Third Mate, I hope you're not speaking about the very simple and amateur model you've posted in the other thrad into the model dev forum, which is not even yours anyway. A model that suits a commercial product quality standard needs much more than that, even if it is not sold. And anyway, in that case you can't put it in SSE yourself (only VSTEP can so far) and VSTEP still don't allow a third part developper to release an addon boat on his own (freeware or payware).
As for SketchUp beein "allowed" for modeling ships to be put into SSE, if you read again the rules or introducing post of the now ended CCC, you will see VSTEP do mention SketchUp as a possible tool for that. Several SketchUp models have been selected for the final poll as well (TFM's ones for instance) so that question is rather useless and you should have been able to work that out by simply reading the forum.
Another thing to consider is the SEA LADY trawler that has obtained a special mention for the CCC has been made WITH SketchUp.
Of course some features of some 3D programs are more appropriate than other ones and can be a big plus, but most of the time, it is not the software itself that does a good or suitable model, it is the modeler.
And if you've never really touched a 3D software before, you simply cannot hope to have your first model included into a commercial product. Unless, you're a true "genius" (I know 2 exceptions though), you can't do that, you need a more or less long (or short, depending on your ability) practice period for that.
Of course you can still put it yourself in VS or VSF as already pointed out, but in all cases, practice is much needed for obtaining a "professional" result (vs amateur to repeat your own word).
So in short, be honest, don't use someone else' model without immediately telling so... and practice. The result will only depend on you.
DVOMarineDesign (Dom).
