I have a very complex model that was created by someone else but has countless holes: too many to close by hand. It is a profile of an eagle about to land that we use as a logo and print various size versions as logo appliques… It is such a complex model that doing the slightest thing to the object takes hours. Is there a way to somehow lay a thin skin or something over top of the model so that I wind up with a simplified closed object representing the surface of the model?
Thanks in advance.
You would need to share the file so we can see what you are working with. If it’s flat you could probably draw a large rectangle in the same plane and use Intersect Faces. If it’s a 3D complex shape, I expect you would need to do more manual work.
Gladly…but the .skp file is 168mb !!
It has a flat surface on the bottom of the profile and I tried creating a rectangle on the same plane and Intersecting Faces… 14 hours later it was still spinning.
Upload to a file sharing service like DropBox and share the link.
Was this thing created in SketchUp in the first place?
I’m an idiot for not thinking of that. Thanks for taking the time. Here’s the link:
This was definitely not created in SketchUp. I contracted someone in Ukraine to create the 3D file from some drawings so I could print it. Then, of course when I wanted to edit it, i could see what a bag of worms it is. I can create a .stl and print it and scale it, but i can’t edit it (I want to add a small indentation in the back to accommodate the insertion of a magnet). Plus, it’s not a very efficient model for printing.
It’s early yet. Get another cup of coffee.
You’re welcome. I’ll look at your file in a moment.
What kind of file did they send you? Can you share that original file?
Back ASAP.
gave me a .stl. imports to Sketchup as what I sent.
Here’s the original .stl (I think), fyi.
One thing that would have helped is to import the .stl with units set to Meters instead of inches and have the importer merge coplanar faces. This would reduce the number of edges and faces (although there’ll still be quite a few). Importing with units set to Meters will help to avoid the tiny faces issue which is likely why a lot of the holes are there.
I scaled your model up from inches to meters and then ran CleanUp3 to merge coplanar faces. This is the report of the result.
In the model you shared, though, there are so many holes and there’s no automatic way to fix them. I think starting from scratch with a larger import would at least reduce the amount of repair needed. Ir maybe running the .stl through something like Meshmixer or some other application that can handle .stls directly would work.
I’ve imported the .stl with units set to Meters and I let it merge coplanar faces. It’s still a huge amount of geometry for SketchUp and slow but I don’t see anywhere near the number of holes in the surface as in your .skp file. Here Solid Inspector 2 is highlighting the holes.
Still too many to fix by hand. A different application is probably called for in this case.
I am not a Meshmixer pro by any means, but I tried a couple of things and managed to hang Meshmixer up, too.
As for the holes, that’s why I was asking if there’s a way to just drape a skin over it. I just made that up, but it sounds like a thing.
When you say a larger import, can you explain a bit more?
It does sound like a thing but unfortunately not in SketchUp.
In the Import Options panel select Meters for the import units.
FWIW, when I model for 3D printing I always model with units set to Meters. When I import the exported .stl file into the slicer it goes in as millimeters. .stl files are unitless so 1 meter in SketchUp will be 1 millimeter in the slicer.
There’s so much fine detail in this thing that probably won’t show in your print (or you won’t want it to show.)
I wonder if you could get a simplified version from the person who made the file for you.
I imported the STL file into Blender, and with the 3D Print Toolbox extension I checked the model. 1.6 million tris
I applied a Decimate modifier (0.1), scaled it up 10x and then exported as OBJ (159K tris).
Imported in SketchUp Make 2017 with Universal Importer extension (without simplifying) and checked with Solid Inspector 2 (3 holes detected) in SU2022.
Fixed.
Solid Component
any chance you can send me the file?
i don’t have any experience w/ Blender. Any chance you can send me the new .skp?
I wrote/showed you what you need to do to create a solid component, thinking that you want to learn to do it yourself when you need such work, but if you just want the ready-made model… here it is >>
vultur-v3.skp (12.7 MB)
Yes, you did, and I appreciate it. I tried the same process and my Solid Inspector shows numerous problems with the model which it cannot resolve. The Blender stuff you so kindly demonstrated are well above my pay grade. I took the steps, but I must have missed something. Blender is a bit intimidating.
Thanks for uploading the .skp. Even importing that and scaling it down to the size I need (5"), it just takes too long to do anything with the model. I’m trying to cut out a small cylinder on the underside and intersecting faces of a small cylinder with the model is taking hours so-far.
I realize I may have the wrong tool for this, but SketchUp is what I have. I was hopeful that making the model a solid would allow me to simplify it (remove the guts, for example). That seems to have been wrong.
I’m still open to any suggestions.
Thanks
If you need a 5 inches object, maybe you can simplify it a lot without loosing too many details.
Now that you mentioned that cylinder, you can use this model. I cleaned up the underside and there is now only one face. Draw a circle and PushPull it.
vultur-v4.skp (12.4 MB)
And it’s still a Solid Group.
Don’t do that! If it’s for 3D printing, you don’t need to do that.
Did you pay attention to what I wrote yesterday?
There is no need to scale the model down at all.
Here’s an example. The components in SketchUp modeled in meters.
The resulting 3D printed objects. No scaling the model down to “life size” before exporting the .stl. It was done exactly as I described yesterday.
