Google Sketchup possible

In the latest version of sketchup, collada export is included, with many handy options!

sincerely,
Jeff Coleman
Terra Cotta Personal Fabricators

Latest version of sketchup - pro or normal - then follow the directions here:

<a href=" http://www.barrule.com/jeds/sketchup/sketchup%20tutorial.htm l" target="_blank"></a>

You will want to ahve Accutrans3D and Meshlabs.... both are invaluable and Meshlab has a lot of other features you will get used to using - its also about the only program that will take a sketchup .dae file and convert it sensibly into a proper .stl file.

I've been using sketchup for some time now to make commercial items based upon 3D printed masters...it used to be the "Old method" of exporting .kmz files and then pratting around.. thankfully it is a lot easier now.

Of note also is that using the "old method" the files become completely scrambled and utterly useless now - so this procedure replaces the "Old method" unless you are using an earlier version of skethcup than 7.1.

There is a FREE plugin that worked for me. It has an STL exporter that can be used by itself, or the model can be resurfaced, making some of the poorly drawn, planar models a solid STL. Super easy to use.

http://www.cadspan.com/tools

I also chatted with the staff there about a special piece I wanted to try in the plaster material first and they were really helpful .

The exporter sounds interesting but I sure won't be using their printing service: US$85 per HOUR with each project taking about a DAY to produce !! Give me a break!

Well I just tried the CADspan plug-in for Sketchup and user beware; as far as I can tell you cannot export to .stl without using the Cadspan service.... correct me if I'm wrong and please detail the procedure you're using.

CADspan team member here, I would like to clarify a couple of things and provide some information that might be useful to those wishing to 3D print from Google SketchUp.

It sounds like some of you are having success with our plugin and others are not.
Those of you who are getting solid models from the resurfacer according to Blender etc. but not Shapeways: we are working on a fix for this problem. Shapeways' STL check does not approve our resurfaced output in many cases, but we are working to correct the discrepancies. The resurfaced STL files are in fact printable. Look for a new release of the CADspan plugin in early 2010 that will make SketchUp -> Shapeways MUCH easier.
Apologies for the confusion. We charge US$85/hr for FILE REPAIR work. This is for people who cannot get a printable STL file from their model and wish to hire professional help. On average it takes a day to repair a poorly drawn 3D model and prepare it for 3D printing - this is an average. We quote these jobs after seeing the file.

We ALSO offer 3D printing at competitive prices. I will not advertise here but see our website for more information.

To use all of the CADspan tools, you must create a FREE user account. This allows us to provide you with support, among other things. Of course we do not share personal information, email addresses, etc. Once you create a CADspan user account, you can then log in to the resurfacer and have access to all of the CADspan tools. At any time a user can decide to purchase a Pro subscription (or not), which offers a richer feature set.

To learn more about CADspan please see http://www.cadspan.com/info - FAQ, Video Tutorials, User Guides, and much more information is available.

Thanks for the kind words to those of you who have had success, we appreciate your support! We welcome any and all inquiries and feedback via email: info <at> cadspan <dot> com.

Don't know if the cadspan fellow answered your question or not, but the process I used that worked for me:

Download the plugin (small file)
Install the plugin.
Open SketchUp and the "cadspan" toolbox was in my menu bar.
Clicked on the "resurfacer" tool and then followed the instructions to make a free account.
Once you have the resurfacer open you can have your file "shrink wrapped" to get an stl that has been corrected for printing or you can use the stl export button that has some warning that pops up.

I have used the resurfaced stl to make a print and the stl "triangle dump" to get an stl out . They both work depending on your input file and end goal.

Hope that helps. If not let me know I have played with it a bit and have had some great results. O, and to the 85/hour, my print was less than the (85/hour * build time) delivered so the pricing seems to be different for the 3d prints.

Thanks 05willys. I left out the brief tutorial because I was hoping folks would check out our docs and info.

Glad to hear that the tools are working for you. You are exactly correct about input file and end goal.

Yes, our 3D printing prices are different than our file repair prices.

Thanks again!

Hi all,

i'm new to all this and tried to make a basic model of a house. I used google sketchup together with the cadspan plugin to make the stl.

