Hello everyone
I’m new and I’m learning to use sketchup that seems very intuitive and easy to use.
My goal is to be able to draw and then make a 3d printing of my boat.
I started importing the cabin structure from a .dwg file should now create surfaces in order to build a solid closed.
I used the plugin curviloft but if I’m going to look in detail the surfaces are not attached (file RIB2.jpg)
How can I get a single surface in order to have a solid closed.
I include photos
thanks
Nicola
Can’t say for certain unless you post your model here, but the most common source of issues such as yours is that SketchUp has difficulties with very small features. To avoid them, scale your model up by 100 or even 1000 before running curviloft (or other plugins that create geometry).
Yes - first off check there are no small geometry issues…
Also use View > Hidden Geometry ON to see surface subdivisions.
You might then be able to use the Move tool [with no preselection] to click and snap individual vertices together, so there are no ‘gaps’.
Make sure that your model’s units settings do not have length snapping set etc…
Other points:
The top face looks ‘reversed’ ensure that all faces are logically oriented ‘outwards’.
CurviLoft [and similar tools] make their resultant geometry inside a group.
Even if all of the vertices matched up and there were no gaps the container will not be consider a ‘solid’ if it contains nested groups or components. Explode those so all geometry is merged into the one outermost container [group/component]
Well, it’s either that, or as looks to be the case, the imported file seems to contain poor linework, and if that’s the case, you may as well simply construct it from scratch in SU.
-Gully
RIB.skp (1.1 MB)
I attach the file so you can see yourself the problem surfaces.
What do you recommend to transform it into a solid.
thanks
Nicola
You have unit length snapping set which makes fixing vertices awkward.
You have groups for the curved surfaces.
These would need exploding BUT those surfaces did not need to be so complex: simply drawing in some diagonals to make faces is all that’s needed.
I removed those groups.
I have quickly over-drawn the form [there were a few tiny gaps between line ends].
I also didn’t known what the lump of the top represented so I fudged it…
It’s now a solid when grouped.
A few tips:
Get thomthom’s Solid-Inspector to check out your form - once you have something that ought to be solid, but isn’t…
Learn to use Styles to reveal end-points, unfaced-edges, profiles etc.
Learn to use Xray mode and temporary section-cuts to tidy up internal-partitions that will make it non-solids.
Learn to triangulate edges to form faces.
Learn to reverse faces and orient them consistently…
I’ll leave the remodeling to you - you need to ‘learn by doing’
Thanks Tig
Your help was crucial, now I was able to build the cabin.
I wanted to understand how can I know if it is a solid.
I had read a way to tell if it is a solid is to see if it has a volume if it was that my design has no volume.
What plugin can I use to figure out if the car is printable in 3d without errors.
Then pass the hull, you have any suggestions.
I attach the file
thanks so much
Nicola
RIB.skp (105.2 KB)
If you make a group of the geometry that you’d like to be a solid, then its Entity Info contains the word ‘Solid Group’ in the top bar - otherwise it says ‘Group’.
Solid-Inspectore will highlight problem geometry.
Even without using it I can see several issues.
All of the faces in the group are reversed.
Edit it, select one face and use the context-menu to ‘reverse’ it, then immediately ‘orient’ and ll connected faces will flip to match it.
There is an upstanding part [a ‘box’] which you have placed passing through the ‘roof’. If if it did not intersect with the main part at all then it’d report as a solid BUT 3d printing would probably fail. As it intersects with the roof on just one edge then it is reported as non-solid. It must ‘intersect’ it with the roof [context-menu on selection], so there are additional edges added where it passes through the roof, and then the unwanted internal parts must be deleted so your group is a single-skin == solid.
A solid must contain only faces and edges [all groups etc exploded].
Every edge must has TWO faces.
So, no faceless edges, no ledges/shelves/flaps/holes with an edge with one face.
No internal partitions where some edges will have three or more faces.
No overlaid faces which are all but coplanar but some of the edges will have too many faces.
You also have a few issues with edges and thin-side flaps etc - Solid-Inspector will show those - erase them…
Also switch off your units length-snapping - it makes adjusting thing harder than it needs to be…
RIB.skp (105.2 KB)
I followed your advice, I reversed the faces and removed edges and surfaces inside the cabin.
When I use SolidInspector me still errors but can not eliminate them.
How can I remove them?
I read about a plugin SolidSolver that adjusts the solid, is functional?
If we want to soften the edges of the cab as I do?
Thanks for the valuable help they’re giving
Nicola
I tried the plugin I said and it seems to have worked in the fix problems.
I tried to use Meshmixer x create the solid but the edges are all jagged, how can I make the edges softer.
This program I like more and more
thanks
Looks like you had left some roof faces below the roof-top extension, after you intersected and removed most of its inner parts…
Use a section-cut to see inside and select them +…
My SolidSolver plugin will fix simple issues like that, but if you make a very complex mess of you geometry, then it is best to try some manual fixing first !
Once you have a solid group you could use Artisan to smooth the form…
Or try Fredo’s RoundCorners to smooth selected edges [internal and external junctions] and leave the main face-planes unchanged…
I installed the plugin but ROUNDCORNER shaping the edges finding some problems.
Surfaces that are canceled or edges that come off.
I include photos
thanks
how can I make smooth the edge of the cabin for not having a prototype faceted as in the picture, I used to check the file meshmixer .stl I did correct?