Printing Architectural Model.

rspierenburg

Hi,
I'm looking to print an Architectural model from Revit via Sketchup. I can export an STL from Revit and bring that into sketchup but it adds in numerous interior objects (ie partition walls) that I don't want to print. Esssentially I want to print the shell of the building as a solid. Is there a plugin perhaps that would allow me to create a box around the sketchup model then via boolean delete the model from the box and then finally invert whats left? To sort of "Shrink-wrap" the model into one solid?

Thanks,
Robert

pilou

If you have a Pro version of SU you can make that with Boolean functions else
Booltools

Youtube Video

TBoy

There is a native tool in SketchUp > Tools > Outer Shell.
It will work only on solid objects i think.

rspierenburg

Thanks for the tips. The issue is that when I export the revit model via stl it doesn't come into sketchup as solid parts. Perhaps I need export from Revit to SKP and then in sketchup export to stl at the end.

Dennis_n

I am in the same boat.

I got a very complex model of 1 200 000 sf. mixed-use building. I am using it to establish the viability of 3d printing for my office.
As you can imagine, many designers worked and modified it. It is a mess when it comes to geometry organization.
Organizing it into one solid using traditional tools does not appear feasible. When we are done with expressing our architectural ideas there is little time left before a presentation to a client. We need an automated way to take the mess of a model from designers and get it ready for 3d print.
I am also searching for a magic "shrink-wrap" that will disregard internal intersections and heal small holes.
Actually, our entire involvement with 3d printing is hinging on it.

Please help.

Share a link to a possible solution. or at least hint at it.

Dennis

Dave R

You can try extensions such as TIG's Solid Solver and ThomThom's Solid Inspector2 and CleanUp3 however if your model is as much of mess as you imply, they will likely not be able to fix everything. Probably there will be things that will require human decision making to repair.

It doesn't help you now but if you know that a 3D printed model will be required it would be best to model that in mind from the beginning making sure that all bottom groups and components are reported as solids. Solid groups and components tend to be cleaner and are easier to work on so there's additional benefits to making solids from the beginning.

You don't have to collect all of the groups and components into a single solid for printing, either. As long as all of the objects are solids, it should print fine.