3D model at architectural scale
-
I'm an architect and I've been working with my firm to expand the use of Sketchup and 3D printing. We've tried some fun things to get used to the printer, but now I'm working on getting things more streamlined and useful for the work we do on a daily basis.
We work quite a bit on massing studies and I'm curious if anyone knows of a plugin or script out there that could quickly convert a full-scaled model to something at a printable scale. What I'm hoping for is something that could convert a model of true dimension into something at a particular scale, say 1/8"=1' or 1"=30'.
I know I can determine the scale factor (1"=30' is 1/360) and simply use the scale tool. Hoping someone out there may know of a tool already created that can help me out to streamline the process a bit, and make it easier for my boss to do it, too.
Thanks for any help you can offer!
-
This is usually a manual process, but a new tool you may try is MakePrintable.com
They have a SketchUp extension that will upload the model to their site where you can set parameters like scale, etc and it will correct wall thickness and non-manifold issues.
I haven't tried it on architectural models yet, but the demo looks promising.
-
Thanks for the link! I'll definitely check this out as it looks promising for fixing issues with the model itself.
What this doesn't offer, though, is the ability to set a scale factor. Manual entry is just fine for now - just hoping to streamline a bit. Maybe this exercise will get me to learn how to make my own script.
Advertisement