3D Printing with SketchUp: 10 Tips and Tricks

by Fabian | March 30, 2017 | Tutorials | 3 Comments

SketchUp is one of the most popular 3D modeling & design programs for 3D
printing, as we found out from our analysis. However, preparing a SketchUp
model for 3D printing can be a little tricky. That’s why we put together a list of
10 simple yet effective tips and tricks to make your SketchUp design 3D
printable.

1: Set your Template to Millimeters or Inches

Some simple clicks before getting started will make your life easier: you may want to
set your SketchUp template to metric or imperial units. This way, you won’t need to
re-scale the printing size of your model later.

You can change the template by clicking on Window > Preferences > Template and
selecting ‘3D Printing – Millimeters’ or ‘3D Printing – Inches’.
<img class="wp-image-20884 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/change_sketchup-template.jpg" alt="3d printing with
sketchup - change units" width="780" height="480"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/change_sketchup-
template.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/change_sketchup-template-300x184.jpg 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

2: Install the SketchUp STL Extension

Typically you can save your 3D model as a SketchUp file (SKP). Even though our
online 3D printing service accepts these files, you might want to get SketchUp’s free
STL Extension. The STL file format is the most commonly used in the 3D printing
community and will make it easier to share, print, and edit your design in other
software.

With the SketchUp STL extension installed you can export your model as an STL file.
Make sure to select the same unit type that you chose in your template (millimeters
or inches) when exporting, and choose the binary file format to reduce the size of
your file.
<img class="wp-image-20885 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/export-sketchup-file-as-stl-for-3d-printing.jpg" alt="export
sketchup file as stl for 3d printing" width="780" height="477"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/export-sketchup-
file-as-stl-for-3d-printing.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/export-sketchup-file-as-stl-for-3d-printing-300x183.jpg
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

3: Avoid Paper-Thin Surfaces & Set Wall

Thicknesses
In order to make your SketchUp model printable, you need to ensure that each and
every surface has a wall thickness. Without setting a wall thickness, a 3D printer has
no information about how thick or how thin it is supposed to print your part.

The picture below shows a model with paper-thin surfaces (not printable, left) and a
solid object with thick walls (printable, right). If you want to learn more about how
thick your walls need to be exactly, make sure to read this blog post.
<img class="wp-image-20886 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/WallThickness-in-sketchup.png" alt="set wall thickness in
sketchup for 3d printing" width="780" height="418"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/WallThickness-in-
sketchup.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/WallThickness-in-sketchup-300x160.png 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

4: Make Your Model Watertight (Manifold)

A printable model must not feature any holes in its surface. Ask yourself the question:
if I were to put water inside my model, would it flow out? If that’s the case you need to
find these holes and close them. This is one of the trickiest parts of creating 3D
printable models in SketchUp.

The design below is an example of a model that is not watertight. You can clearly see
that there is one big hole on its surface.
<img class="wp-image-20887 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-3d-model-in-sketchup.png" alt="learn to make a
sketchup model watertight" width="780" height="579"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-3d-
model-in-sketchup.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-3d-model-in-sketchup-300x222.png 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

Once this hole is closed (for example by drawing new lines), SketchUp recognizes
that the object is solid on the inside and ready for the printer! You can see such a
watertight (also referred to as manifold) object below.
<img class="wp-image-20888 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing.png" alt="A
watertight sketchup model for 3d printing" width="780" height="571"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-
sketchup-model-for-3d-printing.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Watertight-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing-300x219.png
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

5: Avoid Internal Overlapping

Intersections and walls within your design can make your life difficult since your
model needs to have one continuous ‘outer shell’. That’s why it makes sense to think
about your model in a 2-dimensional space first.

