Drawing in SketchUp for a color print

This entry is about drawing for flat colors and not texture maps etc. There are ways of producing color mapped SketchUp prints, but I will have to address that as a separate subject, though many of the underlying drafting principals will be the same.

The fastest way to get good color on a good print, in my opinion today, is to produce good solid STLs and then add the color to the surfaces in Magix afterward using the color codes from a color chart the printer produces so the color is closer to that desired than what is on the screen. CADspan does have a color engine, but you need to call them in order to use it because it is still in testing.

Now, the how to. I have prepped files two different ways. The first is to make any and all surfaces that you want to have in different colors bump out or recess from the surface adjacent. You need to do this in order to select the surface in Magix once CADspan turns the shells in to a single surface mesh.

This may not be a problem in many areas such as those indicated in different colors in this image:

Some areas, however, may present a problem like a band on the middle of a wall:

For an area like this I prefer to use another method, drawing the model in sections. Draw each colored section as its own 3D object. This is a bib PITA if you are trying to adjust a drawing after the fact, but is really easy if you draw the model with this in mind. This method is really best because it gives you the most controll over the color application. It also replicates the manner of adding color or textures in other modeling programs.
Note: all parts must be closed 3D objects so they can be individually processed and recompiled as stl files later on.