I recently wrote an article to help Sketchup newbies get started making models for 3D printing. Read the article here: 8 Tips for 3D Printing with Sketchup. If you have any Sketchup related questions, post them here and I'll do my best to help you.
Glad its useful! Would you guys be interested in more stuff like this? If so, what specifically do you need help on?
How to set the orientation of your model to be the same as SW's model render would be useful. And the uses of the .dae to ease scaling problems. Your tut was great. It will help many new users, as some good tidbits for older users.
Thanks, glad its useful! With DAE there isn't any way to match the Sketchup render with the SW render, but you can change the orientation of the model in Sketchup so you get the desired render on Shapeways. When exporting to DAE, the red/blue plane is treated as the base, so just before exporting, rotate your model 90 degrees. Make the model a group, and use the move tool on the little red 'plus' sign that shows up on the bounding box to rotate the model quickly. See here: When you upload to Shapeways, the model will be shown in the "before" orientation.
Sure One reason I prefer STL is you don't have this issue with orientation, but there are other things you may not like so its up to you which format you choose. At least there are lots of choices!