New Google Sketchup 3D Plugin from i.materialise

By on April 13th, 2010 in Service, Software

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There’s already a few plugins for Google’s popular Sketchup 3D modelling program that permit export to formats suitable for 3D printing, but we learned that i.materialise has now released their own version. 
 
The plugin is easily installed into Sketchup by using the instructions linked below. In the image above you can see how it appears – a simple link to a wizard that sets up your model for 3D printing at i.materialise’s service. You can view examples of actual Sketchup printed models here
 
We think this is a great addition to Sketchup, as it provides an extremely easy to use way to get 3D models printed. In our mind, anything that lowers the barriers to 3D printing is good. There are a great many Sketchup users and an even vaster library of models. This plugin may cause a lot more 3D printing to take place. Note: the plugin is Windows only. 
 
This particular plugin drives printing to their service, obviously, so if you’re intention is to use a different service, then you should use another plugin, such as CADSpan’s. You could also consider using QuickArc’s 3D viewing software, which can read Sketchup files and convert them to .STL. 
 
Via i.materialise (Hat tip to Martijn)

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

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