| SketchUp Plugins [message #41952] Sat, 14 January 2012 19:44 UTC |
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I've been browsing plugins for sketchup, but as a fairly new user, I'm not certain which ones are actually useful for 3d printing. Maybe we should have an aggregate list of plugins and what they enable you to do (in plain English) for people who are new or still learning.
Error Checking
Solid Inspector - scans for potential print errors and highlights them.
Object Creation
Shapes - quickly generates primitives (sphere, triangle, box, etc).
Export/File Conversion
SKP to STL to export STL files directly from Sketchup
Here is a large number of plugins for making organic models (Organic models are people, animals, plants, etc).
[Updated on: Mon, 16 January 2012 07:44 UTC]
http://fracturedmesh.blogspot.com/ - my 3d modeling blog
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| Re: SketchUp Plugins [message #41956 is a reply to message #41952 ] Sat, 14 January 2012 21:47 UTC |
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Good idea!
Solid Inspector, for sure.
SKP to STL to export STL files directly from Sketchup
I use lots of other plugins for modeling, they're not directly related to 3D printing
-Marcus
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| Re: SketchUp Plugins [message #41957 is a reply to message #41956 ] Sat, 14 January 2012 21:51 UTC |
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Well, it doesn't need to be directly related to printing, but something that can be useful. For example, a way to rig models so that you can put them in different poses/positions without rebuilding entire sections. That's generally not needed for 3d printing, but people who design miniatures or objects with multiple states could find it very useful.
http://fracturedmesh.blogspot.com/ - my 3d modeling blog
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| Re: SketchUp Plugins [message #42124 is a reply to message #41957 ] Tue, 17 January 2012 15:51 UTC |
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Sketchup isn't really good for rigging models(that's not what it was designed/intended to do), but if you want to do it, this is probably the best way - using layers and copies: Rigging models in Sketchup -Part 1, Part 2, and a video
Here is a list of all plugins hosted on Sketchucation, and at this time is likely the most comprehensive list of Sketchup plugins online. Of course there are many more plugins scattered around the web, but you have to search for them.
Here is a Visual Index of "Must Have Ruby Plugins", with GIF's showing their purpose. (This is where the organic list above originated from)
On that page listed above, here are my most frequently used:
Fredo6 Round Corner - quickly add a bevel/radius to a 3D corner
Fredo6 BezierSpline - draw Beziers and other polylines
Chris Fullmer Shape Bender - bend a 3D object to match a 2D curve
Recurve - select and weld individual segments into a polyline
Not listed on that page, but also useful:
MakeFaces - good for healing small holes in your model
Twilight Render ($99) - make photorealistic renders of your models
[Updated on: Tue, 17 January 2012 15:53 UTC]
-Marcus
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