1 Topic by MacDoodle

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Topic: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

Hello,

I'm a newbie to everything CAD and 3D-printing. On thingiverse there are a lot of nice things in STL format for download.
I really like some of them but often want to edit them slightly to fit my needs. I use Google Sketchup since it is VERY intuitive and I can make stuff I want quickly.

As an example, there are a lot of iPhone things on thingiverse. Some of them are nice, but I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and obviously the dimensions are way off. I would then want to change the dimensions to fit my phone.

However, when importing an STL:S into Sketchup (with a plugin) they become way off in scale. There has to be a simple way to get STL:s into Sketchup in the right scale?

How would you edit STL:s from someone else? Is there a better way?

Thanks!

2 Reply by nickythegreek

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Re: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

The issue in sketchup could be due to a bug in the import plugin you are using. I remember having a similar issue. Can you post a link to the one that you are using?

3 Reply by Stoney

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Re: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

i have only edited one, i used openscad to import the fanned case of lawzzys, added a big slanted rectangle to slice off the fan mounts, added another to fill in the fan holes, then another big cube to cut a hole in the top to add a much larger CPU fan I had handy.
it was a horribly slow process due to my chunky old dual core celeron and took a few hours to do of which probably 9/10's of it was waiting for it to rerender.

4 Reply by lawsy

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Re: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

If you are using the Jim Foltz import plugin, it has a bug with the default units. If you manually set mm it will work but if it says mm already and you click import it will still do it in another unit.

I have modified the plugin to default to mm, see attached.

The other problem is that STLs triangulate every face, to the point where some flat faces are divided up and made more complex, slowing SkeckUp. Using the plugin from the following link will help clean up the file and made it quicker and easier to modify:

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtop … 654#p58654

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jf_stl_importer.rb 6.88 kb, 20 downloads since 2013-01-05 

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lawsy's Website

5 Reply by nickythegreek (edited by nickythegreek 2013-01-15 16:23:31)

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Re: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

Here is a .rbz version that has been updated by the author which is a bit easier to install with Sketchup8.

This was compiled from the source on the sketchup-stl github.

To Use:
Windows: Window > Preferences > Extensions > Install Extension
MAC: SketchUp > Preferences > Extensions > Install Extension

Importing:
File > Import (Select .stl from dropdown)

Exporting:
File > Export STL

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sketchup-stl.rbz 53.19 kb, 23 downloads since 2013-01-15 

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6 Reply by nickythegreek (edited by nickythegreek 2013-01-16 14:44:59)

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Re: [Q] How do you edit STL:s?

From I am reading, Simplify is an older tool and that ThomThom's Cleanup [sketchucation post] is better for simplifying imported stl's. I have not had a chance to try either out myself yet. You will need to install TT_Lib2 for the cleanup plugin to work.

Tutorial: Installing Plugins in Sketchup (.rb and .rbz)

Update: I suggest installing ThomThom's Simple Plugin Installer.  It makes installing .rb,.rbz and even zips easier.

Update 2: Tried out the CleaUp 3.1.9 plugin, good stuff.

Post's attachments

tt_cleanup.rb 41.54 kb, 13 downloads since 2013-01-15 

TT_Lib2 - 2.6.0.zip 200.61 kb, 13 downloads since 2013-01-15 

tt_simple_installer.rbz 2.12 kb, 15 downloads since 2013-01-15 

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