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    Was told sketchup is bad for 3d printing

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved SketchUp for 3D Printing
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    • HieruH Offline
      Hieru
      last edited by

      Let’s face it, if the Warehouse is anything to go by, there are a lot of people making ‘bad’ SUp models.

      I’m often sent models by clients and it’s rare that I don’t have to rebuild everything from scratch.

      www.davidhier.co.uk

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      • JQLJ Offline
        JQL
        last edited by

        Sketchup has all kinds of users, that's the beauty of it. People who know what they're doing will have good results, people who don't... well, they can always learn how to do it.

        www.casca.pt
        Visit us on facebook!

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        • BoxB Offline
          Box
          last edited by

          Basically anyone saying Sketchup is no good for 3d printing simply hasn't learnt to use Sketchup effectively.

          Some other software can be less likely to cause problems because they are solid modellers whereas sketchup is a surface modeller. Solid modellers make everything out of solid lumps, but sketchup needs you to understand how to make a manifold solid.

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          • HieruH Offline
            Hieru
            last edited by

            A nice ‘solid’ confirmation from box 😉 .

            www.davidhier.co.uk

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            • syburnS Offline
              syburn
              last edited by

              The guy was expecting me to use Solid works, but as im an Interior Designer its more natural that I come from the Sketchup or 3D Max direction.

              I cant say if I am a good modeler though. But I do expect to be creating more curvey free form models when I do to 3D printing, which i dont have any experience in doing actually. Bit scared of leaving my world of boxes behind.

              Cheers

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              • D Offline
                d12dozr
                last edited by

                Box nailed it - I totally agree that anyone who learns how to use Sketchup "properly" with good modeling practices will be just fine. Keep in mind that plugins are virtually a necessity for making great models for 3D printing.

                Every CAD program has limitations, Sketchup included. Solid modeling programs can be easier to make a solid model, often providing a warning if the modeling operation will make a non-manifold model. The level of complexity certainly takes some of the "fun" out of the modeling that Sketchup is known for.

                I'm a big fan of using the right tool for the job. Sketchup is fantastic for making architectural-type models - no big surprise. Solidworks is great for mechanical engineering models. Blender is good for artistic purposes, and Zbrush for character modeling.

                Can any of the programs be used for making other models than what they're best known for? Sure! Half the battle is knowing how to use the program, and great users can perform magic in their tool of choice. However, you're not going to win any character-modeling awards using Solidworks. 😉

                Personally I still use Sketchup for some projects, but I've mostly outgrown it for Fusion 360. Parametric modeling is a major time saver when iterating a product, and it's much easier to make complex organic objects.

                So now @syburn - the question is, what are you modeling for 3D printing? If the models are similar to what you already use Sketchup for, then you'll be just fine.

                3D Printing with SketchUp Book
                http://goo.gl/f7ooYh

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                • syburnS Offline
                  syburn
                  last edited by

                  I want to explore 3d printing in interiors so i expect I will be looking for freeform and organic forms as conventional construction is alread doing square types of designs very well.

                  So its more organic, curvy, with patterns on the surface.

                  Regards

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                  • cottyC Offline
                    cotty
                    last edited by

                    I've printed a lot of models in 3D and all of them were modeled with SketchUp. Maybe you should have a look at an online printing service instead?

                    my SketchUp gallery

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                    • D Offline
                      d12dozr
                      last edited by

                      @syburn said:

                      So its more organic, curvy, with patterns on the surface.

                      You can use Sketchup with plugins like Curviloft and Subdivide and Smooth for a while, but you will run into limitations pretty quickly, especially with patterns on curved surfaces.

                      You may want to look into using Rhino then. I believe our resident skate park designer Jeff graduated to Rhino for those kind of shapes. Many architects use Rhino as well. It's more accurate and much easier to use for organic shapes. It is still a surface modeler (vs a solid modeler), so you'll want to keep good modeling practices for 3D printing in mind. It'll be much easier for texture mapping your shapes as well.

                      Fusion360 could work as well, but I haven't seen many architectural projects made with it.

                      @cotty, I think he's asking more about modeling, than printing.

                      3D Printing with SketchUp Book
                      http://goo.gl/f7ooYh

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                      • pbacotP Offline
                        pbacot
                        last edited by

                        How do you use 3d printing in the interior design business?

                        MacOSX MojaveSketchUp Pro v19 Twilight v2 Thea v3 PowerCADD

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                        • S Offline
                          smithnovel
                          last edited by

                          Not actually the problem but it has issues. Sketchup is not too bad. allthat3d can help you in getting a detail idea of it.

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                          • G Offline
                            Glenn at home
                            last edited by

                            @box said:

                            Basically anyone saying <insert software> is no good for <insert task> simply hasn't learnt to use <insert software> effectively.

