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

Modeling from Scratch Using Native Editing Tools

One of the things that initially drew me to SketchUp was how much I could get done with the native set of simple modeling tools. While I eventually mastered several advanced modeling workflows and the use of many extensions, the basic, simple modeling tools are still key to SketchUp modeling.

In the Free version of SketchUp for Web, I am taken back to those early days of SketchUp use, with access only to basic modeling tools. In this chapter, we will use only the native modeling tools in SketchUp for Web to create a print-ready model from scratch.

SketchUp version

While the exact steps in this chapter will be from the Free version of SketchUp for Web, you should be able to follow along in either the Shop version or SketchUp for Desktop.

In this chapter, we will cover these main topics:

  • Creating basic geometry
  • Editing geometry using native tools
  • Preparing your model for 3D printing