Hello Sketchup community. I am a newbie and I’m trying to create a model for 3D printing. I want to create a bevel around this rounded edge much like you see in the second pic. I’ve been looking for a solution for a couple of day but can’t figure it out. Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks so much in advance.
There are many ways to do it, one would be to think a bit differently and use Follow Me.
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Thanks so much for your speedy reply. Can you tell me a bit more about how you got there? I did the original 2D drawing in illustrator and have imported the profile/cross-section shape, and the large “clover” shape as separate .dwg files, but I’m having trouble aligning the profile shape with the “clover” body shape so that I can use the follow me. The rotate tool is just not cooperating. Any chance you could show me your process? Also any tips on how to achieve the rest of the object in the image?
Be a lot easier to show you if you add the model file as far as you have got.
Add it the same way you did the images.
Here is a simple version showing how to rotate and move a profile into place.
I have used click and drag to orientate the rotate tool, but you can also use the arrow keys to set the axis you want.
Then select the path, activate the Follow Me tool,(highlighted path will appear to lose selection), right click on the profile and choose Edit Group, then click the face.
Here are the Sketchup file and my illustrator file and corresponding pdf. Thanks so much for all of your help
Your model isn’t really that complex to put together, but you need to get your head around some of the fundamentals first.
Learning how to navigate, rotate, move etc
It’s crucial to understand the segmentation of circles, how they should be drawn on axis and how to control the smoothness by adding more or less segments.
I mention this because your original model is drawn off axis, so the segments don’t line up which causes problems with follow me.
I drew this up by working out the center of the drawing and the centers of the circles then I used those circles to create the path for follow me.
You could do similar with the rest or as I have done in the gif, scaled the inner circle to make the slope.
How you make the shapes will depend on exactly how you want them and how they easily the shapes can be created with scale etc
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