Subtract writing generated by 3D-Type from a pipe wall gets all messy

Hi there.
My first post :slight_smile:

When I try to subtract some writing generated by SketchUps 3D-Type tool from the wall of a pipe I run into problems (I’d like to have a cutout in shape of that said writing in the pipes wall). The subtraction doesn’t work as the integrity (it doesn’t stay a closed object) of the pipe seems to break and I don’t have a clue why.

Any ideas?

Best,
thecake

Can you post a screenshot or model of what you are describing?

At a guess I would suggest a look here.
The Dave Method - Tutorials - SketchUp Community

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I’d say Box has a good suggestion. It worked for me, anyway.

I used Solid Tools to cut the text into the pipe.

Another possibility is VisuHole from Fredo6. It has an option for embossing or stamping you may be interested in. Works with the 3D text and on curved surfaces. Also it can drill holes any shape.

Hi there again.

I’ve tried all the suggestions above and always end up with mesh integrity issues, missing faces and planes. If anyone can help me get the type cutout right, that would be awesome.
Doesn’t have to be for free.

side-bit-long_logo.20190513.skp (1.8 MB)

Best,
T

Does this look like something you’re after?

As Box indicated in his first post, The Dave Method works for this. You do have some strange nesting of the geometry for the text that needs to be exploded first. With your model I didn’t bother with Eneroth Solid Tools because the text wasn’t solid. I just extruded into the wall of the pipe using Push/Pull and then used Intersect Faces followed by selecting and deleting the unneeded geometry.

Hi there.
Thanks for your reply. That’s perfect.
I tried the Dave Method. Scaled everything up by x100 or so and still had issues. Mostly because the walls of the text merged weirdly with pipes and left open geometry. The nesting of the text might have been through it being a dxf file exported from illustrator. That already gave me a headache.

How much do I owe you for the file?

Best,
Tim

I generally scale up by a factor of 1000 when I do this.

A million dollars.
side-bit-long_logo.20190513.skp (437.0 KB)

Oh… up to 1000. That i didn’t do :grimacing:

Thank you for the help.

Funny enough that’s what I’m getting opening your file.

Could you export an stl for me that I can check here?

My exported stl looks like this.

That’s odd. I’m not seeing that here. Let me do some investigating.

It happens if you let Sketchup ‘Fix’ errors.
Open a blank file Go to Window/Preferences/General and untick the option to fix your models. Then reopen @DaveR 's model and don’t ‘Fix’ it.

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That’s what I’m sat looking at after I tried myself. The 1000x scaled copy is solid but the “fix on save” destroys it everytime. It’s very small.

See if this one works for you. I redrew the pipe. We’ll worry about the rest of the pipes and the ring after getting the text sorted.
Pipe.skp (253.7 KB)

i.Materialise seems to think this one is alright.