Just wanted to update my findings. I finally have a very simple way to get my sketchup buildings into Blender and textured. All I had to do is take of the ceiling and the floor, and make one single seam along one corner of the mesh. I just have to upload the ceiling and floor separately. The texture comes out seamless enough and since it is rectangular, I can just load in any 2d image.
Just for reference, I am looking up plugins to make this go better. I know about Texture Atlas for Blender and I found this one:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?236631-Addon-Simple-Box-UVW-Map-Modifier
Get used to finding ways to hide seams, so that almost no matter what software and plug-ins you use, your artwork will look nice. Sometimes no manual unwrapping is necessary such as with painting, bump, procedural shaders, and so forth. These will take pressure off you in the UV mapping as well as expand your capabilities which can only help the attractiveness of your art.
After months, a year or two, then you will have the skillset to make nice art that both you and your gamers will enjoy.
I know you want to just get past this and move on quickly. UV mapping is one of the most annoying processes you can do as an artist ( next to skin weighting, fuck that shit ) so I get it... but you really do need to spend time learning it. The difference between a perfectly placed seam and a randomly placed is HUGE! Especially if you are putting your art for other people to texture you. So, take it from those of us who have spent the time to learn this art.... its worth knowing.
Dag! I forgot about the skin weighting! Ugh! haha. Yeah, those two are top annoyances in my book. I remember how 3DsMax's Envelope weighting system worked so well.
I guess when it comes to weight painting, a realistic weight painting would have to take into consideration tension between bone and tendons and represent that as a weight map (so to speak). Even as it pertains to rigging, the degree of motion should mimic its real life counterpart.
I have done all of these things before, but not yet on a professional level (just as a hobby, tinkering with it), so that is why I am trying to get as much info as I can on it to see which will work for me best.
I might add another entry to my Journal on the process once I get things rolling, and perhaps even a tutorial as an article (for beginners made simple)... actually simple.