In the case below, the left shape will not be printable once it is pulled into a 3-
dimensional object since it will feature paper-thin walls within the object. The shape
on the right, however, won’t be a problem to print once it is pulled into a 3D object
because it will only have one ‘shell’. It doesn’t feature paper-thin walls on the inside.
We’ll look at an automatic way to create one outer shell later.
 <img class="wp-image-20889 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/internal-overlapping-sketchup-3d-printing.png" alt="internal
intersections in sketchup cause trouble for 3d printers" width="780" height="420"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/internal-
overlapping-sketchup-3d-printing.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/internal-overlapping-sketchup-3d-printing-300x161.png
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

6: Check if Your Model Is Solid

Creating watertight models with one continuous outside can be tough sometimes.
Luckily SketchUp lets you check if you made any mistakes.

Here’s how it works:

 Triple-click on your model with the select tool (this will select everything).
 Right-click on your object and select ‘Make Group’.
 Right-click on your object again and select ‘Entity Info’.

If you designed an object with holes (not watertight) and internal intersection (not in
one shell) the Entity Info window will say ‘Group’. This means that your model is not
printable and you’ll have to check it again. Right-click on it and select ‘Explode’ to re-
edit the components.
<img class="wp-image-20890 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/check-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing.jpg" alt="check if
sketchup 3d model is solid" width="780" height="682"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/check-sketchup-
model-for-3d-printing.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/check-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing-300x262.jpg 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

If you designed a watertight model in one shell, the Entity Info window will say ‘Solid
Group’ and then you know that your model is ready to be 3D printed (in the next
steps we’ll tell you how to fix this).
<img class="wp-image-20891 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/prepare-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing.jpg" alt="create
solid sketchup 3d model" width="780" height="709"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/prepare-sketchup-
model-for-3d-printing.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/prepare-sketchup-model-for-3d-printing-300x272.jpg 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

7: Look inside Your Model with the ‘Hide Tool’ and

‘X-Ray-Mode’
Looking at your model from the outside means that the inside is a ‘black box’ for you.
However, even the inside of your model could feature many modeling mistakes that
would make your object unprintable. In the example below, the ‘Entity Info’ window
indicates that the object is not solid.
<img class="wp-image-20892 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-3d-model-3d-print.png" alt="look inside your
sketchup model for 3d printing" width="780" height="616"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-3d-
model-3d-print.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-3d-model-3d-print-300x236.png 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

Since it looks solid from the outside, it makes sense to take a look at what’s going on
inside. Select a surface (face) you want to hide and select ‘Edit’ > ‘Hide’. And voila:
you can find the trouble-making mistake. Alternatively, you can switch into x-ray-
mode by clicking on ‘View’ > ‘Face Style’ > ‘X-ray’.
<img class="wp-image-20893 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-model-for-3d-printing.png" alt="detect modeling
errors in sketchup" width="780" height="646"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-model-
for-3d-printing.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-model-for-3d-printing-300x248.png 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

8: Create an ‘Outer Shell’

We already pointed out that designs with overlapping objects create problems for 3D
printers. The good news: there’s an automated solution for creating one ‘outer shell’
around the overlapping objects, deleting all internal overlapping parts.

To start with, we have these two solid blocks. Each of these blocks was ‘grouped’
separately (Select > Right click > Make Group). We also selected the x-ray view to
make things easier.
<img class="wp-image-20897 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print.jpg" alt="sketchup
one shell for 3d printing" width="780" height="487"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-
outer-shell-for-3d-print.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-300x187.jpg 300w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

We then move one block into the other. We now have overlapping areas in the
interior of this object.
<img class="wp-image-20898 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-2.jpg" alt="sketchup
outer shell for 3d printing" width="780" height="538"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-
outer-shell-for-3d-print-2.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-2-300x206.jpg
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

To get rid of these, we select one block, click on ‘Tools’ and choose ‘Outer Shell’.
<img class="wp-image-20899 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-3.jpg" alt="outer
shell tools in sketchup" width="780" height="484"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-
outer-shell-for-3d-print-3.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-3-300x186.jpg
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

