They don’t advertise it, and the importer is not well documented, but Unity 3d DOES support the import of collada models. So you can use google sketchup to make Unity 3d models.
Also, you can import SPORE models into Unity 3D. Well i should say _most_ spore models.
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Yeah, I found out by just trying it out. Unity couldn’t import the first few models I tried (one from blender and one from spore and one from Google 3D). But the next several I tried _did_ work. From my perspective the collada support was not well advertised.
I WAS eventually able to import simple spore models into Unity. And with some tweaks in spore I was able to import more complex models.
I am writing a series of very thorough tutorials on my blog about getting Spore creatures into unity3D, the best way to do this I have found is with Maya…
check them out here:
http://blog.ruedaminute.com/2009/11/use-your-spore-creatures-as-game-characters-inside-unity3d-part-1/