Importing Files from a Vendor

[DaveR]

Continuing the discussion from Welcome to our forums! Please introduce yourself :

Hi Giles,

You should be able to import STL files into SketchUp Make 2017–There’s an extension in the Extension Warehouse that you can use. STL files typically need a bunch of cleanup. If I had to choose for a thing like that, I’d be inclined to start with a 2D file and make my own extrusions. I might even just draw them from scratch so as to maintain control over the file size.

Here’s a quick example.

Imported STL file on the left. 5372 entities (edges and faces) It can be cleaned up rather dramatically reducing it to 2290 entities.

In the center is an extrusion from an import of the 2D DXF file. 3838 entities.

On the right is a version I drew from scratch based on the dimensions of the extrusion profile. 1874 entities. It could be reduced more.

[plunket2808]

Thanks - managed to get the .stl file imported, but not figured out the cleanup yet - tomorrow’s job!

[DaveR]

Look in the Extension Warehouse for ThomThom’s CleanUp extension. It’ll make quick work of it. Remember to install the required tt_lib files too.

[plunket2808]

Hi again - not sure if this is the right place, but having major problems with Extensions - basically, on my Windows laptop, running Sketchup Make 2017, I have no “Extensions” menu option:
IMG_5335.jpg - Google Drive,
…but when I run the same version on my Mac, I do:
IMG_5334.jpg - Google Drive
This is probably something obvious, but I can’t figure it out and it means I can’t run any extensions on the Windows machine.
Thanks