a pre-processing step), and then convert that multipatch to DAE.

1. use the Tin Domain tool to create a the 'Interpolate Polygon to Multipatch' tool required Input Feature Class
2. Run the 'Interpolate Polygon to Multipatch' tool (used default strip size: 1024)

I symbolized the multipatch to only show line and overlaid it over the TIN 'wire mesh' and it seemed some lines were missing from the multipatch as it it were somehow simplified. (Later i compared the SketchUp sandbox and all faces seem to have transferred over correctly).dea error appears telling me that the import cannot be validated.

3. Run the Multipatch to Collada tool
4. Import Collada to Sketchup (An error appears informing us that the import cannot be validated - ignore and continue)
5. Initially, the imported 'TIN' looks NASTY; faces appear reversed with alternating dark and light colors, definitely nothing like the smooth export from the now legacy SketchUp extension.
6. Select the Sandbox group and explode.
7. Select all faces and paint with common color.
8. Group and adjust smoothing.

I used the new 'Add Imagery' in SketchUp and the TIN surface seems to be correctly geo-referenced

This was only a simple model but it seems to yield the same results as with the 'Export TIN Google SketchUp 6' extension.

The one issue i am having now is with exporting vector features to KML and succesfully importing them into SketchUp 8.  SketchUp 8 import of such features crashes.