I'm having some problems though. I made my model on the right scale in sketchup (100x60x40 mm), but when I upload the processed stl file, I get a message from shapeways that my model is too small to be printed! 0.24 x 0.44 x 0.12 cm it says..

now, i've checked my dimensions in sketchup and they are correct, so i don't see what's wrong here.

does anyone have an idea what the problem is? i attached my sketchup file..

(btw i cant use accutrans to rescale because i am working on a mac computer..°

In my experience the sketchup dimensions are wrong when you export with the cadspan tool. In the email you received form Shapeways it will say how wide you current model is, take that size and the size sketchup is giving you and you can work out the ratio to scale your model up by

is there a way to re-scale a model in google sketchup?

(Bumping the thread)

I pretty much gave up using Sketchup for my 3D models until a recent retry. I was reminded of why I gave up; manifold issues, sometime Shapeways would accept the Collada file, sometimes not. I tried using Meshlab to correct the horribly messy models - even though they were of the most basic shapes.

Then I took a look at CADspan again and am now a convert. The previously unacceptable file was instantly printable.

What I want to say here, though, is the Sketchup-CADspan-STL process could be explained a bit better by CADspan. Anyone using it may not realise what they have to do.

Here, then, are the steps.
1) Create your model in Sketchup.
2) Open the CADspan plugin (that you previously installed) by clicking on the Resurfacer button NOT the export to STL button.
3) Once uploaded click on the Process button.
4) Once processed now click on Download STL button to retrieve a ZIP file containing your STL file.

In the forums are explanations about how to re-size your model if you haven't managed to keep the right size during all this.

Thanks CADspan... and to Shapeways: How about coming up with something like this because, I tell you, Sketchup and Shapeways just don't seem to be a good fit, in my opinion, with too many errors and frustrating attempts at correction.

lensman, i use Sketchup since day one back in last October
when i first stumbled upon Shapeways by accident.

It took me some months to learn simple 3D modeling with it,
but the real change begun when i started adding RUBI scripts
to Sketchup.

These are community scripts which enhance the productivity by 1000-fold!

I too uploaded my first model with the Cadspan "process" ..
Well i'm glad to tell you that i ditch it long long ago when i found
a STL exporter (a free Rubi script for sketchup).


Here are links to all the coolest most productive scripts you'll
need in order to model with Sketchup and bring your creativity to
Shapeways in a smooth & quick way.

https://forums.sketchucation.com/viewforum.php?f=323

https://sketchuppluginreviews.com/

One of the free scripts can also check and repair manifold issues.
But now with the new fixing software at Shapeways, once you
export your model as a STL file , almost every time it will be
accepted for 3D printing.



Check out my models , they are ALL made using Sketchup
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/dizingof


Asher

Asher, thanks very much for your reply. I will most definately check these links out. I hate relying on a service that could disappear at any time.

Glenn

Asher I have checked the sites you mentioned and have even searched the Internet to no avail. I was able to find only one plug-in that will allow export to STL and have yet to try it.

If you could give me the name of the plug-in or at least where you got it I can start searching with that info.

Glenn

Its called Manifold 2.2 for sketchup:

http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2010/02/plugin-manifold-22- for-sketchup.html

Try it out and let us know how it worked for you.

Thanks. Will do.

Okay... tested.

Not too happy with it. It seemed to work when it detected 501 errors (on what I consider to be a very basic model). It created a fixed model off to the side, in xray mode, with errors highlighted with text. What I wasn't positive on was whether or not this was a model I could now use; I believe it was supposed to be.

No matter what face style I chose it remained semi transparent.

I had to resize the model before saving as a DAE file for Shapeways. MUCH frustration here. The re-sizing had NO effect and kept uploading at the original size. I tried this MANY times.

Eventually, after exploding everything, it did save to a smaller size, but by this time I was sick of sending it to Shapeways; I exported it as a DWG file and imported into Rhino. It looked very odd still with some of the faces not looking like others. I re-sized it before exporting as a STL file. I then uploaded this to Shapeways and it was accepted. Still some of the the preview faces looked odd.

In short, this workflow is totally unnaceptable and I still will be using Cadspan to do a very simple file upload, process then download. I just have to hope that they don't stop providing the service anytime soon.