I am a professional Engineer involved in both PCB and Industrial Electrical Cabinet CAD and Production. The software packages available for this task regularly use STP or STEP files for 3D object data. It is possible to export other file formats from Sketchup and then use something like free cad to clean up but often surfaces are missing and or the object is turned into a much larger triangle composed object rather than surfaces and shapes. It would extend Sketchup’s functionality if objects could be exported in the STP or STEP file formal with polygon surfaces and correct curves.
SketchUp is a polygonal modeller so no actual curves are involved in the process and I don’t think the calculation of generating curves is possible retroactively. Rhinoceros can convert meshes to surfaces but it doesnt use AI or other advanced algorithms to guess what the designer might have meant with the mwsh.
1 Like
Thanks for this, I simply meant when I export an OBJ or STL or DAE, the import on the other side is a mesh not a shape and often not a solid, a face will be made up of many sometimes crazy number of triangles this export or raw mesh file is often quite large in size, when I use Freecad to fix the mesh, close holes, turn it into a shape from a mesh and then turn it into a solid and finally “approximate a shape” or “simplify shape” which combines surfaces, each surface reverts from many triangles into a complete surface and the output STL from freecad is much much smaller. I’m sure im missing some technical details here but more complex models do not withstand this process very well and sometimes cannot be simplified. If I could export an STP or STEP from sketch up directly with solid shape and more simple geometry would save me heaps of time and from having to use excess apps.