Howdo.

I’m trying to do something on Sketchup and have come to a bit of an impasse as I don’t use it enough to know if it can be done.

I am making a 3d item which I want to ultimately mimic by using a cnc router.

I have an imported model of a Volkswagon Split screen bus and what I want to be able to do is cut the model completely where you see the square intersecting it then completely get rid of the section to the rear of that square. All I want is that short section of the front.

The idea eventually, is that I want to cut it into layers (Imagine it in 18mm thick slices from top to bottom) that I can then cut out on a cnc router after importing the Sketchup model into Vcarve software.

I will then stack each layer to make a full (scaled down) representation of the front of the bus.

[/url]Veedub by Kayak23, on Flickr[/img]

The idea is that I’m going to make it into a hall mirror for a colleague who’s leaving and is into Vdubs.

I intend to remove each alternate layer so that it becomes an ‘open’ object a bit like a Roman blind, and rather obviously, the windows will become the mirrors, and the bumper a small shelf(think Hall mirror).

I’ve not worked out all the details of how I’m to do everything but the main idea is there and so this is the current hurdle.

So, I want to be able to cut the model and delete everything I don’t want plus, if anyone has an idea how and if you can slice the model into horizontal layers and save each layer as a component that would be great. Otherwise, I may be able to do this directly in Vcarve, which is the cnc design software.

Cheers 🙂

You want to use intersect….here’s a video

[video]https://youtu.be/ftAV0BT8uEA[/video]

Jump to 2:24 for an almost exact example of what you are trying to achieve.

There’s a good plugin that uses your section plane to actually chop the model, deleting everything that you can’t see. For complex models it’s miles easier than the intersect tool. Used on a series of separate models this could work for you.

I’d tell you what it’s called, but my computer isn’t starting up this morning…

Not sure there’s an easy way to convert your slices into components before chopping up, but using 2d elevation views you can carefully select all the bits you want to group.

Draw a big square – extend it into a cube – move the cube so that it encompasses every thing you want to get rid of.

Do the intersection thing

That will put a line around everything that the face of the cube intersects on your camper

delete everything behind that line (or select everything in front of it and copy and paste it)

quickest way to do that is use on of the standard views under ‘camera’ so the model is in profile and set the camera to ‘parallel projection’ so that its squashed flat and – that way your intersection line in absolutely straight in your view and you don’t accidentally select bits you want to keep

Then just use the little rubber tool from the tool panel (that looks like a brick) and rub out the model elements you don’t want

If you’re working with an imported model you’ll probably have to un-group the model (a few times) and ‘explode’ it so before you do all this so that all the model elements are editable

*plugin is called ‘zorro’

The idea eventually, is that I want to cut it into layers (Imagine it in 18mm thick slices from top to bottom) that I can then cut out on a cnc router after importing the Sketchup model into Vcarve software.

Actually theres a plug in that cuts models into slices and lays them all out in a numbered set. Its on my other computer though so can’t remember what its called. Because all the plugins are third party you sometimes have to be using a legacy version of sketchup to use them

google for ‘slices’ though.

My half-arsed workflow involves one plugin for slicing and another thats designed to unfold models which gives an ability to export planes as SVGs which then go to inkscape for a tidy up and then to CNC plasma. That usually involves moving the model between two or threes iterations of sketchup to use the necessary plugins

works though

thinking about it, for this type of thing the intersect tool as described above probably makes sense. you’ll just have to do the faffy deleting bit manually.

zorro is an ace plugin though, for rendering and other things.

That slice plugin rings a bell. I remember using it for model
making a while back.

If the plugin won’t play ball in some instances there are online apps / tools that will process models. I’ve used one for reducing polygons but I’m sure before I used the slice plugin I played around with an online model editor that allowed me to cut uploaded models into slices

Thank you all for the suggestions. I’ll be trying them out later when I’ve got some time.
It’s slightly complicated as I am at work (a College) and I can not install anything onto my work laptop. It all has to be done and approved by I.T.

I’ll see what they say about that Zorrow plugin though cheers.

I’ve done the whole section plane view thing, so it only shows what I want to see. It’s just the getting rid of it bit I’m struggling with.

You’re right about ungrouping everything though.
That Veedub model is incredible when you look at it in translucent mode. So much detail and so many components. It makes deleting what you don’t want quite difficult.

That horse is awesome MacCruiskeen!