18 May 2015, 00:00
Trimble and Materialise announced today that they have added support for the STL file format through a new Printables feature on Trimble's 3D Warehouse, the world's largest repository of free, high-quality, 3D content. The new feature is the result of the companies' collaboration to streamline 3D printing workflows, making it easier for "makers" and millions of other users of Trimble's SketchUp 3D modeling software to create and share Printable models in 3D Warehouse.
The announcement was made prior to Maker Faire Bay Area 2015, the maker movement's signature event, attended by over 100,000 crafters, educators, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, artists, students, commercial exhibitors and many others.
The collaboration alleviates pitfalls commonly associated with 3D printing workflows by providing the SketchUp community with direct access to powerful technology that facilitates the process of turning their 3D models into physical objects. The companies have developed an integration between 3D Warehouse and Materialise's Cloud Services, which are capable of analyzing and fixing models to ensure printability. The integration gives 3D Warehouse users the ability to flag uploaded SketchUp models as Printable. These files are then processed by Materialise's Cloud Services to generate high-quality, printable STL files, that are then available to be downloaded from 3D Warehouse.
"Through our combined efforts, Trimble and Materialise aim to make 3D printing technology more accessible to the design community," said Mike Tadros, SketchUp Web & Mobile product manager at Trimble. "With its deep experience in providing solutions and services to the additive manufacturing sector, Materialise has substantially augmented our efforts to make 3D printing workflows more efficient, and to enable the sharing and exchange of Printable models on 3D Warehouse."
"For the past 25 years, we have been focused on developing software that empowers useful applications of 3D printing," said Stefaan Motte, director of the Software for Additive Manufacturing Unit at Materialise. "Through our new Cloud Services, we want to bring part of our industry-leading software to a broader audience, and SketchUp, and 3D Warehouse in particular, are a natural fit for achieving this. By partnering with Trimble, we hope to alleviate the question of 'will it print' and help designers, artists, makers and beyond focus on the design and creation of meaningful 3D models."
Source: Trimble Inc.