I finished my first model and got it printed up successfully. YAY! But now I decided to make some modifications now that I have made a good practical test. But when I convert it from Sketchup's .spk file and export it as any other kind of file, like .obj or .dae, the part that I edited disappears! I tried everything. I did a "select all" before exporting. I saved the entire .skp file, closed Sketchup, then opened the file again and tried to export it, and always I get the same results. A critical part of my model is completely gone! It is still there on the original .spk file when I open it in Sketchup. Its just missing when I upload it to Shapeways. Whats going on? This is my model as it appears on Sketchup: This is the model once I've uploaded it:
Hmmm... your model in Sketchup looks kinda funky, I wouldn't be surprised if it's non-manifold or something. Perhaps you could export it as .stl and read it into Netfabb Basic (free). Search on these forums for excellent advice about how to use Netfabb. ...Shel M. NH, USA
Most probably the part that is disappearing has inverted normals. In Sketchup pick a face you know is pointing the correct way, right click - Orient faces. May work. I would also delete any extra lines that are not wanted, including any guide lines. It could also be that when you edited it you did not edit the group, so the edit you drew would not be connected to the main shell. Export as STL https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/sketchup-stl Then check it in Netfabb If you can't fix it;, you could email or PM it to me and I will try to fix it.
OK, I think we are getting somewhere, but I think in the wrong direction. I hit "orient faces", and what I get when I try to upload is: We're unable to process this file. Check your file for errors and click 'Update File' to upload a new version. Model is not manifold. Model failed during repair. The final model was empty. Perhaps it's too small? Rescale from mm to inch. Is there a way to see which way a face is oriented? I am not even sure what orientation means in this context.
There is a convenient way to see the orientation of the faces in Sketchup: In the Styles window, under Edit Face Settings, choose contrasting colors for Front and Back. I use white for front, and magenta for back. That makes reversed faces really obvious. White = good, magenta = bad. Shel M. NH, USA
Thanks for the help with the orientation issue. Once I got that straightened out, I finally got the model to render completely, with all, parts, by just adding a lot of new lines. Apparently, some of the faces weren't registering as closed.