What SketchUp Extensions do you use?

Community Support
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Hi all!

I am learning SketchUp to create buildings for my O-Scale railroad layout.

What extensions do you use for structural items for your buildings? I’m looking for Industrial items like Warehouse doors, windows, water towers, chimneys, etc.

Any recommended extensions (especially free) would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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In my opinion the greatest advantage of sketch up is the warehouse. There are soo many designs it may take years for others to catch up.

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Sketchup to SVG, FlightOfIdeas extension. I also have installed one that does timber framing, post and beam work. It is amazing.

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Awesome! I’m playing around with Sketchup trying to learn it by using their videos. I am currently attempting to create a structure by importing a picture of it, but it is totally kicking my butt! I figure if I fiddle with it enough I’ll finally figure it out. I also ordered the SketchUp for Dummies book to help me out since I will be in a remote location for the next 7-9 months with very unreliable internet. My goal is to learn the program and build structures so that when I get back I can take them straight to production (if my GF has arrived by then).

That’s one of the reasons I’m asking for extension recommendations, because once I leave there will be no opportunity to download anything until I return.

Thanks for the tips so far! Keep them coming!

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I have the sketchup STL export for 3D printing :grin:

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Gernreich,

Is STL an extension? I’m away from my computer at the moment to log in and search.

Thanks!

    gernreich<https://community.glowforge.com/users/gernreich>

January 1

I have the sketchup STL export for 3D printing :grin:

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Yes, STL is a mesh file name extension. (And just to make sure we’re talking about the same kind of extensions here…I mean the qualifier that shows up after the dot in a file name…)

File Name Examples:

Book.jpg
Tutorial.pdf
Bento_Box.stl
Bento_Box.svg

The plug-in that @gernreich is talking about will convert Sketchup results into an STL file type that can be used for 3D printing. (Not what you need for this.)

What you want to find, if you don’t already have the ability in Sketchup, is something that will export or save as an SVG file type, because that is what the Glowforge software uses. Other file types like DXF and AI can be converted into an SVG file type, so if Sketchup exports either of those, you can convert the result into something the GF can use, with other free software.

But the workflow starts to get a little hairy if you have to run through too many conversions, so the closer you can get to exporting SVG, the better off you’ll be.

So use @marmak3261 's plugin here:

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