Hey, im new to 3d modeling and im looking for a few people that can be of some helping hand. i have a VERY low poly model that i made on google sketchup pro (i know, not realy the BEST program there is but its simpler and less tedious that doing ALL of it on 3dsmax) and then i imported it over to 3dsmax and did 1 tweak to it and then i could render it properly. one major issue now is skinning it, ive tried and failed so many times, just to get the damnUV map right, so ive decided to try find someone who knows what their doing and that i can make a team and hopefully get this model and future models intergrated into somthing greater. here it is as it stands

http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=60930175eh7.png

(sorry about the link, i cant get it to thumbnail...)

if you wanna help me out, i need a skinner / mapper and a detailer to get the poly count up a bit, contact me via my hotmail - swiftarrowenterprises@hotmail.com

I don't know much about google sketchup. Can you export to some other formats?
From open source software I would use wings 3d or blender 3d for 3d modeling and uv mapping.
Both programs have a set of robust tools for both tasks.

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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

Just use planar maping... it should be ok for your model.

Nice model for early stages still a way to go yet