Is there an open (free) resource of models that can be imported into one’s on projects. I’d like to find a model of a strip of LED tape to include in a display project model for a client. I’ve contributed several models to the Sketuchup ‘warehouse’ over the years and have benefited from the donations of others.
well… Yes. There are loads and loads of sites where you can download models.
Sketchup Warehouse is one of those resources.
… I guess I’m not understanding the question…
I was asking for .3dm models specifically. I find the SU models not often very clean or useable. I was wonder if McNeel may have some sort of resource, or perhaps is considering it.
Yep, they’re often junky, anyone can throw stuff up there. And the SU is a mesh format as well. If I have to d/l SU models, I only use them as a guide to remodel the whole thing in Rhino.
As 3dm is not a real “standard” model exchange format - many programs can’t open it - you won’t find many repositories of models in Rhino format. One of the places I do know is the Flying Architecture site, they have lots of great Rhino-format models they share for free (you do have to sign up).
Otherwise, there are many manufacturers out there that provide 3D CAD with their products. Unlikely again that they will provide data in 3DM format, it’s just not considered mainstream enough. For import into Rhino, you should try STEP, Solidworks (2014 or earlier) or IGES…
–Mitch
Thanks Mitch. I’ll be over to the flying arc’s site next.
I spent at least 4 years hoping SU would evolve into a professional grade program, but it’s remained rather weak despite all the expensive yearly upgrades. I still must use it to produce the output I need quickly - mostly because of the design rapidity the construction lines tools provide. When that functionality is part of Rhino I’ll be able to take on any designing tasks that come my way.
Part of Sketchup’s rapidity and construction tools are linked directly to its weaknesses. Sketchup models everything out of flat planes and facets. When everything is flat, the math involved in doing whatever you need to do gets a lot easier.
One of the reasons that some of these construction tools have not been implemented in Rhino is that flatness is not enforced and that anything you do could either start out being curved, or end up that way after an edit. And then all the flat math goes out the window. You can get an idea just by solid point editing a flat surface with a hole in it in Rhino. It started out being flat, but as soon as you take one of the corner points out of plane, all hell breaks loose…
If we had a flat-only mode that basically forced everything to remain planar, that might be semi-useful under certain situations I guess… However, it’s really not how Rhino works…
–Mitch
I gather that limitation comes from the strength of Rhinos organic abilities. I wonder if there could be a mode that could be called when one was designing in a more planer style. Perhaps certain aspects of the program could be suspended to allow the planar workflow. I’ve another q btw. I downloaded an SU model to redraw in R but there’s an object thats apparently a mesh that I’d like to simplify but none of the mesh tools seem to work, I’ve attached the model and a screen shot.
… AND THEN, when I go to upload the file it fails and is indicated to be 40mgs large. Incredible. Something is buggy here, as there’s no amount of data coming in from a SU model of that magnitude. I went through and deleted everything none essential, but the computer still thinks the file it gigantic. See screen shot.
http://screencast.com/t/bpwe3p7Avw
I then copy the needed modle parts and paste into a new document and still the size is unreal.
http://screencast.com/t/4bBYkCc8DSD
attached then is a compressed version of the smaller file as shown above.
LEDbit2.3dm.zip (6.5 MB)
And then, here’s the original image re the initial question.
Well, this is a direct consequence of trying to model something organic in SU and then trying to export it to Rhino. The pillow shaped objects here:
have almost 5000 surfaces each - because you have converted SU mesh data to surface data on import. If I delete those and save small, the file goes down to under 6Mb.
The SU file is smaller because mesh data is very economical in terms of file size, Rhino NURBS data is not. For representations of the same faceted mesh object, Rhino could take as much as 100x times the data to store the object as a set of facets in NURBS form. If you modeled as smooth surfaces in Rhino, you could do it with very few surfaces - the surface would really be smooth and the file size would be dramatically smaller.
SU has no other way to represent those objects - they are meshes and have facets. Rhino does. Sometimes translations of objects modeled in one format and translated to another are not ideal - especially in the case of meshes getting literally translated to Nurbs surfaces.
–Mitch
Is there some way to extract the overall shape from such a monstrosity?
You could try using drape to create one half of the pillow shape, trim and mirror it to make the bottom half (assuming it is symmetrical).
That could be quite a faff though, having to replace all of them individually. An automated tool that converts meshes to nurbs and offers an approximation option, similar to the rebuild tool, would be very handy indeed.
Back to the original question, grabcad is a good source. I’ve found .3dm files there but as mentioned before step and igs are more common and easily imported to Rhino.
I checked it out. There’s some very nice things there. Thanks for the tip
You could try visit this website for free sharing resources 3d models with different formats (Max, OBJ, 3DS, SKP, FBX,C4D and etc). Cheer!