Defining Datum Planes in SU
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The kids in one of my design classes have been making SketchUp models that we have been cutting out using a CNC router. This is all going well. For the next part of the project they need to make a portfolio to show how their models progressed and evolved. The final requirement of the portfolio is to include orthogonal drawings of their models. I know this can be done within SketchUp manually, or using the Ortho Views plugin, however; we have Pro Engineer at work and we have been trying to make the drawings using it instead. The problem we are facing is that when we create an stl file it does not create datum planes in SU that allow Pro Engineer to define the front of the car that allow it to make ortho drawings from the model in the correct orientation. The solution has been to try and reorient the axes in Pro E but we have tried everything we can think of and can't seem to be able to reorient the front of the model when we open the stl file made in SU in Pro E.
So the question is, is there a way to ensure the datum plane orientation is preserved when the stl files are being made so that when we open a file in Pro E it is in the same orientation as it was in SU and that the front is defined correctly (and the other sides assigned correctly)?
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I don't know about the STL export but one thing you might check is that all of your students are using the orientation convention in SketchUp. That is, in a standard front view the red axis runs left to right with the solid green receding into the distance. Solid blue always points up. The ground plane is at the default red/green plane. I frequently see models from new users that have been drawn so they are laying on their back or are rotated 90 degrees or have even been drawn upside down.
Keep in mind that although the model axes can be moved and reoriented, this has no effect on the location of the ground plane or standard view orientations. Show your students how to reset the axes so they can check periodically that they are oriented correctly. If those axes have inadvertently been changed, the model may need to be adjusted to suit the corrected axes.
If all of your students are sticking to the correct model orientation to start with, I expect most of the battle will be won.
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The models were aligned to the origin in standard orientation. It was one of the things I personally checked to make sure this wasn't a factor. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me that all features like edges, groups, components, and planes, are ignored in the conversion from SU format to STL format and none of this information is saved with the model. When you use the export STL plugin from the Extension Warehouse you need to select all parts of the model you want to convert (I just go CTRL-A), choose the format (binary or ASCII) and the units and away it goes. If you haven't exploded groups/components and turned off edges it will tell you it has ignored these things in the process of creating the STL file. This is what leads me to assume that things like datum planes are also being ignored in the process. I need to workout how to reorient the model in Pro E by inserting new datum planes... which I don't know how to do yet. Maybe if I could export the SU file as some other format that preserves these features that would solve my problem???
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