Plywood rib needs to be easy to modify

[jtri]

Good morning
I often need to model with plywood to show the support structure. For this model we will be working up a design for a fin tube cover with a Corian stool, HVAC grill and front plastic laminate panels on z-clips. I typically model what I need, add a wood color and call it plywood. I decided that I wanted to make my models a bit fancier so I decided to make my plywood look correct. Easy to do but I ran into a bit of a wall and would like to get some feed back as to how you guys would solve the problem.

Here is the challenge. Once my model is given to the design team and general contractor I know I will be redoing it 6 to 10 times as the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, installation and users all provide input and then our production department, CNC engineer and draftsman also add information and details. So my goal is to have a componet that is very easy to redo and adding the "look" of plywood makes it hard to reconfigure.

I went down a few rabbit holes playing with a piece of plywood drawn as a nested component. Would like this to work but I do not know how to cut holes in it and have it still look like plywood. Is there a plug in I should consider?

So my process is to always save my model as a blank with the correct geometry. That way I can go back to that and change the geometry easily, then make it look like plywood. I make it look like plywood by added color to the whole part then copy and paste the outline of the part, so I get my plywood lines. I then finish by adding and darker color to the cores. Any ideas on a better way to model this?

One issue I have not yet solved is how do I model the plywood correctly when I am asked to add a 3/8" radius around it? This is easy to add before it looks like plywood, but then making it look like plywood that has had a router run around its perimeter is a lot more work than is needed for this type of model.

Looking forward to your insights
Thanks
Jeff

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Plywood.skp

[davidheim1]

My suggestion: For the edge plies in the plywood, paint those surfaces with a texture rather than try to draw the plies. You may be able to find a good image on the Internet; otherwise, photograph the edge of a piece of plywood and use that image. Once imported into the SketchUp model, the texture may look a little odd on the radiused corners, but that shouldn't be a big problem. If the edge-ply texture looks too stark and draws too much attention to itself, try using an image-editing program like Gimp or Photoshop to make the image paler, then import it again.
When you need to modify the shape of the plywood, open the component, select everything, and use the Paint Bucket tool to paint it with your basic foreground and background colors. Do the modifications you need, then repaint it with the woodgrain and edge ply textures.
Hope this helps.
Best,
dh

[jtri]

David
I like your approach I will give that a try.
Thanks for the input
Jeff

[jtri]

I also need to thank Dave as he wrote about this a while back!

Plywood Edge - Creating a New Material in SketchUp - FineWoodworking

Putting a new feature of SketchUp 7 to work.

FineWoodworking (www.finewoodworking.com)

[baz]

Here is a seamless one I made up. Might be of use to you.

[slbaumgartner]

In a separate model, you could draw a 2D edge consisting of a stack of rectangles and apply alternating materials to them. Save the result as a 2D graphic export. Then import that image back into your real model as a texture and paint the edges of the plywood with it.