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#1 Matt Orner

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Posted 04 March 2015 - 01:32 PM

Hey everyone,

 

Does anyone know if Softplan is capable of 3D printing. The lumber yard I go through bought a 3D printer and their IT person called and said I need to save the file as stl. I don't see that option so thinking this isn't doable with soft plan. I only have 3 options. spd, bmp, jpeg



#2 Thomas Davis

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 09:33 AM

I have never done this, but it seems like you will probably need to take your model into Sketchup and then use a plugin to convert it to an stl file.

 

Here is a link to a free exporter: http://www.guitar-li...iles-dxf-or-stl



#3 Matt Orner

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 10:40 AM

Thanks Tommy, I will give it a shot. Thanks for the response. 



#4 Gary Hood

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 11:03 AM

I have to ask...what is the lumber yard doing with 3D printouts?



#5 Keith Almond

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 12:09 PM

I have to ask...what is the lumber yard doing with 3D printouts?

 

I agree ... Seems a little like overkill to me!


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#6 Matt Orner

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:06 PM

Let's my customer's see a real visual of their future home. Not sure about overkill but some people can't see it on paper. It comes apart in sections so you can take the roof off and look at the floor plan. Might be overkill but some people like it. I'll do whatever it takes to get a sale :)



#7 Guest_Derrik Bauer_*

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:11 PM

Then they can give it to their kids for a doll-house when they are done with the build!  What a conversation piece....

 

I'm with ya, if it helps to differentiate you from others what the heck?  Do me a favor, take a picture of a finished model and share with us sometime.    :)


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#8 Gary Hood

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:25 PM

Interesting! Is it to 1/4" scale? What material is it made from? & yes, a picture would be great!


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#9 Matt Orner

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:34 PM

photo 1.jpg photo 1.jpg

#10 Matt Orner

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:36 PM

Yeah, I would let my kids rock it as a doll house.

#11 Matt Orner

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:38 PM

Gary, not positive on the scale, they just told me yesterday they'd do it for me for free so heck yeah. I think 3D printers are made with plastic. I still haven't seen one in person.

#12 Guest_Derrik Bauer_*

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 05:42 PM

That is really cool!  Much more interesting than I imagined.

 

Thanks for sharing!



#13 Keith Almond

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 08:53 PM

Don't get me wrong here, I think a 3D print is fantastic for your customers. What I meant about "overkill" was "Why does the lumber yard require a 3D printer?"


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Keith

There are 10 types of people in this world ....... Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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#14 Chris Stewart

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Posted 05 March 2015 - 09:54 PM

Is that something your lumber yard actually produced? 

 

As far as I have read it is still fairly expensive to produce a 1/4"=1'  scale model (comparable to traditional model building)

And making it works takes a skilled operator. 

 

But maybe my info is not current. Generally there seems to be a lot of cleanup work just to get the digital model file ready for printing.  

 

I doubt I could find many clients who would spend 100's of dollars on a model.


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#15 Matt Orner

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Posted 06 March 2015 - 10:24 AM

I'm not positive but I think it ran them about 3k. I myself wouldn't spend that kind of money but as long as it's free why not. I guess they've had some really good feedback on it though.

#16 Chris Stewart

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Posted 06 March 2015 - 11:43 AM

My guess is that it may require 5-20 hours (depending on size and complexity) to process the first model from Softplan to a usable .stl file (and that is if you already have some familiarity with SketchUp)

 

A $3000 Makerbot can do  9.9 by 7.8 by 5.9 inches


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#17 Brian Berzinskis

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Posted 11 March 2015 - 12:36 AM

I have thought about this myself for showing clients instead of trying to pan around a 3d on a computer screen. If SoftPlan could export or print directly to a Makerbot, I would show some interest in purchasing one. I don't think that the models have to be either huge or to scale since I would always compliment it with drawings. Just large enough to get the idea of the massing and 3 dimensional elements.



#18 Guest_Derrik Bauer_*

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Posted 11 March 2015 - 06:16 AM

My cabinet company will make a sample door in the exact style, color. species ect. of whatever my customer has chosen (there are literally 100k + combinations to choose from).  The customer receives the door and will sign off on everything.  Then I encourage them to keep the door until they are done with the project.  Customers love it!  They carry their own custom full-size door around with them to shop for accessories.  And they can use it to show friends.  When we place the order the sample door is credited back, so as long as they place the order, they don't pay for the door.  At the end of the project we take the sample back and place it in our sample inventory.

 

A similar process would be attractive to custom builders.  Can you imagine how excited a customer would be if you hand them a model of their future house?  I can just see a couple proudly placing their future home on the center of the kitchen table and having conversation after conversation with friends about it.  Each of those conversations will be helping to create more customers for you.  I do really think there is a future for this idea.

 

Now, spending 20hours making the file would not be doable for most budgets or schedules, but if we could get the process down to an hour or two it would absolutaly be worth it.



#19 Chris Stewart

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Posted 11 March 2015 - 06:46 AM

I would guess that once you go through the process a few times you could get the time down to 2 or so hours for a model that was small enough to fit in one piece.

It looks to me that v2016 will export to SketchUp better so that will help also.  

 

Maybe once you master the process this would be a service other Softplan users would be willing to pay for? -there does seem to be interest

 

I suppose the question will be what people are willing to pay for a 9.9 x 7.8 x 5.9 inch model

 

At the current rate of progress I would not be surprised if it was practical within the next 10 years.


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#20 Yvon Gonthier

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Posted 11 March 2015 - 09:16 AM

Creating a 3D hologram might move things ahead also in the years to come. Sure would be neat.




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