I am trying to construct a 3D model of a pedestrian bridge from a drawing provided to me. I have been able to find some usable components in the 3D warehouse but cannot find anything similar to the attached product. It is a geocell containment grid used for creating a support base for the bridge abutments. I am wondering if anyone has a model they could share.
LSG_SERIES_SECTIONS_DETAIL_3_4_6_DEPTHS_LSG_CAD_2020.pdf (163.3 KB)
How are you going to use the model of this? How much detail does it need to have?
This is just something I am experimenting with. The bridge is for a cabin tract in the forest. The Forest Service provided a pdf file of a design which the cabin owners need to build. I am one of the owners. I am retired, new to SketchUp and trying my.hand at more complex projects. It is strictly for personal use. The detail for the grid isn’t really that important, just something I can put in as part of a much larger drawing.
This sort of thing has the potential to kill your model in a hurry if you try to do it all with geometry. Maybe something like this would work for you instead.
I create a texture by drawing a flattened piece and putting holes in it. Then exported an image of that rectangle and made the holes transparent. I saved it as a PNG so the holes will be transparent in the texture and imported that into SU. This was quick and dirty since it’s just as an example.
The material was applied to the front and back surfaces of a simple curved surface which was made as a component that was then copied to make a cell. That cell is also a component which I thin copied a bunch of times.
I drew the curve using FredoSpline. It was drawn on a face and then extruded with Push/Pull. Then I deleted what wasn’t the curved metal surface.
Thanks Dave. Can all this be done from the Make product I am using?
Yes. It can all be done in Make. You’ll need an image editor. I use PaintDotNet which is freely available.
@DaveR…thanks for posting your response! I have a built in magnetism to overly complicated models and hate how clunky they get. It has forced me to learn how to use tags and outliner to hide parts. This however, gives me a different way to accomplish visual complexity without the masses of geometry.
You’re welcome.
Please don’t take this as a replacement for using tags and Outliner. It’s still a good idea to use them.
By the way, I’m all for complexity in models when it’s fun. If you saw my recent wheel puller model, that has more a quarter of a million entities in just the central screw. But that sort of thing only kind of makes sense when that is the model. Otherwise it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of geometry wherever possible.
Being new to Sketchup and unfamiliar with FredoSpline, I didn’t have much success creating this myself. Any chance you could share your skp file with me?
I didn’t keep any of it. I’d have to remake it.
Ok. Thanks anyway.
It didn’t take long–had to look up some info which took longer. I sent it via a PM.
