I have taken the model into its own file so all I have is what you see in the attached image. Its made up of 7 solid groups. I have run the clean up plugin on it. I have just downloaded the new free sketchup which doesn't seem very fast or look that great but thats another thread. I do all of my modeling in sketchup pro at my house and then when I bring it to be printed at my girl friends house I use the free version to export to stl. I have had very low rate of success with this exporter to stl. Guess I will look for another plugin to try. Thanks for looking.

Any body have any tips for exporting from sketchup using the sketchup-stl from github?

If you have stray geometry in you model it won't export at all. Or I should say it does export but maker ware can not see it or read it. I also have tried copy and pasting the geometry to a new model with some success. I have also tried exploding the model and re grouping it with no success. All of my groups are solids.

Ccleaner kicks butt.

Doh. Ya makes sense. Guess I should have looked at the nozzle size instead. So same question with a picture. What happens when I model something smaller than .4mm which is the nozzle size on the makerbot?

Thanks for the reply. I had a read of your article and it was helpful.

I had no problem modeling things into solids but when I tried to combine them into one solid it was very painful and did not work. Good to know that I can have separate groups that can make up one model as long as they are all solids.

I have access to a maker bot replicator 2.

One other question now that I am looking at the spec for the machine. I see it the filament is 1.75mm. When I am modeling things should I keep in mind that 1.75mm is the smallest wall size I can have on a print? What happens when I model a cube for instance and want it to have a 1mm wall thickness all around? Probably not possible?

Thanks for your help
S

This thread is meant for people who have any input on hints, tips or tutorials for producing a model in Sketchup and then having it 3D printed.

I have a few questions about modeling. I am using Sketchup pro and the solid tool lots and am using solid solver.

1.) Does the model that I export to .stl have to be in one group that is a solid? Or can I have a bunch of groups making up one model?

2.) What happens if a group is not a solid in sketchup?

3.) Circles and arc. Is it a good idea to have more sides to a circle than the default?

4.) Which plugin to you recommend for exporting to .stl?

Thanks
S

You will find in this (http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=179&t=31664) thread that most of the people did not build their models with their hands.

Mine is the bed near the bottom of the first page. I ended up selling it for $100 in scrap metal.

Great to see some models coming to life.

S

Are you using layout for your drawings?

For the symbols I would just start making my own and adding them to the scrap book. You could start by making a fillet and adding text to it for the size and then add some text for the tail and then add a symbol for the field weld. Then when you grab it from the scrap book you could just edit the size and delete the field weld symbol if needed. Or you could create different pages in the scrapbook for different size welds.

Sorry no good ideas on how to do this in the model.

Wish I could find a job in this industry that pays good mula.

Cheers

S

In the vid the guy said he made the vase in photoshop. Is that possible or did he import it from a 3d program?

Thanks for sharing. Its always interesting how people organize their files. Even more interesting where they are from different parts of the world.

What kind of drawings are you supplying? Structural or piping? Got any examples?

Great work by the way. Good to see sketchup being used in the real world.

S

Good work man. Looks like you have a good understanding of how steel goes together.

Sweet sounds like my dream job.

Feel free to share any screen shots of some models and finished products.

S

PS welcome to the forum

Could you please give a screen shot on how your sketchup looks.

Does this just put the plugin icons into the main window tool bar? Or does it create a new floating tool bar?

I am interested in tool bars for the mac I just don't use the same plugins as you.

Cheers

S

Have a good one man.

We call them running dimensions. RD. I like them a lot. Would be good to have in layout maybe someday but there are tons of other things I would like to see first.

Looks great. Cant wait to see the final project done.

Do you just do the modeling or do you hammer nails and do project management?

I modeled a small pump track for a costumer last year was way smaller but same ideas.

Somebody please kill instagram.

Cheers

S

Great seeing a project from start to finish.

Good luck in Sydney

Do most of you guys use the automatic backup settings or do you shut them off.

I personally have shut it off since day one. I already save to much as it is. Have to save every time before I use most plugins because they make sketchup crash some times.

@jason_maranto said:

There is a library I've created/updated for the RAL color system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAL_(color_space_system)

It contains 2014 MXM materials -- There are 11 categories:

1. Anodized Aluminum1. Car Paint1. Diffuse1. Glass1. Glossy Metallic Plastic1. Painted Wall1. Satin1. Shiny Plastic1. SSS Plastic1. Tiles1. Velvet

Each category contains the same 183 colors.

These MXM files should be unzipped to reside in the following folder on your system (create this folder structure if it does not already exist):
C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell 2\materials database\mxm files\RAL Libraries* category name*

My bandwidth is limited so please only download these if you will use them.

Here is a dropbox link for the MXM files:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41250852/RAL%20Libraries.zip

I have also created the SketchUp Material Libraries that are linked to these MXM's so you can simply apply the SketchUp materials as you would any normal SketchUp Material and it will automatically render as the matching MXM. These should be installed into your Sketchup Materials folder as per normal.

Here is the dropbox link for the SketchUp material files:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41250852/Maxwell%20RAL%20Libraries.zip

I hope this will help the new users get going with Maxwell for SketchUp more quickly.

Best,
Jason.

Thank you so much for the great tutorial Jason. I just download the free plugin last night and have been watching your tuts. I tried rendering a couple of years ago on kerkythea with no luck. Looking forward to this.

I have a question about the MXM that you posted above(thank you for posting these material for use newbies).I have downloaded them and dropped the materials into the materials folder in sketchup.Do these materials need to be linked to the specific path to the MXM's? I am on a Mac and not sure where to put the MXM_diffuse_RAL folder?

Cheers

Steve