Hi everyone,

I did some 3D modeling work 10 years back in High School, and I'm now getting back into it, using Google Sketchup.

I've been working on Transformer robot toy head in Google Sketchup for the past 2 days, and I'm ready to export it to Meshlab, then check it in Netfabb for errors.

The problems are...

In Sketchup, I'm trying to resize the model down to the correct scale (1.4cm wide), but I noticed that after resizing, the edges degrade (?!), resulting in a substantial loss of detail. That shouldn't happen in any 3D program.

So, trying to just export it as-is from Sketchup into Meshlab (which is just used to save it as a .STL file?), then Netfabb (which is just used to run mesh-correct scripts?) - results in an error from Shapeways.

Either there's still some wacky errors with the model, or it's not resizing correctly.

Just... it's really frustrating. Any suggestions, or offers to check out the model (maybe I'm missing something?) would be much appreciated.

-Blayne
blaynescott@gmail.com

Custom Toys & Action Figures
http://blayne.dark-ware.org/

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Thanks to anyone willing to check this out -- I'm aiming to get this model watertight, scaled to 1.4cm wide (across the head), as he's destine for use in an action figure I've made.

Also, if you find out what I've done wrong in what's causing the errors - I'm open to any/all advice or critique. I'd like to improve my 3D modeling skills.

Thanks!
-Blayne

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Kasss_Gnarl wrote on Wed, 22 February 2012 20:46

Hi Blayne, Heres the model re-sized and cleaned up, I have also included a copy with some red internal faces which would have been causing you problems.

Hi,

Thanks for your help. The uploaded model still had some issues uploading to Shapeways, but thanks to your advice I found those duplicate internal faces and deleted them though Netfabb. Afterward, I ran their hole-patching general checks - and it worked!

I realize also how to properly resize objects too - the resize tool in Netfabb doesn't offer real-world units, only a ratio scale.

Since my object was 3.56mm (and needed to be 13mm long), I used my calculator to divide one value into the other (13 / 3.56 = correct ratio to type in.

The model resized correctly to 13 mm long, and also hit the 'repair' option when exporting - 0 problems found! Shapeways accepted it on upload.

This has certainly been a learning process - I appreciate the guidance. ^_^

Looking forward to printing this piece out. Thanks for the links to Sketchup stuff too. Looking forward to making use of those plugins with future projects.

-Blayne

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[Updated on: Fri, 24 February 2012 19:46 UTC]