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

Importing and Modifying Existing 3D Models

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that anyone who owns a 3D printer has printed a file that they did not create themselves at some point. Be it the sample file that comes with your printer or a really cool model downloaded from one of the many file-sharing sites that cater to 3D printing enthusiasts, the odds are high that you have printed something that you did not make from scratch. Sharing our models for 3D printing has become something of a standard and part of what we do as 3D printers. We download, modify, print, and re-share models all the time (remembering to give credit to the original creator, of course!).

In some cases, you may end up needing a file that you don’t have the ability or time to create from scratch. It’s also possible that you see a model and just think it would be fun to print! Whatever the case, there is always a possibility that you will need to make modifications to a downloaded file that...