<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Hey Paul and other Sketchup gurus....<br><br></div>A question about STL / Slicers and working with Sketchup for laser cutting instead of 3D Printing....<br><br></div>I've imported a wunnerful complex .3ds model into Sketchup. Using the Section Plane tool and adjusting it by increments I can get layer outlines to "build by stack" but as yet cannot find a fantastic way to output those. Some googling leads me to believe that Sketchup pro is needed to do export of section planes. Before I do that, was wondering if a pro such as yourself or others might know a better way to go about it.<br>
<br>If you had a model, approx 20", in sketchup that you wanted to output with 1 layer every 1" or so, how might you go about it?<br><br></div>Thx,<br>Jamie<br><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 4:22 PM, Paul & Andrea Mumby <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:themumbys@gmail.com" target="_blank">themumbys@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Sketchup is very capable for 3D Printing. Though not out of the box. You need a plugin.<div><br></div><div>I pretty much use Sketchup, or OpenSCAD as my 2 primary design tools for all my printing.</div><div>
<br></div><div>Most 3D Printers require a file in either a specific format for the machine, or some variance of GCODE (typically still fairly specific to the tunings of the machine). Which is where a "Slicer" app comes in. There are dozens of these for free. Cura is a good one (but primarily for ultimaker). These almost all take an STL format 3D Model, and slice it up into the layers needed for 3D Printing, and output a GCODE (or other format) file.</div>
<div><br></div><div>To output an STL in Sketchup is easy, you just need is this plugin <a href="http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/sketchup-stl" target="_blank">http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/sketchup-stl</a></div>
<div>
<br></div><div>Check the comments if you have trouble installing it. It's a bit different in the new version of sketchup, in V8 it was a bit simpler. But still fairly easy to do once you get the right paths and such.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Once the plugin is installed you just select the model parts you want to export, (I prefer to group them, and check they are a complete object, by checking for volume by right clicking on it once it's grouped, and choosing "Entity Info". If it shows a "volume" in there, then it's "water tight" (no holes, and therefore a solid object). That is one thing to check to ensure it's printable.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Then export to STL.</div><div><br></div><div>Hope that helps!</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 4:11 PM, Aurelius R <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:maxrowsell@gmail.com" target="_blank">maxrowsell@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr">I have just stumbled onto the amazing thing that is Sketchup. In school, we learned the beginnings of Blender and also another one whose name I can't remember, and I always wanted to get back into it.<div>
<br></div><div>I think because I have experience working with 3D models, I only had to watch the very basic tutorial videos and I was off and running, though I suspect the average person wouldn't need much more than that either.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I've designed the shelf I've always wanted, which is freestanding and sits on my desk to give me shelf space above my monitors. Hard to explain without seeing it. I also prototyped a project case with a speaker hole in the bottom and standoffs etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>My question for all you 3D printer experts out there is, what format do most 3D printers take? I've noticed that this program can export the 3D models in quite a few different formats.</div><div><br>
</div><div>My other question was, if I wanted to print a small case for one of my boards, am I allowed to do it at the lab?</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks!<br clear="all"><div>____________________<br>Peace, Love, Empathy<br>
<br>Alexander Max Rowsell<br></div>
</div></div>
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