The Entity Info box simply declares it a “Group” not a “Solid Group” as it was before. In the example above the similar structure is now not solid. In the course of designing a structure a group may go from solid to non-solid and back again several times as its make-up changes. As their extent is not limited, their volume would be infinite.Īlthough Sketchup will tell us if a structure is solid or not, it does not tell us why it’s not solid.

Non-solid structures cannot have a volume. It also has a volume – in this case 2.5m3. In the example below, the group outlined in blue is solid as indicated in the Entity Info box – “Solid Group (1 in model)”. In the Window menu, ticking the Entity Info command and then selecting a group will bring up the Entity Info box and details of that group.

Sketchup provides a tool for showing if a group is solid or not. (As far as this tutorial is concerned, components are the same as groups.) This happens when the entities are grouped. Although it is possible to create a structure that obeys the two rules above and that consists only of a number of surfaces, it will remain merely a collection of entities until Sketchup recognises it as a single object. Must not contain any extra lines or surfaces – since lines are only of 1 dimension and surfaces are only 2 dimensions, you cannot 3 dimensionally print them.įor a structure to be “solid” it must first be grouped. Like the bucket your structure must not “leak” – that is if you imagined pouring water into it, the water would be contained within it.Ģ. You could think of your structure in terms of a bucket. Must be formed from one continuous surface with no breaks or holes. If, however, you want to print your images using a 3d printer then it becomes necessary to ensure that the structures you create are “solid”.ġ. If you only use Sketchup to produce images on a computer, then it does not really matter whether the structures you generate are solid or not.

The paid-for version (Sketchup Pro) is essentially the same but has some additional tools for dealing with solid structures. The information in this tutorial relates specifically to the free version of Sketchup. My name is Paul and I’d like to share some of the things I’ve found out about making solid structures using Sketchup. Hello and welcome to this short tutorial on Making Structures Solid.

The Advantages of 3D Printed Batch Production.

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