If you have or use a 3D printer, you know that STL is the format read by nearly all commercial and personal 3D printers these days. In this previous post, I wrote about the SketchUp STL extension, which you can use to generate an STL file from your SketchUp model.
This post shows another way to generate an STL file, which doesn’t require adding any extensions. You do it using SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse.
Upload Your Model
As as example, I want to 3D print this SketchUp model of a little house:
When the model is ready, choose File / 3D Warehouse / Share Model. Give your model a name, and set its privacy to “Public” – otherwise you can’t get your STL. (As you’ll see below, you don’t have to keep it public once you have what you need.) And most importantly: Check the box at the bottom for “I want this to be 3D printable.”
This STL service is courtesy of Materialise, a 3D printing software company. Among other things, they offer a service where you can send them your STL file and get a printed model sent to you.
Download the STL
Once your model is uploaded, you’ll need to access the 3D Warehouse from your web browser, because when you access the Warehouse from within SketchUp, all you can get is the model’s SKP file. Sign in at the top right corner, and under your user name, click the “My 3D Warehouse” link.
Find your just-uploaded model and click its thumbnail.
On the model’s details page, click the “Download” link at the top right. One of the format options is STL. Click to download and you’re all set.
At this point, if you don’t want your model public anymore, you click the “Delete” button at the top right to remove it altogether, or click “Edit” if you want to change settings.
If you edit settings, you can switch your model to “Private.”
Note that if your model isn’t perfectly printable, Materialise may take a little longer to create your STL file. They’ll try their best to fix any problems, such as erasing small holes, flipping around any “inside out” faces, deleting interior faces. I tried this on some simple examples, and got perfect results. But I can’t guarantee your super curvy complex models will turn out as well.
I’ll have more to come soon on 3D print-ability, also called watertightness or manifold, in upcoming posts.