4. Making the Models 3D print-compatable

When I started to look at 3D printing I quickly realised that most 3D printers did not print Sketchup format files and that the most printable format was .stl files. Another issue with sketchup was that you cant export models as a .stl file. However after a little research I did find an answer.

At first I tried the method of exporting the model as a COLLADA file and then bringing it into Cinema 4D where I exported it as a .stl file. The only issue with this was that the entire model did not export and there was holes in the .stl model.

After some research online I found out that the two most important thing to make a .stl file completely solid was that the model can not have any internal or reversed faces and that the model has to be a group to generate a volume.

First I checked the model to see if it had volume and it didnt.To fix this I looked at articles and videos online and there was an extension for sketchup called Solid Inspector. it highlights all of the internal and reversed faces as red. And all you have to do is click fix to literally fix it.

Once this was fixed I check the the entity info and the model than had a volume and was listed as a solid component.

Once this was a solid with a volume I used another extension called STL Import & Export to export as a .stl file and this fixed all the issues that I had and made the .stl model compatible with 3D printing.