Book Image

3D Printing with SketchUp - Second Edition

By : Aaron Dietzen Aka 'the Sketchup Guy'
Book Image

3D Printing with SketchUp - Second Edition

By: Aaron Dietzen Aka 'the Sketchup Guy'

Overview of this book

Working with the amazing 3D printing technology and getting access to the printing hardware is now easier than ever before. While there are many other resources that cover the general process of 3D printing, this book is the ultimate guide to creating models for 3D printing using SketchUp. You’ll start with a basic understanding of how SketchUp is used in the 3D printing workflow and jump into the steps to create a print-ready model using only SketchUp. This 3D printing book will guide you in using SketchUp to modify existing 3D files and cover additional tools that make SketchUp an even more powerful modeling tool. As you advance, you’ll learn how to transform 2D images into 3D printable solids, how to create multi-part prints that can be assembled without the use of fasteners or glue, and how to make sure your model, whether designed from scratch or assembled from preexisting geometry, is ready to be made real via your 3D printer. By the end of this book, you’ll have the confidence to bring your design ideas to life by generating your own 3D print-ready models with SketchUp.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Prepared to Print
6
Part 2: Modeling for 3D Printing

Print-Ready Modeling and Scaling for Export

I have used the term print-ready a few times already in this book without really defining what it means. When I say that a model is print-ready, I am saying that it is a manifold solid, and should be recognized as printable by slicing software.

Modeling print-ready geometry is not the default method of modeling in SketchUp. Due to the open nature of SketchUp, you can model whatever you want, however you want. Modeling print-ready geometry means being consistent in your process of maintaining solid geometry as you model. Yes, you could model in a more haphazard manner, and then spend time assuring things are solid afterward, but modeling with the intention of sending your geometry out as a solid will help you streamline your modeling process.

Fortunately, this process is not difficult to master. In fact, we should be able to cover the main concepts in this chapter, and still have time to tackle a lesson on scaling your models as well...