@mike lucey said:

@jaxcoffee said:

Does one qualify for this raffle if they are a Premium member?

Yes, the draw will be free for Premium Members and held once a month. Rich and Gabor have sorted out a system to operate this and Rich will be announcing details over the next few days.

Mike

Sorry Mike. It looks like the forum didn't recognize the Plus sign. My question was if a Premium Plus membership qualifies. I noticed it's a bit cheaper, so I wanted to confirm.

Thanks

Does one qualify for this raffle if they are a Premium member?

I decided to go the SolidWorks direction instead of Blender. If I'm going to learn something more complex than SketchUp, I'm going to learn an industry standard. At least that is my reasoning. Your milage may vary. Would love to see this kind of thread for SolidWorks. Anyway, carry on. This is a good thing for Blender folks.

Can anyone make a case for using SketchUp verses what seems to becoming the industry standard for outputting for 3D printing, SolidWorks? Besides the price?

Has anyone made the transition from SketchUp to SolidWorks? 3D printing seems to be recognizing SolidWorks as the goto software choice, but the cost is way out there. And yes I know if I am a student it's much cheaper, but I am not.

Could he simply make the oval a component that cuts a hole, like a window component?

And then just use the copy/move to relocate the same component, cutting the hole?

I guess I should have tried it myself before asking, but I seem to remember components being able to do that.

Great stuff guys. Thank you all for your input.

@cotty said:

Maybe you can share a sample part to have a look at...

Thanks Cotty. I will do that as soon as we receive the drawings, make the change over to CAD, and pull up some components.

I have attached a picture of a locomotive that was constructed from the same drawing number sheet of the locomotive we are modeling. Dates back to 1875.

@d12dozr said:

Jack, I got my start in 3D printing using Sketchup. I've taught local Sketchup classes for 3D printing, freelanced out my design work, and one of my models graces the official Sketchup 3D printing web page. I've had good success and made some very cool projects, but I'm going to admit sometimes it was at the expense of a LOT of wasted time. Sketchup is still my favorite tool for simpler models but it still pains me at times, the most recent was this weekend creating a simple, relatively low poly part for printing.

Some things make sense to use Sketchup, while others do not. You can nearly always beat Sketchup into doing something, but what is the point if there is a better tool out there already? What are you designing in Sketchup to 3D print?

I'm working off of Baldwin Locomotive Works original drawings, which will be turned into CAD drawings. From there I will be modeling each component of the locomotive to be printed out in 3D for assembly. We will be working in 1/12 scale. This project is for a local railroad museum.

Sure would appreciate your input. Solidworks appears to be the software of choice for most 3D service providers, but the price tag is out of the question for a non profit museum. And I'm not a student to be able to realize their discount. But I believe it's only a discount for a 12 month subscription.

I an really hoping to be able to stay with SketchUp.

Would really like to hear from someone who models in SketchUp, and outputs their work to 3D printing.

Seems for the most part the 3D printing industry isn't too impressed with working with modelers who work within the SketchUp platform.

So I would like to learn how to overcome that perception, and continue to work in the platform I love.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I thought that items did not have to be solid objects? Am I misunderstanding your comment? Modeling in solids means the purchase of the pro version if I understand that correctly. I'm really just trying to learn how to model the best for 3D output, so getting these answers are important to developing a workflow for our project.

And of course if we have to be making a purchase of the Pro version of SketchUp, I would like to know before getting to deep into our work. Thanks

This is quite interesting and right along the same lines as we are talking about.

I just had the president of a 3D output company called Build Parts tell me that 99.9% of the files they get from objects modeled with SketchUp don't work.

Can someone elaborate on why that may be true? I don't want to have to learn Solidworks, which seems to be the standard for 3D print output companies.

Has anyone really looked into what needs to be improved within SketchUp to bring things up to speed for this technology?

So by this discussion should I assume that one needs to be modeling with solids to output to 3D printing?

I'm modeling large scale locomotive models to be outputted to 3D printing and laser cutting.

Should I be modeling with solids? Which I assume also means upgrading to Pro?

@cotty said:

@jaxcoffee said:

So what I'm getting from both comments is that there is no set or standard number for achieving a good smooth surface when outputted to a 3D printer.

Yes, have a look at this shapes with an 12 segment arc: one maybe printed smooth but the other not because of the different segment length...
And there are many different materials you can use with 3d printing, every one with a different smallest geometry, ... so this influences the needed segment length too.

I understand what you are saying Cotty by segment length, but that length is determined by the number of segments in a given arch/circle. Which is how it is setup in SketchUp.

So it appears I may need to ask the question of those who would be doing the output. Also it seems that if one is modeling a project, one could determine by the largest circle/arch what is the smoothest output for it, and just let it be what is used by the smaller circles also.

So can I assume that having too many segments in a smaller circle would not be a negative issue with 3D printing?

@dave r said:

The segment length would be dependent upon not only the number of segments but also the radius of the arc. A small radius might not require as many segments as a large radius. You can see that when you are drawing in SketchUp, too.

So what I'm getting from both comments is that there is no set or standard number for achieving a good smooth surface when outputted to a 3D printer. Is that based on your actual experience with 3D printing? I'm really trying to find a set number so I can just model within my projects, and not have to reset arc and circle segments for every little change in size.

Has anyone experienced any kind of trial and error with outputting to 3D printing to find a happy medium for detail, but not have any post printing extra work to do to make a circle look smooth?

Thanks for your input guys.

@cotty said:

It depends not on the segment count but on the segment length. The printer resolution is different with different print technologies, so this must be considered too.

edit: example with no visible segments

Thanks Cotty, but I'm not sure what you mean by segment length? I can only set one number. Are we talking about the same thing, but just calling it something different? What was your circle segment set on for the example you show? Thanks

Could anyone with some experience tell me what the minimum segment count can be for still having a smooth output for 3D printing?

Blender is the prefered model program of choice for those doing content creation for the train simulation program called Trainz. Mainly because it has a lower poly count on the models and won't affect the function of the game program. Only problem is that Blender, as a program....and I will put this as kindly as I can. It's crap!

I love modeling in SketchUp, and would like to continue developing my skills in this program. I have used the one poly reducing plugin I found, but it doesn't seem to do the trick.

Does anyone have a better solution for reducing the poly count in SketchUp models, without trading off to much detail?

Appreciate any help folks. Thanks. Oh....I hope I didn't offend any Blender users, but it is what it is.

I recall a plugin that would fix the open end lines in DMG/DXF files, but I can not remember the name of the plugin.

Could someone jar my memory for me please?

I have been using the Chrome browser for years, and I'm now using the Chrome OS which by all standards is the chrome browser. I use the Chrome Browser on my PC, and sync everything off of my Chromebook, so it keeps me up to speed on both systems.

The extensions I use for my workflow are:

Gmail Checker
URL Shortener
Google Voice Notifier
Google Reader Checker
ChromeAccess
+1 Button

Using the browser for so long made it a very simple transition to the OS. "Nothing but the Web" is the way everything is going, so I would highly recommend it.