@box said:

The main problem is your hole isn't a hole.
Should it go all the way through or is it a cavity?
Is the size critical, as in, can it be slightly narrower so that it hits the flat bottom correctly?

Thanks for drawing my attention to that.
I looked at the drawing in Freecad and it appeared to look OK - until I read your response and looked at it again in wireframe. That showed strange extra faces, but I never thought it was to do with the hole being of larger diameter than the bottom face.
I reduced the hole size and now it exports fine.

Looks like I will have to rethink the design as the hole size needed is for tapping, and re-drilling before tapping the 3D printed output may not be satisfactory. We'll see.

Thanks again

I have not used Sketchup for a while since I retired, but now have just won a 3D printer so thought I might use Sketchup to create some models for printing.

My first attempt is to create some slides for a tool in my workshop.
After modelling the slide in SU, then making it a solid and exporting as .stl it appears fine in Slic3r and I can see how it will be printed.
The problem arises as soon as I put a couple of holes in it. When I then export it and open it in Slic3r the bottom has disappeared.

What am I doing wrong - anyone know?

Here's the file slide hole.skp

and heres a visual of the problem from Slid3r - the one on the right is how it looked before putting the hole in it.

Does anyone know if this means that the Pro and Free version can now be installed side by side on the same PC.

In case anyone is curious as to why someone would want to do this - it is to test out new plugins etc in both versions, and also to make 'Tutorials' more relevant to free users (ie showing correct menus etc) without confusing them.

Thanks Jan.

That looks useful.
Tried it drawing a couple of lines and then selecting them to apply the walls.
Works well, and I like the way corners are cut in too - looks good, even for angled corners.

Will experiment in more depth in due course and come back with any thoughts/suggestions (will come back in other thread).

Thanks Tig.

I appreciate there are numerous ways to create walls (thanks for the tips), but I was a little disappointed that the plug-ins I used before, which were quick and easy and I had become used to, no longer work in V8.

I e-mailed Didier (the Author), but never received a reply, so hence my post here.

@unknownuser said:

Multiwall31

This can work in V8

When I use it in V7 it works, but in V8 it only places one face at the end of the first wall !!!

@unknownuser said:

What plugins have you tried?

I have tried Didiers 'lines2walls' and 'Multiwall31', but neither seem to work in V8

Does anyone know of any plugins for creating walls from lines (arcs etc) that will work with V8 of SU.

The ones I used previously in V7 don't seem to work in 8 and do not appear to have been updated.

Thanks

@unknownuser said:

I would turn off things like Profiles, Depth cue, etc., and see if that improves the quality.

Unfortunately everything is turned off -

@unknownuser said:

So, the thinner they are, the better.

where is the thickness setting?

@unknownuser said:

The most likely culprit is the anti-alias setting in the Options dialog. If you don't check it, the edges will be quite blurry.

I already tried that - the video I attached had Anti-alias switched on (it is exactly the same as when it is switched off).

Great plug-in - but can anyone tell me why the exported video (attached is output from SU 8 using V1.4) is so blurry at the edges.

router.avi

I must be missing a setting or something somewhere

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I have experimented with Bezier, and have managed to achieve a satisfactory result with the first door - now I'll need to try others.

Thanks again.

DavidB -
I don't have illustrator, but now you mention it I'll hunt around and see if there are any other progs which will do similar which I could use (particularly freeware ones ).

@unknownuser said:

Have a look at Simon's excellent series he put together about

Thanks Gaieus - I'll have a look at this later evening.

@honoluludesktop said:

Are the door's details carved out of a solid panel, or is it a photographic pattern on a synthetic door?

There are 2 types of this door both have 'raised and fielded' panels (one is made from solid wood component parts, the other is an MDF door which is CNC profiled then a vinyl coat is formed over the top - or the door is painted).

However this is only one 'style' - there are others with different profiles.

I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to trace contours from photographs.

For example the attached door.

The curvature on the top of the centre panel is not easily replicated using the freehand tool or curve tool and I was wondering if anyone had any alternative suggestion as to how to replicate the curve to obtain a 'smooth' line.

TIA.

Sorry, I should have mentioned it.
Yes, they are both 32 bit.

I have Win 7 and Vista (2 PC's) and followed the instructions in the previous post mentioned.

@unknownuser said:

Start -> run...
type "cmd" and then press "return"

navigate into your sketchup root directory by typing for example:
"cd C:\program files\google\sketchup 6" and press "return"

now you're in your sketchup6 root folder. Type:
"regsvr32 thumbsup.dll" and press "return".

This works in Win7 and Vista - providing that you run CMD as administrator.

To do this type CMD in the search box on the start menu, when it appears at the top of the list instead of just pressing 'Enter' (says Return in above quote) press the 'CTL + Shift + Enter' keys together to launch as Administrator.

@unknownuser said:

but if you make the stuff you want to copy a component then right click it you can save it out to a separate file which you can then import in to your new model

Thats what I used to do.

However, I got the utility for copying and pasting lots of cells in Excel, as well as for storing lots of information that I used regularly - how many times I must have put my address in forms!!!

The advantage I find using it with SU is that often I have to copy quite a few things from one model to another, and as this utility stores a large number of items that have been copied to the clipboard which can all be pasted back it is a lot quicker than grouping, exporting then importing and exploding them one at a time.

The utility is not for everyone - but I find it has all sorts of uses both in and out of SU

There are occassions when I want to copy multiple objects from a sketchup model and paste them back to another model, but paste them back separately (for example directly in to different layers).

I have been using this product for some time to store any items copied to the clipboard for later use, but it never worked for Sketchup objects.

Having contacted the developer about it, they have now released a patch to work with sketchup objects and I thought I'd post details for anyone who may find this useful.

I have a problem with Didiers Multiwalltool - namely when drawing a 'wall segment' it ignores any input in the VCB.

Does anyone else use this script - do you have the same problem?

(I sent a PM to Dider a while ago but so far have not had a reply.)

Thanks Tig

Have sent you a PM.

Pewe