Hi, currently building these large pentagonal pieces for a centre of a stage design. I’ve attached my model. Basically i need to hollow the solid shape out into thinner outside pieces and use ribs on the inside. So far this has taken me hours to do just a few panels due to all the frustrating angles. It’s due in by tomorrow morning and at this rate i’ll be here all night!! any help with the hollowing out and splitting each panel into a group so i can do nesting for the CNC would be so much help!!
I would use Normal Push/Pull from the Joint Push/Pull toolset which you can get from Sketchucation.
Or as an alternative, use Unwrap and Flatten (from the Extension Warehouse) to flatten out the faces. For a CNC file you shouldn’t need to model the panels as 3D. You should be able to make just the outlines.
You might also look at an extension called Fabber which is designed to create CNC toolpaths from your 3D model.
If you need to do that, go back to my first suggestion. Or first make each face a group or component so you can extrude them one by one. You’ll need to work out the bevel angles for the pieces from there. Most of the bevels will be either 45° or 67.5°.(22.5° off of perpendicular.)
originally i had just drawn the shape of the structure to do renders without thinking that it would be put into production :// bit mistake. tried to model all the panels and ribs individually but its taking forever.
To help achieve your goals, some time spent at the SketchUp Campus and at the SketchUp - YouTube channel will be very worthwhile. Both sites are from the SketchUp team. On the YouTube channel, pay attention to the Square One Series. It covers the basics for each tool.
