Hey, so it seems like the preview in a model is chunky and before I shell out hundreds of dollars on printing, I need to be assured that the object I have designed to be round in Sketchup, is actually going to have a smooth diameter and surfaces https://www.shapeways.com/model/3dtools/3473776/0/6?key=ca84 cd7b3eabf389d2ccac2f9aa514bd If you have any advice or experience, that would be highly helpful, please and thank you.
You are probably using smooth shading in your 3d application that is big mistake for models for 3d printing. You need to subdivide your mesh to get as smooth surface as possible. And yes, that preview is true to what geometry will be send to printers. In what material you are going to print it?
When you create curves or circles in Sketchup increase the number of sides to make the curve smooth, by typing a number in the box, bottom right before you enter the size. The higher the number the smoother the curve. The default is only 24 sides. To check the visual effect turn on the Hidden geometry in the view menu.