I am trying to replicate a diamond shaped v-groove pattern on a flat surface. In my search I have not found a way to create this in any easy way. I’m not sure if there’s a plugin that will allow me to do this.
I have an STL file that has this pattern (on a cylinder) and I want to duplicate it. Here’s what the STL file looks like when imported into Sketchup:
I have seen some videos on YouTube that talk about the 1001bit plugin, but that will only do horizontal grooves.
I have tried doing this manually by creating lines that define the “top” and “bottom” edges of the groove as well as the “groove bottom” and then using the move tool to move just the groove bottom lines down into the surface. While this gets me close, the intersections of the left and right grooves are pretty messy (unlike what is shown in the STL file above), and would require a whole lot of manual work to clean them up.
Anyone have suggestions on how to accomplish this?
I would draw an extruded triangle in a long strip, and then just rotate copies and array them into the pattern you want. Once done, just merge them into one shape.
Not so much a knurled pattern, but very close. The diamond shaped facets are not raised as shown in the image you showed. It’s easier to 3D print if the facets are flat.
Here’s a picture (from Thingiverse) of what I’m trying to duplicate:
I have 3D printed this object, but want to create some new - and possibly more difficult - mazes for my family. I know how to create the mazes on a flat object and then bend it into a cylinder, but have not found a way to create the diamond shaped pattern to (somewhat) match the original.
I would be inclined to create positives of the grooves and subtract them from the cylinder in that case. I think you would fine the extension BoolTools2 a worthwhile investment for this.
Here’s one option, no gif today just an image.
Make one square rod component, array it, copy and flip, use outer shell to create a solid grid, subtract from a flat slab, then bend with truebend.
Be mindful of the bool tools extension, it is good in some very basic cases, but for me it’s stalled sketchup many times for half an hour or more in some operations which I thought were fairly basic.
I like trying to do it natively first, so I like @monospaceds idea. You should certainly learn about the memory copy plugin, super easy to use and is incredible for arrays. If it’s faster to do something with a plugin which in many cases it is, most cases in my experience, than use a plugin. For bends, usually plugins are faster and will let you do more. True bend is great, so is the more accurate way of bending objects using the radial bend tool apart of the fredo stretch plugin. As a side note, learning about vertex tools is great but especially the SketchyFFD plugin or the flowify plugin.
While I have been using SketchUp for a number of years, up until now the projects I’ve worked on have been pretty simple. Rarely needing a plugin. So I’m not sure of the steps you’re using to create the gif you’ve provided.
I gather that the two components are the beveled square and the beveled triangle, correct? But I have a few questions on your process:
How do you create the square and replicate it so they all fit together?
Did you create the two components and apply them to a flat surface and then use TrueBend to make the cylinder? Or did you apply them to a cylinder directly?
Sorry if these questions seem dumb, I guess I’m just not as far along on the learning curve as you are.
In this case I made the square as a simple flat beveled square (with some thickness to the back) and used a copy to make the half for the triangle.
At this point they could be groups or components. I then make a linear array of 23 so you have a straight line of 24 squares and 24 triangles. Make this into a group and truebend 360 deg and 48s. Mark the center of this group. Explode the group. keep one triangle and one square and delete the rest. Make each a component, then radial array them from the centerpoint that you marked 23 x.
So at this point you should have a ring of triangles and diamonds, select the diamonds and make a copy down half the diamond (the short dimension of the triangle) and rotate that set 7.5 deg and they should fit together with the set above leaving you with a ring of triangles and two rings of diamonds that all fit together.
Select the diamonds and array them down as many times as you need. Then make a copy of the triangle and flip them to fit at the bottom.
It should be noted that going to the trouble of making them all from 2 components is simply for the time when you may want to create such a shape and edit the ‘squares’ at a later date. To make the cylinder you want you only need to stick with the original groups as it makes no difference if you are going to outer shell them.
Took me far longer to type out on my phone than actually do. If you can’t follow I’ll be back at my PC in a couple of hours and can make a gif.
What box has shown, is one of the most basic things of modelling in sketchup, the first part before bending, is basically a shape of any kind and copied, than made into an array. Here’s a video below to get you started on the basics of some of what he’s explained when it comes to arrays. You should also when you have the time, checkout the memory copy plugin, very simple and can do some super powerful stuff that can’t be done easily natively in complex scenarios when it comes to arrays.
Thanks for your suggestion. I watched the video and used it to implement Box’s approach. Still working out some details, but it generally seems to be working.