                            • FTFY 😉

                            SketchUp Pro 2024/2025 Dell XPS 8950 i9-12900K 64GB Ram RTX 3080

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                            • falkF Offline
                              falk
                              last edited by

                              I've used SU to design sewing machine parts and toys, and they all 3-d printed just fine. You'll need one of the plugins that write STL files, and then you're good to go.

                              One trick: if it's a small part and there's fine detail, design it at 1000x scale, then shrink it down before you generate the STL file. SU doesn't like fine details.

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                              • K Offline
                                KadirSket
                                last edited by

                                Bence çok iyi.

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                                • P Offline
                                  PhilLeGall
                                  last edited by

                                  Good morning to all of you.
                                  Is SketchUp performing well to produce STL gear files?

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                                  • jgbJ Offline
                                    jgb
                                    last edited by

                                    Although I have been using SU for near a decade now, I will only be getting a 3D printer in July/August, so I'm no expert on 3D printing. But I have done a lot of research on the subject.

                                    The thing to remember in creating SU models that will print well is IMHO attention to detail.

                                    SU is a surface modeller. Any curve is a series of straight line vectors, they are not the smooth curves you see if the model is smoothed. That smoothness is only an illusion via the SU display s/w.

                                    The printer prints in straight lines, very small straight lines, but nothing is a true curve. So to get a reasonably smooth curve in the printer you need the curve divided into a lot of segments. SU default is 24 segments in a 360 degree circle. Great for small curves, but large curves may need 120 segments. That I think may be the reason some prints come out less than desired.

                                    The other critical thing is the bead size the printer is making. The current standard .4mm so any feature Lines or curve segments) in the model that is less than .4mm will not print well, if at all. You can get print nozzles as small as .15mm, but that will really slow down a slow print to begin with. So making curves requires a minimum segment size no less than the nozzle size.

                                    You need to preview the final model in SU with hidden and smoothed lines turned off before you output the STL file. That is what the print will/should look like.


                                    jgb

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                                    • E Offline
                                      emilia27
                                      last edited by

                                      Hello guys,
                                      I am new to forum as well as sketch. I started it as a hobby and little into it, I understood that I am liking it. Tried few basic stuff and printed it out But I am having real problems with the scale. the scale is hard and please if anyone can suggest how to set up scale for the 3D print.

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                                      • Dave RD Offline
                                        Dave R
                                        last edited by

                                        @emilia27 said:

                                        Tried few basic stuff and printed it out But I am having real problems with the scale. the scale is hard and please if anyone can suggest how to set up scale for the 3D print.

                                        What version of SketchUp are you using? Your profile says 2018 Free/Make and you are using Linux. There is no such version of SketchUp that supports Linux. Help us help you by giving us the correct information.

                                        In SketchUp you would normally use real world dimensions. For some models with very tiny detail I find it easier to work by treating millimeters and meters. That is, if something is 10mm long in reality, I model it 10 m long. When importing the exported .stl file you just need to set the import units to millimeters.

                                        Etaoin Shrdlu

                                        %

                                        (THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE)

                                        G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0

                                        M30

                                        %

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                                        • jgbJ Offline
                                          jgb
                                          last edited by

                                          Further to my previous reply, I forgot a very important parameter to set in SU.

                                          Model scale.

                                          For the size most printers can make, you need curves with very short segments, but SU doesn't work well with very short lines, especially at the high resolution most printers are capable of.

                                          So you need to use a large scale for the drawing. Then in your slicer scale it down to life size.

                                          The simplest way is to go metric for the drawing, and draw in centimetres, where 1 cm is 1 mm printed. A 10:1 scale that is easy to visualize and compute. It is just a simple mental moving of the decimal point in your measurements.

                                          I know it is tough for North Americans to work in metric. Even for me, in Canada, which is supposedly metric, but not us old folks. I only use metric for 3D print designs. F.P.S everything else.

                                          Then all you need to do is set the slicer at a 10:1 ratio and print. No complex ratio conversion math.

                                          One other thing. For curves in your model, such as bearing mounts, gear teeth, use a high number of segments. That will allow a smoother fit. Same with bolt holes that are not threaded by the bolt. For screws and bolt holes that are force threaded by the screw/bolt, go with larger segments, I use 12 for a full circle. That will give a bit more thread bite in the final part, so fewer segments in the hole are not critical.

                                          Where curve surface smoothness is not important, use large segments. That will also speed up the printing a fair bit.

                                          Finally, you really need to experiment with practice parts at various segment sizes, nozzle sizes and slicer parameters before printing for real.


                                          jgb

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                                          • jgbJ Offline
                                            jgb
                                            last edited by

                                            Yes, quite true, especially for really small printed stuff.
                                            But for me, divide by 10 is mentally far easier than divide by 1,000.


                                            jgb

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