The last thing to do is to click on the second block. SketchUp automatically created
one solid group out of these blocks. As you can see, the internal overlapping parts
are gone. The result is a new solid object that is ready to be 3D printed!
<img class="wp-image-20900 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-4.jpg" alt="groups
3D model in sketchup for 3d printing" width="780" height="565"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-
outer-shell-for-3d-print-4.jpg 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-create-outer-shell-for-3d-print-4-300x217.jpg
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

9: Fix Reversed Faces (Inverted Normals)

Another problem that can occur is so-called inward-facing or reversed faces. This
means that a surface of your model is facing in the wrong direction (typically this
means that it is facing the inside of the object instead of the outside). These surfaces
are automatically colored in light blue.

To fix this, right-click on the inward-facing surface (face) and select ‘Reverse Faces’.
You can see an example of this in the image below (left). On the right, you can see
the object how it is supposed to be: all faces point to the outside again.
<img class="wp-image-20896 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Reverse-Faces-for-3d-printing.png" alt="reverse
inverted faces normals in sketchup" width="780" height="703"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Reverse-
Faces-for-3d-printing.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Reverse-Faces-for-3d-printing-300x270.png
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

10: Increase Circle/Arc Segments to Getting Smooth

Curves
SketchUp ‘smoothens’ arcs and circles in its visual presentation. Even though circles
might look perfectly spherical in SketchUp, they are actually only made of 24 sides.
Click on ‘View’ > ‘Hidden Geometry’ to see theses sides. When being printed, this
circle might come out quite edged.

When you select the arc or curve tool, SketchUp will show you their default sides in
the bottom right corner. You can then enter a higher number to increase the number
of sides. Validate your entry by hitting the ‘Enter’ key and then draw your arc or circle.

The image below shows a comparison between the default 24 sides (left) and 150
sides (right).

<img class="wp-image-20895 aligncenter" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-

content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Smooth-Surfaces-for-3d-printing.png" alt="learn to
create smooth faces for 3d printing in sketchup" width="780" height="480"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Smooth-
Surfaces-for-3d-printing.png 590w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/sketchup-Smooth-Surfaces-for-3d-printing-300x184.png
300w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

Extra: Automatic File Fixing and Preparation

Sometimes problems are tiny and hard to see with the naked eye. There are
SketchUp extensions like the Solid Inspector 2 that find problems automatically and
point them out to you. Simply select a group or component and activate the Solid
Inspector tool for an analysis of what would prevent it from being a solid manifold.

Another handy extension is CleanUp 3. It allows you to cleans up and optimize your
SketchUp model with handy tools like “Erase hidden geometry” and “Erase duplicate
faces”.

Also, SketchUp added a cool feature to their 3D Warehouse that was developed by
Materialise. When uploading a model to the 3D Warehouse, you can check the “I
want this to be 3D printable” button (see video below) to get modeling errors fixed
instantly. This tool will make your 3D model watertight and allow you to download it
as an STL file. While it might lead to somewhat less accurate results, it’s a very fast
way to get a printable file. So if you’re searching for an easy-to-use tool that will save
you a lot of time and effort (no more searching for file issues, no more exhausting
fixing sessions), this is the tool for you.

Extra 2: Getting Your High-Quality 3D Print

Did you manage to follow our tips and tricks and create a printable SketchUp file? In
order to send it to our printers, download the SketchUp 3D print service plugin.
Alternatively, you can upload your models here and choose from hundreds of
material options.
 <img class="wp-image-23963" src="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/3d-printing-material-overview-1024x595.jpg" alt="3d-
printing-material-overview" width="780" height="453"
srcset="https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3d-printing-
material-overview-1024x595.jpg 1024w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/3d-printing-material-overview-300x174.jpg 300w,
https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/3d-printing-material-
overview-768x446.jpg 768w, https://i.materialise.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/3d-printing-material-overview-400x232.jpg 400w"
sizes="(max-width: 780px) 99vw, 780px" />

Get high-quality 3D prints like these with i.materialise’s online 3D printing service.