Cleaning up stl files

SketchUp Pro
1

I have an assignment for a class and internship for the micro biology and engineering department which requires some drawings of an stl file they gave me. They do not have the original solid file from whatever cad program they used.

I need to import it into sketchup pro and then use whatever the best extension is to clean up the file and reduce the amount of trianlges, lines, edges, etc etc etc. then i need to make some basic working drawings of the part.

whats the best way to clean meshes in sketchup?

thanks

2

They are both paid extensions, but Transmutr or Skimp are made for that process.

Also, you may want to remove the word “layout” from your title, as what you are looking for does not seem to involve LayOut at all.

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3

true, i will edit the title haha.

thanks. I will look at those extensions. Maybe get the school to buy them haha

4

STL import also has a “Merge coplanar faces” option that ought to get rid of at least part of the triangulation.

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5

ok, i will look at that extension. Just saw the cleanup3 extension. ill see what i can do.

thanks

6

To avoid problems with tiny geometry, set the import units to something large like meters. After you’ve cleaned up the model you can see about scaling it down if you have to. Depending upon how it’ll be used, though, you might not need to scale down.

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7

the model will be purely used in layout for a drawing and presentation. Just needed to reduce the polygon count some because its making sketchup lag a we bit.

i will try scaling it up and then using some of the extensions to see how well it cleans this thing up haha

i need assembly drawings etc etc

8

I find Antons Fixit 101 one of the fastest and most versatile fixers.

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