Ok. So I’m back to my original question. Will any other formats that are exported from Sketchup work with SimScale. The original post has images of all the Sketchup export options. Also I suppose I should edit it to say that I need the imported file to have the ability to be rendered as a solid to create a Tet-Dominant mesh.
Hi @twarner!
I would simply try to export it as IGES & STEP which should work for tet-dominant meshes. If there’s a problem I will jump in and help you out!
Best,
Jousef
IGES and STEP aren’t options for Sketchup export. Please see the screenshot at the top and let me know if any of the options are compatible.
I saw the photo @twarner but as far as I know there are some extensions for Sketchup to convert to IGES/STEP. We also support other file formats like:
*.sldprt SolidWorks part
*.sldasm SolidWorks assembly (in compressed archive)
*.ipt Autodesk Inventor part
*.iam Autodesk Inventor assembly (in compressed archive)
*.3dm Rhino part
Would FreeCad work for you as some kind of “workaround” for this issue? That’s the only thing I found besides some Sketchup add-ons that have a short trial for extended file export.
Cheers,
Jousef
FreeCad won’t work because it is not browser based. I’m going to try to get Onshape to work though. My hope is that I can export from sketchup, import to onshape, export from onshape and import to simscale. I just need to find out what kind of files (if any) will work with that.
I have not used any of the file types proposed by Sketchup before - the @power_users might give you some tips here 
Cheers,
Jousef
Hi @twarner,
The simple answer is no, Simscale cannot read any native export file types from Sketchup for structural analsysis.
Onshape can only read the STL and OBJ filetypes from Sketchup. These are not editable in Onshape and I am not sure what the quality would be if you try to export these out as a STEP file.
Most of the file types Sketchup supports are for importing into rendering packages, not cad packages. The way the underlying geometry is created and stored in Sketchup is totally different in CAD packages. Most cad packages and the STEP format use NURBS to define the geometry where sketchup defines the geometry in a more basic format.
So, to get your Sketchup data into Simscale you will need to try and find a Sketchup plugin that will export a STEP file or a third party cloud based service that can convert an STL or OBJ file into a high quality Step file.
Sorry I cannot be more helpful.
Christopher
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