Using SketchUp to produce drawings for 3-D Printing
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:38 am
It was suggested that I might like to produce a SketchUp Masterclass thread. I'm no SU Master, but for a start I'll show how I would produce a simple window frame. There are many ways of doing most things, and some of them may be easier or quicker than mine, but I'm not a Master!
Before doing any drawing, this post will hopefully explain how to download it and get it set up.
First of all, SketchUp used to produce two versions, SketchUp Pro and SketchUp Make. The Pro version was paid for but the Make version was free to download and use and it's limitations are irrelevant for the sort of use we make of it. When they isued the SU 2017 update, it would only work properly on more sophisticated graphics than my PC at the time posessed so I stuck with SU Make 2016 which still works perfectly well. However, in 2018 they decided to discontinue the download versions and take everything "in the cloud", this of course requires that you have a solid 'net connection to be able to use it. I suggest that SU Make 2016 or 2017 is more than adequate and works wherever you are.
So to download it go to: https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup- ... inks/37503
Then click the line "[ I do agree bindingly to use the SketchUp Make version for non-commercial purposes only ]", Choose the x64 or x32 version and download, save the file, and double click to start the installation.
Install it to the default location and the first thing it will do is show a splash screen telling you to try the cloud version, ignore that and click the "Start using SketchUp" button at the bottom RH corner. It will then tell you to choose a template from the dropdown list at the top of the screen. There are various options including dims in both feet and inches and metric for a number of different uses. I suggest using the last option "3D Printing - Millimetres for Maker" , you can always change it later if you want. The window will disappear and be replaced by a new window showing the 3 coloured axes and a black wireframe cuboid carrying the label 'Makerbot Replicator 2X'. Unless you want to draw within this frame, you can simply delete it. Click it, and it will turn blue and then simply hitting your delete button will get rid of it and we can get down to actually drawing!
First though, a quick explanation of the buttons at the top of the screen. Hover your mouse over the icon at any time and a tooltip appears, but for reference this is the list:
1) Select
2) Eraser
3) Lines - the adjacent down arrowhead allows for drawing either straight lines or freehand.
4) The Arc button has several variants accessed by clicking the down arrowhead to the side.
5) The circle or square Shapes draws that shape and also has a couple of other options under it's arrow.
6) PushPull -The rectangle with the up arrow on top is one that we'll use a lot and drags a face up, down or sideways to create or alter a 3-D shape.
7) The two arcs with a red arrow is the Off-set tool and we'll come back to that.
8 ) The 4-headed arrow is the Move tool and slides selected items around without affecting everything else.
9) The two arc shaped arrows Rotate a selected object. (This is a horrible tool to try to use and I avoid it as much as possible!).
10) The solid grey square inside a red square is the Scale button and is very useful at times.
11) Tape Measure has several functions, from simply measuring a distance on the drawing to setting guide points and lines, to actually resizing the object.
12 & 13) The next 2 buttons we don't need at this point.
14) The red and green swirl Orbit button is very useful and allows you to spin the entire drawing in any direction.
15) The hand Pans the drawing in any direction,
16) The magnifying glass Zooms in and out.
17) Extents - The magnifying glass with three arrows, automatically zooms the drawing to fit the window.
18) SketchUp 3-D Warehouse - not much use for our purposes.
19) SketchUp Extension Warehouse.
20) Solid Inspector2. This is not part of the default tool set but needs to be downloaded from the Extension Warehouse. It is not infallible but is a useful tool for looking for errors in the drawing. Download and install it and this new icon appears on the toolbar. Then at any point in a project just click the icon and a window will pop up indicating errors. Download from: https://extensions.sketchup.com/search/ ... 0inspector
A second Extension is much more important ( and so far has never failed me) and that is the stl exporter. Download and install this and it appears in the main File Menu. Click it and it automatically exports the stl file ready to put straight into your slicer to produce the x3g file for the printer.
Download from: https://extensions.sketchup.com/search/?q=stl%20export
OK, if you've waded through this, with any luck you should be ready to start drawing.
Before doing any drawing, this post will hopefully explain how to download it and get it set up.
First of all, SketchUp used to produce two versions, SketchUp Pro and SketchUp Make. The Pro version was paid for but the Make version was free to download and use and it's limitations are irrelevant for the sort of use we make of it. When they isued the SU 2017 update, it would only work properly on more sophisticated graphics than my PC at the time posessed so I stuck with SU Make 2016 which still works perfectly well. However, in 2018 they decided to discontinue the download versions and take everything "in the cloud", this of course requires that you have a solid 'net connection to be able to use it. I suggest that SU Make 2016 or 2017 is more than adequate and works wherever you are.
So to download it go to: https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup- ... inks/37503
Then click the line "[ I do agree bindingly to use the SketchUp Make version for non-commercial purposes only ]", Choose the x64 or x32 version and download, save the file, and double click to start the installation.
Install it to the default location and the first thing it will do is show a splash screen telling you to try the cloud version, ignore that and click the "Start using SketchUp" button at the bottom RH corner. It will then tell you to choose a template from the dropdown list at the top of the screen. There are various options including dims in both feet and inches and metric for a number of different uses. I suggest using the last option "3D Printing - Millimetres for Maker" , you can always change it later if you want. The window will disappear and be replaced by a new window showing the 3 coloured axes and a black wireframe cuboid carrying the label 'Makerbot Replicator 2X'. Unless you want to draw within this frame, you can simply delete it. Click it, and it will turn blue and then simply hitting your delete button will get rid of it and we can get down to actually drawing!
First though, a quick explanation of the buttons at the top of the screen. Hover your mouse over the icon at any time and a tooltip appears, but for reference this is the list:
1) Select
2) Eraser
3) Lines - the adjacent down arrowhead allows for drawing either straight lines or freehand.
4) The Arc button has several variants accessed by clicking the down arrowhead to the side.
5) The circle or square Shapes draws that shape and also has a couple of other options under it's arrow.
6) PushPull -The rectangle with the up arrow on top is one that we'll use a lot and drags a face up, down or sideways to create or alter a 3-D shape.
7) The two arcs with a red arrow is the Off-set tool and we'll come back to that.
8 ) The 4-headed arrow is the Move tool and slides selected items around without affecting everything else.
9) The two arc shaped arrows Rotate a selected object. (This is a horrible tool to try to use and I avoid it as much as possible!).
10) The solid grey square inside a red square is the Scale button and is very useful at times.
11) Tape Measure has several functions, from simply measuring a distance on the drawing to setting guide points and lines, to actually resizing the object.
12 & 13) The next 2 buttons we don't need at this point.
14) The red and green swirl Orbit button is very useful and allows you to spin the entire drawing in any direction.
15) The hand Pans the drawing in any direction,
16) The magnifying glass Zooms in and out.
17) Extents - The magnifying glass with three arrows, automatically zooms the drawing to fit the window.
18) SketchUp 3-D Warehouse - not much use for our purposes.
19) SketchUp Extension Warehouse.
20) Solid Inspector2. This is not part of the default tool set but needs to be downloaded from the Extension Warehouse. It is not infallible but is a useful tool for looking for errors in the drawing. Download and install it and this new icon appears on the toolbar. Then at any point in a project just click the icon and a window will pop up indicating errors. Download from: https://extensions.sketchup.com/search/ ... 0inspector
A second Extension is much more important ( and so far has never failed me) and that is the stl exporter. Download and install this and it appears in the main File Menu. Click it and it automatically exports the stl file ready to put straight into your slicer to produce the x3g file for the printer.
Download from: https://extensions.sketchup.com/search/?q=stl%20export
OK, if you've waded through this, with any luck you should be ready to start drawing.