Making Replacement Parts with SketchUp is So Easy!

Making Replacement Parts with SketchUp is So Easy!

The new knob is in its place I recently had the need to replace a broken knob on our dryer and instead of tracking down the original replacement part, I 3D printed the knob from a SketchUp model I made in a few minutes. Check out my blog post and see how I did it: https://alexschreyer.net/sketchup/dryer-fix-made-easy-3d-printing/ ...
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Second edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is now available!

Second edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is now available!

I am very excited to be announcing the release of the second edition of my book "Architectural Design with SketchUp" today! For this edition, I went back through the text and updated and improved a lot of content. As before, my main goal was to keep it relevant for as large a variety of SketchUp users as possible and at the same time provide thorough yet easy to follow examples and tutorials. I am also very excited to announce a completely new chapter on physically making things with SketchUp that includes 3D printing, CNC cutting, and other techniques. Lots of fun stuff! As before, this second edition will use the companion website at http://sketchupfordesign.com/the-book where you can find free sample chapters, videos, references, 3D models, and tutorials.There are also now over 30 videos that accompany the book and can be accessed using the instructions in the book. Interested in getting the book? Check out Amazon or Wiley. Here's the official press release: 3D Modeling in SketchUp and Digital Making Come Together in Second Edition of “Architectural...
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Better Modeling for 3D Warehouse – and Anywhere

Just a quick heads-up: The SketchUp folks just posted a set of videos that explain how to create better models for sharing on the 3D Warehouse. I am linking to the videos and post here because I have way too often come across models where the scale was off, the component nesting didn't make sense, textures were too detailed etc. This is especially crucial if there might be a desire to 3D print them later. Check out the videos and original link below for more information... https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL-bndkJaV8A75zuNAf0A5NCfF8beEve7V&v=_JHWKf0D070 Original Link What makes a great 3D Warehouse model? A checklist… ...
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Second Edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is almost here!

Second Edition of “Architectural Design with SketchUp” is almost here!

After the success of the first edition of my SketchUp book, I went back through the text for the second edition and updated quite a bit of content. My main goal was to keep it highly relevant for as large a variety of SketchUp users as possible and at the same time provide thorough yet easy to follow examples and tutorials. I am also very excited to announce a completely new chapter on physically making things with SketchUp that includes 3D printing, CNC cutting, and other techniques. Lots of fun stuff! As before, this edition will use the companion website at http://sketchupfordesign.com where you can find videos, references, 3D models, and tutorials. I'll post more about the book once it has been officially released. For now, here's a teaser: From the back cover: TAP INTO SKETCHUP'S REAL-WORLD, REAL-WORK FUNCTIONALITY Architectural Design with SketchUp, Second Edition, is the leading guide to Trimble SketchUp, an easy-to-use, yet incredibly powerful tool for architects, interior designers, construction professionals, and makers. It provides the SketchUp...
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Making Everything 3D-Printable

Making Everything 3D-Printable

UPDATE:Unfortunately this service is no longer available. One of the hardest tasks with 3D printing with SketchUp is often making something that has not been modeled properly 3D printable. This means that whatever geometry you are given needs to be turned into a "watertight" or "manifold" solid. In SketchUp there are a bunch of extensions that help with this task (namely Solid Inspector and Solid Solver). But even they can't automatically fix a model like the one shown in the 3D viewer and images below. Fortunately for us, SketchUp and iMaterialize just announced a solution that is baked into 3D Warehouse. An Example As you can see, this model is an intersection of three shapes (made without using SketchUp's Intersect tool), where I removed two faces and introduced a small triangular hole in one of the faces. I then uploaded this model to the 3D Warehouse the usual way (File > 3D Warehouse > Share Model...) and made sure the checkbox at the bottom was checked. After a...
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