Solid objects in Google Sketchup

Hello,

I have been able to export from sketchup and put them into slic3r. However i don't want a completely hollow print and that is how i think google sketchup exports the stls. I do not have the pro tools and so how can i make this work?

Thanks,

Simon

STL has no concept of solid or hollow. The level of infill is set in your slicing program (Slic3r or Skeinforge). As long as your part is manifold (no gaps in the polygons, no polygons that overlap inside the part), your slicer should be able to handle it. Unfortunately, sketchup generally doesn't produce manifold STLs. You can fix them easily using Netfabb cloud [cloud.netfabb.com] . Use that on the parts you produce and you should be fine.

ok thanks

:-)

Sketchup has no problem with making manifold models, as long as the modeler is careful and learns the proper way. Proper modeling for a 3d printer in sketchup is more complex than the average sketchup user understands.

the biggest issues i've seen with sketchup models on thingiverse is reversed faces (the grey/blue side of a face is on the exterior). another issue is the model position relative to the axes and origin, and how they relate to bed position and the build direction. both these are modeler problems that go away as the user learns how to model better.

the only issue i've had with the program is it sometimes creates a broken edge when cutting curves or curved faces. it's probably best to explode a curve, but then you can't select the entire curve later. it's only happened a handful of times, but the best way of saving aggravation is to run the cleanup plugin regularly and make sure the 'broken edges' are always 0.

anyway, just saying i've made hunderds of stls in sketchup and never had to use netfabb to fix them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2012 11:17AM by Buback.

Fair enough. I'm sure there are ways to reliably make valid stls, but it seems to require a lot of non-obvious tweaking. Openscad is incapable of making a non-manifold stl (if you try something that in theory wouldn't be manifold it won't even render, but even that rarely happens) so that's what I tend to use.

Update:
Ok that was a stupid statement. It's entirely possible to make non-manifold parts in openscad by making solids that match up on a plane but don't overlap. I just automatically make everything overlap at this point so I never see it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2012 03:50PM by jsadusk.